Rank 1 Engineer
Condition: Tip-top [100%]
Physique: Average (Expand)
Intelligence: Incredible (Expand)
Spirit: Low (Expand)
Skills: Turret [Lv1], Repair [Lv1], Fortify [Lv1]
Current Deployable Placement Limit: 1
Kendall mused to himself. Those goblins were probably way weaker than normal, considering that it was the tutorial. He was happy with it. He knew it would get better eventually, whether it be by his own personal additions or the system’s upgrades. He hoped for a mix, to where he could pick what he wanted to add or augment and let the system go about it. He wouldn’t be mad with upgrades in any way, though.
After the musing, he looked around the library. Instead of its usual, desolate climate, it was packed. Tons of students had flooded in. He didn’t like it, especially with all the murmuring and loud talk going on. He’d rather just read.
“Everybody! Quiet down.” The Principal shouted. Kendall groaned. The Principal was notoriously biased to his and his child’s friends. Not only that, but because of it, the school’s funding had decreased in the last few months. Kendall used to like the school’s lunches. He didn’t any more, thanks to that guy. Kendall hoped he stubbed his toe while holding a pot of boiling water, then dropped the water and pot on his toe. That seemed fitting.
Also, the guy’s an egomaniac. The Vice Principal always did the paperwork he was supposed to do, unless the Superintendent came by. He always acted on his best behavior then.
”As you have seen, we’ve been given these… classes. I’d like everybody to write their class down on a piece of paper.” He yelled over the already quiet library. Kendall snorted. He’d rather give him a taste of his wrench, but would probably get jumped. The shotgun would be going a bit far.
Speaking of the shotgun, Kendall planned on trying to feed it real shells. The ones it ejected dissipated after a couple of minutes and didn’t contain anything that pointed out a caliber, but Kendall just assumed it was twelve gauge or smaller because of the recoil. Then again, it was a wooden stock, so he might be wrong.
”Where were you at during the tutorial, sir? I didn’t see you.” Kendall blurted. The principal was busy fiddling with a pen in his hand, longsword mounted on his hip while he pondered which answer wouldn’t get him looked down upon.
”I was on the other side. I didn’t see you either.” He answered. Kendall knew it was probably a fabrication of some sort, maybe not a real lie but probably along the lines of something different. He was probably on the other side and running around in circles, away from goblins. Kendall knew he wasn’t notoriously a coward, but he’d noticed the subtleties of him dealing with fights. Always flinching when the even raised a hand, and being too much of a wuss to get in between the people fighting.
”Oh, okay.” Kendall said. Nobody else had the hall to call him out. Probably because they were still under the lie that they’d get detention or something. Why would detention matter now? Obviously, you don’t receive a tutorial on fighting monsters and then proceed not to fight monsters. People really can’t put together the pieces, even though all they need to do it connect them. He was disappointed.
“Well. Come write you name, and then your class.” The principal said. Kendall’s hand shot up. The principal sighed and nodded.
”What if I don’t want to?” Kendall asked. He looked up, shotgun gently sliding across his back and locking into place as he stood up to face the Principal.
”Want to do what?” He asked genuinely confused.
”Write my class. It should be obvious, anyways, but I don’t want to be taken advantage of just because I can do something you would have to learn.”
”Such as?” He asked.
”Why would I tell you?” Kendall remarked sharply. His eyes remained un-narrowed, unlike the principal’s. Kendall knew he could feel a threat, but knew drawing a sword on a high schooler would be a bit much. He crossed his arms so they’d get closer to the sword, just in case. Coward.
”Kendall. There’s no reason to keep it a secret. Nobody here would force you to do something just because they had to learn it first.”
”No, that’s not my point. I don’t want to be forced into a job because of my class. And, you just lied. I’ve been forced to ‘help’ many people because they refused to may attention in class or didn’t show up because they went to a party the night before. Knowing I disliked these people.” He glared intensely at the teachers. Some avoided it, others met it head-on. Using the turret to scare them would inevitable reveal his class to those who didn’t already know, such as the teachers, and then that would result in Kendall either leaving on his own and never coming back, or becoming an unwilling electrician, mechanic, engineer, teacher, and God knows what else.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Hey. Watch your mouth when talking to your superiors,” the Principal said sternly. Kendall grinned.
”Think about it. With the integration of this system, there aren’t any more superiors. Only those who are powerful, those who aren’t, and God. I plan on being one of the powerful ones.” Kendall said. He felt like a a villain, with the collapse of society as we know it coming and him essentially condoning it. But, it’s a race. A race to the pinnacle, and once somebody reaches it, they’ll push everybody down to a level below themselves, to remain there until they die.
Kendall didn’t plan on actually inducing chaos, but then the students erupted. The whole student body was yelling, almost screaming at their ‘superiors’. He didn’t blame them. This school was terrible in more ways than one. The vice principal tried to hire better teachers, but the current ones were all the Principal’s old friends, and Kendall doubted they were going anywhere. He felt bad for him. He and the slightly racist but still funny black janitor. The lunch ladies were all old demons, and all the other janitors were just the regular quiet janitors who did their job.
And, while that was a point, the students rushing through to the teachers was another one. While not teaching was one thing, killing was another, and with what he’d heard some of them say, he wasn’t entirely sure they were just angry and wouldn’t act. Even if what they said was only half-serious, it was still concerning.
“Whoa! Calm down!” Kendall yelled, shouldering the shotgun. Everybody suddenly paused and backed up, Kendall pulling the pump back and resting his finger outside of the trigger guard. His thumb flicked the safety off, the three dots in his vision lined directly onto somebody’s head. He couldn’t tell who, but they dropped their spear in the moment he nodded to the floor.
“Don’t be stupid.” Kendall said. “Don’t kill people. Don’t make me kill people.” Without realizing it, a bead of sweat dropped onto the stock. It continued down onto his cheek, then dropped to the floor.
“Kendall. You can… drop the gun down. He put his down.” Amy said, despite it being a spear, not a gun. He sighed and slid the shotgun onto his back, rubbing one of his eyes and wandering through the library door before he got an adrenaline crash, fell asleep, and had his head beaten in. He felt his heart beat, and the sweat stop, and footsteps encroaching on him from behind him. He turned around. Thankfully, it was Amy and not some insane guy.
”Oh. Hi.” Kendall said. He turned a corner and walked to the outside of the school, taking a look around. It was empty beyond the tree line, but he could see minuscule movement. Sometimes a green blur, and sometimes a gray animal stalking in the backwoods.
”Hi.” She said simply. Her book and staff were both put up, so he didn’t foresee any major incoming threat. He didn’t know her personally, or at all, really. But still, she seemed… normal. More normal than him, or any of those monsters in the library. What does it take to kill anymore? Apparently, getting on somebody’s nerves. He felt like he should’ve acted.
”Nice job back there. After seeing the way they acted when you said that… I just didn’t want to be in there any more, even if I am a mage. It’s scary, y’know?” Amy said. Kendall nodded solemnly.
”I didn’t want to cause it to happen. I was just trying to say that, now that everything’s happened, they won’t be able to hide any of their stupid decisions made as a school anymore. Even if they aren’t superiors, having somebody, or more, some people in charge would help more than an anarchy.” Kendall said. He continued walking outwards.
”Where are you going? Are you leaving?” Amy asked.
”… I think so. That was reason enough for me to leave. What I did in there would’ve gotten me assassinated if I stayed in the school. Not only that, but if I didn’t get killed, me and you would both be given more responsibilities just because of our classes. And, now that I have the ability to stop it, I’m going to.” Kendall sighed after saying all that. He looked back.
”Are you going to come with me?” He asked. She thought about it for a second.
”Yeah. That was just extra reason to go, anyways.” She said. She looked sad. It didn’t take much to deduce the crowd was made up of the main friend group, which she was a part of. It was probably scary to see your friends go crazy like that, with a psychotic look in their eyes.
“Well. The first place I’m headed is the gas station, then I’m going to go off and grow.” Kendall said. She nodded.
”Do you want to grab anything from your house or something?” He asked, to her surprise.
”Oh. No, not really. I have everything I need on me.” She said. Kendall seriously doubted she had a change of clothes, but decided it wouldn’t matter when everything went down. He’d already noticed an incredible lack of cars, in the usually busting street. That, and the occasional inhuman shriek, roar, or explosion. He seriously hoped that the gas pumps were still un-exploded. That way, at least he’d be able to grab some snacks and waste the remaining money he had.
“What’s your class called, anyway? Mechanic?” She guessed. Kendall shook his head.
”Engineer.” Kendal responded. She nodded and looked intensely at the forest’s edge, watching the occasional brush moving around.
“Hold it. I see something.” She said. Kendall stopped and pulled his shotgun off of his back.
”I’ll go and look at it up close. Can you guard me from the rear?” Kendall asked. Pulling her book out, she hovered it over her hand. Her staff began glowing, making a humming sound whilst Kendall approached the edge. He held the shotgun on his shoulder, keeping it on a specific bush he was approaching. It rustled again, prompting Kendall to reach for his wrench and slam it atop the bush. It hit something, and he heard a crunch. He looked inside of the hollowed bush, seeing a small green body with a mutilated head. He gagged to the side of the bush for a second before closing it back and dragging the body into the forest.
Tip: Every class has three beginner skills. More skills can be learned after these, and some are limited to class types. Such as how most crafting skills are limited to artisan or mechanically inclined classes and most ranged skills are limited to archer or ranged classes.
Kendal knew that and intended to get a crafting skill soon. He figured that he could get these skills through either monsters or by fiddling with his turret, which was what he planned to do.
“Did you hit it hard enough?” Amy asked rhetorically.
”I didn’t really want to take any chances, even if it was a small animal.” A roar sounded out, making them both jump. It was far away, but still scary.
Kendall had hidden the goblin corpse deeper within the forest, but not so deep to where he’d get jumped. It was sitting a comfortable few yards behind the tree line. He felt like he could’ve just used the turret, but decided to save that for later. Using it now would be a waste.
”Well. We’ve got a long way to go to the gas station. We should get moving.”