The Over-Break System

“Well, good morning to you too, Student Ivar.” Unphased by Cynrik’s sarcastic comment, Doctor Oswurn walked up to the Headmaster’s desk and greeted the man.

“Take a seat, Doctor Oswurn, we had some startling information present itself, but the discussion has already ended,” motioning for the Doctor to take a seat beside the Head Dean; Headmaster Rivia then turned to Rimsfel and gave him a look.

“I shall take my leave and allow you all to have your meeting in peace.” Realizing he was being kicked out of the room nonverbally, Head Dean Rimsfel tactfully stood up and saluted Geralt before turning on his heels and leaving the room without glancing at Cynrik.

Cynrik watched the man leave with lazy eyes. He found it kind of funny how quickly the Head Dean’s attitude changed with just a few simple descriptions.

“Now, then, let’s put aside the prior conversation and get onto the main topic of this meeting. The floor is yours, Doctor Oswurn.” Headmaster Rivia said in an authoritative tone as he sneakily put all the documents Cynrik had given him on the floor behind his desk.

“Yes, of course, Headmaster,” Doctor Oswurn said politely before turning to face Cynrik across the room.

“Having taken Anger Management Classes and Therapy sessions three times a week for the last three months, Ivar, you seem to be making significant progress in the Anger Management area, receiving full marks on every evaluation and test. HOWEVER, when it comes to working through your trauma and mental health through our sessions, I have noticed you not only find ways to skirt every question I ask, but you appear to have quite a bit of experience in dealing with Psychologists.”

“While it seems as though you always have the correct answer to everything, it has become clear to me that you do not want to talk to me any more than necessary, but you are also completely opposed to me helping you. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I would think you were trying to psychoanalyze me during our sessions as if you find it completely boring and find no reason at all to divulge any information you consider “too personal.”

“Hypnosis therapy was a failure since apparently the combination INT and MIND stats you possess are too high for emotional coercion.” Next, the Doctor removed three identical folders from his inventory, placed one on the Headmaster’s desk, and handed one to Cynrik before returning to his seat, putting on a pair of small rimmed circle spectacles and opening it to read aloud.

‘So much for doctor-patient confidentiality; guess that doesn’t exist here,’ Cynrik thought as he rolled his eyes and opened the folder to follow along.

“As you can see, I have listed out every personality or mental health disorder that Student Ivar Ragnarsson presented to me during our sessions over the last three months.

Reading through some of the lines on the paper, Cynrik whistled loudly and smirked.

“Damn, Doc, you really are good,” Cynrik sarcastically said as he counted over 200 different disorders or psychological issues.

“Ivar,” Headmaster Rivia warned, making Cynrik fall quiet and read along.

As Cynrik’s eyes scanned through the multipage document, he quickly spotted a handful of diagnoses that caught his attention. The truth was, even though the list of disorders and issues was very long, only these few were true. The rest were all an act he did out of boredom to see how the therapist would react. Among these few, he had been diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), antisocial personality disorder (APD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention-deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD) back on Earth. Then there were diagnoses on the list, such as schizophrenia, which directly resulted from him being caught mumbling after talking to Brance or Selene in the mind link. A slip up on his part that was detected and annotated by the Doctor.

“Due to what I have observed about Ivar, he profoundly understands mental health and advanced psychology. As a result, you can eliminate most of the disorders listed on this page. I expect that, out of boredom or just general annoyance, he would display the appropriate symptoms to divert my attention depending on his mood. He would deflect me every time I touched his bottom line and present some kind of new psychological issue as a distraction.”

“If we eliminate the disorders I believe to be fake, then that leaves us with the following, GAD, OCD, APD, PTSD, ADD/HD, and last but not least, Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).”

Cynrik subtly nodded approvingly with the Doctor’s findings until he got to NPD; hearing that as one of the disorders the man believed to be real made Cynrik’s face contort in disgust.

“Bullshit, who’s a narcissist, not me? What the hell are you on about Doc?” Tossing aside the file and glaring at Doctor Oswurn, Cynrik wanted to explode but quickly pushed down that feeling, as it would look bad and would go against him “Completing” anger management

“In fact, of all the disorders you presented, I feel NPD fits you best, Student Ivar, the list of symptoms are all prevalent in your daily life. Having an overinflated sense of self-importance. Thinking you are more powerful, successful, and intelligent than your peers and feeling superior are all signs of this diagnosis.” Pushing up his tiny spectacles on his face, Doctor Oswurn didn’t back down.

Headmaster Rivia sighed as he could see Cynrik’s left eye twitching erratically at every symptom the Doctor listed.

“In my short interactions with you over the past few months, Ivar, I have seen the signs already. Even if you have found ways to deal with them in your unique way, they are still evident in how you carry yourself and interact with others.”

Clicking his tongue, Cynrik leaned back with his arms crossed and tried his best to stay quiet. Getting loud and arguing would solve nothing and, in the end, be counter-productive for his reason behind coming to this meeting today.

“However…” Speaking up and drawing attention back to himself, Doctor Oswurn spoke up.

“I can say that although he presents all of these disorders in varying degrees, he is overall well adjusted. Student Ivar has proven to me time and time again that he doesn’t let these disorders, which would be crippling to the average person, control his life and instead uses them to channel and focus his inner turmoil. Something that, if I hadn’t seen it myself on multiple occasions, I, in my professional opinion, wouldn’t believe.”

“As such, I believe that we can reduce our sessions to only once every two weeks, on the grounds that he proves to me that it doesn’t affect his social and daily life. I would also like to add a particular condition,” Pausing his statement and looking directly at Cynrik to be sure he was listening, the Doctor continued.

“If we agree to allow your therapy sessions to be reduced, you must be open with me from now on and allow me to help you work through the things clearly affecting your mental state.” Resting his case, the Doctor closed his file and crossed his right leg over his left while removing his spectacles and placing them in his right breast pocket.

“This…” Looking down and chewing on his bottom lip in thought, Cynrik mulled over the Doctors words. Reducing the therapy sessions would free up his weekly schedule and allow for more classes to be taken, but at the same time, if he agreed, Cynrik would have to be more open, something that he wasn’t even good at with people like Brance, who he was close with.

“Student Ivar, we need an answer.” Headmaster Rivia, who was really only half paying attention this whole time since he was more worried about the mole and spy issue, had already long known Cynrik was a bit…different from his other students. The air around him screamed once-in-a-lifetime genius, but his attitude and over-confidence were something that led him head first into trouble constantly.

“I will agree if my own condition is met.” Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Cynrik raised his head and looked between the two adults.

“And what condition would that be?” looking at the boy who seemed to have fire in his eyes, Headmaster Rivia had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what the following words Cynrik said would be.

“If we can do something, I don’t see why not.” Nodding matter of factly, the Doctor weighed in as well.

“I want to remove all the previous restrictions, such as the pay cut, discounts, and especially the curfew. Only then will I agree to your terms.” Seeing the shocked expression on the Doctor’s face and the knowledgeable one on the Headmaster, Cynrik further explained his reasoning.

“I have a little over six weeks to prepare myself and my whole Faction for the upcoming Regional Tournament. With these sanctions placed on me alone, I cannot guide my Faction down the correct path and meet the goals I have imposed on us as a group. I have already decided that we will not be competing as the Academies Tier-2 team, but if I can put my plans into action, even though the timeline is tight, I see no reason why we can’t reach Tier-3 before the start of the event.” Tilting his head to the side, Cynrik popped his neck loudly and sat up straight.

However, the surprised faces of the Headmaster and Doctor confused Cynrik. It wasn’t like he said anything world-shattering, just that given the right resources and time, he could power level himself and the others to Tier-3 in under two months.

He didn’t understand that he had indeed said something that could be considered incredibly difficult to do.

“Do you even realize what you just said? Going from Early Tier-2 to Tier-3 is a process that, under normal circumstances, takes the average person 2-3 years, not months, Ivar.” Wearing an ugly expression and leaning forward on his desk, Headmaster Rivia was doing his best to keep his blood pressure from spiking through the roof.

Calmly turning and making eye contact with the Headmaster, Cynrik smiled slightly. If there was one thing he could say he truly loved, it was when people underestimated him.

“You just said it yourself, Headmaster, “AVERAGE PERSON.” My Faction and I are anything but average. Do you think we have spent our time here at VSFA idle and lazing around doing nothing? No, we were consolidating our power, fine-tuning our Affinities,”

FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH

When Cynrik spoke of Affinities, he raised his left hand and manifested five Clear orange spheres of fire which looked like miniature suns that orbited around his hand.

His actions made both the Doctor and Headmaster’s pupils constrict as they felt the intense burning heat coming off these perfectly crafted orbs of pure Fire Mana.

“Not to mention putting into practice the groundwork for a well-established and in-sync team who doesn’t need verbal communication to complete the tasks at hand. The only thing stopping us now is the curfew keeping the Faction leader from spending long periods of time diving into either Egresses or Obelisks; if that is removed…hehe, well, It becomes an XP farming extravaganza.” With a calm wave of his hand, the miniature suns shrunk from sight and vanished, leaving the two adults stunned for a moment.

Everyone stayed quiet as they digested Cynrik’s actions and words. Especially Headmaster Rivia, who was about to explode in excitement. If what Cynrik had said was true, then for the first time, VSFA could potentially have a powerhouse Tier-3 team, making their chances at obtaining the overall championship relatively high.

His main concern, however, was what these “plans” Cynrik had concocted were. It was undoubtedly going to be insane, presenting an unacceptable level of stress to himself and the members of MyrkLys. What concerned him the most was the sheer amount of Essence the group would need if they were to achieve their goal. Even if they took the shortest route, which included leveling their Classes on top of their Primary Level, they were still talking about over 50 million XP, excluding the Prestige levels.

To obtain that amount of XP would mean the group would have to spend nearly every waking hour within an Egress or Oblisk, constantly killing their way through never-ending numbers of creatures or constructs. The sheer thought of how much time and effort these students were taking on was daunting to him. Yet when he met Cynrik’s eyes and saw the level of pure confidence and burning desire present, Geralt felt he had no other choice but to accept…so he did.

“I will lift all the previous restrictions after the group battle on your first day at VSFA; however, I expect weekly status reports, full-body stat examinations, and health checks. You will be tested at the halfway mark and two days before the tournament begins. Also, if you reach the evolution point, you will inform me as soon as possible so that I can ensure your safety. Lastly, you are to adhere to the terms placed by Doctor Oswurn. Is that clear?”

“Crystal.” Cynrik stood up and walked over to shake the Headmaster’s hand. It sucked that he would have to open up to the Doc, but he had still obtained what he came for, so it broke even in his mind.

-This series is exclusively published on Web if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg