Bodies

[Pure ceteorin has been successfully extracted and absorbed.]

[You have acquired a new skill.]

[Flame → Level 1]

[Conjure flame.]

[Skill cooldown time: 1 second]

"Lucky One!"

"Lucky One!"

Although, they now knew that his strength didn't exactly stem from luck, it just felt right calling him lucky one.

The crowd cheered as the fume from the once flaming dragon dispelled into thin air.

Jesse left the stage, gaining a new skill did alleviate his stress to a certain level.

He walked past the cheering crowd and left for the dorm where the second fifty rankers lived. Jesse entered the dorm with just a flash of his ranking, even if he hadn't shown his fancy first fifty rank, he'd still be let in due to how popular he had become after the fight with Gary.

He arrived at the ninety-fifth room and knocked on the door.

"What do you want?" The ninety-fifth ranker who had stopped Gilbert from talking to Jesse that day came out.

"Enjoying the second fifty rank, I see." Jesse smiled.

"What the hell do you want?" The ninety-fifth ranker frowned.

"I'm looking for Gilbert." Jesse paused and turned to the opposite door, "The ninety-sixth ranker who lives in that room, you told me he was in three weeks ago."

"Inspect." He thought internally.

[Name: Ric Lycoris]

[Race: Human]

[Status - Awakened]

[Ability - Morph]

[Tier - Basic]

[Level - 4]

"Ric Lycoris, that's a very weird name," Jesse began, he raised his wrist as if looking at some invincible screen on his wristband, "The school does not bother to check the ability level of students during the first year since a lot of them drop out after a while, they do this on the day the students enter their second year."

"..." Ric stared blankly at Jesse as he spoke while his eyes remained on his wristband.

"However, for a student who's at the cusp of basic tier to be in the second fifty ranking, that's even weirder than your name." Jesse scoffed, looking up at the terrified student.

"S-so?" Feigning confidence, Ric gulped but still managed to keep his shaky eyes up.

"Where's Gilbert Brent?"

"I-I don't know." He made to close the door but Jesse placed his leg between the door.

"You didn't hear the new rule? Any student caught using illicit substances should be reported as soon as possible, and with our relationship, I'll hate to be the one to report you," Jesse said, removing his leg from the door, "Where's Gilbert Brent?"

Jesse was already annoyed by the unwilling student, if he could somehow unlock that feature that allowed him to extract memories, how great it'll be. His daily quests gave him only 50 Exps and a few AP points every now and then, hence, he was at a standstill in his growth, only gaining a few skills from extracting pure ceteorin.

"P-please don't tell anyone." Ric shoke his head.

'He could have denied that.' Jesse smirked, he could not prove that the Ric used illicit substances anyway and the school wouldn't just do a blood test because of the testimony of one student, so denying it would have solved the problem, however, common sense was not as common as people thought.

"Tell them what?"

Ric bit his lip in contemplation for a moment before starting, "Gilbert came back home acting strange, he kept muttering strange things and doing strange things, he didn't even know the way to his room, I helped him into his room because he was cold and pale blue, probably sick. Then, the next day-" he paused and drew in a deep breath, "Billy came and took him away." He continued with eyes filled with fear and guilt.

"Where was he taken to?" Jesse asked.

"I don't know, he told me not to tell anyone." Ric said, fiddling with his fingers.

"He told you not to tell anyone? Which means he told you where he was taking Gilbert to."

It meant that Billy wanted Jesse to find him, if not, why take Gilbert so openly and why tell Ric where to find him?

"Why didn't you report this?" Jesse grabbed the slightly opened door, and Ric flinched.

"Ha!" With a frustrated sigh, Jesse asked, "Where is Gilbert? Where's Billy O'Malley? Where are they?!"

"Ah! I-in a cottage in t-the woods! Billy stays there!" Ric tumbled to the ground when Jesse raised his voice. He gave the direction to the cottage with a stuttering voice.

Jesse backed away and left the dorm. The sun was still high up in the sky, hence, he could still venture into the forest. He ran as fast as he could, his feet digging into the ground, leaving dents in their wake.

According to Ric, Gilbert was sick, however, people with abilities do not fall sick that easily. With symptoms like cold pale blue skin, which could possibly be grey, obstructed by Ric's mind, and a dazed mind, forgetfulness - people with abilities turned into infected slower than people without abilities, and all the symptoms pointed to that. How terrible it would be for a fully-turned infected, running amok in the academy filled with first years, newly awakened students.

With this thought, Jesse ran even faster, running past the trees like a blur in time. He soon arrived at the cottage - A small thatch roof cottage, it stood alone in the middle of the woods, surrounded by trees that stood ten feets away from the old dilapated cottage. The cottage was so old that the school had probably forgotten about it.

Jesse walked calmly past the trees. He felt no presence, hence he walked up the moss-covered wooden stairs. As soon as he reached his hand to the doorknob, a heavy stench of rotten flesh hit him, causing his nose to scrunch up in disgust.

Despite the heavy stench, Jesse was now driven by anger that even the system did nothing to quell. He hit the door open and the smell worsened, wafting into his nose. The cottage was lit up by the sunlight from the door and rotten bodies, dangling from the ceiling like meat in a butcher house came into sight.

The bodies were swollen and covered with maggots, but Jesse could recognise their faces from the information he received from Alexander.

He held his breath and walked into the cottage, veins popping out from his fist as he clenched them tightly, digging his nails into his palm.

The bodies were also missing a few parts, riddled with claw and teeth marks. The killer probably had no will to turn them into infected, he just wanted to kill them.

Jesse caught sight of a very familiar body - Gary's body laying at the far back, with his jaw ripped off, Gary who was supposed to be in his home by now.

But Gilbert's body was not found.

The anger pumped back in, greater than any emotion he had felt since he acquired the system. And since the system was not steeling his emotions, the anger mixed with guilt only grew. Maybe, things would have been different if he had accepted the death match that day.

-Ping-

His wristband pinged softly, and a message came in.

"-You have received a message.-"

"-Billy O'Malley: Hey, Jesse, liked my gift?-"

-Ping-

"You have received a death match request-"

-"Ranker One, Billy O'Malley requests a death match with Ranker Twenty, Jesse Louis."-

-"Do you accept this match?"-

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