1 High School

"..." I am currently feeling quite distressed as I look at my 'classmate' across me. While looking straight into my eyes she is puckering up her bottom lip in a pitiable manner, and though I think she really should be saving some of that pity for her pug face, I must still deal with it soundly.

"Yeah... it's pretty bad I guess.. heh." I say quite forcefully while dawning a wry smile. She looks towards me for a second more before turning away and talking to the girls beside her. *Phew* I heave a silent sigh of relief. To explain what just happened, I was violently interrogated by a colleague in my own class, though minus the violently.. and probably the interrogated too. Yes, 'I was by a colleague in my own class' we sat across from each other and I was asked whether I had a 'date' for the dance, to which I obviously replied "No, I have a case of not wasting my time-itis." As you do, though again, maybe minus everything after 'No'. Terrible jokes aside, I think I'm about ready to make a run for it if we're not let out soon.

*rrrrrng rrrrrrrng*

At the shrill ring of the bell, I quickly stuff my things into my petite black bag before standing up and dizzily maneuvering myself towards the door. I sway slightly to the right as I take large steps for no apparent reason and gently bump into the guy in front of me.

"Oh, sorry dude." I say while regaining my balance. The blonde kid in front of me turned around to reveal a stunning face shining with the colors of the rainbow -or not, an average-looking kid turned around and raised his hand a bit before speaking

"Ah, no problem. Oh right, are you going to the dance tomorrow dude?" He asked very kindly.

-Uh oh- It seems that I maybe.. kinda forgot this guy, including his name, but he didn't ask me right? So we're good, I'll just not mention it.

"Uh, I don't think so, I don't really have plans but the 25$ tickets are a bit much right? I don't really have anyone to go with anyways.." I looked at him trying to look as sad as possible but it didn't really seem to have the effect I wanted it to as a large grin grew on his face.

"Well, you're in luck! I was planning to go with some friends but one of them ditched, saying he was busy that night or something, and we still have the tickets! If you wanna I could lend it to you." The blonde kid said, looking proud of his gracious act.

"Ah, but like I said I don't really have someone to go with-"

"Don't worry dude, you can just come with us, a lot of people go with friends anyways." he says, and I give him an equally 'gracious' look before taking the sheet he offers me.

--Yeah, Friends, are you not seeing the problem here?--

I have no idea why someone would want to invite me to hang out with them, but I guess he's just trying to be nice.

"You're gonna have to fill out that sheet to get the ticket though, the tickets are in my name so we'll need to give it in to the main office to change it."

"Right." I said as I whipped a pen out of my bag and looked down at the sheet. 'Shit.' The card was a normal one, I could probably make a copy within a minute but that wasn't what surprised me to death just now, On the card at he very end was the most disgusting looking abomination to me at that moment; a box labeled 'Buyer Name'. I looked at the kid for a moment as I tried nearly a hundred ways to try to remember his name, but alas, god's light does not shine on the forgetful.

"Could you sign your name here, I think it's a signature thing." I said to him in a last ditch effort as I pointed towards the box.

"Nah dude, just do it, you already got the pen anyways." he said in a voice that sounded like the end of the world to me. 'Well, I guess I have no choice now'

"Hey dude, what's your name?" I said to him in the most natural way possible.

"What? It's Michael, did you really forget?" He asked almost maliciously. 'Hah, you fool, you've fallen right into my trap.'

"Oh no, I meant your last name, I obviously know your name, Michael." I said coolly while internally screaming in happiness.

"Oh right, hah, sorry about that, it's Pullen. Michael Pullen" he said through an awkward laughter.

.....

"Alright, See you tomorrow."

"Yep, see ya." I bid farewell to Michael outside the main office as I turn towards the music wing of our school, heading towards the piano rooms. Like slightly bigger office cubicles, the rooms are all lined up and separated into 6 different segments. I walk towards one of the three open rooms but as I headed in, I'm stopped by a high pitched voice that I haven't heard in a while.

"Hey, You~." I turn around and meet Valerie's eyes before replying "Hey.." In an awkward manner that even surprises me. I always seem to lose my edge when talking to her, though It's not much better when talking with other people, which probably contributes to my lack of friends.

Love? I've thought about it before and concluded quite clearly, no, the only thing bringing kids together in this high school is hormones and if its human instinct we're talking here then every cell in my body sounds the signal for 'get the hell out! evacuate!' whenever I encounter her. It's probably just that she gets way too blunt pointing out how awkward I am around her. "hahaha, okay weirdo" she says while smiling in the fakest way possible. Like so, shouldn't she just go along with it and ignore my lack of social skills? At least she only talks to me like this when we're alone.

"So, are you going to homecoming?" She says while still smiling brightly, does she enjoy making me feel awkward?

"Yeah, a couple of friends invited me." I half-lied.

"Oh." She said in a rare moment of surprise as I smiled internally.

"How about you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm going." She says with a laugh and smile, clearly regaining her previous attitude. Sometimes I wonder if she's even trying to hide the fact that she's acting 90% of the time.

We both stayed silent for a while, me waiting for her to remember something urgent and leave this place, her probably looking for something to talk about, but we didn't really have anything in common, so we both just stood still for a good few seconds. "Alright, see ya around." I say, thinking that I've already had enough of this pain.

"Yeah, bye." She says as if agreeing with my sentiment before turning around and leaving silently. Probably the shortest conversation I've ever been in. I watch her go for a bit and turn right back around.

I walk into the open piano room behind me and check the time on the clock. "5:30, okay, I've got 3 hours." I think out loud before closing the door behind me and putting down my bag. I pull out a black laptop and settle myself on the chair at edge of the room. Using the piano in the piano room? that's as rare as someone using the school bathrooms to actually take a dump. It's mostly just a room for students to chill out during lunch or their free time after school, like what I'm about to do right now. I open up the laptop, and quickly open up my favorite game, it doesn't take too long as I do this almost religiously, multiple times a day.

"WELCOME LITTLE LAMBS, TO THE DEN OF WOLVES" The sound of Yamol welcoming me every day used to be somewhat surprising and even a bit eerie, but the daily routine really numbed any emotions I used to feel for it. I ignore the repetitive audio and load up my last save, that's right, save. I know it might be weird to be obsessed with a game you can't even play with other people but it's really the only thing keeping me sane in my life. I've gotten completely bored with almost everything else. I've done my fair bit of reading, repetitive online games, even working out once I was bored enough, it got so bad at one point that going to school actually gave me some enjoyment and sense of interest. Sure hanging out with friends could be fun for a little while , but I've reached the bottle cap on my motivation to try, and anything exceeding the 10 or so times I've tried is too much effort for what it gets me.

As my game boots up the first thing I hear is a war horn in the distance. Idiots. 'The Ireban tribe really did it this time' i thought. I control my character to sit up from my throne and immediately run out to the castle walls on my horse, the map is huge and I can see the villagers and nobles walking hurriedly through the streets and soldiers saluting me as I rode by. Like true royalty, I ride through the streets with a kings cape flying behind my gold and purple armor, on my car-sized steed , endowed with thick black armor. As I reach the wall I see my strategist standing on the wall and shouting out orders to the black and golden kings guard following behind me. I get off my saddle and climb up the ladder before seeing a huge green mass under the searing sun.

"My liege, your orders?" The strategist spoke his scripted words as I eyed the huge army below, I didn't expect them to have so many in this siege. some serious damage could be caused by this number. "Negotiate with the enemy commander." I selected an option from the many listed. [Grolsh the Berserk is willing to retreat for a 300 million denar tribute to his tribe] the game replied instantly. "300 million!? what are you ret-" I shouted out loud before realizing my stupor and covering my mouth. I immediately declined and selected another option. "Hold the walls and command the archers to shoot arrows of [oil] at the army below." The strategist complied quickly, though it was impossible not to. Sometimes the sheer mass of the game got to me. It was something that was already installed in my hand me down used laptop when I got it. For something with such old graphics it definitely seemed to have a lot of effort put into it. I also found no trace of it anywhere on the internet, no tutorials or reviews or anything pointing to its existence even. It may have been something custom made by the person who used to own the thing. That was fine by me though, a game this good I'd be glad to have all to myself.

Within minutes, almost the entirety of the orc army was covered in black oil and almost half of them had already made it up the wall, though they were killed easily, through the teamwork and sacrifice of my own troops. I looked down on the orcs before equipping my favorite weapon that I owned.

[Blade of Esther]

Req:

Strength- 30

[9,010 swing damage]

[8,090 thrust damage]

[20,000 throw damage] [3 use limit before breaking]

[+3,000 fire damage over 10 seconds]

[Acquired through the combination of [Yoll's eye], [Torin's blood], and the [Ether Metal] by a master smith.]

A simple description of a simply overpowered blade, one that I spent over a year in this game crafting, as a fairly old game it didn't include much specs on the weapons. Heck, even skills weren't an existent thing in this game, but it was enough for me. It was a worthy sacrifice for the awesome feeling I got from fighting. I jumped off the wall majestically and stomped deep into the earth below, creating a sonic boom as I fell, which blew away a few orcs around me. "HUMANNN, I WILL CRUSH YOU." 'Oof, I nearly got a heart attack from the sheer level of volume bursting through my headphones'. From the back of the army rose a blue-colored orc while throwing multiple away from itself, almost 3 times the size of any other one here. 'I haven't fought one in so long I almost forgot the audio clip.' I thought. I looked over cautiously towards Grolsh before charging in and thrusting towards his chest.

Like any good bad guy, he immediately blocked the first hit with his giant metal gauntlet, but of course, it wasn't enough to stop my blade as it pierced through the gauntlet like butter and cut through his slightly harder skin like butter. "GRRAAAAH!" Grolsh screamed in anger as he pushed his dangling hand towards me and completely cut it off. I was confuse for a bit before seeing his other fist rushing towards my side. "Giving the wheat for the farm, huh?" I said my crappy metaphor out loud as I crouched around closer to his torso. I duck under his arm but it still pulls my helmet off and the spikes on his gauntlet grazes the top of my head, it takes away nearly 1/10th of my health. I jump towards his throat while thrusting out my sword but he ducks suddenly and catches my sword in his mouth. I twist it mid air and drill his mouth open in a gory scene of red. He falls over and I quickly shift myself to fall towards his throat, my sword pierces it deeply and his last bit of health disappears as his body turns to dust.

As I land back down onto the ground, I see the other orcs focused completely on the city and desperately fighting my men on the walls in fear. I decide it's time to end it and pick up my helm on the ground.

[Monarch's Crown]

Req:

Vitality- 30

[14,000 to head armor]

[-40% chance of receiving a critical hit]

[Divine Purge: Once every 2 cycles, the user may call upon the power of the old gods to obliterate the bodies and souls of any one race in a region.]

[Acquired through completion of 'Hail The Old Gods' quest]

I equip the crown and select the divine purge skill before activating it completel-. "HEY, DID YOU HEAR ME IN THERE? YOU CAN'T BE HERE ANYMORE, IT'S PAST 7" I hear a voice boom from just outside the piano room door and quickly shut down my laptop before packing up and opening the door. "Yeah, sorry about that, I kind of just lost sense of time." I said while smiling bitterly. "Yeah, for the fourth time this week, just get out of here." The security guard said with even more anger once he saw me before pushing me out of the back door.