A cold feeling is creeping through my bones as I wake up and I shiver as I slowly come to my senses, trying to pull my blankets over myself, only to realize that I did not in fact even have a blanket anywhere near me. I grumble and open my eyes to look around me. I was in my very dim dorm room on my bed. My blanket was lying at the base of my bed on the ground, it must have fallen off my bed. I sigh and roll into a sitting position before looking at my alarm clock on my desk to check the time, I groan once more as I read 6:27. I had really hoped that I could get some more sleep… Ah well. Time to start the day.

It had been just over a week and a half since I had started school and so far, things weren't looking up as far as my education. I hadn't really expected much from this school, but honestly I thought there would be at least one decent teacher, but I was wrong. I will just have to wait for Chiron…

That is not to say that it was completely terrible, there were a few upsides amidst the torture this school was turning into. Percy was a huge one, he was surprisingly fun to hang around and talk with, especially when class and blacksmithing practice was over. Another upside was another boy who approached us at lunch and quickly became friends with Percy and me, his name was Grover. Apparently, he arrived a few days late in school and is in our class. I wasn't sure, but I suspect that the mist had something to do with that. But, it was reassuring that I didn't mess with Percy’s life and therefore canon that much as of yet.

Also, I found out a new little detail about the system almost on the first day of classes. I figured out how the quest system works. Apparently it is a really easy to use system, I just somehow have never been in a situation to activate it.

I just need to be asked or assigned a task or quest and I will get a notification about receiving a quest and depending on the difficulty of the task, I get rewarded with some Ring Gold. I found this out because both school assignments and daily homework apparently count as a ‘quest’ to the system. Not that I'm complaining though, it gives me a reason to actually go to school and it pretty much forces me to at least try to get a good grade on my assignments if I want the Ring Gold.

But all of that absent minded train of thought aside, I start getting ready for my morning workout. For the first few days I was not sure how I would fit in working out into my new routine, until I looked out the dorm window one day and spotted a small forest out the window. Right then I knew what I could do, and I immediately started planning on how I could get inside the forest to open a gateway without anyone realizing. It was easier than I thought.

I grabbed my morning workout clothes and changed inside the small bathroom before silently moving through the dorm room and grabbed my room key before I headed out the door, carefully walking through the hallway like some kind of phantom. I walked like this for several minutes, walking through the hallways, into the stairwell, through the lobby and out into the chill morning air before abandoning my silent walk and starting to jog quickly to the forest behind the building. No point in trying to keep quiet out in the open, if someone was within hearing range of my jogging, they could see me already, and if not then I needed to be gone before they could.

My jog slowly became a sprint around the building as I spotted the small forest. At the edge of the forest, there was no trail to follow so I slowed my sprint into a light jog, my brain going over time to avoid the obstacles in the thick forest, jumping over tree roots, ducking low hanging branches and turning my body out of the way of the outstretched branches. A few minutes went by in a rush as I made my way through the tree’s until finally, I spotted a little clearing and I slowed my jog into a walk and eventually stopped inside the clearing deep in the woods.

Before I could do anything else however, something happened. I heard a pop and a blue screen spiraled into existence in the air before me. “Huh, a notification?” I idly said to myself as I saw the rectangle appear and then I began to read the message.

“Passive ability: ‘Stealth Lv1’ unlocked.” Is what it read, causing me to grow excited. “Wow, it looks like my training method is working out better than I thought!” I said to myself jokingly. This was completely unexpected, but this is most definitely a good thing. Imagine how a stealth ability could grow with training! Oh, I nearly forgot to actually check what it does… ‘Status!’

Statistics

Passive Abilities

Skills

Active Quests

Name: Ardika Ekia

Physical age: 12 years old

Birthdate: August 12

Gender: Male

Race: Human/God hybrid

Adaptation

Adaptive system

Perfect Recollection

Ring Maker Lv8

Speed reading Lv3

Builder Lv2

Architect Lv1

Blacksmithing Lv1

Dagger skills Lv8

Deflection Lv2

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Evasion Lv1

Tracking Lv2

Stealth Lv1:

Increases recognition of the best possible way to avoid detection and gives the ability to sense when they are seen while trying to be undetected.

Appraisal

Soul Forge Lv1

(No active quests)

Huh, that seems like it will come in handy, though I wonder how I am going to properly train it… does it work against cameras? I spent a few seconds before realizing that I was just standing around in the center of the forest doing absolutely nothing. I suppose that it is not time for imagination and wild theories. It is time to train.

I sent a small stream of Spirit Energy through the spirit construct inside my soul, causing the portal to my personal dimension to appear in the center of the clearing, waiting for me to enter. I stepped forwards confidently and opened the door before walking in like I owned the place, because I did. I chuckled at my little joke and turned to my right and I jogged a little up the ramp to the second floor. When I had reached the second floor, I started stretching in preparation for my workout.

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One and a half hours later I was sweating all over from my exhausting exercise and training routine. My routine today consisted of strength training with my gym equipment, evasion and deflection training in the arena along with some practice fighting with my daggers, namely trying to slice balls that are shot at me and slicing up some dummies I made with the ring of creation in various ways.

I walk carefully down the ramp to the first floor and then I proceed out the door into the bright forest. Wasting no time, I quickly unsummoned the gateway and then I started to jog through the forest. Back to the dorms we go!

As I jogged, slipping carefully through the trees, I started to think about my newest ability once more. Maybe I should use it now? Just to try and get a feel for it of course, there is no real need for me to sneak around here with me in a forest, but I think that I should have a go. I slow down a bit, trying to quiet my footsteps but navigate as quickly as possible, then… I can feel it. It's like my body is guided through the motions and I can feel exactly where I should go to avoid detection and how to do it. Like my other abilities, it is odd but so natural like I have been practicing for a year to do this and it is almost ingrained in my brain.

I speed up, darting through the woods like a spector darting from shadow to shadow, making so little noise that even I am surprised but finally, I reach the end of the forest and I slow myself down a bit before jogging out of the treeline and through the grass until I reach the path to the school and I start speeding up again, letting my body dart quietly forwards into a sprint where I have to make a conscious effort to keep my feet from hitting too hard onto the cement.

Barely a minute later, I arrive in front of the main doors of the dormitory and I pull them open and slink inside, shutting the doors behind me silently as I prepare to sneak through the lobby, up the stairwell, through the hallway and into the dorm room. As I make my way through the last hallway, I sense an odd sensation coming from behind me. I curiously turned around looking for what caused the weird sensation, was this one of my passive abilities kicking in? I don't think I have ever felt that type of sensation before… As I turn around, looking for the source of the feeling, it suddenly stops, and at the same time I realize something. Sneak’s secondary ability.

Someone was watching me? Weird… I scan the hallway again, seeing nothing. Well, that was odd, but I need to get a shower before Percy wakes up and then head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

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Nearly an hour after coming back from my workout, I am walking to class with a slight sigh of annoyance at needing to go to class, only a little mollified by Percy and Grover’s comforting presence and conversation as we walk through the halls. When we finally arrive at history class, we go and sit in the back of the room like usual and then we wait for class to start.

“Hello, we are doing our first assignment today so get into groups of three or four.” Ms. Rosenhert yelled out at the class as soon as the bell rang out through the speakers, telling us that class is starting. I heard a familiar beep of the system quest announcement and looked at the screen, which basically just said that we will be doing a history assignment and the reward will be thirty Ring Gold. I grinned a little at the reward for the quest, it was the highest reward yet!

I look at Grover and Percy and we all nod silently, making our group. As soon as the bustle of the other kids making groups settled down, the teacher's voice boomed out again saying “Now send one group member up to my desk to get your assignment then you can start right away.” Then she brought out a small stack of papers by her desk at the front of the class. “I can get it.” I said to Percy and Grover, which they agreed to and I stood up and navigated through the desks to the teachers desk.

I quickly grabbed my paper and started making my way back to where Percy and Grover were sitting, when suddenly I felt a tug on the paper in my hand and a voice rang out from behind me “Hey Arnold, thanks for grabbing my paper!” I turned around to see… Ah. Nancy Bobofit was standing behind me, holding the paper that she had grabbed out of my hand. I scowled at the girl, seeing her laughing at my furious expression, then I forcibly calmed myself down. I can get back at her later. “Not a problem.” I told the smug little girl and reached back to the teachers desk, got another paper and went back to my seat.

“Hey, what was that?” Percy asked me, gesturing at the surprised Nancy still at the teacher's desk. “It was nothing.” I replied smoothly to Percy and pulled out the paper I had gotten, putting it on our desks, reading it over. Percy frowned slightly, but sighed and looked over the paper with me.

“A five minute presentation on why world war two started?! Is she serious? We had one lesson on it yesterday!” Percy said, looking almost outraged at the assignment. ‘Great… This is going to take a while.’ I thought, reading the presentation outline. ‘Unless… Wait! I have an idea!’ I thought to myself, realizing an easy way to complete the assignment. My whole idea was based on three things, I had already learned about exactly why it started, I have the perfect recollection ability and three, I saw a youtube video on exactly why it started a few years ago. This would take a while to write from memory, but I think I can pull it off because the video hasn't even been thought up yet.

“Don't worry, I can write up a script and we can practice our presentation during the leftover time.” I said to my friends, who turned to look at me. Percy looked relieved, while Grover looked a little concerned. “Thanks.” Percy told me smiling, looking a little relieved, but Grover turned to him and said to both of us “Hey! We can't just let you do all the work!” I smiled at Grover, but then told him “It's fine! I already have the outline of a script in mind, it won't take that long.” Looking at him reassuringly. Grover looked like he was about to argue, but Percy had given him a mutinous look that very clearly said “Come on, just let him! Don't do this to me!” and he deflated in his seat.

Chuckling at Percy’s antics, I pulled out a paper and I started writing the script for our totally not copied presentation script.

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At the end of the day, I sighed as I lay back in my bed. It was a rather normal day all things considered, school classes, lunch, school classes and then finally blacksmithing practice in the Soul Forge, which I just came back from.

But something was pressing on my mind… Nancy. I think that it is time to plan a little revenge. My brain kicked into high gear as I thought about my lesson. I think I shouldn't over react, justice is never served in an over abundance. An eye for an eye and all that. But what could I do…

Then it hit me, an idea that fit so well that I grinned in anticipation. I should have started earlier, but let's get building!