In the classroom, a tall, beautiful woman stood on front, teaching earnestly. She suddenly stopped, shifting her gaze to a particular student. Zeke rested his head against his palm, his eyes glued on the mirror beside him, looking at his reflection.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the sudden pindrop silence immediately.
"..."
When he realized the room suddenly turned quiet, Zeke's brows furrowed harshly. He turned around and saw that everyone was looking at him, and the woman in front, Professor Cybele, included.
'Ah…'
Zeke suddenly understood, sighing inwardly.
"Crimson."
Professor Cybele's voice was calm, not giving off the impression she was angry at all. But when the other students heard her tone, their backs instinctively straigthened like a ruler, knowing that it was coming.
Andrei glanced at Zeke pitifully, lamenting his fate.
Seeing their strange reactions, Zeke was confused. Then, Professor Cybele's next words made it clear to him why everyone seemed so nervous.
"It seems like you already know everything about monster biology." Professor Cybele said calmly. "How about you teach us what a Thrumgore is? Its strengths, weaknesses, and abilities."
When everyone heard her question, their expressions sank, gazing at Zeke pitifully.
Thrumgore? What the hell was that? It wasn't even the monster she was teaching in class! Although her expression didn't show it, Professor Cybele was truly furious this time. But the worst thing hasn't come yet.
It's when Zeke fails to answer that everybody was waiting.
Andrei sighed, knowing he couldn't help in this one.
'It's this monster?'
But to everyone's surprise, Zeke's eyes lit up. He nodded calmly and answered, "A Thrumgore is a large bug, featuring six spider legs and four antennas. Its eggs are about the size of a human fist, and when it grows up, it grows as big as a human adult. It's categorized under the speed-type class, excelling in bursts of speed but lacking durability and endurance…"
At first, everyone didn't understand what he was saying, but when words flowed out of his mouth so naturally, like they were real, they couldn't believe it.
Everyone widened their eyes in disbelief, looking at Zeke, then at Professor Cybele.
But even more unbelievable, Professor Cybele also had an expression of shock. Zeke listed off all facts about the Thrumgore, including its abilities, strengths, and weaknesses.
But he didn't stop there, he also listed off things she hadn't heard before.
'... Interestingly, a Thrumgore has six vital weaknesses, two of which guarantee an instant death when severed. One of them is on its back, near its rear end..."
By the end of it, Professor Cybele couldn't even confirm if the rest of what he said was true or not. Nonetheless, from her knowledge and experience as a monster researcher, she recognized that most, if not all, of what Zeke listed was likely true.
But that… how could he know that?!
How did Zeke know about things she, or other researchers, didn't know?
"You." Professor Cybele looked at him quietly, her thoughts stirring. "Come to my office right after class."
Hearing that, everyone suddenly fell silent, calming down.
'So it was wrong…'
But then Professor Cybele's next words slapped their faces.
"Everything he said about the Thrumgore was right. You may sit down, Crimson. Thank you for enlightening the class."
Zeke nodded calmly as he sat back down.
Everyone looked at him, slackjawed.
Andrei stared at him as if he were a god.
"Nobody ever answered Professor Cybele's questions before…"
He muttered.
Zeke heard him and shifted uncomfortably, realizing he might've done something extraordinary. He didn't want to be in the spotlight, but wasn't the Thrumgore basic knowledge everyone learned by six?
In fact, that was the main reason he wasn't listening properly to begin with. He already knew what Professor Cybele was teaching. If Zeke could, he would've left class and trained instead, but that would be disrespectful to her.
After that short interlude, Professor Cybele continued teaching.
"The Lightning Bee is as swift…"
Zeke went back to looking at his reflection. But he wasn't looking at himself. He was staring at the blue panel from his Gamer Attributes.
—
Name: Zeke Crimson
Age: 16
Class: Stick Master (Gray 17/100), Gamer (Black 0/100,000)
Rank: Initiate 1.1
Striking Force: 500 kilograms
Speed: 15 m/s
Spirit Force 0
Echoforce: 10
Skills: Stick Manifest (Active 17/100), Stick Skill (Passive 17/100), Gamer Proficiency (Passive 0/10,000), Gamer Attributes (Passive 0/10,000), Gamer Growth (Passive 0/10,000), Gamer Overload (Active 0/10,000)
—
Zeke trained for about an hour straight, never stopping even once. He swung his stick a total of 1,200 times, taking him 3 seconds to execute a proper swing. He tracked his points carefully to understand how Gamer Proficiency worked.
He noted down two important realizations.
One, his proficiency can't increase if he didn't take his training seriously. He realized this when he tried to take a shortcut by swinging his stick multiple times in under a second. It didn't work.
That showed how Gamer Proficiency valued effort rather than results.
Two, the effort required to gain proficiency points increased in every milestone. In this specific case, the required swings to gain 1 proficiency point increased every 10-point milestone.
When his proficiency points were in the 0-10 range, he gained 1 point every 50 swings.
But when he reached 10 points, he needed to swing his stick 100 times to gain even 1 point.
He hadn't reached 20 points yet, but he guessed that it was probably the same.
Notably, these swings were proper swings. Zeke needed to have the proper stance and exert his entire body, as if he were wielding a real sword, for the swing to be considered "proper."
'If the number of swings only increases by fifty, then by the end of the week I can reach 100 points, hopefully…'
Zeke thought, his heart stirring. What would happen when his class reached 100 points? Would it evolve, just like he had imagined? Or would it simply improve? He didn't know, but at least he was certain of one thing.
As long as he worked hard, he would be rewarded for his efforts!