"Sarah, why do you keep doing all of these things for the boy!?"

"It's compensation for the--" ​​

"The boy is a killer! He killed his father!"

"Good riddance, the man is a monster according to the reports"

Sarah was currently arguing with a man inside a spacious office. The man had a huge scar on his face, his stature towering of Sarah. Sarah wondered how the man came to the information about the boy, and it turned out that one of her guards reported to the scarred man. Someone would surely be losing his job this week.

"I might have to report this to your grandfather, you understand this, right?", the scarred man let out a huge breath.

"Chris! You overstep your boundaries!", Sarah quickly slammed her hand on her desk, "What is it to you who I help anyway?"

"I am just telling you, you're making a mistake", Chris shook his head in disappointment, "And you even gave him your dead sister's house--"

"Choose your next words carefully, Chris"

Before Chris could finish his words, Sarah suddenly appeared right in front of him, her fingers pointed to his neck. Sarah's eyes were completely red and a pair of fangs revealed themselves as she slightly snarled.

Seeing Sarah's sharp fingernails threatening to slit his throat, Chris could not help but release a sigh of defeat.

"I am just giving you advice, Sarah", Chris said as he slightly backed away, "Associating with that kind of person won't do you any good. All we know about that person is that he was abused by his father and we don't even know who his mother is! A boy like that is only one bad day away from doing something dangerous!"

"...Are you done?", was Sarah's cold reply from Chris' lengthy sermon, "If so, you know where the door is"

"This…", Chris could only grit his teeth as Sarah turned her back towards him. After a few seconds, he clicked his tongue before bowing and leaving the room.

"What're you doing now, kid?", Sarah said as she looked over her window.

***

Van was currently lying in the bed, a complicated expression resting on his face.

"Gerald… A good man?", he whispered, "What do I even do now?"

These past few days, he and Harvey have become close. And considering he could be considered one of his first friends, Van never had to make a choice like this before. After a few more seconds of thinking about it, he just let out a deep breath.

The only thing he could really do now was wait. And if Gerald does attack him, then he would retaliate in full. He should also probably figure out what to do with the crystals he obtained from his first day. It was probably best to use most of them and then sell the rest.

But the thing is, he still doesn't know how to absorb the Crystals' essence… Should he crush them and sniff them?

Strength and money. That was what he needed right now.

Wait… strength?

Van quickly summoned his System Window. That was right, he still had 10 Status Points to distribute.

He already tried adding more to Agility, but the System was not allowing him to. And now that he could somewhat read, he could understand what his current status is.

[Base Lv. 2 EXP: 13/200, System Lv. 3 EXP: 6/300

HP: 52/52 | SP: 1/28

STR: 7 | (Atk: 16+0)

AGI: ??? | (Speed: ???)

VIT: 15 | (Max HP: 52, Def: 8+0)

INT: 3 | (Max SP : 28, MAtk: 4+0)

HP Regen: 3 | SP Regen: 1

Status Points left: 10 ]

Surprisingly, his highest attribute was Vitality at 15. Could it be because he was used to being beaten up? Then…

'Let's make this 20', he said as he allotted 5 status points in Vitality. He remembered his arms being twisted during the race when he fell down. He wanted to avoid that kind of scenario happening again as much as possible.

'And then… I suppose'

In the end, he placed 3 points in Strength and the last 2 to Intelligence. Making his final status to 20 Vitality, 10 Strength, and 5 Intelligence.

Van could not help but nod in satisfaction.

[Confirm? Y/N]

"Con… firm?", Van squinted his eyes as he couldn't understand the word first. But after he finally understood it, he quickly pointed his finger to 'Y'.

"Gah!"

And as soon as he did so, every fibre of his muscles contracted, it was as if his flesh was being torn apart piece by piece. Needless to say, he collapsed again, but this time, in the comforts of his bed.

And when he woke up, Van thought that he would notice a huge difference in his small body, but sadly, the only thing different was that his uniform, which was a bit loose, finally somewhat fitted nicely around him. There were muscles, but he was still too skinny for them to be noticeable.

And so, with a sigh. He made his way to the Academy. Nothing really special happened during the classes, just the instructors continuing their lessons from the other day. However, today was the first day of Van's extracurricular class.

Harvey invited Beatrice to wait for Van at his house with only the two of them, which of course, was replied by a resounding no. In the end, the three just split their ways, Harvey trying to find his brother, Beatrice going back to her dorm to train, and Van making his way to the Unique-type classes.

"This… should be it?"

Van tried to compare the insignia on top of the gates to the paper that was given to him, "Unique Class-1". Van could not help but squint his eyes, wondering if he was in the right place. But seeing as this was the only place here that had that label, it would seem that he really was at the right place.

It was just that… this 'classroom' looked more like a house. It was in an isolated part of the Academy, reminding Van again that the Academy is a huge place. The female instructor told him that the Unique class only had less than 10 students overall, including him-- and that was already from freshman to senior year.

And so, pushing aside all of his thoughts, he entered the class...house. And as soon as he entered, his eyes could not help but widen in shock.

This really was a house.

There were sofas, a table, and the only thing that was remotely relating this to a classroom was the chalkboard. But even that was being used as a clothes-hanger.

"...Hello?", Van said softly.

There were already 3 people inside the classroom slash house. 2 were sleeping separately on the sofa, and one was in the corner, facing the wall as his whispers filled the entire house.

But as soon as they heard Van's voice, they all turned towards him, even the two that Van thought was sleeping, and looked at him with their eyes wide open.

"This…"

Van could not help but think…

...Did he really make the right decision on choosing the Unique class?