Middle schoolers are hopeless when it comes to life's problems. One day, James finds himself logging onto a virtual game to escape the feelings of guilt for his school crush, and with that comes getting stuck in a world of fantasy.

Dracula was on the couch in the living room seated as Alexander was sitting in another chair looking at the same schedule that Dracula was looking at on his phone,
Dracula looked up from his phone, "So we have early morning workouts, then we have the official practices?" and Alexander nodded, "Seems so, I'm guessing we have some type of conditioning, a fun type of thing. Then we get into the actual two-days later in the evening" and Dracula nodded and they both went back to their phones.
Dracula looked at the time and looked at Alexander, "Let's go get those supplies that we wanted for football," and Alexander nodded agreeing wholeheartedly, "I'm never wearing that mouthpiece ever again" and Dracula agreed with him on that as he got up and moved out of the house,
Dracula and Alexander then went to the Nike Store by the Mall and grabbed cleats, gloves, arm bands, head-bands for Alexander, and overall things that you'd need for Football and left with several bags and several females trailing behind them but they quickly lost them.
They also decided to visit the school's spirit shop to buy more clothes, and even some for football, God knows they weren't coming to practice smelling like shit.
Once they got home they threw the bags on the counter and just left them there for when they had to wake up at 6 AM in the morning on a Thursday night, for conditioning before school, then actual practice afterwards.
Dracula went to his bedroom while Alexander just found any room and slept in it, to say Dracula's mansion is huge… means that it's freaking huge.
----
*Beep*…*Beep*…*Beep*
Dracula groaned and smashed the alarm through the desk and into the ground as he got up and sighed, he willed his phone into his hands and looked at the time, 5:29
Dracula got up from his bed and looked down and saw that he wasn't wearing anything except SpongeBob undershorts and groaned, apparently you could wear anything you want to conditioning so Dracula went to his closet, grabbed one of his short football shorts, of which once again revealed his legs, white socks, a tight white t-shirt, and some Nike Running shoes,
He wore the cross around his neck, and went to the restroom to wash himself up as he heard another water running in the house knowing it was Alexander.
He brushed his pearly white fangs and teeth and smiled in the mirror,
Once he got done he teleported into the kitchen and made himself some food while Alexander came shortly behind him yawning, "Morning dad" and Dracula nodded at him, "What's for breakfast" and Dracula looked back at him as he was cooking it, "Eggs, Bacon and Toast" and Alexander looked at him as he sat on a stool and smiled as he looked at his phone then at Dracula, "All of those years holed in here, you became a better cooker?" and Dracula nodded as he smiled, "Had to," and Alexander nodded, "So, how did you get the food though I'm genuinely curious" and Dracula shrugged not intending to answer and Alexander rose his brow and looked at his phone as it said 5:45.
Dracula quickly finished, threw the food on the plate, gave one to Alexander then went into refrigerator and threw some drinks at Alexander, and grabbed one for himself as they were out the door and into the car as they drove to school but saw not a lot of people there in the parking lot. So they quickly finished the food and got out with their bags, apparently after conditioning they were going to shower then head up to their classes.
They had some fun events after they do drills apparently they play basketball with designated teams, though Dracula and Alexander had to make up their own teams by themselves because of course, they have no one.
They entered into the building with their cards given to them by the school and went down into the locker room as they saw a bunch of seventh graders, eight, freshman, and sophomores as he nodded to the little kids and went to were the Seniors and Juniors were.
Dracula and Alexander walked into a separate room were everyone was chilling, and rap music was playing and Dracula nodded, he's actually started getting into this music because he always hears it recently. Dracula nodded at the people in the room as they nodded back with mutual respect and a little admiration.
Dracula and Alexander found their own lockers and stuffed their bags on top of them and simply sat in the locker and sat on their phone waiting for the rest of everyone to arrive before they run up and go to the gym to do conditioning.
As Dracula and Alexander were sitting down, they saw Derrick walk in as he was laughing with some people near him. Derrick walked over to Dracula and cupped hands with him and Alexander as he smiled, "What's up guys ready for your first conditioning practice?" he said with a grin and Dracula nodded, "Of course I am," and Derrick nodded as he looked at Alexander then back to Dracula, "But I'm pretty fucking sure this would be lightwork for you." he said chuckling, and Dracula grinned a little.
Derrick went over to the group of boys and grabbed Aux and started playing his own songs as everyone was just chilling, stretching and laughing while the middle schoolers were questioning the younger freshman and sophomores about who Dracula and Alexander was and they were amazed at what they were told about how they were most likely to be the most recent 5-Stars for their school and All-American Talent. Some middle schoolers didn't believe it, they were the see-to-believe type and wouldn't trust anything they said until they saw it for themselves, but it was obvious that everyone on the team would be looking at Dracula and Alexander during conditioning.
"Alright boys let's go!" one of the seniors said and everyone got out of their seats and Dracula and Alexander followed as they got up and went with the rest of the high schoolers, while they were going up the stairs into the gym he saw that the middle schoolers were staring at him very hard. He wasn't physically turned around but he can surely sense it,
Once they got in the gym they got in their Captain's lines as he was behind Derrick following Alexander on his left. They then did their chant before doing jumping jacks then doing all of their stretches.
They then did some extra workouts given by the coach which was light work for Dracula and Alexander but maybe not so easy for others. The coach then came up while everyone was on the ground and started talking about future events and camps that's going to have after 2-Days, then he talked about their schedule for the teams they're going against future teams, whether it was their rivals or some Private-Schools that can compete D1. They even are going against some teams in Florida, of which are renowned for their Football teams.
The Coach then proceeded to talk about their two new recruits, and bragged about them of which brought upon a smile on Derrick's face, while some of the other ones just sighed.
Once the Coach finished talking he sent people to certain drills, the Hop-Overs with bags, 4-Cones, 3 Cones, and then a special drill given by whatever the coach is feeling.
Derrick's squad got sent to hop-overs, while some of the other captains had to join the other's squad.
Coach Harold had a timer in his hands, "Alright one of you step up! You already know the drill, back pedal,  sprint, side shuffle, sprint!" and Derrick stepped up and nodded at coach, "Go!"
Derrick hurriedly back pedaled turn a little bit before he reached the cone and started sprinting before he started side shuffling and sprinted all the way through and the coach yelled, "5:60… damn boy!" Coach Harold said as he whistled, "That's our four star right there!" one of the other juniors yelled out.
Some of the middle schoolers who were in Derricks, Dracula's, and Alexanders groups shrugged as it was a regular occurrence, albeit a bit faster than usual.
Eventually all of the seniors went, the middle schoolers and the rest of the high schoolers but Derrick made Dracula and Alexander go to the back, saying and I quote, "Saving the best for the last"
Dracula went up on the line and Coach Harold had his hopes up high, he already knew whatever time he was going to get would be phenomenal and he was ready as his eyes were wide open.
Since most of other groups were finished at their drills they also looked on, as the Middle Schoolers especially were curious as to what the hype was all about.
Dracula who watched everyone go before him now knew what to do in the drill and got ready to go,
"Set!" and a silence proceeded to happen before, "Go!" and a screech was heard as Dracula blasted off the line as he already reached the first cone and sprinted and then side shuffled and sprinted all the way through as Dracula was still running he slowly stopped.
Everyone went from Dracula with wide eyes before looking at Coach Harold who's hand was shaking from what he was looking at, "2-2:09" and there were gasps all across the room as even some of the middle schoolers were surprised like crazy, wasn't that faster than any professional football player they had ever heard.
Coach Harold quickly got his bearings as he grinned and Alexander was up as he had his hair in a bun again, "Go!"
Alexander did the same process as Dracula as he came speeding by Dracula before he stopped, "3:05: and Alexander muttered damn under his breath but of course Dracula heard it and grinned.
While Dracula and Alexander were grinning at each other, Derrick was doing the same, but the others? It was safe to say that everyone was amazed, and that placed their respect at an even higher pedestal. Coach Harold? He was struggling and trying to refrain from shouting and cheering, he hit the gold mine! He's gotten another high star recruit on his team,
"N-next drill move!" and everyone moved to their next drill's of which Dracula and Alexander did a phenomenal job at each drill and then they ended up to the special coaches drill.
The Coach already had cones set up, "Bear Crawl to the cones, sprint back 3 times!" and whimpers could be heard all throughout the group, but of course none of the juniors or seniors made a sound as they were used to it, and Dracula and Alexander just simply wasn't fazed,
Dracula watched as the first group of captains went before it was their turn and they got a rough example of what to do and Dracula grinned as he looked at Alexander behind him, "I'm in my natural habitat, I love to hunt" before he got on all fours, a stance much different from other bear crawls and as soon as Derrick passed him he went and crawled as if he was an actual damned bear curved around the cone and sprinted all the way through unfazed and looked at the rest of the guys who were in his group to go as they were still just barely pass the starting line,
Once Dracula passed Alexander, Alexander flew also at fast speeds and sprinted back, it was safe to say their group annihilated any other. And Dracula and Alexander carried… hard,
The whistle blew and Coach told them to sit their asses down, so Dracula and Alexander went to go sit on the bags while Derrick followed them as he whispered to Derrick did his back hurt and Dracula chuckled.
They saw a bag and went towards it before a group of freshman went and sat on it and Dracula rose his brow as he kept walking over there and just stared down the group of freshman, "You saw me heading here to sit down yet you came and stole the bag… why?" and one of the freshman rose his brow, "First come… first served", and Dracula nodded, "I'll see you on scout" and the boys face paled as he quickly got up along with the others, "J-just take it I don't need it I'll sit on the floor I'm fine" and Dracula shook his head, "No it's fine keep it, we'll go sit somewhere else," and one of the sophomores who saw the encounter simply chuckled and shook his head before looking at the coach,
Dracula and the rest of the squad simply sat down somewhere while the coach had a clipboard in his hands, and another coach had basketball's in his hands, "Team 3 vs. Team 5 on that side" Coach Harold yelled out as he pointed to the court opposite of him, "Team 1 vs Team 9 over there" and pointed in front of him and 4 groups of people came out and got on the court, one of the teams on the court had to take off their shirt so they did.
They played a game of basketball as Dracula and Alexander looked closely at their movements while Derrick was just watching for entertainment. Then of course a couple more games went on before it was Dracula's squad as Coach Harold yelled out the two best teams, one of which was of course the best team with the best record. And the other with well technically two 5 stars.
"Dracula, Alexander, and Derrick Vs. Team 7!" Coach Harold yelled out and pointed to the court in front of him as Dracula looked at Derrick with a questionable gaze, "What? I left my team because I want to join the team that's going to win" and Alexander chuckled at his lack of care to the things he just said.
Dracula's squad took off their shirts of which of course the middle schoolers and a couple of high-schoolers who didn't see were surprised, while the other team just simply gazed at them then got ready to play. It seemed there were 2 Seniors on the team one of which was a captain, 2 juniors and 1 freshman.
The reason why they were mostly successful was either they had former basketball experience, or just the fact that they don't only workout at school but at organizations that they payed for so of course their extremely fit to play both sides of the ball.
The Coach looked at the difference in size and gave Dracula the ball first, Team-7 of course played a 2-3 Front with the 2 Seniors up front.
Dracula casually walked up from the other side of the court and as he was nearing the half-court he saw the other senior standing by the 3-Point line nowhere near him so he shot the half-court shot and drained the three. There was a silence before an uproar of cheers were heard from the sidelines as some of them were yelling various things like, "In your mouth!, Hands down man down, Guard up sped, That's our five star!" and the crowd was lit.
One of the coaches whistled at the shot, Alexander and Derrick quickly got down court as they slapped Dracula's hands with a grin and Dracula could say he's thoroughly enjoying his "high school" experience, though mostly because of sports probably.
With the 5 people on the other team coming up court Dracula's squad quickly formed a type of triangle formation.
The slim junior came up with the ball and tried to hesi then hit a crossover but Dracula quickly stole the ball at intense speeds and ran down the court with the Junior confused and felt a woosh next to him as Alexander came running at intense speeds behind him, "Alley!" Alexander screamed out and the crowd started to get more excited as Dracula threw the ball against the glass and Alexander jumped and one-handed slammed it into the rim with a ferocious dunk as the crowd got even more turnt after that as they were jumping in the air, one of them acted like they passed out, even the middle schoolers were screaming in excitement at the game that was playing out.
The ball went through the net and bounced on the floor as Alexander grabbed the ball, acted like he had a pen and "wrote" on the ball and gave it to the Freshman who was already down court before grinning and running back down the court as the sidelines almost fainted at the disrespect that was being showcased in front of them.
The Freshman who saw a chance quickly ran past Alexander and Dracula as they were jogging back to their side and saw Derrick in the corner guarding the senior and went for the easy layup, though when he looked at Derrick he saw that Derrick didn't make a move and simply looked behind him and when he put up the layup all he heard was a gasp from one of the people in the crowd as Dracula chased down the kid and slapped the living shit out of the ball as it slapped the backboard bouncing off of it and it got sent down court as Alexander who was already there quickly signaled to Dracula to get down there and Dracula who was still in the air twisted and once he landed blasted off towards the hoop,
Alexander quickly passed the ball to Dracula once he got past the half court line and the crowd was anticipating it this time as he saw one of the kids about to jump,
Dracula got to the free throw line and jumped and twisted in the air as he slammed it through and all he heard was the crowd roaring and one of the kids yelling "Hey!!!"
And the game went on as it was a complete… and utter, blowout. In a span of a five-minute game, the score was 54-0.
As the games were over the Coach simply said the shower order and the Juniors were up first as Dracula and Alexander went through the door first with the juniors and Derrick behind him following.
They went back into their little room, went in their bags and grabbed the towels as they went into the showers as Coach Harold was taking attendance to who is there and who isn't.
Once they showered, they came out and got dressed for school.

Keeping it real with you guys, this is something purely for my entertainment and out of all of the books that I've written and of course that you haven't seen, I feel like this has the most potential. With a ton of ideas, and a lot of things to do. Implement Dracula and his servants in a TVD type of Environment and what do you get? Read and see.

Possible Multiversal Travel, and Omniversal Travel. Forewarning, it might be cringe a little, this is of course R-18, and this is of course Dracula so don't expect good things all the time. But he is different from the stereotypical Dracula.

"Go get reinforcements from the high school section Rika," Luke got ready to summon his sword.
 
I nodded my head as I ended the call to sneak into the high school grounds. It would be easier this time since Oili was waiting for me on the other side. Oili paced back and forth before he waved for me to come inside. I came into the created hole with his access pass making ripples separating the two spaces. There was no need for me to use my mana like last time to meet Jules for a Lilika Yuri fan meeting.
 
"What's your plan?" he helped me up.
 
"To gather as many high schoolers as possible to help fortify the barrier," I dusted off the snow on my coat.
 
"What do high schoolers usually do during this time anyways?" I wondered.
 
"Most are in their dorm, resting before they go to another intense round of classes or sent off to another mission," Oili recalled from the top of his head.
 
Did I really want to call Lucius for help on recruiting more people? He probably arrived at school an hour earlier than us at most. He would definitely remember me pushing him inside the gate out of anger. Although, Belle would be more forgiving.
 
I sighed before calling his number, I really didn't want to call him if I didn't have to. Even if I wished he wouldn't get my call, the next second, I stared at his tired face inside his luxurious dorm room. Meanwhile, Belle was nowhere to be seen inside the room.
 
"Can you and Belle help us recruit more high schoolers?" I went directly to the point.
 
"Your younger brother is risking his life to protect the school barrier near the middle school section since the s-class monsters followed us all the way here. By the way, the teachers are all gone," I didn't bother to add any fluff.
 
"Meet us at the gymnasium," Lucius sighed.
 
"Is this true?" Ben stood behind us.
 
I was never so thankful for running into Ben all the time whenever I landed myself into more trouble. I didn't have to explain the situation to him. I nodded my head as I wondered who else I should call.
 
"Can you and Alice also meet us in the gymnasium with the recruits?" I started to punch in Ethan's number.
 
"We'll get there as fast as possible," Ben entered into a video call with his fraction members while running towards another location.
 
Ethan appeared annoyed as he picked up the call, "what now?"
 
"I need your help in recruiting more people to help defend the barrier in the middle school section or else those s-class monsters are going to break in. So let's meet in the gymnasium as soon as possible," I ended the call.
 
"Is it okay to be this brief with him?" Oili wondered.
 
"It's because we have something on each other," I shrugged.
 
"Is there anyone else you know?" I exhausted all my connections I had to the high school section.
 
Oili shook his head. It made sense since Ethan and Oili were in the same fraction. The people that Ethan was probably going to recruit was probably the people Oili knew. It was time to make a ruckus to gather more people outside our fractions.
 
"Where else are there a lot of people?" I wondered.
 
"In the cafeteria or training rooms at best," Oili threw me a glance we should split up.
 
I agreed as we needed to minimize spending less time on this as much as possible. We decided that I would go to the cafeteria since the training room wouldn't be accessible to me. I pulled out a map of the high school section as I walked towards the location.
 
Overall, the cafeteria was almost identical to the one in middle school. Like Oili mentioned, there was quite a few people eating their meals in the early evening. I instantly stood out as I didn't wear my uniform, but a thick coat with a torn dress beneath it.
 
However, I grabbed everyone's attention when I stepped onto the table as they placed their utensils down, wondering who would break such common etiquette. Everyone here wasn't a part of the fractions of Luke, Ethan or Ben as they were already gathered in a meeting. I used my mana to increase the volume of my voice as I prepared to speak.
 
"Are you a student here?" the person closest to me asked.
 
"I am and I come here to deliver an important announcement," I pulled up a recorded scene from my marble of the humanoids attacking the school barrier.
 
"Look at the crest labelled near the edge of her coat. She comes from the Roselia family," one of them noticed.
 
"The s-class monsters, the humanoids are attacking our barrier as you see on the screen. This was recorded some time ago, meaning there should be more cracks in the barrier now. We, middle schoolers need your help in fortifying the barrier, which is why I am here," I hoped this was good enough.
 
"How did the humanoids track the school in the first place? It's hidden under many layers of illusions," one student mumbled.
 
"Isn't that the kid that causes all sorts of trouble?" another gossiped.
 
"Please step down from the table," the student narrowed his eyes.
 
I jumped down the table as I landed gracefully on the floor. This was not the reaction I was expecting.

I was captured and put onto a stake to be lit on fire as part of the ongoing witch hunt conducted throughout the land. I had to do something. But, this life really sucked. 

This all started when I was accidentally killed by God. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill you. It was just that I was overworked lately by my superior and I just wanted some time to relax and vent my stress out," he confessed.

"So, while I was snacking, I accidentally dropped one potato chip into the human realm where the child tripped over the potato chip onto a den of steep stairs." God guilty admitted.

So I reincarnated into the most adorable girl with the largest orange-speckled eyes that contrasted her pale white skin void of any imperfections.

'How could someone look this pretty?' I thought as I admired my new appearance.

I was nowhere close to this pretty in my previous life. Did God put me into this new vessel as an apology?

But some things were too good to be true.
***
"We can do this the nice way or the hard way," My fiancé’s brother started off.
"The nice way is where you willingly come with us back to the first district and the hard way is where we forcibly take you back, which would be hard for all of us," Lucius gave me a warning.
Why was my life so depressing? He practically meant I didn’t have a choice! 
***
Few months later, I was at a party that I planned to escape from my fiancé’s family.
"I still get to continue with my naps on the weekends?" I tried to confirm with them.
No one answered as I almost cried from giving up my rare nap times from the mess I got involved with. This life was too bothersome!

"Ah Nincompoop" Faust says as his eyes widens, raising his eyebrows, completely taken over by surprise.
"Uh...." The kid in front of him pauses I'm a shock before continuing.
"It's Nicholas troop! Not nincompoop oi Faust! How dare you?? You never call me with my real name" Nick short for Nicholas starts to whine and complain about how Faust never calls him with his real name.
Faust, who barely have friends at school is a calm and shy kid. When it comes to making friends for him, it takes weeks and months to even talk to the person sitting just beside him in class. 
He doesn't like to involve in any of the quarrels that normal kids at his school usually do. So much for being a big dreamer at home, but a quiet and shy kid at school.
To emphasize more about how quiet of a kid Faust really is, he never cries. He does, but in a low and squeaky voice ever since he was a baby. It's a strange thing to ever witness. A child that doesn't even make a noise as an infant and cry out like any newborn child would.
And so, Faust ended up having only 3 friends in the whole school. And the way he made friends is also strange in different situations.
*Backstory of how Faust and Nick met*
Faust's ears perk up as he overhears a kid yelling too loudly from  behind, while he is having his lunch in a corner of the cafeteria's table seat.
"I'm a black belt in karate, I will just sweep the whole floor with you if you don't stop bullying other people" Nick is threatening  a bully who is throwing his fangs on a timid girl.
Nick couldn't stand the bully's behavior, he really wants to scare him and impress the girl at the same time. Before he can show off his heroic image, Nick is on the ground with bruises on several places of his body.
*"This bully never heard of the word 'mercy' or what?"* Nick thinks to himself as he moans in a squeaky voice.
This is the first time Faust notices Nick.
"What a weird kid" He mumbles under his breath, looking at Nick, who is a goner by now.
The next day, Faust is having his lunch again all by himself in his usual spot and again he heard the same kid from yesterday, who has started roaring, loud as a lion. And surprisingly, an adult voice too joins him.
Out of curiosity, Faust stands up from his spot to see what the commotion is about.
*"Ah it's that weird kid from yesterday"* Faust realizes while watching Nick. *"Bu-but wait"* he pauses before saying
*"Who is this big thug beside him?"* Faust wonders as he sees a huge guy standing beside Nick.
The adult next to Nick is his dad, who is one of the village's security. But he has really thick eyebrows and a scary face with a scar across his face which is given to him by a 'cat' not in a war or in some fight.
Which leaves an impression of him being a thug and makes the kids think he is truly a gangster. Where in reality he is a village guard.
The next thing Faust notices is Nick's father shouting and abusing the bully directly in his face. He is so enraged and riled up that his son got beaten up badly. And according to Nick's dad, if it is for his son, he is ready to pick a fight with anyone. 
At the same time the bully is scared to his wit and only thinking of running from that situation. But he got nowhere to go since he's pretty much being backed up against the wall like a prisoner.
"Wa-wait, he is not stopping with just the bully?" Faust is looking at more people getting yelled at by Nick's father.
"Who are the people trying to defend the bully? That must be his parents and this thug is yelling at them too??" Faust watches while his jaw's dropping, he tightly rolled up his fists in excitement.
"Whoa, here comes the teachers. This old dude will stop now tsk tsk"
But to Faust's surprise...
"He is still going and is shouting at teachers too??? Wow, AMAZINVVVV! this old dude is really amazinvvv!!"
Faust really wants to reach out to Nick's father and tell him how cool he is, yelling at everyone to defend his son, but he is too scared to do that as Nick's father continued to yell at everyone that is approaching him, he is really unstoppable.
But later on, he figures out a way to approach Nick's father and that is through Nick.
"Yo! You are so coollll" Faust stands in front of Nick with a goofy expression and giving thumbs up to Nick with admiration written all over his face.
Nick upon hearing this, is very happy, *"If not the girl admiring me, a guy admiring me for my coolness is not too bad" he thinks as he tries to smile, exposing his broken tooth.
*"I'm a dumb fool who got into this mess."* Nick, while dying internally pats on the shoulder of Faust saying " thanks for the compliment, want to eat together?." 
Faust who thought his plan is working agrees and the both of them started eating together from that day and Faust who became Nick's friend with a secret intention to learn how to be a Savage like Nick's father, now really thought of Nick as his real close friend as they continue to get closer as each day passes by.
"Back to the present story"
"So poop (referring to Nick), let's go to our base and discuss about how we deal with these monsters." Faust says with a bright smile on his face.
Faust, Nick and their two other friends love to play the hero's of the school with Faust being the best kickboxer, Nick the Karate Master, Roy(a Noble's kid) being the space hero and Tim the higher class men and 2 years older than the three doesn't like to play any character. 
He stays a normal kid and cultivates his land and grows vegetables. And the monsters that Faust is referring to are the bullies of the school.
Faust and his friends are currently good at dealing with level 1, level 2 and level 3 rank monsters who are bullies from 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades in their school.
The kick boxing, karate and every other martial arts are ancient techniques in this modern world of 5062.
No one ever saw or heard of someone using these skills. However, there is a belief that very few people in this entire world can use ancient martial art techniques. But no one is allowed to teach or learn these fighting arts.
If anyone is seen using them in public, they are hunted and killed instantly by the government. And so the ancient martial arts nor the healing arts were passed down through generations.
The only fighting arts used in this age is military arts. It involves the use of weapons that have special attributes and technology that does the impossible.
Faust and Nick are friends from the start. However, they met Roy and Tim during a brawl between the high schoolers and middle schoolers on one fine day.
*One fine day of spring*
The taunts between the middle schoolers and high schoolers grew intensely which lead to a huge brawl between both of them. Both sides are too angry and are just pushing each other while yelling loudly enough to resonate around the whole school where every teacher and student can hear this ruckus, yet no one passing by cares.
Because these particular students have been having a brawl from past three years and never once in three years they hit each other. All they do is cause a huge ruckus, raise some dust off the ground and disperse like a scripted fight on stages.
They only want the 10 minutes attention and want people to realise that these are the hard boiled bad guys in the school. But the reality is that no other students or teachers are willing to spare their time to stop the fights and resolve the issues
Yet, there are four kids who watches the brawl between these two mobs from the school balcony, standing next to each other and with excitement filled in their faces and the happiness they faced when they saw the high schoolers running away from the fight because the middle schoolers overcame them with numbers which happens every time.
The eyes of these four met each other, where Nick starts talking.
"So you guys came here to have a fight with us or what?" Nick, with an arrogance filled voice asks Roy and Tim who he has just met.
"We're just here to watch the brawl" Roy and Tim answers at the same time with surprised faces as they didn't want to start any trouble.
"So you guys came here just like us? To watch and learn? asks Nick.
"Indeed" Roy and Tim replies by nodding their heads.
With just that, the four of them starts talking and their conversation led to one thing and another. They even get to know about how all four of them shared the same interests and goals with each other and became closest friends to one another.


**Read author' review before starting**

The aftermath of 'end of the world' and how the new beginning aroused with the discoveries of new magical realms. new sword arts and ancient martial arts. But what is beyond that? beyond our Third Dimension and beyond the earth and beyond human? how did humans come to existence? how do humans possess knowledge and is different from any other being? 

And a kid who doesn't realize the powers he is blessed with, as pain is the only thing that helped him grow faster and learn about the bitter truth about humans.

Fear, curiosity, anxiety, helplessness, powerless, worthless, selfish, being used, being ignored, isn't cared, isn't loved and more and more and all these feelings are killing him from inside while his life is hitting him harder and harder and breaking his will, his wish to live and keeps knocking him down. 

So one day he started liking all these feelings and decided that he had enough and says "I WANT TO FUCK THIS WORLD AND BE ON TOP AND RULE IT, I will pay everyone back with double the price. Even god, he needs to pay for his creation." while laughing like a maniac.

So I ask you....

Do you believe in gods? They reside in higher dimensions. And until now we have only discovered 11 dimensions, we cannot go further than that. This is about the world in 5062, land on earth has been reduced to one third. Only one continent exists, all of humanity from all regions and ethnicities had to live together on one land. During this chaos, the best group of scientists found gateways on earth to travel to different dimensions. Each dimension is a new world with its own laws of physics and principles, and new elements of nature.



*//Editors\\* 

๛ Aysel_Inara

๛ NatsumeRikka

---------------------------------

Follow me on IG to interact with me, give me suggestions and see the pics of the world and its characters.

IG - wn_miniace

Later the next day, Fraise and I noticed people gathering around a bulletin board right outside the main school.
"Fraise, why are there so many people gathered up?" I asked curiously from afar, witnessing the group of people.
As we looked from afar, my gaze met up with Rumi's, who was also in the crowd.
"Oh, Michiko, over here!" Rumi waved me over and I approached her. We stood together to where we could still see the bulletin.
"What's going on here?" I asked her and she raised her eyebrows in excitement.
"It's a notice for the Cake Grand Prix Series. It's a cake contest within the school. If you win, as a representative of the school, you'll go to nationals," Rumi pointed at the paper posted. "Everyone's eager because, if you win in the nationals, you can study abroad in the Paris branch."
'The Paris branch? That's the branch my mother attended before she became a patissiere!'
"Really? Is it true that you can study abroad in Paris?" I asked to confirm the information.
"Yeah, it's true. The Paris branch is known for being more advanced than the one here in Japan. Lots of famous patissiers graduated from there and were successful."
'If I win the Grand Prix Series and the nationals, I'll have a chance to study abroad at the same St. Marie Academy that Mom went to where her dream began!'
My face lit up at this thought, pondering the idea of being able to attend the Paris branch.
"Oh, Michiko? You look excited," Rumi viewed with a smile on her face.
"I guess…" I clocked my head sideways gazing at her.
'I've always wanted to make another friend right after Fraise… Maybe, this is my chance to do it!' 
"Hey, Rumi, would you like to discuss this over at the cafeteria?" I asked timidly, a bit fearful that she might reject my invite.
"Oh? Michiko is asking me to eat with her?" Rumi looked at me in shock, not expecting that to happen.
'As I thought… She might not even want to be friends…'
"Of course I'll come with you! You can go over there first, I just need to grab the pamphlets so I can explain it to you in more detail," Rumi smiled cheerfully, her face lighting up.
'She agreed? I thought she would've said no…'
"Okay," I said as Rumi and I parted ways. I went ahead over to the cafeteria while she went over to the bulletin to grab the flyers.
I looked over at Fraise who gave me a warm smile, looking proud of my progress.
* * *
"Michiko, I got a pamphlet for you," Rumi said as she ran toward me who sat at one of the tables near the windows. She didn't take too long, but I'd already bought some food for us to eat as I waited. 
"Oh, thanks for buying food for me," Rumi bowed her head and I nodded. She sat down across from me and handed over a paper with more information about the Cake Grand Prix.
"Thanks, Rumi." I bowed my head and held the paper in my hands. Fraise flew closer toward me so she could also see the information but I wasn't worried about Rumi seeing her since she can't see sweets spirits.
"Ok, so the Grand Prix Series is a great event for the student patissiers. First, a group of 4 people will enter, and in the span of 3 months, they'll compete in a tournament, covering 5 themes. If you and your team win in St. Marie Academy, your team will represent the school in the nationals. If you win the nationals, it'd be amazing 'cause it means that you're Japan's #1," Rumi explained as I scanned the pamphlet.
'Japan's #1… It seems like a high title to hold.'
"Who won last year?" I said, taking a bite of the food in front of me.
"Obviously a high school 3rd-year team. They're studying abroad right now," Rumi said, taking a sip from her cup.
'Hm? Not only the oldest students in the school but high school 3rd years? Does that mean that even the middle school department competes against the high schoolers?'
"Do the middle schoolers and high schoolers compete against each other? Aren't the levels too far apart?" I questioned, putting down my fork.
"Well, it might be a disadvantage but it is possible." She winked as she continued to explain. "In their first year, the Sweets Princes were the only ones to make it into the third round. The middle school division winning the first match was unheard of until they came along."
'Nobody else in the middle school department besides those three made it past the first round… I knew they were looked up to and admired upon, but wow... those three are really amazing…'
"Hm… they probably would have made it higher if they didn't group up with Ojou to begin with…" Rumi thought to herself.
"Ojou? Who's that?" I asked curiously, taking a sip from my drink.
"Oh, nothin'. Just someone a year above us. The word is taboo for Kashino though," Rumi responded with a flustered expression. "Besides, Michiko, are you entering the Grand Prix with the sweets princes?"
'Me, joining up with the sweets princes? Will they even agree?'
"I don't know… but it does sound interesting," I stated with hesitance.
"I like Michiko's cakes. Every cake I've tasted from you is high leveled, even at this age. Like the cake you made for Ringo, it was enjoyable and delicious. You're also skillful when it comes to technique and flavor as if you got training from a professional. Who knows, with you in their team, you and the Sweets Princes could even win the Grand Prix and make a name for yourselves as the 1st middle school team to win the Grand Prix!" Rumi exclaimed with a friendly gaze, taking a bite of her food. 
"Really? You think if I team up with them we could win?" I pondered.
"You guys are the best, not only in our grade but in the entire middle school department! I think it's possible," Rumi assured. "Though you've only been here for a month, you bake as if you're already experienced in the field. Though you're quiet and aloof, your face lights up when you bake. It'd be a waste to not challenge yourself."
'Rumi… Her words are encouraging.'
"She'll join, just leave it to me!" Fraise popped out of nowhere and made a claim.
"Geez, what are you saying?" I muttered to Fraise under my breath.
"Oh! As expected of the talented "Ice Princess!" Rumi exclaimed.
"Ice… Princess?" I furrowed my eyebrows confusedly.
'What kind of nickname is that?!'
"That's what everyone calls you!" Rumi explained with a smile. "Michiko is the beautiful transfer student that people admire from afar. Though, people say you look unapproachable because of your beauty, so that's why we call you the Ice Princess!"
'Should I be taking that as a compliment or an insult?' 
"Is that so?" I chuckled nervously at her response.
"Though you don't talk much, I think Michiko is a very interesting person! If you don't mind, is it alright if I can call you Keiko?" She asked shyly as I looked dumbfounded at this request.
'She wants to call me by my first name… Does that mean, she wants to be my friend?'
"Hehe, of course," I gave a light chuckle at her strange request and her eyes brightened.
"Okay… Keiko!" 

'Today… I think I made another friend…' 
Rumi and I continued to talk until the sun started to set, talking about the smallest things. We hadn't realized that it was already late, but we eventually said goodbye and I went back to my dorm room.
I got ready for bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling.
'Mom… Do you think I have the qualifications to enter the Grand Prix? Ever since you passed, I missed eating your sweets every day and seeing you… Why did that have to happen? Why… did you have to go so soon?'
End of Chapter 29: Why So Soon?

At a young age, Michiko Keiko had admired baking because her mother was a world-famous patissiere. Keiko had a talent for baking at a young age and her mother always knew that her child was special. Her mother introduced her to a whole new world whenever she baked, but ever since she passed away due to an accident when Keiko was 8, Keiko lost herself, unsure if anything could bring her back to reality. Her drive to bake disappeared along with the presence of her mother and she always held her emotions back. Instead of baking, she focused on her school work to be on top of her classes to deal with her grief. Though she thought about giving up on her dream to become a patissiere, she felt an emptiness in her that couldn’t be filled up unless she achieved that dream. She wants to prove to her mother in heaven that she can also become a world-renown patissiere. Her first step—entering the famous St. Marie Academy that specializes in training young patissiers.
But, what happens if there's more to baking than Keiko could ever think of? What kind of secrets will unravel relating to the death of her mother?



[This story is based off of the manga Yumeiro Patissiere. The MC displayed is my own original character and some ideas have evolved from the original work. Cover is created and drawn by me.]

[20 years ago]

A city full of tall buildings sits peacefully quiet. The silence is broken by a small girl's scream. "Aaaaaah! Help! Save us!" 

In the middle of the city is a bank. Inside the bank is a blonde bank teller with her hands raised high in the air. The bank teller is staring down the barrel of a gun held by a mysterious villain wrapped in cloth to hide their face. The bank teller speaks with the voice of a young girl, "Please don't hurt me. I'll do anything you ask."

The bank supervisor holds one hand over his head, while the other hand inches closer to a silent alarm button hidden under his desk. Before the supervisor is able to push the button, the bank robber shoots their gun and the bullet ricochets off the supervisor's desk. The supervisor cowers in fear after almost losing his hand. 

With the same little girl voice, The bank robber says, "Don't get any funny ideas about calling the police or being a hero. If I see anyone move that I didn't give permission, then all of us get blown to bits!"

The bank robber holds up their other arm, revealing a glowing red button clutched in the robber's hand. Behind the robber in the middle of the bank is a huge bomb flashing at the same rhythm as the trigger in the robber's hand. 

[Intro]

The robber holds an empty burlap bag in front of the blonde bank teller and yells, "Put all the money in the bag! Do as I say and no one gets hurt!"

The bank teller fills the bag with money while crying uncontrollably. The robber takes the bag of money and tells the bank teller, "thank you for your cooperation." The robber runs out the front door, leaving a scared crowd of people inside the bank. 

Outside the bank, a red Ferrari get-away car waits for the bank robber. The thief jumps into the driver's seat and pulls off the mask covering their face, revealing a small redhead girl. The girl starts the car and revs the engine loudly. 

Before the little girl can drive away, a police car swerves in front of the Ferrari and parks in front of the car to block it in. A young boy steps out of the police car dressed as a police office. The officer points his gun at the red haired girl and yells, "Freeze Bonnie! Put your hands where I can see them!"

Bonnie says, "Well if it isn't Officer Marco! What brings you to this side of the city?"

Marco keeps his weapon pointed at Bonnie and answers, "I'm here to put scum like you away for a long time Bonnie. Step out of the vehicle with your hands over your head and hand over the money from the bank!"

Bonnie looks at the bag of money sitting next to her, then looks back at the bank with a devious smirk. She holds her hands above her head, then pushes the button on the trigger to the bomb. The bomb explodes with fire and smoke covering Bonnie and Marco. 

Marco coughs and waves away the smoke that is blinding him from seeing Bonnie. Before the smoke clears, Bonnie shifts her car into reverse and slams her foot on the pedal. Bonnie races off while Marco is distracted and coughing. 

Marco finally clears his eyes and catches his breath. As Marco opens his eyes, he sees several dolls and toys laying in a pile of sand. What was a large bank is actually a sandbox and the city is actually a playground in the park. The smoke from the bomb that Bonnie detonated is actually sand that young Bonnie kicked up before running away from Marco. 

Marco yells at Bonnie, "Hey no fair! Come back here!" Marco the little cop chases after Bonnie while waving a stick in the air like a gun. The two children run around the playground, laughing and pretending to shoot at each other with imaginary guns. 

Marco yells, "Stop in the name of the law Bonnie!"

Bonnie replies, "You'll never take me alive!" Bonnie climbs to the top of a gym set with Marco right behind her. Bonnie and Marco both laugh as they ride down a slide to the sandbox below. 

The two kids stop laughing when they reach the bottom of the slide and where a larger young boy is waiting. The young boy leans on the slide and says, "This playground belongs to the middle schoolers now. Why don't you little kids get out of here and go play with your dolls?"

Behind the middle school boy stands two more boys laughing. Marco looks terrified, but Bonnie is angry and brave. Bonnie stands up and approaches the middle schoolers. Bonnie says, "We were here first. Who said we have to leave?"

The middle schooler chuckles before pushing Bonnie to the ground. The middle school boy says, "I say so!"

"Aaaaaaah!" Suddenly Marco charges at the middle schoolers with his stick held over his head. Marco swings his stick wildly and snaps the branch on the middle school boy's head. Marco yells, "Leave Bonnie alone!" 

Bonnie stands up and joins her friend as the group begins to fight. A few minutes later, Bonnie and Marco walk home side by side with cuts and bruises all over. Marco and Bonnie pause for a second to look at each other and the two friends can't help but laugh. The bond they share is fearless and strong. 

[Flashback to present time]

Bonnie sits in her cage with her head buried in her arms, unable to even look at her friend from long ago. Bonnie mutters, "You always wanted to be a hero. You always came swooping in to save me any time someone bullied me."

Marco smirks think back to how they were as children. Marco says, "You were my best friend. My only friend. We were always playing cops and robbers. You always wanted to be the bad guy because…."

Bonnie interrupts Marco by finishing the sentence, "because the bad guys get to have all the fun. You always had to be the hero of the story saving everyone and winning the day. Robbers never won at the end of the game."

Marco's laughter becomes quiet. "All good things come to an end I guess. Summer before we went to middle school, your parents moved you to a different city and we lost touch for many years. Who knew I would find my childhood friend 20 years later in this virtual reality world."

Bonnie looks up at Marco and says, "I was so happy when I first found out that you were playing Hero's Destiny. It was a chance to continue where we left off. We could play together again, side by side, just like the old days. We built the Pirate's Cove guild from the ground up. Why would you betray all of our friends in the guild?"

Marco stands up with an angry scowl. "Just like old times? We used to be a pair. We were side by side when we were children, but everything changed in Hero's Destiny. I was never your equal in the game. You were always the great Captain Black Blood Bonnie, the guardian of the sea! I was always considered second best no matter what accomplishments I achieved. You were always one step ahead of me at every turn!"

"Jealousy?", Bonnie asks as she stands up with her hands on the bars of the cage. "You betrayed me and sent all of our guild mates to Tadrinth because you were jealous?"

Marco's body begins to pulse with ghostly power and anger. Marco floats in the air and says, "Don't talk down to me! I will be the pirate king one day and you will show me respect!"

Bonnie scoffs and sits back down in the cage. Bonnie says, "you are nothing but a traitor and a liar."

Marco calms down and descends to the floor. He turns his back towards Bonnie and faces the wall. Marco says, "It's no use getting me angry. You will be in Tadrinth soon enough and your treasure will be mine. You know, there is one thing you had corrected all those years ago. A pirate is nothing more than a thief. You don't get to have any real friends. No one will really care about you after you betrayed so many people. Bad guys don't get to have much, but we do get to have all the fun. See you at Pirate's Cove"

Marco walks through the wall, leaving Bonnie alone in her cage. Bonnie's stone cold face melts into tears as she buries her head in her arms again. 

................

Jamal's Stats 

Level 43

HP: 4650/4650
MP: 800/800

Equipped:
Nini's Favor: (+10% speed to the user whenever in danger)

Right on Target: (+5% accuracy to the user when wearing this item on the right hand)

Painfully Aware: (A bracelet that detects any aggression towards you. The range of this device depends on the user's level.)

Up Up and Away Boots: (The user of these boots is given the ability to jump a second time mid-air.)

Double Bit Axe: (+5% attack)

Boomerang Throwing Axe: (An axe fused with Amule technology. This weapon is incredibly aerodynamic and always returns to the user's hands.)

Bloodrage Spike: (A canine familiar fused with a sharp needle. This weapon is made from Otheucium Iron found in western parts of the Wepia Dynasty. Otheucium is the strongest metal formed in the planet's crust. This weapon will aid in attack an defense during combat. Upgrade this weapon to gain new abilities. Current cooldown time: 24 Hours)

Strength: 1200
Speed: 1005 (Nini's Favor +10%)
Accuracy: 850 (Right on Target +5%)
Intelligence: 800
Wisdom: 700
Agility: 950
Charisma: 450

EXP: 0

Abilities:

Ground Breaker: (Ground breaker. Send a shockwave of attack energy through the ground and into any opponent in your way. Not effective on flying opponents. The attack strength of this ability depends on the MP of the player. Current MP level is too low to activate special ability.)

Power Move: A very rare ability to move your experience points into any other category.

Prediction: the ability to see where your opponent will strike before they make their move.

Wisdom of Iena: You have been granted wisdom from Iena by an elder Amule. +10 wisdom. Speak the Amule language and grow plants that can be controlled in battle.

Charge: Deal lethal damage with a delayed, charged attack from your hands, feet, or with a weapon.

Jamal is a regular high schooler with a job washing dishes. The only escape from his boring, ordinary life comes from a video game Jamal orders called "Hero's Destiny". Many players find fame and fortune playing the game. However, Jamal finds himself as one of the unlucky few who seems even more ordinary in the game than he does in reality. 

Follow Jamal as his adventure takes a huge turn after discovering a dangerous side to the game. Watch as he adjusts to life as a celebrity after a mysterious power grants Jamal new abilities and the attention of the whole world. Can Jamal change his destiny and work with some of the greatest gamers in the world to stop an evil organization from destroying virtual reality?

Let the record show that I, Kim Min-chul, do not know how to fight. I am but a lowly swimmer boy who wants my boo, Jang Mi-young, to return after I messed up. So, with this in mind...why the hell am I facing 8 delinquents?!?!

And to add to that, why am I facing 8 middle schoolers as a kindergartener? Damn stupid justice brother.

(Few moments earlier)

"...alright then... let me show you something cool"

"What? You really are going to fight middle schoolers? Do you wanna die?!? Stop, just call an adult"

"By the time we find an adult who cares enough, that bullied kid's wallet would have been long gone"

Well, he does give a point. I'm sure most adults won't care enough to follow a little kid to assist in a situation where they can't do anything but tell the bullies off and maybe call the police if it's severe enough.

"..this is stupid. Let's go home or I'm telling mom"

"No! Min-chul! How can you watch someone get abused like that?!? Do you have a heart?"

"I can watch this because it isn't happening to you or anyone I actually care about"

Looking at me with a confused then weirded out face, it's like he's looking at an alien. I don't understand? You are my family I care, isn't that easy to understand?

"You...what if that was me or someone you cared for, huh? What if that was mom being robbed by thugs?"

"I'd do the sensible thing. Call the police using an adult's phone or from a shop"

"And when they are too late?"

Thinking about it now, it doesn't really make sense. But all I need to do is distract him for long enough.

"Oy! Who's over there!"

"I am! Stop bullying that kid!"

'Well great. That's all fine and dandy. I guess it's time to use my ultimate power card...'

'Cuteness!!!'

Walking into the alley, I see the 5 boys and 3 girls more clearly and... why is this more cliche? The leader has bleach blond hair, the girl leaning on the wall has bleached hair and one of the girls on the leader's lap has brown hair with too much make-up.

"Ahhhh~ we have two little babies, huh? Why are you here?"

"Because you shouldn't bully people!"

'...this is not good. My body might die of the 2nd hand cringing. My cuteness has temporarily been unsuccessful since the alley is too dark!'

My body physically tenses up from what I heard. Dear God, please help me from this. Have one of the girls take mercy.

"Ahahaha! And what are you gonna do about it, punk?"

"I...I'm gonna beat you up! Graahhhh!!!"

'Huh...seems like somethings are fated to happen'

While watching on the side, I see Jung jump off a wall and kick one of the delinquents in the teeth while dodging another's kick. Using the momentum from the dodge, he runs and...who am I kidding?

He got absolutely obliterated and is now a crying heap of sadness on the floor. Going closer and picking him up, I hear some of the girls talk about taking me home...please no. I am fine with my brother, thank you very much.

Well, at least he doesn't have the giant scar now. Yes, his face is banged up and he probably will get a scar on his cheek but that's too small to even care about.

While I am carrying Jung out of the alleyway, the gang leader nods at me; I guess to show my respect that I didn't try butting in. Nodding back, I see the Kyung-sam kid run right out of there; promptly chased by the bully's lackeys.

'Hmmm...quest'

—————————

Save Jung's face (Completed)┃ Hard ┃
Reward: ₲400 ┃ STR +1 ┃

 ₲400 has been deposited into your shop account! Enjoy the  ₲400, you brave man! Or is it stupid? I'm going with stupid!

—————————

'Heh. Not a bad haul eh? I wonder what I should add this to...maybe strength? Speed seems like the best option for swimming but strength is needed as well'

Making up my mind, I add 3 to speed and 1 to strength so now, my status looks like this:

—————————
Name: Kim Min-chul

Age: 5

Titles: None! Wow! You suck!

HP: 10/10

STR: 19      RES: 14
SPD: 29     STAMI: 18
INT: 31

₲Coins: 0 
—————————

After being extremely pleased with the results, I stop over a an ice cream shop and spend my remaining allowance on some ice cream for Jung. After all, he does deserve some type of reward, no?

"What'cha want?"

"...vanilla"

Getting a vanilla with caramel for me and a vanilla with chocolate sprinkles for Jung, we look at each other and laugh. I mean, it's not everyday that a 3rd grader can fight a middle schoolers and lose so badly their face isn't even a face anymore.

'This brother...I really have a dumb brother, huh? Stupid brother. Always caring about others before even looking after yourself...'

After finishing the ice cream, handing the change to a poor man and throwing away our tissues, we head back home for real now. No fooling around with delinquents or bullies. Back home to mom.

Reaching home in less than 5 minutes, I knock and open the door to smell beautiful curry. We are late by 10 minutes but mom usually doesn't mind if we are late by a few minutes. 

""We're home~~""

"Welc-...what happened, Jung?!?"

"I-"

"Jung tripped and fell"

Looking at me, my brother knows what's up and I know what's up. Obviously, no matter how annoying of a patriot this guy is, I won't take that away from him. At least he isn't too destructive in his views.

"...you...fell? On another person's fist?"

"No! I fell on the floor!"

'Well, he isn't lying. They did trip him and he did fall...he just didn't say the part about when they punched him so hard he spun 900°. What a rowdy brother I have...'

"Tsk tsk tsk...please be more careful then, Jung!"

"Un!"

After finishing the delicious meal, my mom tucks me into my bed and starts watching over me as I try sleeping. Laughing for a bit, she then asks me if I want beddy byes or better known as bedtime songs.

"Good night mom"

"Ahaha... no need for beddy byes?"

"No no...night night"

"Love you, baby"

As she walks out of the room, I look around and close my eyes, content with today. I prevented that scar from going on my brother's face and making him not find a girlfriend and I even got that Kyung-sam fellow a chance to run away. Albeit, a bit poorer than he came in.

'Ahhh, I really wan-'

"Min-chul? You awake?"

Hearing the familiar voice, I see Jung standing in the doorway looking at me, seeming like he has something to say. Well, I guess today was pretty eventful and I can hear him out despite it being 6:00 p.m already.

"Jung nim? What do you want?"

"...thank you, Min-chul. I'll be smarter next time"

"Heh. Sleep already. I'm tired"

"Yes!"

After he returns sneakily to his room, I close my eyes once more to try and calm myself down...

'Ahhh, I really want to grow up quickly'

—————————
(A.N) yoyoyoyo! What's up, readers!? Another chapter for you and another sweet moment of brotherly love! Yoyoyo! I hope you enjoyed, peace ✌️!



Life isn’t fair and Kim Min-chul knows it...except it isn’t for the reason you are thinking.

...Min-chul is just too damn PERFECT!!!

he has a tall height of 184 cm, a fast metabolism, perfect swimmer’s body without even trying and is unknowingly a ladies man!

He makes girls fall for him without even knowing!!!

How do you even do that?!?!

Unfortunately however, he let this all get to his head. Not starting his swimming career until he was in junior high and barely making it into the international leagues. Even then, he would neglect his training regularly.

With his 184 cm height, his constant slumping caused him to lose some height, eventually reducing  to 176 cm.
Even with his fast metabolism, he ate too much and rarely exercised; giving him a potbelly at 29.
Despite his natural swimmer’s body, his shoulders got narrowed down and social skills now non-existent.

Looking back at his life in high-school and college as a 40 year old salaryman making just above-average wage, he stares over Wariss Bridge and contemplates. Contemplating whether life is worth living or not...

“Bwahahahaha!!! What the hell, author? Contemplating what, you liar! I just thought that the view was nice!”

“...y-y-you...you’re courting death; insulting me, ancestor koppa!”

That day, a strong gust of wind started the chain of unlikely events that would eventually take 
Min-chul’s life.

‘.....I died, huh?’

[beep boop zorp... I am making robot noises!]

“What the hell?!?!”

[Oh! You are host, yes? I am your system! Your swimming system!]


NOTE: This story isn’t one of those “ sport is life” novels. This is the story of redemption for a man who lost everything due to his own negligence. He isn’t a swimmer, he is a regular guy with a life who is also happens to be a swimmer. 

Don’t get me wrong though, there will be tournament arcs and swimming tournaments but I will focus on a more slice of life type story for this novel.

Chapter 20 – Pack With Players
[ARGHH!!!!!! I AM DOOM!!!!!] the title of the post wrote. 
[Do you guys know that I am now a resident of a freaking two million people settlement? Thanks to that, the monthly missions that only give 100 contribution points are now divided between hundreds of thousands of players!!! How much do you think we will get with this many players? Three decimal points!!!] 
[Bro… Two million? Your luck is better than mine. Five million. Come fight me] 
[Kekeke, five million bros, are we in the same settlement? Mine is five million too] 
[PM me and let's chat. I don't want people to know our miserable luck]
[Five million ~ Five million ~ My settlement has five million people too. We are a gang (crying emoji)]
[Lucky! My settlement only has 1000 players. Well, we still get low contribution points but better than the million guys] 
[I am a hero]
[S*** You must be someone from a small town or village! Now I regret living in a freaking massive city!] 
[If you guys can get a mission that contributes to the settlement, don't tell anyone or you will need to share with others] 
[Wrong! My Future tells me that only a certain mission can be done individually but most of the contribution missions will need a lot of participants. So, the missions will be opened to the public. So, the million guys will still be pitiful] 
[Stop stop stop! I don't want to hear about any of this!!!]
[I am a hero]
[Urgh!!! Middle schoolers and High schoolers should piss off! You guys are too young to be able to contribute anything to the settlement. Don't do anything and let us older people do the job!]
[Shut up! You stu*** sh**. Who are you to chase away those kids? From the way you talk, you are those that contribute nothing to society too. Piss off yourself] 
[Yeah! Who are you to talk shit about those kids? They are still learning and they may do better than you!!] 
[This guy needs to be taught a lesson. Report this guy to the admin and ban him from this forum]
[Report! Report! Report! (torch emoji)] 
[I am a hero] 
[Stop spamming you, idiot!]
[I made 100k in a day. Click on this link and find out the secret. HTTP….]
Adrian and Ceylon read the post and they were shocked. Compared to Green Orchid Settlement with only 78 players, these guys got it worse. 
"Millions of players in one settlement?" Ceylon glanced at Adrian with a shocked face. He was thankful to Adrian because of his suggestion. Even so, Ceylon knew that Future was the one responsible for Adrian's decision. 
Ceylon was now craving for a higher Authority Level too. He was also glad that he befriended Adrian or else, he would be in a similar situation as the people online. 
"Our chance of getting more contribution points is higher than many people. We have it easy, kekeke," Keith snickered. He was the same as Ceylon too. He was glad that Adrian was his friend. 
"We just need to choose carefully to get more share of points. Or we will end up in the same situation as these people," Ceylon added. 
"You are right and the missions we took today have many people too but it is understandable because we don't know anything about this game. Now that we have more experience, people will start choosing the missions carefully," Keith spoke and this was the most intelligent thing he had said. 
"You are not as stupid as I thought," Ceylon sneered. 
"Why do you think I am in this college then," Keith snorted. 
"Backdoor?" Ceylon added. 
"You!!!" Keith was angry. 
"Still, we are at disadvantage in this situation. With fewer people in our settlement, it will be harder for the settlement to improve. All of us need to work extra hard if we want our settlement to be on the same standing as those high-grade settlements," Adrian spoke seriously. 
"Hmm… Agree. They have more workforce and can do many more things in their settlement," Ceylon nodded. 
"We will get more players later. New players will choose our settlement because they knew about this in advance. Also, next generation, we can get more people too," Adrian added. 
"But, with a million players in one place, how can they get enough contribution points? Especially for those middle schoolers and high schoolers? With many adults there too, the competition will be fierce and those kids will suffer a lot," Keith questioned. 
"They will likely fail their curriculum too," Keith added. 
"I am sure Future predicted this to happen and everything will be solved later. Moreover, this game is not only a game but is used to teach us many things. If the kids want to succeed, they need to work and compete to the best of their ability." 
"The World Government will love to see the younger generation compete with each other as competition can help them grow faster. Rivalry and competition will instill the attitude of striving forward in their life," Ceylon added.
"But there may be some who will trip and give up which will be a disastrous problem," Keith added. 
"Well, that is not our job to worry. That is Future's job," Ceylon raised his shoulder. Whatever happened to the kids was not his problem. 
"The game is still in its first day and if we think about it properly, we have not truly started playing the game. We travel to the settlement and only fight a few weak animals. Nothing much is happening. I am sure there will be more later and if there is a problem with the contribution points, Future will solve it immediately," Adrian added. 
"This is shocking. For now, we will have an easy time for contribution points," Keith showed a big smile. The trio was sure that new players would start flocking to their settlement because of what happened to other settlements. 
Even so, it would still be a while before they got a lot of new players. The trio continued eating their dinner. Keith continued reading the posts, Ceylon continued with the video and Adrian continued with his reading. 
They stayed at the cafeteria for a whole hour because they were still tired from running. 
[Progress' notification. 
Player Adrian studies about Gene. You get a chance to increase your Gene Stat. If you answer these three questions, Player Adrian will be able to raise the Gene Stat. 
If you answer all the questions correctly, you will get 3 Gene points. If you get one wrong, 1 Gene points. If you get all wrong, 0 Gene points]
Since Adrian read the most basic study about genes, he aced the three questions and got three gene points. Supposedly, Adrian would get the intelligent point too but he had maxed out the stat, so, he got nothing. 
However, Adrian got to increase his Health stat by 10 points for eating healthy food. It was only one point but the Health and Energy stat counted with multiple of 10 so, he got 10 points. 
Adrian was not the only one who got the Health points, Ceylon got it too but not Keith because he ate unhealthily. The food he chose was full of oil and fats. He did not eat any vegetables and thus, he did not get any. 
Keith was furious but there was nothing he could do and he was determined to get it during breakfast. 
Health stat was the easiest to get because all they needed to do was eat healthily. No accumulation was needed. 
After that, the trio decided to get back to their room. They also decided to start playing again and they needed to build their house too. 
"You guys go first. I have something to do," Adrian went somewhere else instead of going back to his dorm room.

Progress was a game created by Rizend’s World Government to help deal with the problem created by VR. Progress was a mandatory curriculum for students in middle school and high school. 
Progress was a fantasy RPG game that used real-world achievement or work to become stronger. This was done to encourage people to play while working hard in the real world. 
Adrian was from a farming family. When the World Government announced Progress as the mandatory curriculum, Adrian was in his 1st Year of college.
Progress was an opportunity for Adrian to solve a problem he had. As Adrian was living honestly throughout his life, he was given a bit of an advantage in Progress. Using this advantage, Adrian played the game seriously to solve his problem.
Follow Adrian’s adventure as he became one of the most important players in Progress.

Five minutes before the scrimmage, the team walked onto the stage as instructed by the referee.
"Ah, people..." Nia walked behind Kai while throwing nervous glances at the audience. Indeed, there were some people here now.
Official scrimmages were publicly announced on a big screen and they were free to watch, so they naturally piqued the curiosity of some people. Some of them were scouts for high school teams, searching for promising middle schoolers. Others were spies from middle schools, coming here to research their rivals.
[It's safe to assume everything we show here today will be used against us in the next scrimmage.] Yuel thought. Some representatives from the Leopards were surely lurking in the audience right now. They'll record everything. Therefore, if possible, it was best to keep some of the team's tech a secret today.
Unfortunately, Stratus wasn't exactly a powerhouse team that had the option to go easy. They'll have to go all-in from the very first battle to establish their footing. They've trained hard up to this point, but there was no telling where they stood compared to the competition. They'll have to brace themselves for the worst and go hard from the start.
"Oh, hey!" Lars exclaimed and ran to the edge of the stage. "It's July! What's what up, yo!?" He waved at the audience while shouting.
[I-Idiot, shush!] Julia's ears burned. She threw a bunch of glances around. Phew, nobody figured it was about her. She timidly raised a hand and waved back, then immediately retracted her.
"That's Julia?" Yuel blinked. It had to be a mistake. From this distance, the best way to recognize Julia was by her long ponytail. However, the girl Lars was waving to didn't have one. She had a medium length straight hair. Judging by that, it couldn't be Julia.
"She did a makeover," Lars said. "I think the long ponytail was nice, but this look is more savage. She now looks like someone who totally gonna mop the floor with ya in a duel, haha."
"I suppose," Yuel couldn't help but stare at Julia's uncanny new look. Right then, he felt intense bloodlust.
[Don't look at me, idiot.]
"Ugh," Yuel instinctively glanced aside. Yeah, this was Julia alright, no question about it. She was the only girl he knew who could transmit her murderous intent like that across such a long distance.
[Did she come to spy on us? It looks like she's alone here.] Yuel scanned the audience but there weren't any other familiar faces. It didn't look like anybody else from StormBlitz's first-string was here.
[They probably consider this a low priority scrimmage.] Yuel smiled wryly. Even though data gathering was extremely valuable for teams, there was no need to bring the entire club to watch every single scrimmage. That's the mentality StormBlitz operated on.
For example, last year, StormBlitz's first string didn't bother coming to watch that many scrimmages. Instead, Aron sent freshman like Yuel to scout. The scouts were tasked with summarizing the key points of the matches and presenting them to the first-string, accompanied by a replay of the scrimmage.
[Maybe some of StormBlitz's new recruits are here.] Yuel examined every single student, but there was no way to tell since their school didn't have a uniform. Any of the middle schoolers here could be a spy from any middle school from the region.
[Howard and Ellen didn't even bother to come. I see how it is.] Yuel got the message, loud and clear. As of yet, Howard wasn't thinking much of Stratus. As far as he was concerned, they were the weakest team in the region and the fact Yuel and Lars joined mattered little. [We'll prove him wrong.]
[I'm glad you made it.] Julia smiled softly after making sure nobody saw her. [You two deserve to play on the first-string. Now, let's see how high you can pull that trainwreck of a team.]
"Ms. Julia, ma'am!" Philip boomed loudly outta nowhere with a salute.
"Agh! Damn you," Julia shot the boy a glare. This idiot almost gave her a heart attack! "What do you want?"
"It's my first time scouting a match, ma'am!" Philip exclaimed while shouting. "I'd be eternally grateful if you give me a pointer or two or three. What should I focus on? What kind of plays do I need to analyze? What is the best angle for seeing all the details!?" 
"Pipe down," Julia barked. "You're drawing too much attention to us. Sit down." 
"Oh! I'm so terribly sorry, ma'am!" Philip sat down but continued making a lot of noise.
[This guy...] Julia sighed. Why did she have to babysit this kid? She only came here to watch Lars playing on his new team. Yet, that damn Howard had to make Philip tag along and help with the scouting. What a pain. [Well, at least I can dump most of the menial work on him. I'll just kick back and enjoy the match.]
"You got the scouting forms from Howard, right?" Julia asked.
"Yes, ma'am! I got it right here!" Philip presented the paper in question. It had many fields to fill up about the teams. Most of it was dry information like listing the roles and classes of each team. However, some fields were more subjective and asked the scout to rate individual players by different categories. Namely, Decision-Making, Mechanical Skill, and Teamwork.
"I understand the spots where you fill in classes and such," Philip said. "But, how am I to rate somebody's Decision-Making? I request aerial support, ma'am!" 
"Just use your head," Julia shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. It's all subjective. I just think of 5/10 as the 'average' level for middle schoolers."
"Whoa, amazing! You have so much experience that you can tell who is the average and who is above!?" 
"... sure." [I just kinda wing it. I'm sure Lars will get high scores. And, Yuel will be 1/10 in everything. I'm the one scoring, so my rules. Hmph.]
"But, ma'am," Philip said. "I don't know how good a 5/10 player would be." 
"Hmm, take GG as your baseline. I'd say that guy is a flat 5/10 in everything. Don't tell him I said that, though."
"Whoa, really? General Gregory is just a 5/10!? But, he's such a strong player!" 
[Yeah, he's 'strong' when he's showing off against freshmen like you.] Julia shook her head. "Anyway, it's something like that. If you need a reference for somebody who is 10/10, no need to look far than at yours truly."
"Eeeeh?" Philip gave her a dubious look. "You sure about that, ma'am?" 
"Huuuuh? You doubt me, boy?" 
"N-Not at all, ma'am!" 
"So, write it down. I'm a 10/10. GG is 5/10, Now, you got yourself a useful scale." 
"Y-Yes, ma'am! I understand, ma'am! I'll do my best, ma'am!" 
"You like spamming the word 'ma'am', don't you." 
"Definitely, ma'am!"
[This brat...] Julia sighed. Well, at least she could dump all the boring work on him and concentrate on the match. [Who knew that having underclassmen is so convenient?] Last year, Julia and the other freshmen had to do all sorts of menial work. However, this year, she was in charge! It felt great!
[Okay, now let's see how far they'll get with this team.] Julia returned her attention to the stage. [Howard said Taurus isn't a big fish. So, if Lars's new team is any good, this game should be a wrap. If they lose, it'll be the funniest and saddest thing ever. So, you better win this one, you hear? I want to be the one to crush you.]
Both teams assembled on the stage. Stratus only had six representatives in total, whereas Taurus came at them with a brigade of 16 people. Only five were going to play from each side, but the sheer difference in numbers was overwhelming. It's like an entire army was about to wage war against a puny squad.
"We're an entire platoon and you're barely a squad." That's the message they conveyed by bringing all these people on stage. They asserted dominance via numbers. The more players the club housed, the more likely it was to found talented players among their ranks. So, just by being a big club, they had an overwhelming advantage over a club that barely had enough players to form a team.
[But, in the end, it'll be our best players vs. their best.] Yuel reasoned. [I'm sure Lars and I are better than most of their players. And, maybe Kai is too. If so, we can definitely win. ]
"Captains, please step forward," the referee instructed.
[Alright, here goes.] Kai took a deep breath and stepped forth.
From the other side of the stage, the Hulk was walking toward her. No, seriously. It was the Hulk! In the flesh! The guy was huge. He was like a golem wearing human skin.
"Let's have a good one," the giant stretched his big palm with a friendly smile. Contrary to his intimidating structure, he seemed like a nice guy.
"Yeah, good luck," Kai regained her composure and shook the giant's hand. [Phew, this went smoother than expected. These guys seem friendly.]
But, as soon as she thought that, her ears caught a mocking cackle coming from the side of the stage. A boy from Taurus was laughing along with his pals and pointing fingers in Kai's direction. 
"Check this out, haha," the boy laughed. "They got a chick for a captain! What a joke!" 
"Pft, haha," another dumbass burst out in laughter. "I heard this team is rock bottom, but that's a whole new level of lame!" 
[These bastards.] Kai shot them a glare.
"Ohhh, so scawy~! Help me, mommy!" the target of her glare pretended to shake, then continued to laugh even harder than before.
"Hey!" Kai called out. "You fuck-"
"Cut it out," the golem captain ordered his men. His smile vanished without a trace. It was replaced with pursed lips and a sharp glare.
"Haha, but doncha think it's hilarious, cap?" the hooligan continued spouting bullcrap. "It's the joke of the year, haha! Hey, Jaiden, you agree, right?" He randomly addressed one of the younger-looking boys in the group, probably a junior.
"Yeah, it's definitely sad," the junior, Jaiden, replied. However, unlike the other cackling idiots, there was no humor in his tone. Nevertheless, his eyes remained locked on Kai and his glare was pregnant with obvious malice.
[What's with this one? He gives me the yikers.] Kai shuddered for a moment. Unlike the other idiots over there, this guy was more way more hostile despite being much quieter. What's up with that?
"Stratus is a joke team confirmed," Jaiden went on. "There's no need for our seniors to waste time here. Let me and my pals take care of this."
"Phaha!" the main hooligan smacked Jaiden on the shoulder. "Nice try, fam! But, no dice. We gonna be the ones playing this one. Try again next year, kid. Haha!" 
"Got it," Jaiden nodded but his gaze still lingered on Kai for a few long moments. His conviction didn't waver in the slightest. He was dead set on crossing swords with Kai.
"What you staring at?" Kai addressed the pack of idiots. "Never seen a girl play video games? C'mon, I'll take you all on, fuckers!" 
"Woohoo, scawy!" the hooligan didn't give a shit. "Catch me in Bot, girlie. I'mma whoop yo ass real good."
"Bruce, enough," the giant captain ordered.
"H-Haha, I'm just kidding, just kidding," Bruce retreated a little. The rest of the pack also quieted down and dropped the subject, save for one guy.
"You gonna 'take us on''? Try me," Jaiden stood his ground despite the captain's threat. "I'll mop the floor with you in five seconds."
"Oh, you sure sound confident," Kai's face twitched. "1v1 me. I'm Challenger in Duel." 
"Duel rank means nothing," Jaiden stated matter-of-factly. "Come at me in a real match and I'll end your whole career, girl."
"Jaiden, I said enough," the golem captain warned again, his tone sterner than before.
"Tch, whatever," Jaiden shook his head and jumped off the stage. "Well, if I'm not playing, may as well take a stroll or something. This game gonna be a snoozefest confirmed."
"Yeah, because it gonna be EZPZ," Kai retorted. "We gonna mop the floor with Taurus the entire day."
"Yeah, right," Jaiden shrugged and continued toward the exit. He stopped for a moment to examine the rest of Stratus's lineup. Apparently, something caught his attention, but the interest was short-lived and he soon left.
"Hey, Jai! Wait up!" Two boys chased after Jaiden and vanished from the hall as well.
"Who the hell hired all these clowns?" Kai sneered. "Is this the circus or something?"
"Please, enough," the golem captain turned to Kai now. "I apologize for these guys. They're just a bit nervous because it's their first official match."
"Tch, whatever," Kai shrugged and turned away. The giant captain didn't do anything wrong, so she didn't feel like taking it out on him. She'll just have to teach these all bastards a real lesson.
[That fucker said he's playing in Bot, right? Perfect.] Kai nodded to herself. Rather than throwing baseless words at these scumbags, she'll prove her worth in battle. She'll end their pitiful lives! 
"Are both sides done with their trash-talking?" the referee asked with an amused smile. "Okay, both teams are warned. If you guys keep this up, I'll disqualify you. You might even get banned from the regionals if you act like this, so watch your words."
"I'm sorry," the golem captain apologized again. "I'll keep my team in check. It won't happen again."
"My bad," Kai glanced aside. "I think the nerves are getting to me." 
"Let's just have a nice and clean scrimmage, shall we?" the referee continued. "Alright, both teams can take their seats now."
With that, the tension on stage dispersed. Yet, Kai could still hear that bastard, Bruce, laughing behind her back.
[I'll make this fucker regret he was born.] Kai promised.
And so, after the "friendly" greet, the first game was about to begin!

Imagine a shonen sports story. But, it’s not about baseball or soccer. No, this one is about playing a MOBA video game!

And no, it’s neither League of Legends nor DotA. A BRAND NEW ORIGINAL MOBA, the one MOBA to rule them all - Classmancers!

The game has become so big, that even schools recognize it as a sport. They even allow students to participate in Classmancers clubs and compete against other schools! Who will be the one going to nationals!?

-------------------------------------

For Yuel, a team sport is like a chessboard that comes to life. There’s no greater fun than deconstructing every opponent and predicting twenty of their moves in advance.

And, Classmancers is the ideal stage for such psychological warfare, for it’s a sport in which game theory reigns supreme. At least, usually, it does.

There are also goofs like Lars, who got -200 IQ, yet boast godlike mechanical skill that triumphs against all odds. He’s like your typical OPMC which a cheat, except the cheat does nothing for his intellect.

Yuel and Lars are like water and fire. In other words, 100% compatible! That’s why they form an unlikely duo and set out to dominate Classmancers’ competitive scene!

However, to challenge their OPness, the two will run into rivals who are just as OP! Some of them will turn their teammates immune to Yuel’s psychological attacks, while others will redirect Lars’s almighty strength against himself.

In this harsh environment, the two will keep struggling, struggling, and struggling some more, following their promise to reach the pro scene.

-------------------------------------

NOTE: Since the site doesn't support italics yet, I'll be using [text] tags for thoughts in this version of the story.

If you're enjoying the story, please upvote it on TopWebFiction! http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=classmancers

RELEASE SCHEDULE: Monday and Thursday. Two chapters a week.

GAME WIKI: https://classmancers.wikia.com/

HOMEPAGE: https://darkclaymore.wordpress.com/classmancers/

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/darkclaymore
You can read up to 3 chapters ahead on Patreon.

Salty sea breeze greeted us as we climbed off the bus. A long beach extended on either side with large rocks and seashells sprinkled across the sand.

Before exiting the bus, I apologized to Ouga for taking his banana. The chubby middle-schooler shook his head saying it was okay and offered me a candy.

Yuriko nudged me, "Hey, so which sponsor did you choose?"

"I had one sponsor but there was an error with selecting mine. You?"

She shrugged, "I also only got one option."

The straw hat boy rubbed his eyes in disbelief as the Dokkaebi followed us outside into the open beach. "Huh? So you're not a projection."

One of the middle-schoolers reached up to touch the Dokkaebi but it hovered just high enough to be out of reach.

[Oh right. I should tell you all that you can use your coins earned from scenarios to improve your stats. This second scenario will be a bit challenging but do your best to survive.]

Xen slapped his fist on this palm. "So that's what the coins are for."

"It's like experience points!"

Stats? Was there a way for me to see those?

The moment I thought of this, a screen appeared.

+

[Profile Information]

Name: Miro Takeuchi

Age: 17 years old.

Constellation Support: None (1 constellation is currently showing interest in this person).

Private Attribute: Bookworm (Basic)

Exclusive Skills: Lie Detection Lv.1, Sage's Eyes Lv. 1, ??

Stigma: None

Overall Stats: Stamina Lv. 1, Strength Lv. 1, Agility Lv. 1, Magic Power Lv. 1.

+

Bookworm…? Just because I read books doesn't mean I necessarily enjoy them and I don't study that much either. Also what's up with only having 2 skills? In most games characters receive a handful of skills, but I guess it's better than having no skills.

"Umm, where are we exactly?"

A girl with shoulder-length brown hair who I recognized as Miyuki Chiba hesitantly stood near the bus. She often helped the teachers with handing out papers and was part of the student council so the teachers often mentioned her name in class.

Miyuki Chiba peered over the bridge where the mainland faded into the misty clouds. "I don't remember there being another beach nearby. And there doesn't seem to be anyone around here."

It was true, usually tourists would flock the beaches and there would be lifeguard towers, but there were only sand and rocks here. There weren't any buildings visible nearby either, the only other lifeforms were some thickets a good distance away.

The Dokkaebi looked disinterested as if it repeated the same line a dozen times. [This island is a zone created specifically for this scenario.]

Ouga ran towards the bridge, but fell backwards with a thud. He rubbed his head in confusion, "There's something blocking the path..?"

[A barrier field is necessary so that monsters don't go to the mainland.]

Looks of apprehension shadowed our faces. "Monsters..?"

Several rocks started shaking violently.

[It seems that the monsters have awoken. Haha good luck! Japan's population is rather limited so it would best for both of us if none of you died.]

Emerging from the rocks were heads of monstrous creatures, ones that I have never read in any book nor seen in any image. Looking closer, the rocks themselves seem to be transforming into a form that was a conglomeration of a giant crab and a horrendous beetle. More than twenty rocks turned towards us.

"Squaaak!?"

Frightened by the sudden appearance of the monstrous horde, the chicken panicked and ran around in circles.

Alerted by the noise the monsters crawled towards our direction.

Yoshikawa yelped, "Wahh! T-they're coming to us!"

Nakano stepped forward. "I- my sponsor has a stigma that allows me to control fire. You guys  should stay on the bus."

He picked up a long piece of driftwood and lit it on fire. The monsters halted as Nakano brandished the burning driftwood.

"Tomoya, hurry!" Miyuki Chiba called from the bus. The other middle-schoolers were already in the bus.

Tomoya, I assume that is the name of the straw hat boy, hurriedly scooped up the chicken but it hopped down and scurried towards the monsters.

"Bucky, come back!"

Tomoya chased after the chicken into the center of the horde.

"That idiot." Nakano had his hands full fending off the monsters from approaching the bus and couldn't go after Tomoya.

Bucky was larger than average chickens and aquatic predators usually don't eat birds because of their distaste in feathers. However the monsters were three times the size of the chicken and a single swipe of their claws would result in a fatal wound for either the chicken or Tomoya.

Maybe it was because I got over my initial fright or maybe it was because I reasoned that the monsters were weaker than I suspected. Regardless of the reason, I ran after Tomoya.

"Miro!"

I heard Yuriko shouting my name but by then I was already far away from the bus.

"Squaaak!"

The chicken flapped its wings in an attempt to intimidate the monsters. This only annoyed the monsters as one of them lashed out, narrowly missing the bristling feathers of the chicken. Tomoya tried to scoop the chicken up, but it hopped away and ran in circles around the spot.

A monster arched its back and prepared to launch an attack with both pincers.

I tugged on a piece of flat driftwood lying on the sand, but it was too heavy. If I had more strength… wait, strength? The Dokkaebi's words flashed in my mind. I brought up my stats info and poured all of my coins to increase my strength stat.

[300 coins have been invested into 'strength'.]

[Strength Lv. 1 -> Strength Lv. 4]

With slightly less difficulty I lifted the flat driftwood and raised it up as a shield.

Kwaaack!

Strong pincers slammed into the wood and knocked me back. I landed on something soft. I grabbed whatever was behind me and held it up to look.

It was a small round-shaped egg. The chicken must have been protecting these though the eggs look different from chicken eggs. Were these monster eggs?

[Exclusive skill, Sage's Eyes Lv. 1 has been activated!]

I felt a faint burning sensation in my eyes and a blue screen popped up in front of me.

[Item Information - Turtle Egg]
Main food source for coastal monsters. Each turtle egg eaten by a monster gives them a random +1 to stats.

So the chicken was trying to protect these eggs? That must be why it didn't want to leave. It looks like the monsters are also targeting the eggs.

"Tomoya- the eggs-"

I was so out of breath that I wasn't able to talk properly, but thankfully he understood and started piling the eggs on his overturned straw hat. The chicken jumped onto the hat and Tomoya fled towards the bus.

Kwaaack!

The driftwood broke into pieces as the monster launched another attack. I gulped in a mouthful of air and rolled away. The eggs that I mistook for seashells were scattered all over the sandy shore.

[Item Information - Coin Egg]
Gives 100 coins when broken.

[Item Information - Random Item Egg]
Gives a random B to D-grade item when broken.

Some of the eggs were normal turtle eggs while others seemed to be items that one would find in a game. It would be a bad situation if the monsters were to get a hold of the eggs.

I grabbed a fistful of the turtle eggs and stuffed them in the pocket of my gray hoodie that was drenched dark with sweat.

[100 coins have been earned.]

[100 coins have been earned.]

[You have obtained the item, 'Piece of Coal'.]

. . .

Messages popped up as I stomped on the item and coin eggs.

[750 coins have been invested into 'stamina'.]

[Stamina Lv. 1 -> Stamina Lv. 6]

Immediately my breathing became easier and my steps became lighter. However three monsters surrounded me and were creeping closer. Black jaws snapped as I backed away.

[Exclusive skill, Sage's Eyes Lv. 1 has been activated!]

My eyes burned again and a small panel popped up.

[Monster Information - Scuttle Lurkers]
A mutant crab species that mimics rocks upon shores. They feed on fishes, turtle eggs, and seagulls. Vulnerable to fire and piercing attacks. Young scuttle lurkers have undeveloped soft shells and are vulnerable to blunt damage but mature ones have thick, hard shells that protect them from physical harm. Their favorite food is pearls obtained from giant oysters.

I checked the items I got from the item eggs. Unfortunately none of them could be used as a weapon. Fire… I looked back at the bus.

The middle-schoolers were safe inside the bus and Nakano was swinging a burning stick at scuttle lurkers that were crawling towards the bus. I should have taken the turtle eggs from Tomoya since the monsters are probably lured by the stinky scent of the eggs.

One of the scuttle lurkers aimed a blow at me. I managed to roll away, but its claws grazed my arm. To my surprise I didn't feel much pain, was it because of my increased stats?

"Miro!"

Kwaaack!

A claw smashed in a downward arc but was blocked by a piece of driftwood. Xen grinned.

"Hey if you shout the name of your skill, it will be stronger."

Where on earth did he get that idea from? Xen handed the driftwood to me and lifted his arms.

"Skill activate! Gale Burst!"

A strong wind forced back the three scuttle lurkers and created an opening for us to escape.

[A constellation is amused by the idea of yelling out skill names.]

[222 coins have been sponsored!]

What the heck? Coins can be earned like that too?

We began sprinting back to the bus when the Dokkaebi suddenly appeared.

[Well well, it's been 30 mins and you're all managing to survive so far.]

A mischievous grin formed on the Dokkaebi's face.

[Why don't we make things a bit more interesting?]

Kueehhhhh!

From the distance of the thickets a humongous mound of stone reared up its head and let out a deafening roar.

A fanfiction based on Sing-Shong’s fantastic novel, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, with an original cast of characters and scenarios.

I really enjoyed the system that ORV presented and wished to see more scenarios so this fanfic was created. I am more of a reader than a writer, but I am also more of a creator than an idealist. This story may not have the best writing but hopefully you can find some enjoyment from it~

The setting takes place in an alternate worldline and is likely to not feature any characters from ORV nor will it contain any major spoilers. 

Please refrain from commenting spoilers on ORV as many people have yet to reach the epilogue of ORV.

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Feel free to contact me on Twitter! I sometimes post art of characters there.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pyubee
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Credit: Art cover is from Pinterest (let me know if you know the artist so I can credit them directly!)

best for middle schoolers novel

I'M TRAPPED IN A VIDEO GAME? (ONESHOT)

The Dracula Diaries

My Bothersome Life

The World We Do Not know

Sweets Magic

HeroXGamerXHero

Swimming Prodigy’s Return

Mandatory Game: Progress

Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

Omnipotent Observer

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