[Level Up Rewards]

-Strength +1

-Defense +1

-Agility +1

-Magic +1

Damon pushed the level up message to the side and focused on his stat page.

Name] Damon Zellar

[Class] None

Level: 3(0/10)

Strength: 7

Defense: 6

Agility: 6

Magic: 0

[Special Stats]

Luck: 5

Intelligence: 4

*** Has not been unlocked yet (1/5)

[Skills]

Stealth(E)

What the! How did I level up? The only thing that died after the monkeys was…

Damon came to a suspicious realization as he looked at the panda monster. It looked back as if trying to tell him something. It even pointed one of its paws at its mouth.

That damn smart panda. Why did the kill it got from Rachel show up on my stat page?

Damon plugged his nose from the blood smell as he tried to turn his head back towards the panda monster. Nothing could be found though, the panda was long gone, not even footprints could be seen. It was as if it had disappeared into thin air.

Where did it go? It’s gone already!

He had some guesses, but he couldn’t confirm them if the monster wasn’t here. With a sigh, Damon left the park, distressed with the events that had unfolded today. There would be questions about Rachel, and Damon hoped that no one would be able to track it back to him. He activated stealth once again and left for home.

***

“Why is Rachel not back yet? I swear I heard a fight going around in there,” asked a member of Rachel’s lackeys.

“Should we go in and find her?”

“We could, but what if that low ranker saw us?”

“I don’t think he’s smart enough to comedy the dots between us and Rachel.”

“No, you’re the ones that dumb!”

“SILENCE!” shouted the leader with gold chains and tattoos on his body. “I’ll go in and find Rachel, you guys stay on guard, and if you spot Damon, send someone to get me.

The leader walked into the park by himself, not caring about the dangers it posed. Something even more threatening than monsters had went inside, and if that person got angry, the leader of the gang would suffer an even worse fate than if monsters attacked him.

***

The next day, there was a big commotion at The Royal Academy. Supposedly, Rachel from Class-S had entered a hunting ground, but never came out. Her parents had even made some time to come to the school to demand answers from the headmaster. Urgently, the school made an announcement that whoever gave information about the incident would receive a suitable reward from Rachel’s family. No one went up though, but that was until one of Rachel’s lackey groups, as people liked to call them, provided some info. The only clue they got was a piece of the academy's uniform found ripped to shreds at a Level 1 hunting ground nearby, but that didn’t give them any leads. Damon knew the truth, but he was currently relaxed in a game of hide and seek and couldn’t be bothered to tell anyone. After all, he’d be punished if anyone ever found out he was involved.

The game of hide and seek Damon was playing was part of his class training program. It wasn’t an ordinary game of hide and seek. You were allowed to use your skills to hide or seek for other students, and that changed the game a lot. Within a minute, the game could be ended if one had the matching skill to seek.. The same could be said for if you had the perfect hiding skill, such as stealth. Then, the game could continue for as long as one wanted.

“I’ve never seen you use skills before. How did you get into Class-S anyways?” asked Damon.

“I’ll show you soon in this game of hide and seek,” said Leon.

The rules were a time limit of 30 mins, you were allowed to use skills of your choice to hide or seek, but no permanent injuries were allowed. Temporary ones such as a flash of light to blind the seeker was an example of an acceptable attack. A fireball aimed towards another student though, was harshly forbidden.

Then, the game started. The seeker was this blue haired boy in his class. He seemed to be timid, and not that menacing unlike the others in the class. While everyone else was riled up over the disappearance of Rachel, he wasn’t all that bothered about it and just stayed quiet. He did the same when Damon had first entered the class, so he held the blue haired boy in a good light.

I think his name was Dean Pratt. I heard he was from a wealthy family.

Dean was the son of a family that owned a well known company in England. His family taught him the things necessary to get into The Royal Academy with the wealth they possessed. Along with money, they also had good connections, allowing Dean to successfully make it into the school. Currently, this blue haired boy had his eyes covered by his hands while counting down.

In thick green bushes, Damon and Leon were watching Dean countdown close by. They were a few meters away, but they were trying the trick of hiding in plain sight. Just in case, Damon planned on using stealth, but he had no clue about Leon. No knowledge of his skills came to his mind, so he just decided to wait and see if he used anything special.

“Ready?” whispered Leon. “I’ll show you my awesome skill I’ve been perfecting!”

The moment Dean opened his eyes, Leon said something, and Damon also thought something.

Stealth activate!

“Invisibility!”

[Stealth Activated]

Damon’s presence instantly disappeared, but when he went to look at Leon who said something about invisibility, he wasn’t there. With caution, Damon extended his hand out, and he felt Leon’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’m right here,” whispered Leon even more softly than before. Dean was pretty close to them now. “I’m invisible!”

“Wow, cool. Now be quiet.”

Silence descended on the two as Dean walked closer and closer. The suspense was making Damon sweat with anticipation, he didn’t want to be found because he was aiming for the win! The one that could last the longest received a reward, but no one knew what kind of reward it was. It could be money, fame, or even a rare skill scroll.

Omega brought about many changes, and skill scrolls was one of them. They may seem old fashioned because they were written on paper, but no one could change that. As time passed, skilled users killed more and more monsters, eventually discovering the skill scrolls. One could learn a random skill from one of these scrolls, the rarity depended on your luck. You could pull from a common all the way to a legendary, but that obviously was close to impossible to get.

If Damon won, he could get a new skill, and just that thought urged him to win this modified version of hide and seek. Sweat rolled down his cheek as he and the invisible Leon hid in the bushes. Light footsteps got nearer, and Dean stopped right in front of their hiding place..

Please don’t look in here. Please!

ZIPPP!

Out of nowhere, Damon heard a zip sound.

Why the hell is he unzipping his pants!

SPLASH! SPLASH!

Damon could spot a yellow liquid splashing on the bush right next to him. The disgust was clear on his face, and he was sure the same could be said for Leon if he wasn’t invisible. After Dean was done doing his business, he walked away while having thought no one was around to witness that.

We didn’t get caught, but I don't even know if that close call was a positive or negative anymore.

With a sigh, Damon waited the whole game out with Leon in that stinking bush.