Chapter 17 Changes[1]
<9:00 A.M>, Monday.
Raven's daily routine continues. He's currently running all around the academy.
"Wow your stamina is crazy! I've been following you for long and you didn't stop even for a second!"
Yeah, this was supposed to be one of Raven's peaceful and quiet morning.
"'Isn't it crazy? Our dorm is just next to each other!"
Blake said while running next to Raven.
Raven didn't answer and instead coated his legs and feet with mana. Then he jumped on a tree branch he passed by, and jumped again on a wall, using the wall as a footing, Raven jumped again and landed on a facility's rooftop.
"Woah! That was so cool!"
For Raven, what he did just now is only a child's play as he practiced parkour thoroughly after his fight with the King Wolf!
"And you're doing all of that with weights on? Amazing!"
Blake has been following Raven since the start of his run. And in that span time, Blake discovered that Raven have weights on.
"Hey! Can you come back down? I can't jump up there."
Blake shouted.
"I know, that's why I jumped up here."
Raven replied and jumped on to another rooftop. Soon, he lost Blake.
***
<9:24 A.M>
Raven entered the training grounds earlier and currently practicing his shooting skills using the gun provided by the academy.
Raven is now on the difficulty 10, he's practicing with 30 moving targets that are faster than his bullets.
Fortunately, Blake isn't here to annoy him anymore. The training ground is pretty empty, as always, only the main characters and some extras are there and training.
The others are already in their respective classrooms.
Also after this week the main characters will have their own training place. It's a reward from getting in the top rank 10.
Raven is kinda envious as he thought of aiming for the top rank 10.
But his current strength is about in the rank 100. It's a good improvement as Raven's original rank is 2619.
Raven is currently preparing himself, because this week will be busy according to his memory of the novel.
"Maybe I should increase my training."
Raven muttered, he's still gonna aim to enter the top rank 10
[You really should.]
The system appeared, replying to Raven.
"You're pretty behave since the other day, what happened?."
Raven asked as he shoots the moving targets.
[The Higher Being added a function to me, while doing so, I was like sleeping, .]
"I see."
Raven replied uninterested and shot the last target.
"This is getting boring after fighting Velcro."
Raven thought out loud.
"Maybe I should experiment about some things."
With that, Raven continued experimenting of guns and shooting styles. His proficiency of using guns increased drastically after his training.
***
[Alec's POV]
I'm currently in the classroom waiting for the class to start. And almost everyone is in here. Almost.
Swooh-
Click-
The sliding door of the classroom detected a presence outside and opened automatically. Then someone entered.
It's Raven.
He now gives off a more mature aura and he seems to be hard to approach.
-Kyu!
And sitting on top of his head is a cotton like bird that I'm familiar with.
'It's the same bird he took out from time to time while the classes are ongoing.'
He's not even trying to hide the bird anymore.
"What's with him?"
I then heard Adelle's questioning voice beside me.
Following her words, Aoi looked at Raven and Eve glanced at Raven.
"Why? Is there something wrong about him?"
I asked Adelle.
"He looks annoyed."
Adelle immediately replied. I looked again at Raven and noticed that he's deeply frowning.
He have this expression that says 'Leave me alone.'
"Maybe he had a bad morning?"
Aoi guessed.
Except for his aura, nothing really changed about Raven. He still have this clean appearance and have a bored expression all the time.
I also saw Raven go to the training grounds earlier. And I bet he still have those black bracelets on his wrists and ankles.
"He's back, I really thought he's dead."
Adelle, Aoi and me turned our head where the voice came from. It was Eve, her face shows disappointment and annoyance at the same time.
"Woah, he can make Eve make that kind of expression huh."
Adelle said in an impressed voice.
'I think that's not a good thing though...'
Raven sudden left the academy about 3 days ago, I planned to approach him and get acquainted, but we didn't even see his shadow in those days. So even I got curious at what he did in those days. Me? I just holed myself in the training grounds.
"Look, someone's following him."
Aoi said. Snapping me out of my thoughts. Aoi is pointing his index finger to someone.
At Aoi's words, we looked at the entrance. We saw a student following Raven. It was a handsome young man that have this positive aura around him.
He was talking to Raven but he's not getting any answer.
"Let's sit near together!"
The young man suggested to Raven.
"I'm tired. Please stay away from me as far as possible."
Raven said in a tired voice and sat on his seat.
He didn't forget to cast a <Cleanse> magic on it before sitting.
"He's really a clean freak."
Aoi said. Adelle and I just nodded in unison.
"Why are you doing that, isn't the chair already clean?"
The young man sat down beside Raven while talking nonstop like he didn't heard what Raven said to him earlier.
"Fucking hell."
Raven muttered looking at the young man with an annoyed look.
Our seat is near his seat, so we can hear and see him pretty clear with just a bit of enhancement of our senses.
Pfft–
A small laugh escaped my mouth. Not just me but also from Aoi's and Adelle's.
Eve's face is calm but she's somewhat delighted.
The scene of Raven and the young man's interacting with each other is somewhat hilarious.
"So he has a friend huh."
Adelle said after laughing lightly.
'Friend? I think not.'
I thought, looking at Raven ignoring the young man's existence.
'But I really wonder what Raven really is like.'
I'm a curious person, so when I thought of that, I wasn't able to stop myself and I stood up.
My curiosity amplified because of my mage life in my past life.
"I'm gonna try talk to him."
I said looking at Raven's direction.
"Oh, then tell us when you find out something interesting about him."
Adelle said with an amused expression.
I nodded and approched Raven's seat.
"Good luck!"
Aoi and Adelle said to me as I was walking. On the other hand, Eve is just looking at me like I was doing something stupid.
Though that didn't stop my curiosity. Raven is just a near from our seat so I reached him not long.
"Umm... hello."
I greeted as I arrived in front of Raven.
Raven looked at me and then frowned.
'Did I do something wrong?'
Why is he looking at me like that?
I wad starting to worry when I felt a pat on my side.
"Don't worry. He always frowns like that, it's nothing new."
It's the young man beside Raven.
"Hello! I'm Blake Dunstan, nice to meet you!"
The young man introduced himself.
"Ah, I'm Alec Osmond, nice to meet you."
I introduced myself and we shook hands.
"This is Raven Obadiah!"
After that, Blake introduced Raven to me.
"He's a bit weird but he's actually a very amazing person."
Blake said.
"Amazing?"
I asked as I tilted my head innocently.
I noticed that it's easy to extract informations from the talkative Blake.
"Did you know? Raven ran for about 4 hours daily with weights on his wrists and ankles!"
My eyes twitched at Blake's words.
"Weights?"
"Yeah! Look he's still wearing it. See how that bracelets in his wrists have mana? That's because he continuously pours mana in it to change ot maintain their weights."
Blake said, pointing at black bracelets Raven is wearing.
Looking at them, the bracelets really have a lot of mana imbued in them.
'Just how heavy are those?'
I'm really curious.
But Blake's mouth doesn't seems to stop. Giving me more information about Raven.
"I tried to run with him this morning but he jumped on a facility's rooftop, then soon to another rooftop, so I can't follow him."
"Jumped building to building?"
"Yeah! He's like a ninja!"
Blake's words were like gloating. He's boasting Raven's achievements like it was his own.
'What and interesting person.'
Now I'm also curious about Blake.
"And after that, he always go to the training gr—"
"<Silence>"
Before Blake finishes his nexr words. Raven cut his sentence midway.
Following Raven's voice, black mana covered Blake's mouth.
'What a unique and beautiful color for mana.'
I thought, looking at the night sky-like mana.
"Hmmp? Hmmp! Hmmp, hmmp hmmp."
Blake is trying to talk but no words came out from his mouth.
"Why are you here?"
Raven then asked looking at me calmly.
"Nothing special, I just want to have a friendly relationship with you two."
I replied. I'm completely serious at what I said.
Raven looked at me for a while and then opened his mouth.
"I'm Raven Obadiah. Well you probably already know because of this idiot beside me, but it's still better if I introduce myself."
Then Raven extended his hand towards me.
I smiled and grabbed it.
"I'm Alec Osmond, nice to meet you."
***
I'm now sitting next to Raven, on Raven's other side is Blake.
It's been about an hour since we introduced ourselves to each others.
I asked Raven if it's okay to sit beside him.
I'm pretty excited as these guys are my first male friends in the academy. Curtis is being an a-hole toward me, well the other boys too.
At my question, Raven thought for a while but eventually agreed, mumbling things like: "If he's here, this noisy kid beside me will talk to him instead of me. So I'll know peace."
Raven moved one seat away from the window and made me sit on his former seat.
He said the protagonist should always sit near the window so it's cool.
I don't know what's he talking about but I sat there anyway.
After being here for an hour, I discovered that Raven is not really talkative, just as I expected, he's a good listener though. Talking to him is somewhat pleasant.
Raven also didn't reveal anything about himself easily.
While even though Blake always run his mouth off, he actually doesn't talk about his personal life or outside the academy. And when he's getting too noisy, Raven will cast a <Silence> magic on him.
Normally using magic to another student is prohibited except on sparring or self defense.
But Raven's magic is so calm and quiet that it's hard to notice. Also Blake didn't really mind as it did no harm to him.
And, the bird that's always with Raven is named Yuki. Yuki is his familiar and Raven said she's as smart as a human kid.
'That's awesome.'
An intelligent small bird, it's interesting in any aspect!
It was then.
"Why is there no professor coming?"
Blake suddenly asked.
It's been an hour and no professor came. I'm starting to wonder why too.
"It means they're doing something more important than teaching."
Raven replied as if he knows what's happening.
"What do you think they're doing then?"
A familiar voice asked coming from our front.
It was Adelle with Aoi beside her. Looks like they moved near us and beside Eve.
Now Eve, Adelle and Aoi are seated in front of us three in order.
Raven looked at Adelle. Thinking about something.
After a while he seemed to reach a conclusion of his thoughts and finally spoke.
"Probably preparing some tests to gauge our skills."
Raven said.
"Test? But it's too early for another academy ranking and we already did an entrance tests."
Blake stated. Adelle and I nodded.
"It's an assessment this time, the tests we did before are just qualification tests."
Raven said in a bored voice.
"How did you know?"
Aoi asked him.
"I just know."
But Raven gave her an unclear answer. Which made Aoi frown.
"Ah! By the way, I'm Adelle Lucette, rank 5 from the freshmen academy ranking."
Adelle suddenly introduced herself to Raven then pointed at Aoi.
"This is Masami Aoi, she's rank 4!"
Adelle's voice was excited as if she was talking about her own achievement.
'She and Blake are similar. Energetic and talkative, always happy for their friends' achievements, and doesn't talk about their personal life.'
I thought as I noticed the two's similarities.
Adelle just proceeded and pointed at Eve next.
"And this is Eve Godwin, she's rank 3!"
Adelle is proudly puffing her chest out. Making her bosoms be fully displayed as the male students steals glances of her.
I also sometimes find myself attracted to those big bosoms of girls. I'm also a boy after all.
"And for your information, Alec there beside you is the rank 1!"
"The rank 2 is Curtis Hawkins, he's there at the back row!"
And then Adelle told my and Cutis's ranking to Raven.
"Woah! That's cool!"
Blake replied in a very impressed voice.
Though Raven seems unimpressed.
"I'm Raven Obadiah, what rank am I again?... About rank 2600? Anyways, nice to meet you."
Raven introduced back unenthusiastically.
Adelle's brows knitted. She was about to say something.
Swoosh-
Click-
But the door opened and someone came in.
It was our homeroom professor, Sir Kendy Nasah.
Sir Kendy's presence made the classroom tense.
Every student fixed their posture, including me. Except for Raven and Eve who remained calm.
Well, their postures are already good anyway.
"I have an announcements to make."
Sir Kendy said as he settled in the front of the classroom. He didn't say much but it made the air more tense.
Well Raven and Eve were still relax. Seeing them like that helped me relax too, the same for Blake, Aoi, and Adelle.
"All freshmen will have an assessment tests at the end week of this month."
Sir Kendy declared.
Turns out that Raven's prediction was right. The students who heard Raven's guess earlier all looked at him with amazement. Well, Eve just frowned.
'Raven have a good insight.'
We all thought in unison.
"I was sure it was supposed to be this weekend."
I heard Raven muttering beside me. I thought he will be all smug about his prediction being right, but he seems dissatisfied about what's happening.
'What does he mean?'
'What is he so unsatisfied with? His prediction was right.'
Raven was scowling, but his face returned normal not long.
As Sir Kendy isn't done at the announcement.
"Also, you guys are gonna have a new professor."
Sir Kendy dropped the news with a worry and curious face.
It was then, Raven frowned again.
"This isn't in the story..."
He said, no one knows what he's talking about so we all ignored his mumbling.
At that time, 2 figures entered the classroom.
They're women.
The first to enter have a cover on her face so we can't Identify or see her facial features. One can tell she's a woman based on her figure as if she was sexy with the right curves on his body.
The second woman that's following her, have no mask and is wearing a simple but cute formal dress shirt long sleeves that's tucked in in her black fit skirt.
Gasp–
Weak gasping followed after the second woman's arrival.
She have a cute small face with short brown hair and big blue eyes. And her body is umm... Very erotic.
Her looks are on par with Eve, Adelle and Aoi.
I can feel that she's just about <F+> rank.
And she's so cute fidgeting nervously walking toward the front of the classroom.
I blushed as it's not always that I see someone as cute as her. This was also my first reaction seeing Aoi, Eve, and Adelle.
I don't have experience with girls and that explained it all.
Anyway, it's not just me but all the boys and even some girls blushed seeing that cute woman.
Blake and Adelle are blushing too. Adelle isn't into girls but I remember she said she likes cute things. So it's like admiring the woman's appearance.
"That one is so cute!"
Adelle said pointing at the woman who just entered. Blake nodded dumbfoundedly.
But what caught our attention was Raven. He was surprise, and frowning.
"Keara?"
A name escaped Raven's mouth as he looks at the cute woman.
Everyone who heard him turned their heads to Raven.
Me, Adelle, Aoi, Blake, Eve. and Cutis who got behind our seats; I don't know when. Anyway, our attention also shifted to Raven.
Some other students looked at Raven too, because the room was engulfed with silence, almost everyone heard Raven. And because of curiosity, their attention are on him.
And maybe because Raven's tone indicated that he's seeing someone unexpected.
The 2 women who just entered looked at Raven too. The same goes to Sir Kendy who have extraordinary hearing.
Almost all attention is on Raven. Almost.
The cute woman blushed and lowered her head upon meeting Raven's eyes. Though she peeks in our direction with a shy smile. To be precise, she was peeking at Raven.
Of course her reaction didn't go unnoticed to us.
"Do you know her?"
Adelle asked Raven. We're all waiting for Raven's response.
Raven looked around. Realizing he's in the center of attention, he frowned.
Raven opened his mouth and was about to say something. But weak whisperings were heard in the back row of seats.
"Woah, look at that body."
"I'm gonna use my family authority to approach her later."
"Maybe she'll come with us if we give her a lot of money."
"Let's make her our bitch."
"Kekeke"
Laughter followed after their disgusting words.
The room was still silent and almost everyone have their hearing senses amplified because they're nosy and waiting for Raven's reply.
And because of those reasons, almost everyone in the room heard the dirty whispers made by 3 male students.
Looking at the source of the whispers. 3 laughing boys can be seen. They're not looking at Raven but just focused on the cute woman. Who Raven called 'Keara'.
They have this nasty looks on their faces.
I frowned. Not just me but some other students as well.
Curtis just shrugged at the disgust he felt towards of the 3 boys.
Adelle, Aoi and Eve shows great displeasure and looks at the boys with cold eyes.
The room's temperature seems to drop several levels.
"He–"
Swooo–
Blake and I was just about to say something, but a sudden chill washed all over our body.
Not just us but everyone in the classroom felt the chill making everyone flinch.
Sir Kendy widened his eyes and then smiled.
After the chill, heavy pressure came after.
My heart started beating rapidly.
It's feels like I'm standing on thin ice and one wrong move will endanger my life.
Some students started sweating while some had trouble breathing.
But out of every students affected, the 3 boys who were whispering to each other about the cute woman earlier bacame pale as ghost with a terrified expression.
They turned their heads where the pressure and aura is coming from. And everyone's eyes followed.
We all looked at one person, he who have cold eyes and majestic demeanor.
We are all looking at Raven.
Raven was standing and looking at the 3 boys with his body facing them.
"I got bad news for the 3 of you."
Raven's cold voice echoed through the room, then he pointed at the woman.
The woman looked at Raven with anticipation.
And Raven opened his mouth.
"She's mine."
"..."
"..."
Heavy silence descended to the classroom at Raven's words.