Accident

Buzz!

A buzzing sound sounded through the fifteenth floor.

"AGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Seconds after, a scream of agony erupted.

"ALDEN!" Neo screamed.

Alden's left hand was bloody. No, there was a hole in his left palm. He has accidentally fired off the beast gun.

Clang! 

He fell to the ground, dropping the beast gun in the process.

"TEACHER!" Neo screamed at the top of his lungs. "Hurry up! Come here quickly!"

Elttil, being a researcher and experienced beast tamer, knew what was the buzzing sound. And coupled with Neo's screams. He had a picture of what had happened.

Swoosh!

He instantly appeared before Alden. "What have you done?" Holding his head with his hands, he questioned. Previously, he felt tired and sleepy, but now, he was fully awake.

"Teacher, help me!" Alden begged with tears. He was in immense pain and was quickly losing blood.

The other students quickly surrounded them.

"KYAAAAA!"

"Blougghh!"

However, they were just first-year students. Seeing Alden's bloody mess of a palm, they could not hold it in. The girls screamed in panic while some of the boys even vomited.

"Teacher, please call teacher Linda!" Alden screamed. "She can heal me!"

"Right!" Elttil did not waste time. With a lightning-fast speed, he instantly appeared at the elevators. He entered and was on his way to the eleventh floor.

"Classmates, help me!" Alden screamed in pain.

The students, in panic because Elttil left, now panicked even more after Alden requested their help.

"Help me!" Alden tried to walk toward them.

"I can't!" A student screamed and ran off to an elevator.

To the other students, this was a solution. They all abandoned Alden and ran to the elevators. In a panic, they stuffed in the elevators, more than allowed, and all went down.

The only ones remaining on the floor were Chloe, Carol, Alden, Owen, and Neo.

"Alden, don't move!" Neo shouted. He ripped a part of his uniform and tied it around Alden's wrist. Using all his strength as a 1-star warrior realm, Neo tightened the piece of uniform on Alden's wrist, hoping to stop the blood flow and the bleeding. He partially succeeded, and the bleeding decreased by a lot.

"Chloe, let's get out of here," Carol said. He tried to grab her hand and lead her toward the elevators.

But when he tried to grab her hand, Chloe slapped it away. "Don't touch me." She said coldly. "Without my permission, If you try to touch me again, I will kill you."

A chill ran down Carol's spine. He did not know why, but he felt she spoke the truth and did not exaggerate.

He did not want to stay here and look at Alden's bloody palm, so he ran to the elevators and went down. 

"Neo, Owen, please, get out of here!" Alden begged.

"Alden, what are you talking about?" Neo looked at Alden in disbelief. He could not believe what he just heard. "How can we leave you?"

"N-Neo, is right." The quiet Owen spoke. Though, he was trembling in fear. He had no clue what to do in this situation.

"Please, I am begging you, leave. Trust me!" Alden did not back down.

Neo stared for a few seconds into Alden's eyes.

Alden did not break eye contact.

"Are you sure?!" Neo questioned, still without breaking the eye contact.

"Trust me." Alden nodded.

"Owen, let's go." Alden raised.

"B-But..."

"No buts! We must trust Alden." Neo roared. "We need to get out of here quickly."

"W-What a-about her?" Owen looked at Chloe.

Neo threw a fierce glance at her and left toward the elevators, dragging Owen with him.

"I trust Alden would be able to take care of this," Neo said as he entered the elevator and chose the tenth floor. The door closed, and they left, leaving only Alden and Chloe on the fifteenth floor.

"Please, lea..."

"No!"

Before Alden could finish, Chloe had already given him her reply.

"Why?!" Alden could not help but ask. "You gain nothing from staying here. Please leave. I am begging you." Alden went as far as to touch the ground with his forehead, kowtowing to her.

"I saw what you did," Chloe spoke, her expression serious. "You fired the beast gun at your own hand."

Alden froze. "I-I don't know what you are talking about."

"Why did you do that?" Chloe stared directly into Alden's eyes

"Please leave!" Alden begged once again.

"No, I will not leave." She said firmly. "I want to know your reason why you did this."

Alden's heart raced, and with every passing second, he became more anxious. He knew he did not have much time left, and looking at Chloe, he could tell she would not leave without getting an answer. 

Alden gritted his teeth. "I don't have time. I will think about the consequences later." He muttered as he untied the piece of uniform Neo tied around his wrist.

The blood coming off the hole in his palm intensified. "System, the egg."

A seven-colored portal opened in the air, and the seven-colored scaly-egg fell out of it.

The moment the egg touched the blood on the ground, it shone in seven colored light. Alden placed his bleeding palm on the egg to fasten the blood absorption.

Soon, a blinding seven-colored light illuminated the fifteenth floor as the beast egg absorbed the blood from the floor and the blood from Alden's palm.

"W-what are you doing?" Chloe questioned in shock. "What is happening." She covered her eyes.

'Hurry up, hurry up!' Alden screamed internally.

[Ding]

Alden finally received the system notification he had been waiting for.

[You fed the beast egg 1 liter of blood]

[Hatching increased by 49%]

[Hatching at 99%]

[Form a soul contract to complete the hatching]

"Great!" Alden, even though in pain, managed to put on a smile. 'System, hurry up and return the egg to the mental world.'

The seven-colored light illuminating the floor dimmed and disappeared. Then, the seven-colored portal opened once again and sucked the beast egg back in.

Alden sat on the ground and looked around. The beast egg has sucked up the blood which was previously on the ground.

'This is bad.' He thought. 'If the teachers come, they would find it strange to see no blood on the floor.'

Still bleeding, Alden tried to splash blood around as much as he could. Yes, it hurt, hurt like hell, but he could only grit his teeth.

He felt a bit dizzy, and his legs felt weak because of the blood loss, but he continued splashing blood around himself till it looked like he had lost a lot of blood, which was the case.

"Where did you get that egg?!"

He heard Chloe's voice. He has been so immersed in making his surroundings bloody that he forgot about Chloe for a second.

He turned toward her, but when he saw her, he felt a chill.

"Where did you get that egg?" She repeated her question. A strange, cold white light shone in her eyes, giving Alden chills.

Step!

She took a step forward.

A bad feeling suddenly arose in Alden's heart.

"Alden, child!"

Luckily for Alden, the elevator arrived on the fifteenth floor, and Linda and Elttil came out.

"Alden, child!" Linda shouted once again. She instantly appeared before Alden, so fast that Alden did not even see her move.

On her face, there was not even a hint of her usual stern expression. She was worried.

"Wooden Slug, come out." The green portal appeared beside Linda, and the green slug came out. "Heal him."

Alden placed his injured palm on the ground, and the wooden slug slid to it and stood on his hand.

The green light appeared again, and the wound started healing.

"Alden, what did you do?" Linda asked worriedly. "How did this happen?"

"Teacher, it was an accident," Alden spoke through gritted teeth. He secretly threw a glance at Chloe, but he saw her walk to the elevators, which made him sigh in relief. If teacher Linda had not arrived, he was not sure what could have happened, what Chloe would have done to him.

However, as he sighed in relief, his eyes fell on Elttil, who stared at him. Elttil's expression was dark, and he stared at Alden with murderous eyes.

'He must hate me really much.' Alden thought. 'He would probably get in a lot of trouble because of this.'

"How can this be an accident?" Linda questioned with a hint of anger and worry in her voice. "What did you even think?"

"I-I thought the gun did not have any bullets."

"You thought?" Linda stood up. "And what were you doing?" She turned to Elttil. "As a teacher, should you not look after your students?"

"I, I..." Elttil did not know how to reply. If he had paid attention and not let the students freely roam around, this would not have happened.

"What you? Just wait. I will report this." Linda threatened.

Elttil just lowered his head and listened to the angry Linda yell him off.

While Linda yelled at Elttil, Alden used Inspect on the green slug.

[Name: Green Slug]

[Species:???]

[Growth Stage: ???] 

[Realm:???]

[Element:???]

'Question marks again, huh?' Alden could not help but feel a little regretful because he could not see the status of the green slug.

'Inspect!' He used Inspect on Linda though he knew her status window would most likely be question marks.

[Name: Linda Johnson]

[Realm:???]

[Beast Pet: ???]

[Element:???]

'As expected.' Alden smiled bitterly. 'But there is an element tab on Teacher Linda's status window. This means those who can control an element would have an element tab on their status window.'

While Alden examined Linda's status window, the green slug had finished healing his palm.

"Alden, let's go!"