"This can't be it. There's got to be what a halfling truly is, right?" Axel asked no one in particular, eyes still fixed on the monitor.
He had been scrolling for what felt like hours, clicking one link after another, but still nothing new, just the same thing over and over. Short people, humanoid midgets with pointy ears and stubby arms. He sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"Well... that's twenty minutes of my life I'm never getting back. This is useless."
"Guess I'm not getting that free ten EXP today."
He started thinking maybe he should just quit. The mission wasn't even that important. It only gave ten EXP anyway. What's 10 Exp right?
He was about to close the page when something caught his eye, an old article buried deep in the search results. The date made him pause. It was over a hundred years old. That alone made no sense, he had never seen anything that old online.
When the world fell to the first invasion, all old records were wiped. Only the government had access to what came before the invasion. They controlled the stories, the data, everything. They decided what and what got the public and what didn't, so what was this doing here?
Curious, Axel clicked on it.
As soon as he did, the screen started glitching. It glitched for a few seconds, the color flickered like the system didn't want him to see what was coming, then, the page loaded.
"Ominous..."
The font was weird and old looking, and the title read: Mythical Beings of the Old World.
He scrolled down, scanning through sections. He found creatures like goblins, dragons, nymphs and even vampires. There were even creatures he had never heard of before.
Then he saw one on Halflings.
He clicked on it quickly and funny enough, the description started off the same way.
"A halfling is a humanoid creature half the size of a normal human..."
"Ugh! Not again." He almost facepalmed but then the next line made him interested.
> Halflings are said to be creatures of evolution. They do not remain as they are. They evolve, into something greater, or something lesser.<
> A Halfling is a being of transition, born between what was and what is yet to come.
It exists halfway between two states of existence, constantly evolving.
Some evolve into higher beings, gaining powers beyond measure. Others… descend into something less that what they were before <
That part wasn't in any of the new descriptions. The modern results all made it look like some cute little fantasy race, but this, this talked about evolution.
Before he could scroll further, a sound from his system sounded in his head.
[Mission Complete: Learn what a Halfling is.]
[Reward: 10 EXP]
[New Information Unlocked]
[+1 Intelligence]
Well, mission completed, but Axel didn't leave the booth right away. He couldn't. Now he was genuinely interested in the article. It wasn't even about the system mission anymore.
That thing said halflings could evolve into something less than. That hit different because what could be worse than being the powerless human he once was? He had to know more.
He scrolled further down, eyes glued to the screen, when he suddenly the page disappeared. The computer glitched again and went blank, then it returned back to its original Ovalpedia page.
"That's... odd."
He hadn't even processed it finish when he heard a voice beside him.
"Oi, you! What you doing in my booth?"
Axel turned to see four students standing there. Three male students and one female, who looked scared or something.
They all wore the same collar tags like him, first years. Which made sense since this was the first year section of the library.
The one with red hair, the same one who called out to him stepped forward. He looked smug, like someone used to being obeyed.
"I said, what are you doing in my booth? Get out of my booth, bloke!"
Axel blinked at him with surprise.
"Didn't see anyone here when I sat down. Didn't know the booths were owned by anyone, thought they were for all students."
The others around him gasped quietly, like Axel had just cursed out the headmaster or something. One of them then leaned closer to him.
"Are you crazy? Do you even know who you're talking to? This is Dane Cornwall."
"Uh… no. Should I though?"
The red haired guy smirked.
"You should, because if you don't get out, I'll vaporize your insides."
Axel's eyes immediately went to their tags. Lumina 4, Lumina 5, and the girl behind them was a Lumina 1. The red haired one was the strongest among them, sitting at Spectra 1.
Axel clenched his fists under the table. He knew he couldn't get on their bad side. Even if he used his Infernal Slash, the power gap was too wide. He would lose with these guys before he could even swing and besides, he couldn't just go around picking fights with people, especially not at the library.
Still, it burned inside him. That bitter, helpless feeling again.
He stood up slowly and said,
"Fine… Enjoy your booth."
The red haired student grinned like he had just won a prize. He sat down in Axel's spot, his friends standing around him like bodyguards. Axel's jaw clenched hard as he turned away, forcing himself to walk toward the exit.
He had barely taken three steps when the system appeared again.
[You've now learned what a Halfling is. That's a step in your evolution.]
[To prepare for your next evolution, you must perform certain tasks to thrive.]
[New Mission Received: Rob a student of 50 CNT.]
[Reward: 50 EXP.]
Rob someone?
Axel stared at the mission like it was a joke. Why the hell would stealing money help him evolve? What kind of glow up needs one to mug people?
Then he looked back at the red haired students and his goons.
He started thinking: maybe robbing someone isn't such a bad thing, especially when they piss you off.
If anyone deserved to be robbed, it was him. A cocky arrogant shitface like him.
But Axel needed to do that without getting vaporised.
He stood against one of the walls, pretending to scroll through his device while his mind worked. The student was a Spectra 1, that meant his ability was already strong. Since he mentioned something about vapourising, that meant he had just given away his ability, which was stupid.
If Axel got caught, it would be game over. He had to be careful about it. He needs to first find out what exactly the student's ability was.
'If this system wants me to rob someone, then I better do it at night. I'm going to need a disguise…'
****
Somewhere else in the Academy, the control building to be specific. A high ranking officer stood in front of a big screen while three junior officers tapped on translucent keyboards,
The monitors showed feeds, logs, and lists. It all looked organized.
A female officer pushed open the door and walked in with papers in hand. She clipped her report to the Sergeant's desk and spoke.
"Sir, we flagged something."
"Speak." The Sergeant ordered.
"Someone pulled an old archive file from the library database manually. It was an unauthorized access."
The officer's face remained stiff.
"Where?"
"First year digital library. The access logs show a manual override. It had to be someone inside the school, not an outside hack."
"Find that person. We can't have people poking through forbidden old world files. If someone's digging into old world archives, they could be one of them."
"Seems like we have a terrorist in our midst."
***