Chapter 66: The Culprit

"Wake up."

Rewen rubbed his eyes and opened his eyes. He looked at the person beside his bed, then to the clock. "Why did you wake me up so early?" It was 6:15. The Academy starts at 9:30 so it was definitely very early.

The person who woke him up, Denny, yawned. "Tell that to your girlfriend. She had been standing outside our house for about thirty minutes. Did you call her?"

Rewen turned over his quilt. "I told her to come in the morning. My sleep has been destroyed now… I can only sleep in the class now." He has to sleep 8 hours a day or else, he would feel drowsy the entire day. 

Getting up from his bed, he asked. "Where is Cal?"

"He went to work."

"He has it rough. I just don't understand why Uncle or Aunt and even my parents don't support us financially."

"It's because they want us to be independent."

"Isn't that stupid?"

"I don't know." Denny refused to give a proper answer.

Rewen went to the living room and saw Svety sitting on the couch in her uniform.

"Why did you come this early?"

Svety looked up. "I couldn't sleep the entire night." 

Rewen went closer to her and inspected her eyes. 'Certainly. There are bags under her eyes.'

Seeing his action, Svety pouted. "Did you think I would lie?"

"Can't say. You did lie more than you told the truth. Anyways, wait here. I'll wash myself. If you feel hungry, there's a dessert in the refrigerator." Rewen walked towards the bathroom.

Ten minutes later. 

Rewen came out of his room wearing his uniform with a light bag and a book in his hand. 

Going to the living room, he let his body fall on the couch lazily. 

Svety's attention went to the book he was reading. "That's a good book."

Rewen nodded. "It is. Written in simple language."

"Have you ever wondered why there is a huge difference between a Rank 0 and a Rank 1?"

"You are asking the wrong person. Despite not even being a Rank 0, I defeated a Rank 2. Ranks don't mean much to me." Rewen low-key bragged. 

"That's because you are a Martial Artist. Martial Artists don't pay attention to MP and only focus on training the body. The reason why there is a huge difference in MP in Rank 0 and Rank 1 is primarily because of skills. Unlike what you have seen in the virtual world, the skills in the real world need much more mana to use."

"Only because of skills? What a letdown. I thought there would be some interesting reason."

"Unfortunately, we have yet to reach the stages where things become interesting."

"For example?"

"For example, Rank 3."

"What happens there?"

"I wasn't told any specifics but I heard that from Rank 3 onwards, the power system becomes very diverse."

"Interesting. Ah…" Rewen remembered something important and took out his phone.

-> Did you talk to the family using your smartphone or by writing.

Svety also took out her smartphone.

-> I didn't. I didn't want to take the risk.

Rewen didn't say anything more. He went back to read the book.

***

"Hope you are good today." Rewen was greeted by Zaplin and Vin as soon as he stepped into the classroom.

Rewen chuckled. "I'm good. I hope you got the notes ready."

"We showed our care for you only for you to care about our notes. A true friend, indeed." Vin laughed lightly.

"Of course. What good is a friend of if he didn't have notes?" Rewen also laughed. "By the way, did something eventful happen? There's this curse I was inflicted with. Every time I didn't go to school, something eventful happened."

"Nothing of that sort happened. A few second years did come to our class but it's nothing too serious."

"I'm relieved."

At this moment, Zelic came from behind and slapped his arm.

"What was wrong with you yesterday?"

"Can you not hurt me before asking?"

"Okay! What happened?" Zelic was as energetic and playful as ever.

"I was not feeling well."

"Eh? Were you not having an extremely painful headache?"

"I wasn't."

"You didn't go to the hospital…?"

"You wanted to see me in the hospital bedridden, didn't you?"

"How can you say that!"

Rewen proceeded to ignore her and went to his seat.

Just as he kept his bag and was about to lower his head to take a nap, a voice reached him.

"Good morning." The woman sitting beside him gave a bright smile.

Needless to say, it was the devil woman. Seeing her made him frown. 

"What's wrong? You look tense. Have you been well?" The devil woman asked with a concerned tone.

"It was your doing?" Although Rewen couldn't connect all the dots, his instincts told him that the culprit behind the letter was the devil woman.

"What could you be talking about? Also, I think you might want to turn off your smartphone's recorder. It's rude, you know."

Rewen had no expression on his face. "It was you."

"So what if it was me."

"You don't feel anything endangering the lives of millions who have nothing to do with you? And that too because of a stupid game."

"I don't. Take it as me being edgy but millions of deaths mean nothing to me. If I want, the entire kingdom can rot in hell as if I care." The devil woman's voice was casual.

"Why don't you live with the beasts then? I suppose they will be a good match for you." Rewen said without looking at her.

The devil woman didn't show any signs of anger. Instead she smiled. "I admire your courage. You seem like you have an idea of who I am. Despite that, you are still the same. I'm surprised. Where did you get the confidence? It doesn't look like you are an idiot."

"Enough nonsense." Rewen looked straight at her. "Say, if I kidnap you disregarding the laws right now… won't the matter be solved?"

The devil woman blinked her eyes, then her lips curved up to form a smile. "Why don't you try? Here." She lifted her hands towards him.

Rewen grabbed her two hands.

All of a sudden, the devil woman's eyes turned cold. 

"Haha. Look how serious you are. Couldn't you tell that I'm just messing around with you?" Rewen grinned. As someone who had a deep grudge against her, he of course wouldn't joke around with her. Previously, he used [Observe] and saw that her average stats was 8. Due to the reason of - 'Could she be hiding it?', he wanted to confirm it. From her reaction, he was seventy percent sure that she isn't a big deal. Only her identity is.

The devil woman's eyes twitched. It didn't take long before she made a guess or two about his action and gave a chilling smile. "Do I look like a friend you can joke with?"

"I don't know. You tell me." Rewen shrugged. He had gotten what he wanted. 'Hopefully, not many variables will come up with the plan. No, that's the wrong approach. I got my time. I can't laze around wishing everything will go according to plan when I have an ample amount of time to make remedies for the potential variables.'

"How is it going everyone? Good?"

Alrocit Dominic, the homeroom teacher, made his entry. 

Rewen rather liked him. He was a strict teacher. While occasionally chatting with the students, he never strays from the subject matter. 'Totally different from the racist teacher.' Day before yesterday, when the elderly History Teacher was 'disrespecting' his race, he took it personally.

"Today we'll be learning the different way how you can effectively use the "alpha" stage of the skill. Yes, you heard it right. Not the "beta". With just the "alpha", you can do things you can't even imagine. You can even create your own way through which we can use the "alpha" stage of any skill. However, we have to stay true to our syllabus. I can only teach you what's given in the book. Haha…

"Anyways, there are three primary ways you need to learn before you touch the Rank 0 Skills. 

"First. Static. As the name and it's meaning suggests, you can do several tricks by just getting into the "alpha" stage of any skill. Before I further explain, can anyone tell me what the "alpha" stage of an skill means?"

No one raised their hands.

Alrocit pointed to a guy sitting at far left. "Can you tell?"

"Urgh… the primary stage of any skill…?"

"Anything else?" Alrocit didn't appear satisfied with the explanation.

"It's… you know… the stage where mana gathers up natural energy…"

"From where?"

"The surroundings."

"And? What else?"

"Trigger infinite chain reactions."

"Exactly! Now, back to the topic. You might be wondering how it would help in anything? Well, of course. It wouldn't help in anything if you just reach the "alpha" stage. To actually make clever use of it, you need to…"

Rewen was listening to the lecture attentively when someone kicked him in the legs.