Class ended, and Victor had already finished absorbing two shards and was a quarter of the way to the third. Despite his slightly faster rate of absorption, the lecture lasted a lot longer today, leaving him less time overall to practice his ability.
Victor quickly messaged his friends a location to meet while leaving the class, intending to head to lunch. Once he confirmed the message had been sent, he put his hands in his pocket as he strode down the halls, encountering the feeling of a small bag in his pocket. Immediately, he remembered what he had in his pocket.
'The ring... If it's just to remember her by, I might as well wear it...'
Victor took the bag out of his pocket, opened it, and put the nondescript dark grey ring on his finger. That subtle, indescribable feeling appeared once again, but Victor quickly lost focus on it, the sensation vanishing, leaving him unsure if it was just a figment of his imagination.
A couple of short minutes later, Victor left building B, heading down one of the paths towards the cafeteria. The green grass swayed in the wind as the leaves of the occasional tree shook above his head. Victor's eyes narrowed as he abruptly stopped and looked around.
...Something was wrong. Something about the path ahead seemed strange.
While examining the air in front of him, Victor heard the approach of two students on the path behind him. Since Victor was on the right side of the path, he didn't bother moving, thinking they would pass by on his left. However, in a couple of short moments, his assumption was proved false as the chatter behind him stopped and someone behind him let out a small scream of shock.
Victor couldn't help but turn around, finding Maxwell from his class and a girl from another class staring at him with surprise. Maxwell was right behind him, positioned like he had just tried to save himself from crashing into Victor. Evidently the boy behind him was the one who had just let out that high-pitched scream.
Rather than being embarrassed, Maxwell and his friend exchanged a glance, then each gave him a strange look before walking around him and continuing down the path. The entire time Victor stared at both of them, perplexed as to what happened.
It was then that he knew what had been bothering him before. The anomaly along the path was entirely visible once the pair walked through it. Perpendicular to the path, a wall of air seemed to shake, making it slightly blurry. This phenomenon extended into the distance in both directions, but Victor couldn't clearly see where it started and where it stopped. The only reason Victor could sense something was wrong earlier was because he was already so close, and the barrier was clearer as the wind passed, affecting the environment.
While Victor was examining the wall of haze ahead of him, he heard some noises of disbelief from the pair who had just passed through. The commotion immediately drew Victor's gaze, yet he refrained from approaching too closely, instead electing to call out to people inside.
"What's going on? Is this someone's ability?"
Maxwell whispered to his companion before turning to him with a wary look. "This isn't yours, is it?"
"No?" Victor could only respond cluelessly.
Maxwell's expression then relaxed, easily trusting Victor, much to the distress written on the face of the girl beside him. "I think anyone who enters here is forced into a game. Whoever finds the game master wins, but if they find us first, we lose. It says here that the rewar-"
Maxwell was immediately cut off as both of their expressions turned dark and the blurry barrier disappeared. "...We lost?"
The girl beside him couldn't contain herself. "How did we lose so quickly? I don't even see anyone..."
She then turned to him. "It was you! You tricked-"
Before the words could even escape her mouth, Victor's expression already turned cold, causing her to trail off in fear. For a moment she had forgotten who she was talking to.
Sensing the situation, Maxwell spoke quickly. "Daina, listen. It can't be him. Think about it, the game only ends when someone is found. We started a whole conversation with him before the game finished."
Hearing his reasoning, Daina looked slightly embarrassed, and she turned to Victor and apologized. "Sorry, it's just I can't believe we both lost a white shard so easily."
Victor's expression eased up once he heard that exchange, but he wasn't in the mood to comfort either of them. Still, he decided to offer some advice.
"There was a nearly transparent barrier you crossed that seemed to indicate the game area. It's probably best to look out for such a place in the future. Although if you happen to enter anyway, maybe if you leave the area, you won't have to lose any shards."
Maxwell nodded in response. "Yeah, we were considering leaving, but apparently the reward for finding the game master is 50 white shards, so we were considering participating."
'50 white shards!!' Victor's eyes flashed with greed for a moment before logic came back to him. 'Given how fast those two were found, I don't know if I will be able to do any better. Who knows how big the game area is? Depending on how large it is, our opponent might have some sort of sensory ability that gives them the advantage in these types of scenarios.'
Victor nodded in response before they both said their goodbyes and went on their way, all of them now on the lookout for a strange blur in the air.
Around ten minutes later, Victor found Darius and Elaine outside, standing in the shade of a tree. Still careful, Victor made sure to take his time closely examining the environment. Strangely enough, as Victor walked closer, his friends did not acknowledge his approach or his paranoid behavior despite both of them looking in his direction. It was only when Victor reached a few meters in front of them that he decided to raise his hand in greeting, watching both of his friends flinch in surprise.
"You scared me. I didn't even see you coming. How did you appear like that?" Elaine asked.
Victor looked at them with a confused expression. "Appear? I didn't do anything. I just came from that direction." He said as he pointed towards a path they had both been facing this whole time.
The two of them shared a strange and skeptical look before Darius spoke.
"We would have seen you if you came from that direction. Did you also gain the ability to teleport too?"
"Who learned to teleport?" Rosa, who had also been approaching from a different direction, finally came within earshot to interrupt.
"Victor. He just appeared out of nowhere. Elaine and I both saw." Darius explained.
Rosa looked around confused before her face flashed with surprise when her eyes landed upon Victor. "Fuck. I didn't even notice you. That reminds me of that caretaker of yours."
Darius flashed a smile in understanding. "Oh yeah, Angie. It's just like that. She used to sneak up on us all the time. Did she teach how to do that trick before she left?"
It was only then that Victor remembered the ring he wore on his index finger. He looked around, spying Jax walking over from a different direction.
A curious expression appeared on his face as he walked towards the approaching Jax. Once he reached around 10 meters away, he slipped off the ring, prompting Jax to frown. "I didn't see you there for a moment. Didn't think I would be the last one."
Victor didn't immediately respond as thoughts swirled in his mind.
'The ring seems to grant some sort of stealth, just like Angie's. Did she also have a ring just like mine?'
"Uhhh, what just happened?" Elaine asked, still slightly confused.
Victor walked over to the tree with Jax before explaining his thoughts on the ring and how he got it.
"Does it work with anyone?" Rosa asked.
Victor was curious too, so he handed over the ring and watched as Rosa put it on, yet nothing seemed to happen.
"We can still see you." Elaine spoke bluntly.
Rosa nodded before looking around with a thoughtful look on her face. She smoothly walked to the tree beside them before stepping behind it and then seemingly disappearing.
Intrigued, the group approached, checking if she was behind the tree. As they neared, circled it, and checked from multiple angles, they found Rosa to be nowhere in sight. Victor and his friends spun around confused before turning towards the sound of hurried steps. There they found her around ten meters away, slowing down to a walk upon being found a few meters away. It was then they realized she had somehow circled and approached them from behind.
"Looks like you will have to break their line of sight first to activate the ring's stealth." Rosa concluded before handing the ring back to Victor.
Victor looked down at the ring in momentary wonder. He then realized why Maxwell had almost crashed into him earlier. He nodded in understanding before deciding to store it in his pocket. A stealth ring was definitely going to be useful in the future. As he looked up, he noticed Darius silently looking at him with an unreadable expression.