10 Chapter 10 - A Side Quest?

Zefer arrived at the door of his homeroom. Said door slid open when it detected someone at it as per usual. As it did, everyone looked in his direction. It felt like Dejavu to him, considering this happened yesterday; however, the atmosphere felt different. Not everyone was glaring at him.

Some people seemed afraid of him, and most had confused or curious expressions about him. "Glad of you to return, Zefer. Please take your seat." Ms. Verconica said, and Zefer nodded and returned to his seat. As he passed some people, he overheard murmurs.

"Was he holding back?"

"Do you think he'll beat us up?"

"Should I apologize to him?"

"I wonder where his power came from..."

"Doesn't he look kinda hot?"

"Was he always that cute?"

Zefer ignored the gossip and tapped upon his Bracelet once to open a cybernetic screen. The screen looked like some computer desktop. There were a few apps and folders on display. All of them seemed to be for school work.

Zefer clicked on an app called Valnet, which looked like a world icon with a large V enveloping it. Similar to the old networking icon used way back when. A tab opened on the desktop, which was a browser.

The browser displayed the main page that looked like the school web page with Unified School's header. Zefer navigated to his bookmarks tab and clicked on the folder called Books. An extensive list of links appeared, and Zefer clicked on one that pertained to his academics. The webpage changed and in front of him appeared an article about politics in today's world.

Zefer had yet to notice that Ms. Verconica hadn't even started speaking. She was too shocked to see Zefer was doing something other than putting his head down. Even his peers didn't know what was going on.

Zefer was sitting there with an unamused expression on his face as he looked at the documents before him. Putting what just happened earlier and his new appearance together, many of the students couldn't draw their eyes from Zefer.

Why?

Well, the vibe he was giving off was that of a sophisticated person, someone who didn't have time to spend on the lollygagging of others. It was completely different from the usual Zefer they knew. This caused mixed feelings. Some felt their hearts skip a beat, others began to fear Zefer, and some seemed to be curious. In the end, the Zefer they knew had changed entirely.

"Umm... Ms. Veronica." Someone finally said something. It was Ruth.

Ms. Veronica looked towards him, and her cheeks turned a tinge of pink out of embarrassment. She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "Ahem. Yes! Sorry about that. I was talking about the homework from last night. Some of you have yet to turn it in. I'll give you till tomorrow night, considering the Rank Up test. Any later than I will deduct points from your final grade. Understood?" Ms. Veronica said, and the students nodded.

"Until then, class is dismissed. You are all allowed to do as you please. School has ended for the day as well. So if you want to go to your clubs or head home, even do some shopping, then feel free to do so." Ms. Veronica said, but she stayed behind instead of leaving the class.

She wanted to talk with Zefer. Most of the class decided to leave, but a few remained, Ruth and his gang, Katie, and Alex. Ruth made his way towards Zefer, "Hey Zero." Ruth called out to him. Zefer ignored him and continued to read through the article. It was about something that happened recently. The Government put a new law in place that allowed the enslavement of the other races.

Ruth called out to Zefer once again since Zefer ignored him. "Zero! I am talking to you, trash!" Ruth exclaimed and slammed his hand on Zefer's desk. "You should address him," Ina said, her voice in Zefer's mind. She had gone back into the Rune Stone, so her physical appearance was not seen.

Zefer, honestly, didn't feel like addressing Ruth. The only reason he let Ruth walk all over him was that he had given up. He didn't have the power to do anything, but now? Indeed, he could do something now. Alex and Katie also wanted to approach Zefer.

Their reasons were most likely different from Ruth's, though, so for now, they stood back to see what would happen. Ms. Veronica even stood back. She didn't know what to say or do, and she felt like something terrible would happen if she intervened.

"What?" Zefer said without looking at Ruth. Ruth and his gang were all bewildered now. The tone of voice that Zefer took up with Ruth wasn't normal. No, it felt like Zefer was talking down to Ruth. "You piece of shit, how dare you to talk to Ruth like that!" One of Ruth's friends stepped forward to punch Zefer in the face.

Zefer brought his hand up and caught the fist, then he twisted it and tossed the boy back, which caused him to stumble into several desks and fall onto his rear. "Try that again... I dare you..." Zefer said while eyeing the boy, a neon flare in his unique eye.

[Intimidation Successful!]

[Fear has been planted in Boy A.]

The boy on the ground shook with Fear as if he saw a demon or something. "You bastard!" Ruth shouted and tried to punch Zefer square in the face. Zefer leaned back to avoid the fist. He would catch the wrist as it flew past him then hold it in place. Using his free hand, he slammed the palm of his hand against Ruth's elbow point.

This motion caused the elbow to bend upward and the bones to crack along with a loud screaming pain. Since Zefer let go of his wrist, Ruth stepped back and gritted his teeth with tears whelming in his eyes. His arm was bent in an odd position as if it shouldn't have been able to bend like that.

Zefer stood up and looked at Ruth with an apathetic expression. "You can beat people to near death, but the moment someone breaks your bones, you cry like a little bitch... Pathetic." Zefer said with a sigh and shook his head in disgust.

Ms. Veronica wanted to step in now. She feared this would escalate too fast, but the truth was it wasn't escalating fast enough. Zefer could have done a lot more to Ruth and the other boy, but he held back. There wasn't an ounce of fear in his eyes. He knew he was strong enough to hurt both the boy and Ruth.

Why? Because he had fought against Ruth and his gang before. Albeit his combat knowledge and martial talent were sloppy, he still put up a fight, even if it wasn't a decent one. The only one he figured he would have problems with right now was Alex, but Alex wasn't making his move.

"Bastard!" Another student shouted and tossed out a small ball of earth at him. Zefer rose his hand, a dark purple and neon blue energy starting to form around his hand. He caught the ball of dirt and crushed it into dust, then let the dust fall to the ground.

"That it?" Zefer asked while looking towards the boy, still holding an unamused expression on his features.

[Quest: Defeat Ruth and his gang.]

-Students: 1/4

Reward: 5 Coins

Zefer's brow rose at the sudden message before him. He was surprised to receive something like this. Although, this was now the time to see if anyone else could see the message. He looked around the room, and it seemed like no one had reacted to it. "I guess they can't see it." Zefer thought to himself. "But, I guess that system thinks these four are trash considering they are only worth 5 Coins," Zefer added.

Zefer kicked off his feet without hesitation and dashed towards the student who threw the earth ball. His speed wasn't normal for an average human his age, so he appeared overwhelmingly fast. "Such Speed," Katie said. "Was he always this fast?" Alex muttered as he narrowed his eyes to focus on Zefer. "Zefer..." Ms. Veronica thought as she clutched her hands to her chest out of fear and worried about what she saw earlier.

She didn't understand what was going on. Zefer, who lacked a Mana Pool or Martial Talent, moved as fast as Alex. Alex was their fastest student out of all the first-years. He was nicknamed the Speedster because of it, yet Zefer was showing speed comparable to Alex's.

Zefer took hold of the student by the neck with his Rune Enhanced hand and slammed him to the ground. The force caused the student to smash the back of his head against the ground knocking him out.

The shockwave from the force pushed desks and chairs aside and kicked up Katie's skirt giving any who saw an eyeful of crimson laced fabric. However, she quickly put her skirt down to hide her undergarments, hoping no one noticed. Truthfully, no one did since everyone had their attention on Zefer.

The quest is updated.

[2/4]

Zefer moved towards the other smaller fry with a pivot of his heel. He leaped off the ground and slammed his knee into the student's chin which caused the student to collapse. Be it the force from the knee strike or the fact the boy smashed his head against the ground, he was out cold.

The quest was updated again.

[3/4]

Zefer landed and looked towards Ruth with an apathetic look in his eyes. "All that is left is you. Let's see what you got." Zefer said while turning towards Ruth fully since Zefer had shown his back to Ruth.

Ruth was enraged. He couldn't react to Zefer's sudden movements because he was too busy wondering why or how Zefer became this strong. Although, that question didn't matter anymore since Zefer had taken out all of his friends. "I'll kill you!" Ruth shouted and used his only available arm to toss out several wind blades.

The wind blades were a Tier 4 Spell type for Wind users. They were as sharp as a trusty sword and decently fast. Zefer could see the outline of the attack thanks to his Runic Eye; however, he couldn't dodge. It wasn't because he was unable it. It was because he didn't want to.

Standing behind him was Ms. Veronica, and for whatever reason, he didn't want her to get hit by this attack. "Move, Master!" Ina shouted, but Zefer refused. Instead, he brought his Enhanced Runic arm in front of him with the palm open. A massive bullet of dark purple and neon blue energy fired from his palm.

[Runic Bolt Learned!]

The bullet took out all of the wind blades and smashed right into Ruth. A large explosion caused Kaite to scream and shield herself. Once more, her skirt kicked up, but she was too busy hiding her face to hide her crimson-laced undergarments. Meanwhile, Alex turned slightly away to avoid the splash damage. Doing so gave him an eyeful of Katie's underwear which caused his cheeks to turn red before he closed his eyes tightly to avoid staring too much.

When the mist cleared out, Ruth could be seen implanted in the wall behind him, and a scorch mark was around the ground where the explosion went off along with severe burns on Ruth.

"Master, when did you learn to do that?" Ina asked. She was surprised since most Rune Warriors didn't know how to use their Runic Energy quickly. It took time, and they needed to cultivate the energy from the Rune Stone before being capable of doing such things.

"I just mimicked what Alex did during one of his battles. A massive fireball. I know the principle behind the Spell since I studied up on all the basic magic Spells and how to use them." Zefer answered in his mind.

[Quest: Defeat Ruth and his gang completed!]

[5 Coins have been credited to you.]

[Collective earned exp: 8]

[Exp till next level: 2]

[10+ Shop Points]

[New Side Quest received: Reach Level 5]

-Reward: Unlock Shop

The system displayed several messages in front of Zefer, all of which he looked over. "Quest Shop?" He thought, but someone called out to him before he could go further into thought. "Zefer!"