" A mutation is a change that occurs in our DNA sequence, either due to mistakes when the DNA is copied or as the result of environmental factors such as UV light and cigarette smoke." Said Dr Hammond, a man so old that his skin looked like the bark of a tree.
James was sitting in his biology lecture waiting for the lecture to end. He had to go to his part time job in half an hour. He was only trapped here because he had already skipped more than half of the lectures in the past, mostly to do more hours in his part time job. When he got called in to speak to his lecturer, he was told that he would fail his course if he had 10 more unexplained absences before the end of the year.
‘Sh*t, this is dragging on.’James thought as he was looking at his watch to check the time.
The lecture was dragging on so he started to spin the pen his dad gave him in his hand to get rid of his boredom.
"Swish swish swish" The silver pen span in his hand gracefully, glistening whenever a ray of light beamed upon it. You could see he had mastered the art of pen spinning a long time ago.
"Hachu" James sneezed and his pen flicked out of his hand, dropping onto the floor and rolled down the stairs of his lecture hall.
'Sh*t!' James thought, as he watched his pen slip from his grasps. Now he had nothing to get rid of his boredom.
James started tapping the table in front of him, counting the time until the lecture ended.
"Tap Tap Tap Tap" a high pitched tapping sound rang out in the room.
"Mutations can occur during DNA replication if errors are made and not corrected in time. Mutations can also occur as the result of exposure to environmental factors such as smoking, sunlight and radiation. Often cells can recognize any potentially mutation-causing damage and repair it before it becomes a fixed mutation." Dr Hammond said as he stared into the abyss not caring if anyone was listing to his speech.
"Tap Tap Tap Tap" James started to tap faster as his patients started to run dry.
A girl In front of him turned around giving him the death stare. She was the president of the karate club Rose Larsen, she had top grades, top looks, and could beat his sorry ass any day of the week. Any guy who asked her and wouldn't take no for an answer where beaten up until they couldn’t walk.
James shivered as a cold chill ran down his back tingling his spine. He always felt strange when he was around her, as if his instincts were telling him to run away.
Rose put a finger over her soft lips. "Shhhhh" she said before spinning around and quickly writing down everything that Dr Hammond was saying.
After being told off by Rose, James pulled out his old smart phone and went onto the Internet to read the universities news page. Most of the news was either normal or click bait so they didn't catch his attention. However, there was an article titled ‘More Student gone missing!’. James clicked on it with interest.
In the past week, over five student have gone missing. After looking for any leads, no traces or evidence were left behind and all the students rooms were left untouched. Their is no clear connection connecting the victims that have disappeared. The police have warned students to go from and to lectures in groups to minimize their chances of risk. The local police will also start patrolling outside the campus perimeter. If you have any information that may be useful please contact the local police.
‘Sh*t, looks like not even University is safe nowadays.’ James thought as he finished reading the article. ‘I should probably take the bus home instead of the bike. Even though it will cost more, nothing else I can do about it.’
As James was thinking about his safety the bell signaling the end of his lecture rang through the science department.
“Ring Ring Ring.” The sound chimed bringing obvious glee to most of the students in the room.
“Students, remember to hand in your essay in on Wednesday. You are now dismissed.” Said Dr Hammond as he stuffed some papers in his suitcase that he carried around. Afterwords he left the lecture hall before the students could even reply.
Seeing that his lecturer already left, James slid his phone back into one of his tight jean pockets and packed up his backpack. He hopped down the stairs dodging other student that were leaving and checked his watch to see how much time he had left before his part time job started.
“10:10am already.“ James thought as he was walking out of his classroom to the bike shed outside the building. “I have 20 minutes to get to my job but it’s a 30 minute journey. Last time Jeff cut my wage just for being 3 minutes late.”
‘I should probably call in ill. I’ll make more money this week if I call in ill and move my hours of work on to the weekend.’James thought as he was calculating his best option to maximize his wage. He had to pay for his mothers Hospital bills next week so he needed as much spear money for his own living expenses as he could scramble together.
By the time James finished his plan he had already reached the bike shed. James swung his backpack of his back and pulled the zip open in a fluid motion. When he lifted the bike helmet out of his bag he realized he didn't see the glimmer of his silver pen that he normally would after removing the helmet from his bag.
“Sh*t!” James inaudibly said as he realized he had to walk all the way back to the class room to get his pen. This wasn't just any old pen. This was the only gift, except for old photos, that he had from his dad before his dad disappeared 10 years ago.
His dad gave it to him after James bugged him for over a week. “But dad, You already have 10 other pens just like this one! Why can’t I have one too? Mom said that you have to share.” Remembering the foggy memories of his past a small smile crept up to his lips.
James zipped his backpack closed and walked back towards his lecture room with his bike helmet still on. By the time he reached his lecture room everyone else except Rose had already left. He crept into the room and walked towards Rose as his seat was just behind her.
After getting to his seat James found where his pen fell. It was at the side of the row Rose was seated in. James walked over and picked up the silver pen.
“How do you do it?” Rose Randomly asked a question out loud to James.
“What?” James confusingly asked.
“How are you on top of the class when I’ve never seen you write down notes or study at all?” Rose asked with a frown on her face. ”I’ve studied weeks in advance for the tests and you still beat me in all of them.” Rose said in a frustrated voice.
James was flustered as Rose hardly spoke to anyone in the first place, let alone himself.
“I’ve already learned it all.” James said as he was still flustered from her question out of the blue.
“Fine, if you didn't want to tell me you should of just said.” Rose said as she turned back to the papers she was writing on.
What Rose didn't know was that James actually did already learn it all. When James’s mother fell ill, James spent all his time looking after her. When he had free time he would spend it on learning the textbooks for his school as his mom was happy when she heard of how well he was doing in school. But after he had already finished all of his High school syllabus he decided to continue learning Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science as he wanted to find a way to completely heal his mother from her illness.
From his vast knowledge he had already obtained from reading all the high school syllabus books. James knew that to heal his mother he needed to have a good understanding of the human body and of chemical reactions which is why he chose biology and chemistry. He also knew that he might also need to create a specialized machine to produce or administer the cure. He knew that since his mothers disease was very rare that he wouldn't be able to get any funding for his research which is why he also chose physics and computer Science.
Five years later and he was were he currently is now. He had chosen Biology for his University degree because he could branch off to medicine and have legal rights to work with patients which would help with the speed of his research. But obviously he hasn't told anyone the real reason why he chose to take biology, not even his mother, as he didn't want her to feel that her illness was a large burden to him. If Rose knew the real reason on why she always lost to him, she would defiantly have a different expression.
As Rose turned back to her desk, the door of the lecture hall opened and a two meter tall black furred beast walked in.
“Child of Chalice, I have come for your blood!” a deep and raspy voice echoed through the lecture hall.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Before James even noticed, Rose was already standing out of her seat holding a green short sword in her right hand. Dark green vines slithered around the sword, wrapping around the blade, hugging it tightly. A green sap seeped out of the vines and coated the blade.
“You’re the one who attacked the students aren’t you?” Rose confidently said as she stared down the giant beast in front of her.”Werewolves aren't aloud in our territory. Your pack doesn't want to break the treaty does it?”.
“My pack isn’t afraid of you puny Mages!” The werewolf roared as he lept towards Rose.
Rose also stepped onto the seat she was standing on and jumped down to the stage of the auditorium.
As this fight was going down James was ducking where he picked up his pen and listening in to their conversation confused as f*ck.
“Child of Chalice. Werewolf. Mages. What the hell is going on?”James thought as he was wrapped in confusion. “And that werewolf killed the students in the news.” James remembered as he was sorting out all the information he just heard.
“Boom!” A loud collision happened on the stage as James was looking away. James peaked his head above the seats and saw Rose on the floor with a bite mark on her waist, blood trickling down her pants.
“Your puny magic won’t hurt me.” The deep raspy voice of the werewolf boomed while he looked down at the wounded girl below him. He pushed away some vines that were tangled around his claws and neck. Some blood trickled out of his nose and ears as thorns were lodged inside from the previous battle.
“Sh*t sh*t sh*t.” James though as he saw the scene below him. After killing Rose he’ll come after James next. He should of just went to his job and not come back for his dads pen.
“Ow wait. That’s right.” James thought as he just remembered something. He raised out his hand and opened it revealing the silver pen inside.”Aren’t werewolves supposed to be weak to silver?” James pondered as he was trying to come up with a plan.
James stud up and crept towards the werewolf which had its back faced towards him. As he got around a meter behind it he raised the pen up. He only had one chance at this and he knew it. He aimed for the internal carotid artery hoping that if his pen gets deep enough he can stop the blood from getting to the werewolves brain. It was his only option as he was sure that the hide of the wolf was probably to thick for him to do real damage with his pen.
“Any last words?” The wolf said to Rose who sat in a puddle of her own blood.
As she struggled to keep her eyes open she faced towards the wolf and spat at him.”Ptooey.” The spit landed at the floor. She wasn’t strong enough to even lift a finger, let alone spit in his face.
“Hahaha.” The werewolf laughed as he saw her last struggle and raised his right had pointing his sharp claws towards her. The pleasure of tormenting her was visible in his twisted face.
“Are those your final words?” The werewolf chuckled.
“Shlick” The sound of James’s pen stabbing into the werewolf's neck entered the werewolves ears.
The silver pen easily punctured through the neck of the werewolf. After James felt the pen go through the artery he lept away to be a safe distance from the wolf.
“Watch your back Doggo.” James said, answering the question the wolf asked Rose a second ago.
The Werewolf collapsed to the ground before he realised what had even happened. He probably was having a stroke as the blood going to his brain was being cut of by James’s pen which was barely visible after going into the wolfs neck. He knew that the wolf wasn’t dead yet but with no blood going to his brain it wouldn’t take long for him to do so.
James ignored the wolf and ran to Rose who was bleeding on the ground. He ripped open a part of his shirt and pressed it against the bite wound on Roses waist. As he was doing so he could hear loud footsteps running towards the room.
“Boom!” The doors to the auditorium swung open as two middle aged men and a student ran into the room. They scanned the scene on the stage and quickly ran to Rose.
“Move to the side!” One of the middle aged men said as he lightly pushed James and removed the cloth he used to stop the bleeding.
“A werewolf bite.” He said towards the other two people who came in with him.
“Derik you’ve got a solvent that removes the werewolf curse on your right.” The man asked the other middle aged man called Derik.
“Yes. Yes. I’m taking it out now.” Derik said as he rummaged around a bag he was holding taking out a jar with a muddy green substance inside of it. Derik passed it to man and the man took out the paste and smeared it over the bite wound. After a few seconds the green paste dissolved into the bite wound and disappeared.
“Okay, now that the bite marks curse has been lifted now we can take Rose back and heal her.” The man said as he lifted rose up into a princess carry.
James just stud there perplexed. It’s not everyday you see people talking about werewolf bites like it’s normal. They obviously knew Rose as he said her name earlier.
“Is she okay.” James asked, to make the people remember that he was there.
“Yes. Thank you friend for saving my daughter. If you hadn't helped in time then we would have been to late to save her. Which clan are you from my young friend. I will send you a gift after my daughter is okay.” The Man carrying Rose said.
James was confused. “I guess he thinks I am one of them. Well obviously he would since I just killed a werewolf.” James thought.
“I am from the Uchiha clan.” James said reflexively as he was processing the conversation.
“Ow, I’ve never heard of your clan. Did you come from your country to study here at the magic academy.” The man asked.
“Yes, my clan is pretty small.” James said as he was spitting out bullshit to not get caught. Who knew what they would do to him if they found out that he was just a normal human.
“It was a pleasure to meet you young man. We need to take Rose to the infirmary. Farewell young friend.” Roses’ father said as he nodded towards James and walked towards the doors with the two other men following behind.
“What about the body?” James asked them as they were leaving.
The young man turned round and said ”You killed it so you get to keep it.” As he followed the other two out of the auditorium.
“Wth”James thought as he looked at the huge body slumped onto the ground. “How am I going to carry that out of here.”
James walked over to the body of the wolf and saw that the wolf was still slightly breathing. He walked over to the wolves neck and grabbed his pen. If he can’t take the wolf with him then he’s at least going to take his pen back. After the bloody pen was ripped out of the wolves neck James tried removing the blood from his pen using some paper left by a student.
[Congratulations! you completed the hidden quest: First blood]
[Objective: Kill your first monster]
[Reward:Loot Box, 1000xp]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up to level 1]
[You have unlocked new features of the system]
[You have unlocked beginners Mystery Box x1]
[Access to the system menu unlocked]
[Access to status menu unlocked]
[Access to skills menu unlocked]
[Access to quests bar unlocked]
[Access to Inventory unlocked]
[All stats have increased by 1]
[You have gained 5 stat points]
[You have unlocked 5 inventory spaces]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up to level 2]
[All stats have increased by 1]
[You have gained 5 stat points]
[You have unlocked 5 inventory spaces]
[You have unlocked beginners Mystery Box x2]
[Congratulations, you have leveled up to level 3]
[All stats have increased by 1]
[You have gained 5 stat points]
[You have unlocked 5 inventory spaces]
[You have unlocked beginners Mystery Box x3]
[During you battle you unlocked Sneak Lv1]
[During you battle you unlocked Hidden strike Lv1]