Chapter 5: Hayet City

After a few hours, Van eventually cried himself to sleep.When he woke up, he wasn't sure what time it was, but knew it was morning since the sun was up. Seeing the sun in Pibar was strange to Van, but he guessed it was just how things worked there.

Van peeked out his window, noticing that there were still spaceships flying in the sky, and surprisingly, birds were flying around too. Van decided to stop thinking about it, and sat down on his bed, burying his face in his hands and letting out a massive groan.

"This is so fucked…" He mumbled.

Van laid back on the bed, thinking about the system. Thinking back to when he was in the room with The Index, Melissa explained to him how skills worked and how everyone could see his screen, not just him. 

Back on Earth, Van used to read a lot of novels and such, so he could guess how the system would work in the long run. He was most definitely going to get more skills in the future, and considering how important potential and rankings were in Pibar, Van knew he would have to be careful when using his system in public. 

He was sure that when he gets to the academy, many would be competing with each other over talent and skills and such. He also had to remember that since those at the academy came from all kinds of worlds, he had to prepare to meet people who would seem strange to him.

'I just hope I can make friends.' Van thought to himself.

He stayed in bed for a while, looking up at the ceiling, until he heard the doorbell ring.

"Right, Melissa said she was gonna tour me around the city."

Van simply brushed his teeth and splashed some water on his face before going out to meet her. He was still wearing his school uniform from the day before since he didn't get a chance to change into whatever clothes were there. 

Walking towards the front door, Van rubbed a finger over the scar that now bisected his face. Van really hoped being with Melissa this time wouldn't earn him a new scar, especially one as big and noticeable as the current one.

Opening the door, he saw Melissa standing there, looking the exact same as the day before. The first he saw on her face as she glanced at him was an expression of disgust.

"You couldn't even find the time to change into new clothes? And here I thought my expectations for you couldn't drop any lower." 

Van about to rebuke, but then he bit his lip. He was scared that if he insulted her, that the man from yesterday would somehow attack him again, no matter how unlikely that was.

"Just do what you need to do already." He managed to say. 

Melissa harrumphed before turning around and heading towards the elevator, Van following behind. He had his hands balled tightly into fists, and he felt on the verge of tears.

'I'm being bullied again, aren't I…' Van thought miserably. His hesitation to anger Melissa gave him flashbacks to his days on Earth, where he would always cower before Grant.

"Look, all we're doing today is taking you around the city, then tomorrow I'm taking you to the academy to join the other trainees. Remember, while you're a trainee you can't go anywhere without me, which means when you go home from the academy I'll be the one to take you home, too." 

They walked out of the elevator and onto the street, walking in a completely different direction from yesterday. 

"Welcome to Hayet City," Melissa announced, lazily stretching her arms to the sides. "This is the place you'll be spending most of your years as a student in. Any specific sort of place you want to go to?"

Van was silent, taking in the sights around him. The part of the city they were in was bright and colorful despite it being early in the morning, and plenty of neon signs lit up the area. There were also many different passersby around, and Van could see other people that also looked like trainees out with their white-robed guides. 

Before Melissa could ask again, they both heard a loud growl, slowly turning to look at Van's stomach. Melissa sighed.

"Well, I guess that's a good place to start." 

******

The day before, after Melissa dropped off Van at the apartment. Melissa returned to the facility that Van arrived in, going up multiple floors and entering an office. Inside, there was a desk with chairs behind and in front of it, and sitting behind the desk was the man who had given Van his scar, her superior.

"Sir Ian…" Melissa spoke to get his attention.

What happened earlier still vividly replayed itself in her head. The Index glowing red, blaring alarms, her superior, Ian coming all the down there to shut off the machine himself. She was still wondering about the meaning of what he whispered to her.

"He's dangerous. Be careful around him, and report to my office after you drop him off." 

After hearing that, Melissa tried to quickly wrap things up with Van so she could find out what was going on, but then Van tried to grab her, and Ian attacked him. Now, here she was, hoping to get the answers she was looking for.

Ian nodded at Melissa. "Take a seat." He said, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk.

Taking a seat, Melissa waited patiently for Ian to begin. Ian let out a breath, interlocking his fingers on his desk before speaking.

"That boy, Van Brown. I reviewed his file. Just to make sure the information is accurate, I'll double check with you. Van Brown is from Earth, his Transmigration trigger was suicide, and his rank potential was D, is that correct?"

"Yes sir." Melissa confirmed.

"Well, usually that would just make him someone useless, likely to die as soon as he steps into another world, but his origin destination makes things different. Melissa," Ian's hands tightened, his knuckles showing white. "Van's origin destination is a red-grade Haunted World."

Hearing this, Melissa let out a gasp. Worlds were categorized using two different criteria. Its grade, which was described using colors, to show the level of danger, and its genre, which showed what type of world it was.

The colors went from Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Black, with green being the least dangerous and black being the most dangerous. As for the genre, there were many, such as a fantasy world or a cultivation world, but a haunted world was different.

A haunted world contained many incomprehensible horrors, with many unforeseen dangers, and supernatural elements. It was as if someone had taken all the horror movies they could find and put them in one place.

Haunted worlds were so notorious that most haunted worlds had a 20% survival rate for Transmigrators, and those were only the statistics for the GREEN graded haunted worlds. A red grade like Van's only had a 2% survival rate at most. 

"Now you see why I called him dangerous." Ian leaned back in his chair. "Haunted worlds are so mysterious, so rare, that Van might have already been given cursed abilities. In fact, it wouldn't be strange to say that he himself might be cursed. I mean, his medical records alone showed the amount of injuries he has. Who knows the life he lived back on Earth…" 

Finally getting an explanation, Melissa understood why Ian attacked Van the way he did. If he hadn't stopped Van, could something have happened to her?

'No, stop that.' Melissa told herself. 'Focus on the present.'

"Sir, does this mean I'm getting reassigned?" Melissa asked hopefully. Ian looked at her before sighing.

"As much as I would love to get you away from him, I'm afraid we can't do that. It's clear that Van has gotten comfortable with you, suddenly switching guides might aggravate him, since I'm sure he's uncomfortable and confused in this new world. Look, Melissa, just give him a tour of the city tomorrow, keep your distance, and don't spend more time with him than you have to." Ian began to advise Melissa. 

"After you take him to the academy, your interactions with him should be limited to taking him to and from there, nothing more. I'll give special instructions to the academy to ensure they suppress him accordingly, so we won't need to worry about him in the future."

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm sure he'll already be discriminated against by everyone for his poor potential. Is making the academy outright hostile to him really the right option? What if that sets him off?" Mia interjected, a worried look on his face.

"What if we just let him make friends, have a normal academy life-" 

"The whole point is to keep him AWAY from others." Ian cut her off. "We don't yet know his full capabilities. Remember Melissa, a Transmigrator's origin destination is also based on their inner thoughts and the life they've lived. Van has a red-grade haunted world. A world not even Enforcers could easily take on. What do you think that says about him? The way I see it, we have two options here. The first is to quietly let him graduate while keeping him isolated, and the second is to hope he dies somewhere along the way. Now while I won't take any measures to make that happen," 

Ian stood up from his chair, his voice turning cold. "I'm sure as hell hoping the second choice will come true."

Ian began to walk away, turning back to face the stunned Melissa. "Actually, try to get his parents away from him too." 

Finished, Ian left his office, leaving Melissa standing there to process it all.