Chapter 168 School Trip [1]

Almost two months had gone by, and many things happened whether it was something that concerned the entirety of humanity or every individual's own story.

First of all, the casualties caused by the Suicide of Unworthiness or the Failure Penalty for unsuccessfully conquering the Tower of Growth were greatly lessened due to the Obelisk Anthem — in which the failed player needed to recite to override the deadly psychological cue of the Tower.

Secondly, Ayleen was questioned regarding the Obelisk Anthem's effect because the main heads of the Obelisk Organization, as well as some player civilians, were wondering how such an anthem that was written only by a human possessed such an effect to stop a failed player to commit suicide or involuntarily murder someone.

In other words, Ayleen Mayfield was one of the hot discussions throughout the Orion Continent and received a hot seat from the other main heads of the Obelisk Organization regarding her involvement or if she was hiding any secret — which she resolutely denied, and this turned out to be a lie because she was notified by the System about something the moment the first person, Misa, had her psychological cue overridden.

Apart from the above-mentioned events, preventive measures were established, at least creating a semblance of order, especially when layers of bodies were sometimes lying on the ground, anywhere. Due to the preventive measures set up by the countries, although the governing players couldn't truly control an obscure player to access the Tower of Growth, they now needed to register their locations before accessing the Tower of Growth so that the authorities would wait for them to come back on the exact same place.

This preventive measure, though didn't really solve the entire problem, was enough to monitor greedy players who were lying about successfully conquering the Tower before the psychological cue kicked in simply because they would rather steal others' Growth Rate.

Then, thirdly, regarding Elizabeth's situation, she didn't tell her mother that she already knew the truth about her father's death. It was caused by herself and the Transcendental being called Muzak from the Space Insectoid race. Although her heart was heavy to the point that if she was alone in her room, she would cry every night due to guilt that seemed to tear her soul apart.

When Russell realized that Elizabeth didn't tell her mother the truth about the situation, he seemed to have caught the flu, which was now an accepted phenomenon that didn't experience by some generations of the Star Era since it only existed in the Old World, because it was one of the situations that didn't go according to his unpublished novel's route.

What was supposed to happen was that Elizabeth would fume over the fact that they lied to her and would reluctantly be independent to become stronger for the future. In other words, her emotions got the best of her, and she lost her cheeky personality and became the cold princess.

With the unexpected development regarding the flow of the story, Russell racked his brain, trying to find the cause. Although it wasn't something that was too significant, it wasn't trivial either.

***

Many things had happened and the mysteries were piling up. Russell filled up the Book of Changes he first wrote due to the miniscule and not-so-worthy changes, which were now filled with deep mysteries to be unveiled.

He also crossed out Tanya, which he previously labeled as a very dangerous Untouched Element, which was ironically eliminated, but this signified terrible possible consequences because, according to his unpublished novel, it was supposed to be only Ruina, the sole spy who infiltrated the Obelisk Academy.

With Tanya's existence, Russell now believed that many other spies were lingering in different institutions apart from the educational one.

"F*ck..."

Russell muttered, closing the plain purple book or the Book of Changes before he took out a dark blue ancient key from his Dimensional Inventory and thrust it into space, which soon was torn apart.

***

"Hey, Russell!"

Amelie gleefully shouted as soon as she saw him appear from a dark blue crack.

Ken nodded at him, lying on the sturdy arena ground. His body was showered with sweat after getting beat up by Amelie, especially because he didn't have a Star Contract with a higher being yet.

He was now accustomed to the peculiarity of these people. At first, his reactions regarding the Chaos' existence, the Chaos Dungeons, and Chaos Training Grounds were all pointed to one kind of face — a stupefied one.

With Russell's barely used Unique Skill: Chaos Buff, Ken had been granted the Attribute: Chaos, and Attribute: Nihility, which also erased his skills description from the System. Initially, it freaked Ken out so much that he thought he would become a normal human being from the Old World, but after realizing that nothing had changed, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"Amery, you're going to be fine here, right? You know you can occasionally visit the orphanage where you grew up."

Russell spoke. It was nonsensical for Amery to stay here even though she could visit the place that took care of her until she went to the Obelisk Academy. But upon receiving the diary of her mother, she felt like she shouldn't do so. She wasn't certain, but she had this gut feeling that it was a bad idea to visit them.

Glancing at Russell for a moment, Amery nodded before she continued to hack one of the Elderwood Training Dummies.

"Alright. Let's go. The buses will leave at exactly 5 A.M."

With Russell's words, they left Amery alone in the Chaos Training Grounds.

***

During almost two months that had gone by, the Obelisk Academy's classes resumed, as well as the other academies that were only situated in the country, Olympia.

Then, after the authorities at least skillfully managed the challengers of the Tower of Growth, and after some academic classes, in the week before the middle of December, an announcement regarding the School Trip came out of the professors' mouths and was then later posted to the Obelisk Website.

This gave the students some relaxation, though unfortunately, there were students who died due to the Tower's penalty.

Sometime later, Russell, Amelie, and Ken arrived in his dormitory room. Freya wasn't with them at the moment due to some important issue that the siblings needed to clear up — regarding the Incomplete Last Defector of Reality.

A few hours passed, and the clock exactly hit 4:30 A.M. Numerous, advanced buses were lined up on the Obelisk Public Grounds. These were powered by Magic Stones that were either mined or acquired from defeated normal monsters.

"Those are from the A-1 class, right?"

"Oi! Oi! Isn't he the one who is close to the Disciplinary Committee President?"

"You're right! They might be in a relationship, you know."

Some students openly talked about Azalea and Russell, causing him to frown. In that span of time, Russell's attitude backfired when he asked Azalea to come to him if she needed something just after they cleared the Tower. Because of what happened, Azalea boldly approached him anytime when she needed something.

'Talk all you want.'

Russell inwardly thought. Not minding the kids' attitude, just after a few seconds, the Student Council President and President of the Disciplinary Committee, both arrived along with the Student Council Body and Disciplinary Committee Officers.

They were in charge of taking care of some sections.

"Kyaaa-!! So handsome!!"

When Arthur Wolfson walked with dignity, some girls from the first and second years screamed, clearly intoxicated by his noble presence. The third-year students, on the other hand, seemed fed up with seeing the Student Council President every class, which was why they didn't overreact.

"Student Council President!! Be our guide!!"

"Kyaaa-!"

Before Russell and the others went inside the gigantic magic bus for at least a hundred people, he couldn't help but turned his head to look at the dead yet alive Student Council President.

At that moment, something hilarious happened.

"Eh...?"

The dignified and noble Arthur just tripped, hitting the ground with his face. The spotlight was on him still, causing myriads of reactions.

Russell glanced at Amelie in disbelief, who was doing her best in refraining herself to boisterously guffawing.

'Is she perhaps... a masochist??'

Russell seriously thought. With puppetry, Amelie was in control of Arthur's life, and she was the main reason he tripped by commanding him to trip.

***

"Everyone! Please remember or even memorize the School Trip Guide!"

Inside the bus called Stream Bus which was packed with at least eighty people including some representatives of either the Student Council and Disciplinary Committee, as well as two professors, Azalea spoke firmly in front.

She, as well as Victoria, was in charge of guiding the A-1 and A-2 classes of the first year.

Without an alphabetic seat arrangement, Russell only listened and was sitting with his younger sister, who was not speaking a word, but rather only looking outside the window of the bus. Freya was lost in her own world.

At the moment, Russell let her be because he was thinking of the significant and dangerous events that would unfold on this School Trip.

After re-reading his unpublished novel, electrocuting his brain which also seemed to shock his soul, Russell, though he didn't forget, became more certain about the events in the future. In a way, the book would help him determine and compare if any extremely dangerous deviation occurred.

In his months in the academy, if he would look at the major characters he had written about, the only noteworthy concern was Tanya's existence, Elizabeth's reaction to the truth, and Samantha's knowledge and attitude. Apart from that, if he would look into the new things that were outside the major characters, it would be their existence, the mysterious book, the Goddess of Night, and so on.

'Black Sky Disorder...'

Russell thought, staring at the Stream Bus' ceiling. The first time they showed themselves was when they attacked the Crescent Weaponry Company, which profited Russell in exchange for others' loss.

***

Three thousand kilometers away on the Southwest outside of the Orion Continent.

Inside an underground meeting room, twelve people, who were wearing black robes, were sitting across each other with an oblong table in the middle, dividing them.

A man at the end of the table first took off his black robe's hood. This man had a towering stature, a well-built physique, and a scar that streaked from his left eyebrow to his right cheek.

It was something that couldn't be healed by potions, even by an Elixir.

A few seconds later, the skin of his right cheek turned into glass and peeled itself off.

The other eleven individuals whose identities were shrouded in mystery were used to what was happening.

A moment later, the man spoke coldly, but with silent rage.

"How is its production?"

Silent for a moment, one of the executives with a womanly voice answered the man's question.

"It is ready to be deployed. How many are needed? Please be reminded that there are only seven in our arsenal at the moment."

"One will be enough. It will serve as a sign and remembrance for those cowards!"

He firmly answered the woman's response.

"Artorious must not forget!"

With his next words, the eleven people also shouted the same words. Their tone contained the emotion of vengeance because of something that had transpired in the long, seemingly forgotten past...

About the Trial of the Stars.

"ARTORIOUS MUST NOT FORGET!!"

***

In the Vampire Domain, Northwest outside of Orion Continent.

"Master, it's been more than a month since Tanya was killed. She wasn't like the slave, Ruina, but a fallen noble. It's hard to find the cause of how she's found out, but I think it won't be long before the alliance between the Elves and Humans gets tighter."

One of the vampires was kneeling in front of a lofty one.

Pondering for a moment, the lofty vampire, one of the Masters of one of the Vampire Clans, spoke with calmness.

"Bring the Dark Elf to me."