Ten minutes later, Victor filled in his friends on the strange barrier and what had happened to Maxwell as they picked up some meals from the cafeteria and headed to a private room where they could talk.
Jax was the first to speak: "Do you remember the guy on stage who had their arm chopped off, and it was fixed during the assembly? I saw him walking around in my building earlier today. His arm looks totally fine now. Before class, I approached him and inquired about his extended absence, but he remained silent. When I asked him about Matt, he started speaking. Unfortunately, he didn't really tell me anything else that happened, aside from cursing Matt out and claiming he wouldn't be part of the gang anymore."
"Wow, it looks like we are getting a lot of drama about people leaving the Blood Punch gang." Whatever happened, it looks like most of the blame is landing on Matt." Victor spoke thoughtfully. "What could they have done to have the staff chop them up like that?"
The group exchanged glances, but they still lacked enough information to come to any conclusions, so they moved on, and Victor explained what happened to him after class ended.
After Victor finished his story, Darius was the first one to speak. "Why would the teachers set up a random game in the field? Usually they give us a heads-up on the rules, don't they?"
"Who knows. Maybe it's some sort of test." Jax proposed.
Uncharacteristically, Elain chimed in insightfully. "Something seems off... Why is the reward so high? I get the feeling it's not related to the school because even during class activities, we are only given 1–3 shards per activity. I think it has to do with those transfer students somehow."
While initially unsure of the idea, the more they thought about it, the more convincing it sounded.
"That makes sense. The reward is probably just the bait, while the game is just an avenue for the gamemaster to earn easy shards with their ability." Rosa analyzed.
Darius exclaimed in awe. "Damn! It's simple, but it's quite effective. Still, I wonder what kind of ability the game master has." His face then turned a little mischievous before he continued. "If we ever did figure out the secret of his ability, we might be able to cash in on a whopping 50 shards."
Jax couldn't help but let out a sigh. "It's exactly because of people like you that the game master is going to keep raking in profits. Everyone going out there will just be fish biting the bait."
Upon hearing that, Darius's smile only grew wider. "You forgot that one of us here has a stealth ring. If it's used properly, we might have a chance at claiming the prize."
Hearing that idea, Victor's eyes flashed. "Honestly, I'm tempted to try, but if we are going to do this, we might only have one shot. In the meantime, we should get more information on this game and the limits of the ring."
They spent the remainder of the lunch devising strategies to win the game, followed by some additional independent training. Soon the time for afternoon classes rolled around, and Victor was once again in the giant gym with over one hundred other students.
Today he noticed that the missing person from yesterday had showed up this time. Just as Victor had expected, it was one of the girls who was part of the Blood Punch gang, which had for the most part been missing up until today.
Since there was still time before the class officially started, Victor walked towards her to see if he could discover anything about the situation. She stood against a wall sporting purple streaks in her hair, looking very listless. It was only when Victor called out to her that she broke from her reverie, looking at him with a wary expression.
"What's up? I noticed you weren't here yesterday. What happened?" Victor began with a friendly expression. The girl couldn't help but give him a strange look before her reply.
"What's going on? I don't think we've talked more than 10 times outside of classes, and suddenly you're concerned about me? What are you up to?"
Victor tried putting on his most sincere face before he replied. "Well, I saw some of your friends on stage two days ago, and I have to say it was pretty unsettling. The next day, Matt got into a fight, and then almost all of his friends weren't around yesterday either. With everything that happened in the last two days, I was just wondering what happened."
The girl whose name Victor finally recalled as Lyra frowned in response. "Matt got into a fight? With who?"
Victor shrugged. "I think his name was Theo. We saw him hanging around some of the transfers like he was a part of their gang now."
A moment of silence passed as Lyra lowered her head into her hands until she composed herself.
"Thank you for telling me. In truth, most of the members of the gang haven't talked since that day. I'm not too surprised some of them left."
Victor revealed a kindly smile before he continued. "Why were you guys gone for so long? Usually, a trip to the infirmary takes an hour maximum. I find it difficult to believe you guys were being treated for more than a day."
Lyra shuddered slightly before she responded. "No, we really were healing the whole time. While I was in there, I heard the staff talking, and apparently the attacks inflicted by them are harder to heal from than regular injuries."
Hearing that information, Victor didn't hesitate to press for more information. "Do you know why the staff members attacked you?"
At that moment Lyra paled as if she realized she slipped up. "Wait, no, I—"
Lyra stuttered, looking around panicked. "Sorry, I can't tell you." She quickly skittered away, escaping the conversation as if Victor had just turned into a ghost.
Not wanting to push his luck further, Victor didn't bother chasing her. 'That was strange. Still, I learned something useful today.'
Having made some small progress in this mystery, Victor decided to focus his attention toward the class.
Today, instead of Miss Mallor leading the class, it was a male teacher from one of the other classes that was in this group.
In addition to training with various melee weapons, this class also required students to practice operating different vehicles and travel across different terrains in the training simulations.
Today, the male teacher explained that the class activities would focus on firearms training.
Once the explanation was over, Victor and his classmates all walked over to the range weapons section of the room. Each student had to put on a white suit and matching helmet before they could enter and get their weapons. Victor reached out to a suit numbered 26 on the chest, shoulders, and back of the helmet and slipped into it, letting it adjust to his proportions before he grabbed a weapon of his choice.
Within 10 minutes, the whole class was covered from head to toe in standard white training armor. The armor itself wasn't too thick and was quite flexible, not denying the students their full range of motion. The armor they were wearing served as a sensor for all of the shots that would arrive on their bodies. Once a specific area of the armor was struck, that section would lock down to simulate the loss of that body part or deactivate the gun if the wearer was struck in a vital area.
For the beginning of the class, the students went through various accuracy tests where they practiced firing at targets at differing ranges and that moved at different speeds. Compared to yesterday, Victor's performance was closer to average, only earning himself the 23rd spot and a single extra white shard as a consolation prize. The transfer students were easily found to be the least familiar with the guns, so it came as quite a shock when Rufus earned himself 9th on the rank list for this activity.
It was quite obvious that when he started, he had absolutely no clue as to the head or tail of the gun in his hands. Yet with every shot he fired, his precision improved at a staggering level. Very soon, every shot he fired either matched or exceeded the performance of those who had practiced for most of their lives, including Victor. Honestly, the only reason why his rank was so low was because of how badly he fumbled the first shots, pulling down his average.
The rest of the class consisted of combat simulations, where students had to individually navigate through a maze while avoiding gunfire and shooting down turrets. In this scenario, Victor climbed to 8th place, as his spatial sense, decision-making, and reaction time made up for his weaker shooting skill.
However, Rufus once again secured the top spot in the rankings, demonstrating superhuman gun-handling skills as he effortlessly navigated through the maze. The biggest thing that seemed to be holding him back was his weak constitution.
In general, the transfer students seem to lag behind in natural physique, and as the youngest and smallest among them, that revelation came as no surprise to anyone. That didn't stop the class's growing animosity toward him. Even the transfer students were throwing mean looks at Rufus. Doak, in particular, appeared quite irritated, as he had no chance to elevate his status by undermining anyone else.
All throughout the room, there were rumblings and whispers of jealousy brewing. By the end of class, Rufus's status as enemy number one was almost irreversible.