The Over-Break System

After parting with the referees, Cynrik quickly located his group, rejoined them, and briefly summarized the interaction with Professor Wallin to Selene and Brance as they walked away from the frat-house-like Second-year dorms.

[[So that’s the gist of it; if I didn’t know better, I’d say it went pretty well.]] Cynrik stated with his nose raised to the sky.

THWACK

Unfortunately for him, Brance didn’t see it that way and swiftly delivered a powerful knock to the top of his older brother’s head.

[[Are you a fucking braindead moron? What the fuck were you thinking talking to teachers that way? Ignoring the glaringly obvious fact that you CRIPPLED another student, By disrespecting not just one but ten teachers, you have demonstrated how insubordinate and unrestrained you are to each and every one of them. There is no doubt the Headmaster will hear about it.]] Brance huffed loudly before continuing his parental rant.

[[And when that happens, you will be lucky to get off with just a simple slap on the wrists. You’ve royally fucked up this time, Cyn, like BIG TIME. WE ARE IN BOARDING SCHOOL NOW, NOT THE OUTSIDE WORLD; YOU CAN’T DO AND SAY AS YOU PLEASE ANYMORE!]]

THWACK

Finishing his sentence by hitting Cynrik in the head again, Brance was so angry that he knew his words would only devolve further into curses and chose to storm off with Gabby in tow in search of the supplies store, Benny chasing after them silently.

Staying back, so Cynrik wasn’t left alone, Selene stepped up beside him and, after watching him hunched over, staring at the ground in thought, decided it was best if she rubbed small circles on his back.

“It won’t be that bad. It’s not like we went full-blown psychopath out there. It probably didn’t look great you crippling that kid’s Codex and all, but think about what would have happened if you didn’t step in and stop Benny from killing that sack of shit second year. We would have been disqualified and lost all our stuff.” She noted how he seemed to tense up when her hand touched Cynrik’s back.

“Sigh, no… like usual, he’s right.” Cynrik straightened his back and looked up to the sky, where the three suns were shining, and birds were happily flapping away in the distance.

“That’s the thing about Brance; unlike us, he can connect with people emotionally and efficiently. So while I may have a higher IQ, he has a higher EQ. As far back as I can remember, he has been the counterbalance to my actions, and when he doesn’t step up to stop me, not many people are capable.” When he finished speaking, Cynrik stayed rooted for a couple more minutes, with Selene silently waiting beside him.

Letting out another sigh, Cynrik pulled up his hood and motioned for Selene to follow as he navigated through the narrow roads towards the direction Brance and the others had left.

“There’s no point dwelling on the consequences; come what may, I will deal with it then. If I get grounded, so be it. But, for now, let’s just keep our noses to the ground and behave as much as possible.”

Cynrik had no idea that on the other side of the campus, Professor Wallin’s meeting with Headmaster Rivia had already come to a close, and his punishment had already begun.

Sometime later, Cynrik and Selene met up with the other members of MyrkLys and proceeded to bounce from store to store, collecting the essential supplies necessary, such as notebooks, writing utensils, uniforms, and such. Still, when it came time to pick out what textbooks they needed, everyone was forced to take a break to make their decisions.

They soon found themselves in a large, noisy restaurant filled with other first and second-year students. Once the party of five was seated at their table located in a private room, Cynrik had everyone pull up the list of courses available to first years and begin plotting out their first-semester schedule.

That was when he learned a pretty important part about the Academies curriculum. Unlike a regular high school or college, there weren’t any mandatory classes outside of Combatives Basics and Creature Classification.

Since the country’s compulsory education was all-inclusive to a point, and the level of intelligence of the younger population was relatively high, subjects such as math and science were considered secondary after reaching the Academy Level.

Cynrik’s eyes scanned through all the potential options available and eventually came up with a rough sketch in his mind of how everyone’s schedules should look.

“Ok, so good news and bad news, everyone.” Clearing his throat after taking a bite of his cheeseburger, Cynrik broke up the idle chatter of his group.

“The good news is, we will have a few classes together as a party; the bad news is…it won’t be more than three a week. So I want everyone to sign up for Basic and Practical Affinity arts, Entry Level Egress Composition, and Year One Group Combatives. These will be the three courses we all take together.”

When he mentioned how there were only three classes the group shared as a whole, everyone but Brance seemed to lose interest in their food and wore dissatisfied expressions.

“Now, it’s no biggie since there are plenty of specialized classes for everyone. Take Gabby, for example, the Basic Bowman course is right up your alley, and it should be a breeze, so free credits. However, Selene, I want you to sign up for the Role-specific class for Tanks since you are inevitably going to end up, to some extent working alongside them as an OT.”

“As you will be moving away from the Assassin fighting style, it would be best if you start getting used to switching between offensive and defensive fighting styles before upgrading your class.”

“Safe to assume you’ll be doing some brainiac shit aside from combative?” Brance poked at his french fries and cut in on Cynrik’s monologue.

“I mean, unlike you guys, I have to worry about my life-skills class; on top of that, I want to absorb as much info as possible, so I plan on taking a couple of history and technology courses myself. I feel like, realistically, most of the adjustments I could potentially make to my forms and fighting style can only be made in secret.” Cynrik leaned over and swiped a fry off Brance’s plate before dipping it in some cheese and stuffing it into his mouth.

“Plus, im kinda stupid since I like to use a bunch of different weapons, so I may eventually take some handling classes for long swords and greatswords. But, in the long run, we still don’t know enough about the goings-on in the world, so I would like to take it upon myself to take the classes you all would find boring anyway…well, maybe not you, Björn, since you ARE the book nerd.”

“Um, Big Bro Ivar, what about this class here? It seems like something we could all take together.” Sensing another battle brewing because of the look Brance was giving Cynrik as he happily munched the stolen fries, Gabby chimed in and sent a class to everyone’s Watcets.

“Hm, Introduction to Skill Creation,” Cynrik read aloud from his Watcet as he scrolled through the syllabus and summary of the course.

“I mean, if it’s no good, then never mind, I just thought that because you are always trying to develop new skills and techniques, maybe it could help you fill in the gaps.” Gabby’s words came out as a whisper as everyone at the table was quietly reading the information she sent them without many reactions.

As she was starting to feel nervous, Cynrik broke into a broad smile and called over the waitress to order something special for the little girl without her knowledge.

Gabby felt maybe she had made a mistake since no one was saying anything, but not even five minutes later, the waitress came back with a bowl of ice cream and a large slice of chocolate cake and placed it in front of the little girl who at that point, was staring at her legs and playing with her fingers.

Noticing the commotion inches from her head, Gabby quickly looked up, and her eyes went wide at the sight of more dessert than she had ever seen in her entire life.

“Wha…what is this for?” Gabby said in confusion.

“Dummy rabbit, you may have just found the single best class I could have ever asked for; good job, you just earned yourself a heaping order of dessert; dig in, it’s all yours.” Cynrik chuckled at her reaction and handed her two spoons so she could dig in.

“YOU’RE THE BEST BIG BRO IVAR!!!” Unable to contain her happiness in the face of a mountain of ice cream and cake, Gabby threw all caution to the wayside and dug in, leaving Selene stunned that a little girl could shovel so many sweets into her mouth at once.

“So it looks like we have a fourth class together; I want everyone to take Introduction to Skill Creation; if things are as it says in the description, this course will be exactly what we need to take things to the next level.”

“I agree, no more manipulating Mana to make pseudo-skills; well, to be fair, Ivar, you’re the only one who can manage that consistently, while I can manipulate Earth into different forms.”

BANG

Brance acted like he didn’t notice Cynrik attempting to take another fry and, as he spoke, jammed his fork into the surface of the table a quarter of an inch away from Cynrik’s hand.

Selene and Benny’s reactions to these antics were mild at best; Gabby, for her part, ignored what exactly had happened and was solely focused on devouring her dessert before Cynrik moved away from stealing his brother’s food and came after her dessert.

“whew…so that pretty much clears up our schedules, so let’s go ahead and finalize everything and check out our dorms.”

However, when he input his selected classes, things veered off Cynrik’s plans, making his eyes narrow in slight anger.

“Mother fucking…hey, are you guys having trouble submitting your classes too?” Looking up from his Watcet, Cynrik noticed similar expressions to his own on Selene and Benny’s faces.

“What’s up?” Brance, who had no trouble with his schedule, saw everyone but Gabby seemed irritated by something.

“Those fucking assholes, WAIT, THEY DID WHAT! NO, MY MONEY, WHAT THE FUCK!”

BANG

Jumping up from his seat and knocking over his chair, Cynrik started pacing around the small single group dining room angrily.

“Anger Management, fucking therapy, A CURFEW, AND THEY DOCKED MY PAY!” Cynrik grumbled angrily as he paced up and down the small group dining room.

“HEY HEY, Benny and I got the same mandatory classes as you, mother fucker; what are these fucking teachers thinking? How could the Headmaster allow this bullshit?” Selene said while spinning the dinner knife given by the restaurant in her hand.

“HAHAHAHHAHAH! I TOLD YOU GUYS, HAHAHAHA, THOSE STUPID ACTIONS OF YOURS FINALLY CAUGHT UP, LEMMIE GUESS, YALL RAN AROUND LOOKING LIKE MURDERERS AS YOU KO’D PEOPLE!” However, unlike Benny, Selene, and Cynrik, who were enraged at the punishment, Brance burst out laughing his ass off, nearly falling out of his chair.

All the while, Gabby was utterly oblivious to her surroundings as she continued munching away with cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk.

-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