Chapter 24 - 24: A Dream
"U… Ughh"
Van's eyes trembled rapidly as he woke up. He felt his whole body sticking to the floor due to the sweat that wrapped his entire body. And when he pulled himself up, he felt his emaciated cheeks slightly being pulled by the floor before it bounced back to his face.
He felt a throbbing pain behind his eyes as he looked around him, his expression filled with nothing but confusion.
He stood up, trying to see where he was. But finally, after a few seconds, he remembered what happened before he collapsed on the floor. This was his house, and he remembered opening his system and sending his father's soul to the Afterlife.
After that, numerous windows popped up in front of him but he couldn't understand a single thing they said. Did… anything actually change?
'System Window'
[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 ]
Van squinted his eyes and focused all of his attention on the words that were in front of him, trying to see if anything changed from before. If his memory served him well, then the bottom part of the status window has changed. From 0, it turned into one and zero.
This… should be number 10? Van tilted his head.
As soon as he focused his attention on the number, another window popped up in front of him.
[Would you like to distribute your Status Points?]
"... What is it even saying?", Van groaned in frustration.
Unlike the Skill Window, which somewhat vaguely explains to him and puts images on his head on what the skill does, he could get nothing from the Status Window. It's just… a bunch of words that he couldn't understand.
And so, with a sigh, he could only close his System Window for now.
He then remembered that he was supposed to meet Harvey and Beatrice back in school to look for a dorm… but he has a house now.
His head was still hurting and it was already dark outside anyway, so he decided to just go back to sleep. He was sure Harvey and Beatrice were no longer waiting for him.
Van then walked around the house to find the bedroom, and as soon as he found it, he immediately jumped on the bed.
"...Soft", he muttered. The bed was much softer than the ones in the hospital. And with that final thought, he once again fell asleep.
But then, a deafening thunder woke him up. He quickly opened his eyes, only to find himself floating in a vast darkness.
And he was not alone. There were humans, or at least they reminded him of one. The only thing different was that they had a pair of wings on their back.
And there were countless of them, all flapping their wings in a single direction. Van quickly turned his head towards where they were going, and there, he saw a gigantic man. He was so large that the winged-humans looked like they were ants.
The gigantic man then shouted, but he could not understand his words. The gigantic man then raised his hands, and then, a trickle of lightning started crawling throughout his body. The lightning quickly spread, killing the approaching winged-men like they were insects.
However, it almost looked like it did nothing due to the sheer number of the winged-men.
The gigantic man suddenly pointed towards Van, or rather, behind him. Van quickly turned around, only to see another giant.
'This…'
The giant was currently flaying about, his whole body almost enveloped by the countless winged men that were hanging on his skin.
Van felt a sense of familiarity from this newly arrived giant. Like Van whenever he uses his System, the giant had wings made of light floating around his feet.
But sadly, before the man could even run, countless winged men started biting and chewing off his feet.
"Gah!"
Van's whole vision instantly changed as he let out a loud gasp. His breaths were heavy as he quickly looked around him, only to find himself back in his room.
The rays of the sun were already slightly trickling for the windows.
"What… a weird dream", Van muttered as he got up from the bed. He then got ready for his 2nd day of school.
It would seem that Sarah really prepared everything for him. The cabinets were filled with clothes and uniforms, all in his size. There were also female clothes, but Van just chose to ignore it for now.
He then spent an hour taking a bath, needless to say, that was the most luxurious bath he has ever taken in his life.
Before leaving the house, he made sure to lock everything, just in case someone tries to rob the place. He then double-checked, once again, just in case he left something unlocked.
And with that, he let out a deep breath.
"Let's go", he muttered as a flash of golden light appeared on his eyes. And then, he was gone, only leaving a trail of golden blur in his wake.
And not even a minute, "Wop!"
Van carefully stopped himself a block away from the academy, deciding to walk normally the rest of the way. He then blended with the students that were also walking to the academy.
Perhaps it wasn't so much as blending in, but more of disappearing. He was the smallest of the bunch, and as such, you could barely see him if you did not squint your eyes. But even then…
"Aha! I found you!"
A female student pointed towards him, her fingers almost touching Van's nose. Van flinched in response as he looked at the familiar-looking red-haired female student.
"Did… you need something, miss...", Van could not help but slightly back away as he looked at the female student's finger. If he remembered correctly, her name was… "Janice?"
"It's Gemma!"
It was Gemma. The one who found Van lying in the pool of his own blood in the arena.
"Could it be… I broke your boots?", Van could not help but twitch his eyes. Was she here to make him pay for the boots? But he was sure it was in good condition when he returned it to her yesterday.
"No! But I have been waiting for you!", Gemma said, "If it weren't for your unique scent, I wouldn't have found you!"
"So… You were smelling me?"
The two quickly attracted attention from the other students, and with the words that Van just said, they couldn't help but whisper to one another as they looked at Gemma, their eyes filled with disgust.
"...pervert", one of the students whispered.
"W… wait", Gemma quickly waved her hands,
"It's…
...not like that!"