Final Preparations

"Fight me!" Kumon yelled, rushing forward. As he did, sparks of lightning could be seen going off all over the place. The bright line illuminated by his ability covered the entirety of the hallway, making it difficult for Kayden to see clearly. Quickly, he covered the distance and tgrew his habd out, punching Kayden riggt acroas his jaw. As he did, the electricity spread through his body quickly, shocking him and keeping him in place.

"You and that red-haired witch tortured me, and for that, i'll make sure that all of you pay!" Kumon yelled, grabbing hold of the werewolf by its throat, sendong more currents of electricity thrpugh his body.

Kayden was unable to move. He couldn't even dodge the attack, his opponent was just way too fast. Moreover, the shocking effect of the lightning was something that hisbody could not resist. As his body was being electrocuted, the mana in his body would quickly br used to heal up hos injuries. In this state, it wouldn't be long until he passes out.

[Quest Received!]

[You seem to be getting into fights way too often]

[Last five minutes in this fight]

[Reward: A new skill and a level up]

'This shitty system!' Kayden screamed internally, doing his best just to make his habd moved. He concenteated as much as he could, however, it didn't seem to work. The effect of the lightning, it was just way too strong and was keeping him in place. It was clear that this student was far stronger than him.

'When? How? How are so many students becoming so powerful all of a sudden?' Kayden couldn't forget when Dan had suddenly gotten a major power boost before going rogue. He also remembered Marcus, who had gone on a rampage, wanting to plunge the school into chaos. And there were many others, as well.

All these people had become more powerful in such a short period of time.

"Awooooo!" Kayden howled. The pain had become far too much for him to bear. He gritted his teeth, shaking his head non-stop. Opening his eyes, they glared intensely at the student gripping his throat. In the first place, his werewolf transformation only turned his body into one. There waa no increase in his physical body size, meaning that, Kayden was still the same height as he normally would in his human form.

Suddenly, Kumon loosened his grip, allowing Kayden to break free and create a considerable amount of distance between the both of them. His habd held onto his neck softly, still feeling thr effects of the electricity lingering all over his body, but particularly, that area.

Kayden was in extreme pain. His breathing was coarse and uneven. With thr insane amount of grip applied, it took an equally considerable amount of mana to heal his entire body. His mana pool would run low in time if the torment continued.

"How pathetic. Titan five, but you can barely hold your own against me? I guess things have really started to change around here," Kumon said, deactivating his ability right after. "This school belings to those who are avove the others in power. And so, that means that you are now below me. Unless, you want us to continue fighting," he reactivated his ability, large flashes of lightning going off in the process.

Kumon had always been a strange student to those at the academy. Many didn't even know his ability, much less understood how it even worked. However, what no one expected was for him to grow so much.

"I... give up," Kayden eventually said, cancelling his transformation. Not only had he failed to win the fight, but he had failed another quest in the process. 'I always used to think that i was one of the strongest in here, but i guess that was in the past. Everything is different now,' he tgought to himself.

"Rank 6," he said, gazing down at his watch. "You were just a rank below me. I guess you were pacing your matches. But if i'm being honest, i don't see the point of you doing that since you were easily able to overwhelm me, and if i'm being honest, so far, only three students havebeen able to overwhelm me like that," he continued.

"Kayla, Zain, and now, me. I almost feel sorry for you, but this is just the way it is, and with time, if you are unable to keep up, then you would end up at the very bottom. I hope that doesn't end up happening to you. We all know what happens to those at the bottom," Kumon said. "They are cast aside and forgotten. The trash of modern society," and with that, he turned around and left, leaving Kayden all alone in the hallway.

"Who would have thought that i would ebd up loosing two matches twice in a row?" He asked himself, as he continued to walk back to his dorm room. On his way there, he couldn't stop thinking about everything that was happening. The spike in students' potential, random shale attacks, thr expedition course happening tomorrow, Kayla's disappearance, and much more.

"I have a bad feeling about all of this," he said, opening the door to his room and stepping inside, closing the door behind him. "Something isn't right. And even now, i haven't grown stronger or levelled up that much. I know this system has a lot of potential, but lately, it seems like it's been expecting me to perform far beyond what i am capable of.

"What does this thing even expect from me?"

At times, he would even try asking some information from the system, like how was it created, who created it, and why was it even created in the first place. In the current modern era of society, techological advancements had led to thr development of highly advanced A.I., so the fact that he had a system in his brain wasn't something that came as much of a surprise to him.

'Also, it's like i can't even do much. Like, what kinda powers do werewolves even have? Can they shoot lazers from their eyes? Do they have elemental powers? Can they freeze time or time travel? Other than superhuman capabilities, what else can they do?

"Maybe, they could turn others into werewolves, as well, but i don't really think that would be possible for me, since werewolf is just a transformation that my ability grants me. I don't have werewolf DNA in my body. Well, at least, i hope i don't."

__________

Everyone was anxious for the next day. Those who believed that they were strong enough to habdle whatever they might come across durong the expedition course, they were simply doing some last minute training in their dorms, getting ready for the next day. However, those who were on the weaker end, they were more anxious than others.

They knew that things would be much harder for them durong the period of the expedition.

In the Arena, two students were going against each other in conbat. Whenever one student shoots out a ball of fire, the other would erext a stone barrier, then once the flame had dispersed, he would manipulate the ground to his advantage, forming projectiles made out of stone abd shooting them at his opponent.

"You're doing good!" Blake said, forming a ball of flames in his hand. However, instead of throwing it forward, he still had it floating between his hands. When he pointed it at Carter, a beam of flames shot out that quickly covered the distance in the air. Carter managed to dodge the attack, sending a ball of Earth through the air, only for Blake to bash it to pieces with his habd encased in a strong aura of flames.

Carter dug a tunnel below, disappearing riggt in front of Blake into the ground. Seeing this, he gathered more mana, conjuring more flames abd shooting it right into thr hole. As the flames eventually dispersed, he saw that the hole which was previously open had been completely sealed, and before he could react, he felt a strong kick hit his neck from behind, causing his body to loose balance and crash into the ground.

"Are you getting sloppy or something? This isn't the first time i've used this trick against you," Carter said, shaking his stone encased foot. "Or have i just managed to surpass you?"

"Don't get cocky now," Blake said with a smirk. "

"Don't get cocky now," Blake said with a smirk. "Don't underestimate my fire," he created a sword made of flames, holding it in his habd tightly and rushing forward.

___________

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. If you did, then feel free to support this work with power stones and gifts.

This is the first chapter I'm going to post today. The second one be be posted right after this.

This is the second to the last chapter of Volume one: The Shade Attacks.

Thanks for reading.