Free Web NovelChapter 9: System Upgrade!
The sound of sudden laughter echoed loudly through the whole cafeteria. The surrounding students stiffened in their tracks. They watched his amused face, slowly realizing that he didn’t feel anything at all about their disgusted expressions.
"Hahaha... Hah... Hah..."
Alden clutched his stomach as he felt a strain in his gut after laughing for so long.
"Oh... Hah... Sorry, sorry guys. I just couldn’t hold back anymore..."
As Alden slowly calmed down from his outburst, he finally looked at the group again with a highly amused expression.
"So... You are coming to defend your friend? I am actually happy to know that at least someone here has trusted friends to defend them..."
He wiped a tear from his eye.
"But by the way, I will tell you this right now. I have no friends, no support, and no family backing. I am completely alone. I have no special talent, and I have nothing which I can use to defend myself from any of you..."
Alden smiled widely and said,
"So go ahead and do whatever you want with me... it will get you nothing but a waste of your own time and energy."
Leon looked at him with a bewildered stare, as he couldn’t comprehend Alden’s calm look.
Another friend named Sion glared at him with pure rage, stepping forward with boiling anger.
The girl, Elara, sharpened her gaze. Her confident smile vanished instantly as she looked at him with cold eyes.
Suddenly, the tall guy burst out from his standing place. Within a single second, he directly appeared right behind Alden. His large, sharp nails were resting right against Alden’s neck.
"Haron, stop..."
Alden suddenly felt a sharp chill run down his spine. He could feel that those sharp nails were filled with deadly poison, hovering just an inch away from digging directly inside his skin.
Haron stopped his movement as he looked over at Kaelian.
"What is it, Kael? Why are you stopping me? This guy doesn’t deserve to stay inside the academy..." Haron said calmly.
Kaelian sat leaning back on his chair as he flicked his hand repeatedly to free it from the lingering effect of the frost from earlier. He looked at them with cold eyes and narrowed his gaze.
"This guy is deliberately trying to provoke everyone here so that you will hurt him and be expelled from the academy. It is a strict rule of the academy that no fights should break out inside the academy grounds outside of the official dueling areas..."
Haron slowly retreated his hand as he considered those words. He stepped back and looked down at Alden.
"Oh, it seems the little fellow is not an idiot after all..."
As Haron’s words fell into the quiet cafeteria, the surrounding crowd looked at Alden suspiciously. They quickly realized that even if he was the weakest student, they couldn’t bully him physically. Otherwise, they might have to face immediate expulsion, which no one wanted to risk.
Alden looked at Kaelian calmly.
"Oh, I haven’t been aware of that specific rule. Thanks for telling me, it will be a real lifesaver for me..."
Alden said this honestly, as he had genuinely been unaware of the rule. He initially thought he was going to have to face several consequences for his loud outburst, but it seems his high luck was truly acting in his favor.
Kaelian narrowed his eyes, clearly not taking his word for it. He stood up from his chair and cast one last look at Alicia, who was currently focused on eating and entirely ignoring the drama around this place.
Alden also took his food plate and dropped it inside the nearby washbasin as he started to leave the area.
The crowds around them also started to disperse back to their tables.
Kaelian opened his mouth to say something more to Alicia but stopped, considering she was definitely not in the mood to talk. He stepped forward silently. His entire entourage started following behind him like a loyal tail.
As the cafeteria returned to normal silence, Alicia was the only one left sitting at that table.
As she sat there eating with a composed demeanor, her stiff shoulders finally relaxed at the silence. A small, imperceptible smile tugged lightly on her lips. Her striking lavender eyes looked at the empty place where Alden had sat with a mysterious look.
"He is still the same as before..."
***
Later, inside the quiet dorm room, Alden finally entered his personal space after the day’s drama was completed. He had checked the training grounds once, and thanks to the heavens, today’s remaining afternoon classes had been officially canceled because the combat professors were busy with some important academy work.
"Sigh... I feel completely drained after that whole scene. What a pain... Why has my new life suddenly turned similar to the protagonist of some fantasy novel? Or did I really become the protagonist of some actual novel? If yes, then the readers must feel very amused by my current situation..."
He rubbed his temples.
"Whatever, let’s see what I got first."
He walked forward toward his desk, pulled out the wooden chair, and sat heavily on it while checking his glowing system interface.
[Ding!]
[The Mission ’Confront your Haters’ has been successfully completed!]
[The Reward has been successfully acquired.]
[All stats have gained an increase of +5 points...]
Alden instantly felt his body grow lighter. The heavy exhaustion of the day finally vanished as he felt noticeably more powerful. All his core stats had received a significant boost, which made a very big difference in his frail frame.
Just because his stats had increased, it didn’t mean he would suddenly get muscles, bulk up, or become taller overnight. The stat points were only going to make his internal body much stronger and more durable for prolonged battles.
Well, for Alden, who was currently less than even an average guy, this much stat increase was a blessing for him.
Just as he slumped forward onto his desk, his system screen flashed brightly again.
[Ding!]
[Hidden Conditions met!]
[Ding! You have successfully confronted your haters and protected your dignity in front of all...]
[Ding! You have successfully managed to control your emotions in front of the crowd!]
[Ding! You have successfully managed to leave a deep impression on the audience!]
[Ding! Hidden Mission ’Leave a Mark’ has been successfully completed!]
Ding!
[Ding! The System has been upgraded to Level 2!]
[Ding! New features have been unlocked!]
[Ding! Do you want to merge all the rewards of the hidden conditions into one?]
[Y/N]
