I Can’t Seem to Escape Bullies

Chapter 29 - I Can't Seem to Escape Bullies

Five minutes later, Carn found the office on his own. Upon entering the office, he found many teachers preparing for the morning class. 

Seeing Carn, one of the female teachers asked him, "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm supposed to be a transfer student for the special class. This is my first day here."

"Which grade are you?"

"10th."

"I see. Wait here. I'll get your homeroom teacher."

The teacher left the room. Carn stood idly in the office, watching the people preparing their class lessons, entering the office, or leaving. 

But just as Carn was enjoying the tranquil environment of a peaceful sanctuary called school, a thick crimson haze crept into the room. Sensing the chilly air, Carn turned his head toward the office's entrance. 

A man strolled into the room, carrying a side sling bag. In formal attire, a yellow shirt and black pants, the man brightly smiled and greeted Carn. 

"Hello there. We meet again." Barney laughed and greeted Carn. 

Carn raised an eyebrow, giving Barney a wry smile. He didn't know if this was fate. But one thing was certain, this would make his hunt a lot easier. 

"Hello, sir. You indeed work here."

"Of course. I'm in charge of the 10th grade's special class also. Who could have thought that you're also an explorer candidate? Which organization are you applying to? The army? Marine? ECD?"

"ECD, sir."

"Amazing! That place rarely accepts applications though. Your mana condensation must be high."

"Sir," Both shook hands. Carn tested the water, "How do you know so much? Do you also have mana?"

"Not really, but I own something special."

Barney grinned and unbuttoned his bag, revealing a glowing red gemstone inside. He tapped it and bragged about his precious life-saving gem.

"This is something the ECD got from the rifts. Do you know what it is?"

Carn widened his eyes in astonishment. He was aware of this object.

The red gemstone was a common monster beast's core, which every beast in his previous world cultivated in their bellies. Those monsters consumed animal flesh and vegetation to absorb natural Aether, collected in their cores. Heroes and priests from the other world utilized these as batteries for their magic tools or converted them into weapons or armor. 

However, nobody could consume or use it directly because of their dire side effects. These monster cores contained the remnant wills of the dead monster beasts. Those who tried to consume monster cores directly all transformed into the former owner of the gemstone within 24 hours. 

But this man, Barney, seemed healthy. His skeleton frame, blood, and muscular system remained the same as a regular human. It seemed that he hadn't used it yet or he was simply carrying it around.

'What's going on here? Has Earth's technologies evolved so much that they can remove the side effects? Or rather… They don't know anything?'

Carn let out a heavy sigh as he threw away his ego and the mindset of a demon general, ready to accept new reality, culture, and knowledge. 

"I don't know, sir. This is the first time I see it." Carn feigned ignorance. 

Barney explained and winked, "This is called Mana Gem. It enables regular people like me to use mana and superpower. Soon, you might need to augment one or more of your body parts to grow stronger."

Carn gave Barney a meaningful look, "I thought God forbade body modifications."

"This is 2019. That old belief has obsolete, Carn. Now, let's go to your new class. The others must have been waiting."

"…"

Carn stopped asking. Whatever Barney had been doing, Carn wanted to know more about whatever he was planning to do to that monster core and why he consumed humans. 

.

.

They entered an elevator and arrived on the seventh floor. Barney led Carn to the only classroom on this floor, just 50 meters down the hall. 

When they reached the classroom, they saw two male students loitering outside. As soon as they noticed Barney, they dashed back inside. 

Carn followed Barney into the room, finding only three male students present. They wore casual clothes, typical of high school attire in the United States, but each had a red gemstone-studded cane hanging beside their seats. 

The wands and canes looked like something straight out of a video game or fantasy novel. The sight of the magic canes and wands reminded Carn of the mages in his former world.

In that world, human mages were powerful enough to condense Aether into magic crystals. They then entrusted the crystals to their top blacksmiths to combine monster cores and magic crystals together. 

After smelting both items, a new magical resource, the "Purified Aether Ingot," was created, which was a vital asset for heroes, soldiers, mages, and fighters to grow stronger.

But here, the gemstones on the canes were polished monster cores, which were defective on their own. Looking at the inferior products, Carn was disappointed by the limitations of this world's technology.

Barney took his place at the front of the room and announced, "Good morning, candidates. We have a new student joining us today. Carn, please introduce yourself."

Carn glanced around the room, noting something peculiar. 

All the students were huge! For a moment, he felt like he had stumbled into a Japanese sumo club.

Two students smirked, and one of them, who had been outside earlier, snickered as he eyed Carn's smaller frame with mockery. 

Hammer was a muscular kid built like a contestant from a strongman competition. With his shaved head and full beard, he looked more like a 30-year-old man than a high schooler.

"Hey, shrimp! What are you, North Korea's lost kid? You look like you haven't had a real meal since birth. Shouldn't you be in elementary school? This is high-school! Go home and suck your mana's tits and come back when you grow bigger!" taunted the first student, Hammer. 

The second student with a red shirt and exposed bloated belly added fuel to the fire, "Nah, dude, he ain't sucking his mama's tits. I bet he can't catch his neighbor's dogs this morning. That's why he didn't have breakfast."

Barney shot them a disdainful glare, clearly offended by the racial comments. "That's enough, Hammer, Chuck. That's racism."

Chuck, the red-shirted student, just shrugged and gave Barney a smug look, feigning innocence. 

Meanwhile, Hammer crossed his thick muscular arms and smirked. His eyes scanned Carn's simple clothing and the lack of visible magic artifacts. Seeing how unprepared Carn was, he smacked his lips before continuing his mockery.

"We're just concerned, Barney. Look at him. He doesn't even have a basic magic wand. How is he supposed to train? What is his superpower? Bending over and spreading his asshole?" 

Chuck laughed until he wheezed, finding the sarcasm hilarious. Hammer also chuckled, feeling good about the remarks. 

Carn raised an eyebrow, finding these obnoxious kids amusing. Though they were not as overbearing as Jack, these kids seemed to overestimate their social status or never attended a regular high school. 

As Carn didn't plan on making friends here, he decided to taunt them and escalate the situation a bit. With a little more chaos, he might be able to attract all eyes from Barney and open new opportunities. 

"I'm Carn. F-ck you very much for such an unwelcoming greetings, and please stop jacking off to your gay f-ck buddies, you type-two diabetes short-dick cooming virgins. You can shove those wands up your asses in case you're too thirsty for some thick black dicks." 

Finished taunting, he ended the introduction and walked over to an empty seat at the back. 

Chuck, enraged by the provocation, slammed his desk and stood up, blocking Carn's path, "Stop right there, you little shit-"

Carn silently shoved the large man aside. Chuck sensed tremendous force behind the little body of Carn and fell backward, collapsing on his butt and knocking his chair over. 

Hammer also stood up to block Carn, towering over him. Upon standing up, he revealed his true height of 6'7", which was too big for a 16-year-old teenager. 

Facing the giant, Carn looked up.

"Could you please f-ck off?"

Hammer smirked and attempted to shove Carn backward. But upon touching Carn, he felt like he was pushing an immovable rock. He ended up stepping backward. 

Meanwhile, Carn raised his hand and pushed back. Hammer retaliated, bending his knees to balance his stance, and throwing a punch at Carn's face. 

"STOP!" Barney shouted. 

Carn's eyes followed Hammer's fist as it swung toward him, only for it to stop just shy of his face. Mistaking Carn's calm reaction for fear, Hammer sneered and opened his hand, giving Carn two light, mocking tapped on Carn's cheek.

"See you after class, shrimp."

Hammer retreated back to his seat. After walking past Carn, he turned around and spat, leaving sticky saliva on Carn's hair. Then, he laughed, celebrating his temporary victory.

Carn snorted and shook his head. 

It seemed that he might have to teach some brats a lesson before he could make a move on Barney.

With that, his new school life started.