My Evil System

I was back in the dorms without any problems and still found that Thomas was curled on his bed.

"Thomas?" I called him.

When there was no response, I let him be.

Maybe he was asleep.

I placed the food on the table and went to bed as well.

I closed my eyes, hoping for a quick nap.

I thought I wouldn\'t be able to sleep because of the things that were bugging my mind, but the moment my back lay on the mattress and with a full tummy, not to mention the fair weather, I slept like a log.

When I came too, I woke up at the sound of Thomas calling my name.

"Cross. Cross."

I groggily woke up and rubbed my eyes. My vision was still blurred before they steadied at Thomas\'s worried face.

"What\'s up?" I yawned.

"Aren\'t you going to your afternoon class?" he asked, worried. "It\'s almost 2 in the afternoon."

I didn\'t process what he said at first, but once I did, I shot straight and stared at the time when I pressed the bracelet.

Shit!

It\'s already two in the afternoon!

But then I remembered that I wouldn\'t be going to the afternoon lectures, and the tension in my muscles loosened.

"Oh. It\'s fine," I said. "I won\'t be attending the lectures."

Thomas blinked, eyes wide behind his glasses. "You too?"

"You too? You\'re not going as well?" I questioned him.

"No." Thomas avoided my gaze, and he scratched his nose. "I don\'t really want to do battle."

"But . . . if you don\'t attend, then you won\'t be able to attract contracts from the cities and kingdoms."

"It\'s fine." Thomas stifled a laugh, but his smile didn\'t reach his ears. It was probably because he didn\'t want me to worry about him.

"I will just apply in a guild. That\'s what other players did if they didn\'t receive any contracts from towns and kingdoms."

". . . Is that so?"

"But what about you, Cross?" Thomas said, changing the topic to me. "What will you be doing after this school if you won\'t be attending the afternoon class?"

"Augh . . ." I didn\'t know how to answer that, so I lied. "Maybe join a guild as well?"

Thomas\'s eyes twinkled. "Then we can apply together."

At least he was happy now.

"By the way, I brought you food," I said and nodded at the takeout on the small table.

Thomas swiftly glanced at the food before he quickly said, "Augh . . . it\'s fine, Cross. I\'ve already eaten, so you can eat it later."

After he said that, Thomas\'s stomach growled in protest.

"Augh . . ." Thomas\'s face burst red, and I laughed and grabbed the food and gave it to him.

"Just eat this, Thomas. Don\'t starve yourself," I said.

". . . I-I\'ll just go and get something in the cafeteria later," Thomas stammered.

"It\'s fine," I said. "I couldn\'t finish my food, and it\'s such a waste to throw them. You can have it. Spare your CR for a more important stuff in the future."

". . . Y-you sure?"

"Yes."

When Thomas realized that I wouldn\'t budge from this, it was only when he readily ate the food with gusto. He munched it like there was no tomorrow. He even had tears at the corner of his eyes.

Watching him so happy and satisfied, I felt light and contended as well. The feeling reminded me of the time when I saw my siblings happily eating dinner and full.

As long as they were happy and fed, I didn\'t mind if I didn\'t ate.

It was a happiness far from material things could bring. The feeling of satisfaction that couldn\'t be found anywhere but in helping others.

It\'s like it\'s filling my soul and quenching my heart.

<Host\'s isn\'t worried that the kid might be taking advantage of you and, at the end of the day, betray you?>

I smiled and closed my eyes.

Thomas could kill me yesterday night and even today while I was asleep. He could easily do that and steal all my equipment and gil.

Yet, he didn\'t.

He didn\'t touch the food on the table, too, and didn\'t even transfer my CR to his.

There were a lot of instances where I heard from the players\' mouths that their roommate was stealing their CR while they were asleep. It would only take one press of your finger on your bracelet while you\'re unaware that your roommate was already controlling your hand while you\'re blissfully asleep.

I was sure that Thomas knew of that too. After all, it was such a popular topic circulating at school.

I stood and got ready to go to this afternoon\'s lecture to take a look.

"Did you change your mind and decided to go to the afternoon class?" Thomas asked when he saw that I had changed clothes into my newbie garbs.

I shook my head and answered him, "I\'m just going to take a look. Do you want to come?"

Thomas stopped eating, and he looked at the bone in his hand for a short time before he answered, "No . . . I\'ll just stay here. The sun is making me dizzy."

I didn\'t know if that was an excuse, but Thomas\'s tone was rather . . . sad.

Before I could ask him what was wrong, he looked at me and beamed.

"Don\'t worry about me. I\'ll go to the library and read when I get bored staying here."

"You sure?"

Thomas nodded, and that\'s when I got out of the door.

"Alright. Maybe I\'ll go to the library later, too," I said and closed the door.

I headed straight into the coliseum on the back side of the main building. It was the highest point of all the structures in Castle Rock and apparently the highlight of the whole school.

The students were distracted by the happening in the open coliseum, and it worked in my favor as I crept steadily inside.

There were players on its elevated seats, and I made sure to hide my presence by blending into the crowds.

I only released the breath I held when my butt felt that hard stone while the spectators cheered at the players in the arena.

To my surprise, Amara, Jin, and Lina were all down there.

It looked like the afternoon class was a combat class, whether it was new or old players.