257 Swamped With Work
Though Adam and Felix planned to greet Mr. Frank with a prank in mind, they decided otherwise when they saw their teacher. He sat in the teacher's office, scratching his head at a paper covered desk.
"Huh? Adam? Felix? What are you two doing here? Class only starts in an hour." [Mr. Frank]
Adam and Felix glanced at each other unsure of what to say. They stared at Mr. Frank's dark eyebags and his disheveled appearance.
"The hell happened to you?" [Felix]
Mr. Frank just held a blank expression.
"You don't mince words do you?" [Mr. Frank]
"It's who I am." [Felix]
"...You are a little shit indeed." [Mr. Frank]
Is what he said whilst sipping a cup of coffee.
"Well? What are you guys here for?" [Mr. Frank]
"We just wanted to greet you." [Adam]
He lied as he breathed.
"Uh-huh…" [Mr. Frank]
He gave the two looks of suspicion before turning to his desk.
"Whatever. Leave, I have to get back to my shitshow of a job." [Mr. Frank]
Spinning the chair, Mr. Frank turned to his desk with a sigh.
"Ooookay~ See ya later then." [Felix]
Without turning his head, Mr. Frank waved them off.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
After an hour, class began.
"Alright, quiet down. I got some news for you guys." [Mr. Frank]
Entering the class, Mr. Frank somehow pulled out a large cardboard box from within his white coat.
("It's been a while since I've seen him do that.") [Adam]
It was a nostalgic sight to see Mr. Frank randomly take out something that shouldn't be possible.
"How intriguing… There were no signs of an object of that size within his garments…" [Astos]
"It might be sleight of hand." [Krino]
("Doubt it. Might be his ability.") [Adam]
"Creation? I don't think he'd pretend to pull something out instead of just making it on the spot." [Krino]
Astos clicked his tongue in disapprovement.
"You don't understand. There is showmanship in that." [Astos]
"...The god of chaos, lecturing me on style." [Krino]
"Of course. I have dined with major gods! There were lavish banquets thrown in my name! Mortals scrambled to offer the finest of goods!" [Astos]
("Okay.") [Adam]
There was silence.
"Okay…? That's it? I honored you with the recounting of my tales and all you can say is… okay?" [Astos]
("What else am I supposed to say?") [Adam]
"Words of worship! Revel in my being! Let yourself be overcome with tears as you listen to the divinity within my words!" [Astos]
Adam simply sat there with his arms crossed.
("Nuh-uh.") [Adam]
Within Adam's body, Astos began to retaliate. However, Astos refrained when he looked at Askyros' soul remnant.
"Count yourself lucky." [Astos]
("Don't worry. I am.") [Adam]
Astos let out a frustrated growl.
("Be quiet. I need to pay attention.") [Adam]
As he returned his attention to Mr. Frank, Adam found that the contents of the box were being passed out.
"Here." [Mr. Frank]
Reaching into the box, Mr. Frank placed a black digital watch onto Adam's desk.
("Huh? This… looks oddly familiar…") [Adam]
Adam tried to recall where he saw it, but was unable to.
"There. Does everyone have one of these?" [Mr. Frank]
Standing at the front of the class, he waved a black watch around.
"..." [Class]
No one spoke up.
"I'm going to take that as a yes." [Mr. Frank]
He then turned the watch to the side.
"This is the power button. Please turn the watch on." [Mr. Frank]
Following instructions, Adam pressed the button.
("...What the-?") [Adam]
Adam could feel a little bit of his mana get sapped as the watch whirred to life. A green light flashed, causing numbers to reveal themselves.
"I think you may have noticed, but the watch takes some mana to use. You may have also noticed it does not tell the time." [Mr. Frank]
Mr. Frank was right. The numbers on the watch had 100 next to "pts" inputted.
"As of now, you all are considered military personnel. That's because of the recent incident of voidlings and the government are a bunch of incompetent little shits. In other words, they don't have enough personnel." [Mr. Frank]
The students anxiously sneaked glances at their peers. It's not common for people to insult the government outright.
"Ah, where were we? Oh, right. The number displayed on your watch is considered your "points". You can use them to buy a few things from the military store. We actually have one nearby, just search it up." [Mr. Frank]
("Oh, I think I've heard of those.") [Adam]
Military stores were known as economic havens for soldiers. Adam could remember trying to buy something from a local one when he was a child, but was turned down for using the incorrect currency.
"You can buy literally almost anything at the military stores, just put in the order. Then there's also a bunch of random crap that's so useless I won't explain, and you can get more points by completing tasks or killing voidlings. That is all." [Mr. Frank]
Felix raised a hand.
"...What do you want?" [Mr. Frank]
"What about the other functions?" [Felix]
Pointing at the watch, Felix started scrolling through the settings.
"Figure it out yourselves. I have a lot of stuff to do so the next two hours of this class will be free study." [Mr. Frank]
With that, Mr. Frank left.
