Blood Queen Reborn

Chapter 146: New Student

Ever since Vorden had arrived at the school, he found that the way it worked was far different from the schooling system he was used to back on his home island.

For one, every student here had a watch displaying a number on them, which he was able to correctly guess correlated to their ability level. Then, there was the way those with high numbers would bully and harass the low numbered ones. He didn’t fully understand why they did it, other than to power trip.

He was given the ability number of a 5 by the military staff after explaining to them how his ability worked as well as a quick demonstration. Due to the circumstances of his ability only working depending on what ability he copied, they placed him slightly above the middle.

Then, there were his classes. As a new student, he needed to pick a combat class, but as he was sitting on a bench outside, he found the choice difficult.

"I could go elemental," Vorden pondered.

The watch displayed a holographic screen where he scrolled down the numerous options.

"We’ve gone through so many elemental lessons already. Can’t we do literally anything else?" Raten shot back.

Since he used the octopus ability to arrive on the mainland, he briefly considered taking the transformation classes, but Raten did have a point. They were both tired of taking ability related lessons.

Vorden sighed. The truth was that all of these classes had some sort of focus on abilities in combat, and if he was being honest, that was the last thing he wanted to do. The training from his grandfather made the idea of fighting have a sour taste.

"How about the agricultural classes?" Vorden asked, not expecting to actually pick it.

"Yeah, go on and show everyone your green thumb," Raten deadpanned, "You couldn’t keep a cactus alive if it fed itself."

Vorden ignored Raten’s comment, and inside of their shared mind, glanced over his shoulder to the little one.

"I wish there was more we could do to help him," Vorden spoke with a heavy weight to it.

Raten sighed, frustration evident, "What are we even doing here? Like, what’s the point of staying in this school?"

"...I wanted to talk to other people," Vorden sheepishly replied.

Raten stared down at Vorden, then scoffed, crossing his arms, "Well, we don’t know anyone, so it doesn’t really matter what class we pick then. Just choose one that has some hot chicks."

That was when Vorden was reminded of the boy with blue glasses and black curly hair. The way he looked was strangely familiar, and in their brief encounter, acted more genuine than a lot of people did when they found out he was a level 5.

After doing a bit of research in students with the earth ability, he was able to find out that the boy was named Quinn Talen, and what schedule he had.

—

The next day, they were off to their classes, but there was a question plaguing Erin and Layla’s minds.

What was that headache all about?

Erin had a feeling that the system knew more than it let on, but despite all of her insults, threats, and pleases in that order, the system remained silent on the situation.

Because of this, Erin and Layla were hesitant to have any physical contact, worried that the same thing was going to happen again. There was a concern that having the same headache repeatedly was going to cause some unforeseen side effects later down the line.

When they came through the beast weapons class door, Leo turned towards their direction and smiled. The others were thinking it was a little strange for Leo to ’look’ at them, but Erin knew better.

’He must’ve just heard us enter. He has ears after all.’

After a while, the other students arrived early before class began, but there was more murmuring than usual.

"Hey, is that a new student?"

"He joined late, which makes me think he’s a draft evader."

"Really? But he’s a level 5, why would he do that?"

"He looks cute, I gotta ask him out."

With all of the whispering going on, both Quinn and Erin looked around to see who this mysterious person was. In Erin’s mind, she was interested to see just how strong he was, while Quinn was more so wondering if this was the same person he saw the other day. Level 5s were rare, but that was more so towards the beginning of the school year.

"Hey, I think that blonde guy is the new student," Layla whispered to Erin.

She discretely pointed towards a student standing in the back, and when Erin found him, she used her inspect skill.

[Inspect]

[Vorden Blade]

[Race: human]

[HP: 26/26]

[Ability: Copy]

’The copy ability? How does that work?’ Erin thought, eyeing the tall blonde.

Leo audibly cleared his throat, signaling that class was about to start.

"As you all know, we have been learning the basics of each weapon. I haven’t taught you how to use each one individually, but only explained how to activate their power for a greater result," Leo explained, taking out his katana blade, "But there will be times when one’s weapon will break, or certain weapons will prove ineffective against the enemy."

Just then, he threw his blade at the wall behind him using a level of speed most of the students weren’t able to perceive. When they found the sword, it was nearly fully embedded in the wall.

Then, Leo added, "In these times, we will have to use our own fists."

The students began mumbling again as the idea of fighting against the dalki using only their fists sounded outright suicidal.

"We have abilities, and now we’re being told to use our hands?"

"If I used my fists against the dalki, I’d only stay alive for 3 seconds so the dalki can laugh before cutting my head off."

They continued to loudly talk over one another, unaware that Leo was hearing everything. He suddenly took off his white cape, revealing a full suit of armor.

Immediately, Erin, Fex, Layla and Quinn all recognized it as the same armor from when he had killed the dalki.

Even though he had revealed his beast gear, not everyone had paid attention to his actions, as there was a student in the middle of the class audibly badmouthing the war hero to his friends.

Leo had sensed the aura of a beast weapon knife in the ceiling loosening, and not a moment after, it fell, about to land on the head of the student. Immediately, the teacher shot out from where he stood, and grabbed the knife midair, mere inches away from impaling the boy.

"Our old technology before the war was useless against the dalki, and our nuclear weapons were rendered useless before we had the chance to try them. Even armor piercing bullets from a sniper rifle could at most knock a single spiked dalki back. However, when activating beast gear, our bodies become empowered," Leo lectured, "To bring out the full potential of your beast gear, you first need a strong base."

The boy who was nearly impaled had stared, and nodded, unable to say a word.

"I am sure you do not need any further demonstration from me," Leo stated before placing the knife away, "So for today’s lesson, we shall begin pairing up, and practicing fighting each other with our fists only."

The students began to pair up accordingly, and despite Erin wanting to team up with Layla, she actually wanted to practice against Fex.

"Close range combat is still a weakness of mine, so I’m hoping that if I fight against someone physically strong like Fex, it’ll force me to improve faster" Layla explained, then flexed her arm a little, "I have more physical strength than before, which means I need to fight against someone who can match it."

Erin looked at her, worried, "Are you sure this isn’t about the—?"

"It’s not about the headaches," Layla shot back with a little bit more force than she expected, "This is just something I want to do."

Erin bit her lip, worried for her roommate, but she trusted Fex would be able to take care of her.

She thought about fighting against Quinn again, but he had taken off somewhere to look for a new opponent. Not that she fully minded it, doing the same thing herself wasn’t a bad idea.

Looking around for the new guy, Erin found him swarmed by at least 10 students pushing against one another to get to him.

The blonde guy shoved his way out of the crowd, and, as Erin was one of the few people who wasn’t trying to force herself onto him, he felt he had no choice to get the others off of him.

"I’ll spar with you!"