CHAPTER 34: THE SOUVENIRS

"Geez, stop! You’ll kill him at this rate?" Opal yelled as she pushed Eric lightly with her heel.

Eric finally let go, breathing heavily as he stared down at his handiwork. However, he didn’t feel any sense of concern or remorse. He was solid on the fact that they deserved whatever treatment they got for treating him like a worthless "shit."

The last of the group—the one manning the entrance row and the last one standing—saw the mess and made a run for it. But Opal pivoted on her heels and dashed after him. After a while, she dragged him back to the corner, pushing him against the wall.

The thin, sandy-haired boy gasped for breath, as Opal pinned him to the wall.

"I-I... I’m sorry... I didn’t do anything... I swear!" he stuttered, trying hard to breathe.

"I know," Opal replied, eyeing him like he was a helpless weakling. "For you, why be a part of this nonsense group? Were you bullied till you follow their orders?"

The boy kept shaking as he replied, and Opal narrowed her eyes. "Good. For now, you get the three of them to the hospital, and I won’t hurt you. Also, not a word of this fight must come out of your mouth. If your teacher finds out about this... well, let’s just say I’m a much worse bully than Styles. I will find you and shove this sword all the way up your rectum. Okay?"

"Y-yes!" he replied, becoming a ghost of color after Opal released him.

Eric was standing over Styles, who was unconscious with blood pooled over his split skull. He let out a weak groan, showing just how bad he’d been suffering. Eric only hit him once with the wooden sword, but since his movement was powered by the Killer Dash skill, the attack dealt five times more damage, knocking Styles out instantly.

Eric bent down and yanked away Styles’ blue belt and, after he safely tucked them his pocket, he whispered, "Another souvenir."

He walked over to the silent boy’s body as well and repeated the same thing. He studied the three belts and realized the colors must match with the magical abilities of the student mages.

The red belt belonged to Cheng, who was a fire mage. The blue one matched with Styles’ ice-control ability, and the grey belt was for the silent boy, who could manipulate one’s mind.

"How?" said Opal as she strolled toward him. "How did you manage to hit Styles so hard? And how did you know it was the other boy dealing mental damage to me? I thought you were a clueless freak. You’ve barely stayed a full day here."

Eric turned toward her with a slight, raised brow. He was still uncomfortable around her even though she was trying to strike a conversation with him now.

"Oh, you don’t want to kill me now? I don’t think we should talk like this just because I jumped in to help you from a situation that was entirely mine to handle?"

Opal scoffed. "I’m definitely not your friend, and I still want to tear your head off. But I’d do that some other day. I feel good now that I kicked a mage in his scrotum. Those dimwits annoy the hell out of me."

She yanked her wooden sword away from Eric’s grip and stared at it with adorable eyes.

"Oh, the blood of mages... on my wooden sword. Never thought a day like this would come. I’m going to hang this in my wardrobe—never to be used again."

Eric was visibly confused but said nothing.

"Let’s get out of here. The awkward one will take care of them. And if they have enough dignity like they claim, they’ll know never tell a soul that a swordsman beat them to a pulp with a stick ," Opal said as she swung the sword playfully while walking away.

---

When Eric and Opal entered their room together, looking extremely tired and worn out, Gary and Silver stared at each other, their expressions asking a million questions at the same time. Opal wiped the blood off her mouth and Eric tried to move without revealing much about the spot where he was stabbed by Styles’s icicles.

The two of them had already forgotten to clean themselves up before entering the room.

"What? You’ve never seen a beautiful lady before? Close your mouths," said Opal.

Silver finally spoke. "What happened to you two? Were you bullied by the seniors?"

"I’d believe that only if Opal can be bullied," Gary objected while receiving a wink from Opal. He blushed a little.

Opal opened her wardrobe and hung her blood-stained sword on a hanger, gleaming with joy.

Eric also opened his wardrobe, putting up the three belts he collected as souvenirs, as secretly as possible. He hung them on an empty space and admired them a little before slamming the door shut. He clambered up his bunk without a word and let out a heavy sigh of release.

It felt like everything was over and he could live happily ever after now.

Suddenly, the system popped open with a notification:

[You have received +5 upgrade across all your basic stats except LUCK.]

[Reward increased for defeating a B-ranked mage.]

[You are getting stronger.]

[But remember, you can only get stronger faster and more effectively by consuming mana.]

Eric closed his eyes as the tiredness finally set in. He’d never had a chance to rest today.

From the training ground to fighting against bully mages, the day was surely long.

He acknowledged the system’s notification and its advice on getting stronger. He knew he had to get stronger, but for what reason? If he didn’t have a very good reason, he might as well just make do with his current stats.

This new world was demanding but he wasn’t moved.

He drifted off to sleep, checking out, even when he heard Gary faintly telling him that he got a letter from Master Max.