“I’m going to puke”
In a corner Christophe muttered to himself and not long later, puked.
The putrid smell did not affect me the least as I bandaged the wound on Stella’s leg and forehead. Luckily she managed to dodge the large boulder at the last second, if not… I wouldn’t even want to think about it.
The wound she received on the head was not that deep. But still there is a chance that it would have lasting effect on her brain. This is the thing that is making us worried the most, apart from the fact that she might die due to bleeding or never waking up due to concussion.
The one on her leg were just minor cuts. At first we thought that it was crushed after getting hit by one of the debris because it was by far bloodier than the injury on her head. After taking a closer look, we found out the reason it was bloodier was actually because it was filled with cuts of varying degrees.
Cutting the bandage, I placed both the scissors and the bandage back in the medical kit. The medical we were using was the one Stella bought in the past, with the reason being we were too rowdy which might make her 'accidentally' hurt us in the future.
“…That should do it”
“…”
“…”
“…”
No one said a word the whole time we were tying up Stella’s wounds. I’m not sure if they blame me for what happened to Stella, but deep in my heart I hope they do. It’s not because I’m a masochist or anything, I just wanted to feel pain to deter the anxiety in my heart. After making up my mind I then asked what has been bugging me the entire time.
“Did you guys feel that?”
“…What do you mean?” Asked Dorothy
“Those lights… forget it”
“Wait! You saw it too!”
Standing up from his position, Christophe rubbed the corner of his mouth with his sleeves. His pale countenance is only second to Stella’s face.
“Come to think of it, I did see some lights for a moment” Spoke Bryan
“…I’m going to go get Serena. She’s late”
Just when Dorothy was about to stand up and look for Serena, the door suddenly opened with a bang and a panic stricken Serena entered the room.
Judging from her expression it was not news that can be easily discarded. Gulping my saliva, I asked a question.
“What is it?”
The moment I asked that she answered right away.
“The city… It’s gone!”
“Huh?”
“Wha- what do you mean?” Asked Christophe in a shrilly voice.
“Like I said the city is gone!”
Silence. Everyone in the room was silent. How could the city suddenly vanish so easily? I know that the earthquake just now was strong, but I didn't think it was capable of destroying cities in one go unless…
“Serena, what does it look like outside”
Because we were in a room where there were no windows. We couldn’t see what was happening outside.
Shaking her head Serena spoke in a sullen voice. “You guys just have to see it with your own eyes. The school president just ordered everyone to go outside and do a headcount. Oh and also”
With her eyes flickering for a moment she continued he words.
“The school’s nurse is busy tending with the other students. She said she’ll come over later in the afternoon…”
“…”
This is bad. If the city is truly gone then the hospital is gone as well and also if the school nurse does not have time to check on Stella then we wouldn’t know how severe her condition is.
“*sighs* We don’t have much choice. Come on let’s go”
“Gray…what about stella?”
I looked at Christophe in the eye and a sigh escaped from my lips.
“We don’t have much of a choice. Let’s just leave her here for now. The faster we go outside and finish the headcount the faster we can go back and check on her condition”
I walked outside and didn’t say another word. The others just looked at each other before following reluctantly.
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The way outside was filled with broken walls, ceilings, and debris with the occasional blood on the floor. There were no people in sight, probably because they already went outside.
After walking out of the school no word escaped from my mouth.
“…”
In the past buildings of various sizes enveloped the school. Now it was different. Now a lush green forest is the one enveloping the school.
Walking towards a group of flustered and the occasional crying students who are lined up based on their grade and section. I walked towards a place next to them. Honestly I’m quite shocked that I was calm even in this situation. Probably because I’ve read a similar situation in a certain novel that I’ve read a few years back.
When we all walked over, I walked at the front as a class representative and told them that we were all present and are uninjured except for our teacher. The guy that did the headcount did not bat an eye and instead walked over to another line. Although I was angry because of how he didn’t even ask about the Stella’s injury. It’s understandable since if they asked of everyone’s injury then it would take way too much time and might cause further panic among the students.
Our school is considered quite big. I’m not sure of how many students are enrolled in this school but I’m sure at the very least there are a thousand enrolled right now.
“Hmmm, testing testing”
Standing on a podium the school president, a bespectacled senior year upperclassman who had an intellectual and sharp look on his face spoke while tapping on a wireless mic.
“Alright everyone line up properly and listen up”
With someone of authority suddenly appearing, of course it would calm down most people. Although there are some people who still kept talking most of us kept quiet and lined up. In the past when a group of students were seen talking they would be called out to the office but seeing that as this was an emergency the school president, Thomas, did no point that out.
“First of all I would like everyone to calm down. I’m sure everyone is confused why the city suddenly vanished and now a forest took its place… honestly we’re not sure why this happened either. But we are sure that….this is not Earth”
This shocking statement caused panic among the students but with a strong tap on the mic, Thomas calmed them down.
“I said calm down didn’t I?” Rubbing his forehead Thomas continued. “It’s not like we haven’t done anything. We found out some things. First of all just think of the word status”
Following his words I thought of the word status.
Name: Gray
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Lvl: 1
Strength: 5
Agility: 7
Magic Power: 6
“Wow… it’s like a game”
Behind me, Christophe mumbled to himself. I didn’t really listen to him but instead just looked at my status screen with a gaping mouth.
“Alright everyone, in the bottom left off your status screen. You could see a button called shop. Now think of the word shop”
With my heart thumping madly I thought of the word shop.
There were different categories listed. In the place of where the status page was now the shop page took its place. In the top right corner I could see a 100 shining in bright colors. These were probably the shop points that are used in games.
“Now I suggest you all pick a skill that you would like. Just think of the word price and think of the amount of shop point you want to spend but personally I suggest you take the ‘Minor Heal’ skill”
I did as the president said and thought of the limit of the shop points I want to spend not long later a list of skills appeared before me.
Slash: 50
Fireball: 100
Ice arrow: 100
Minor Heal: 100
...
I was about to buy the skill but then a voice stopped me.
“Wait”
Dorothy stopped us from buying the skill and talked in a serious voice.
“Don’t buy it. All we need is one healer and we can heal teacher Stella”
“But Dorothy isn’t it better if we all take this skill?” Asked Bryan as he scratched his head.
“Don’t you understand?” Spoke Dorothy while motioning us to come closer before whispering her next words. “They don’t want us to have the strength to fight back. Why would they want all of us to take the heal skill? Isn’t that because they want to prevent the students from gaining power since they might overthrow the student council and teachers? It’s better if we have a way to defend ourselves. We’re away from society now; no one can help us but ourselves. Besides you saw you saw your level right? If this is really like a game then we can just hunt monsters and increase our level and we can’t do that if we all took the heal skill now can we?”
Ahhh, now I understand where she’s coming from. If we don’t have a way to gain levels then that’s like turning us into weak but useful workers. If the students could heal the injured and at the same time have no power to fight back those who control security then that would be the best scenario for everyone. As expected from the president, he’s smart. Though I don’t know why he knew all this information. It’s suspicious…
“All right, who wants to take the heal skill?” I questioned this and looked at all of them in the eye until Dorothy steeped forward.
“I’ll do it”
After closing her eyes for a few seconds, she then started walking towards the entrance of the school.
“Wait Dorothy, what about the assembly?
Serena stopped Dorothy by using her hands and turning her around.
“Serena look” I pointed at the other students. Even when we hadn’t been told to disperse yet, almost everyone started running towards the entrance of the school. They were probably heading towards the injured so they could heal them. But judging from the slow movement and carefree walk of some of the students, they didn’t buy the “Minor Heal” skill.
Running with the other students, we ran all the way back to our classroom. After entering the room, Dorothy kneeled down next to Stella and chanted her skill.
“Minor Heal”
A small ray of light then appeared from her hands. Stella’s complexion then became better, albeit slightly. If one did not look carefully then they wouldn’t noticed it at all.
“What’s wrong? Did it work?” Asked Bryan but no one answered his question. Dorothy kept using her skill but when she used it for the third time she then began to wobble.
“Are you alright Dorothy” Serena held Dorothy’s shoulders and asked this question.
“I’m fine… I just feel tired that’s all”
Carrying her over, Serena placed her next to the wall. Now with our healer out of commission we had no choice but to wait until she woke up and used another skill.
“I’m going to get some food”
Standing up, I walked outside the door. The other’s merely nodded at my words.
After walking outside again I walked to a place where a group of people stood as if waiting for something. The one they were waiting for was where the food was being distributed. I saw it just before running with the river of students. I wanted to get some food then but I wanted to see the effects of Dorothy’s skill even more so I went to the classroom first.
“Here”
After lining up for with what seems to be forever, a fat and oily faced woman with a scowl on her face, wearing an apron and hairnet passed me six plates filed of food on a tray after showing her my I.D. stating that I was the class representative and I was just getting the food for my other classmates and teacher.
Walking back towards the classroom I was met with shocking news.
“Gray… she leveled up!” Spoke Serena with a beaming smile.