He walked out as they looked at him in surprise. The girl had not woken up and he wasn't about to wait for someone he didn't know.
He used the side door this time as the main door he came in from was stacked with a lot of things. The side door only had a broom holding it back.
The hallway outside was dim with lights flickering like a how horror movies hallways looked like before a monster came right through the walls and killed the side characters while the main character miraculously escaped from the monster or kills it somehow.
The dim hallway compared to the gym was paradise to him, no awkward stares or trying to talk to people who clearly didn't want him ther.
He could even feel their malice against him. Probably jealous fun boys of Althea.
He stretched his new body trying to get the hung of it after becoming more conscious of being lengthened.
Alright. Clothes, supplies and maybe shoes that are actually new. Preferably a lot of water for washing. And if a monster kills me halfway there... Well that's just free rest. Shawn thought to himself amusingly.
He started walking down the quite corridor as he hummed softly off tune to keep himself distracted and overthinking.
The school supermarket was across the school near the dorms . This meant he had to cross three whole building, two stair cases, the hallway know as ' the place where senior went to do that and got caught.'
Looked out the at the huge wording outside the window. The names seemed to be changing as though they were in a competition.
But only the top three didn't change with him leading the rankings.
He continued walking down the quite hallway still humming that out of tune music.
Reached the science bulletin board and stopped to read it just for fun since he was getting bored.
After a minute of just reading through discoveries after discoveries he continued forward.
It took him a while to notice but the hallway should have been straight forward after the bulletin board make a left turn go down a short staircase then to the bridge that connect the physical education wing and science wing building to the engineering building.
He continued walking but a minute later Alaric came to a stop.
"Huh.. didn't I just pass this stupid bulletin board a while ago?" He said out loud reading the things on the board just to confirm his notion.
He stared at the peeling wall next to the poster , he reached out and Peeled it again. He had done that when he was reading.
" Okay," he mummered to himself ," maybe the school hired decorator, very first decorators.. that can replicate everything."
He kept walking forward but a minute later he was back to the bulletin board.
He stopped dead," oh fantastic. They are determined to make me a scientist."
At the very moment the usual mechanic system voice came.
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT
BUFFER TIME HAS ENDED
The temporary safety period granted during the onset of the Dimensional merging has expired.
All containment measures on hostile entities have been lifted.
True monsters are now free to roam your region.
Survival probability has decreased.
Regional Communication Channel: ACTIVATED
All survivors may now send and receive messages within this zone.
Hunting Protocol: ENABLED
Slain monsters will now yield:
• Items
• Materials
• Skill Fragments
• Exchange Tokens
Trading Function: UNLOCKED
Trade is now permitted:
• With the System
• And between survivors
All trades are recorded.
All betrayals are your responsibility.
Adapt swiftly.
The world has officially begun.
Shawn heard the announcement and felt like laughing from the absurdity of everything .
Here he was trapped with who now's what and now the world is doomed even more, perfect just perfect.
He looked out the window to see another panel appears on the sky. It was a weapon panel clearly to rank the best weapons.
The rewards system was going to create a murder craze when the survivors notice the advantage of the rewards.
Those who had first killed like him had probably guessed the benefits of killing the entities . The first reward were minimal at best clearly looked down upon by the system but now with the big bosses out, he wasn't sure.
The system interface appeared Infront of him, he saw the chat icon at the corner of the page.
He pressed on it .
Region: EAST SECTOR - HUMANITY CLUSTER 07.
population detected : 50,567.
Regional chat: OPEN.
The moment he tapped it it exploded as though a switch had been turned on. It was like people were just waiting for a way to communicate.
REGIONAL CHAT
[User_204]: WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE MONSTERS ARE LOOSE?!
[Screaming_Girl]: PLEASE HELP SOMEONE IS OUTSIDE MY CLASSROOM.
[CalmDownBro]: Okay okay everyone stay calm...
[CalmDownBro has been disconnected]
[Kaito-Senpai]: WHO CARES ABOUT CALM?! SOMETHING JUST MOVED OUTSIDE MY ROOM DOOR.
[???]: The spider with hands is back. It's eating the janitor.
[Pretty_Rina]: Wait… we can TALK to each other now??
[OldMan_Dennis]: I told you kids the end was coming. No one listened.
[EdgeLord77]: drops?? LIKE LOOT?
[LootGoblin]: BRO WE GAMING NOW??
[Mom_Of_Three]: THIS IS NOT A GAME MY CHILDREN ARE GONE.
[Teacher_Lee]: Everyone remain indoors...
[Teacher_Lee has been disconnected]
[BloodyHands]: …someone just turned into a monster next to me.
[BloodyHands]: They talked while it happened.
[BloodyHands]: I don't want to die.
[Laughter???]: Die or don't die. Either way the monsters are coming :)
[System_Bot]: Reminder: Keep chat relevant.
[User_999]: WHY IS THERE A SMILEY FACE??
[System_Bot]: : )
There were too many people chatting for him to see everything. The thing was going up pretty fast. Shawn looked at the snippets he had caught and laughed. Now they were getting it.
He stopped looking at the chat and turned back to the problem at hand. The moving bulletin board and wall.
He touched the board but nothing, the wall nothing. He looked downthe hallway and the corner that was barely visible but he just couldn't reach it.
He took three steps forward, then came to a stop abruptly. He turned back and started to walk the opposite way muttering to himself.
"Nope. Nope. Nope. I hate this school. I hated it before monsters and now I have evidence."
He tried running but every time he would end up at the board. By now he could say the words off head plus the semicolons.
He started to grow impatient and thumped his foot hand on the floor. But some unexpected happened, another thump followed as though someone next to him had done the same thing. There were two different echos.
He looked behind him but nothing. He thought maybe he had finally gone nuts and was schizophrenic.
He walked forward down the hallway but his footsteps echo were just off . It was like his footsteps were repeating themselves a second later than him.
Even if he increased the pace, the footsteps would always be a second late even when he was slow. He tried to turn back to catch the thing that was behind him but nothing, he was a lone except for the footsteps.
He did try to fight the thing that was following him, not because he was afraid but because he had common sense. Was he going to fight with air?
He had to think of a way to lure the monster and fast, he wasn't about to become an entertainment.
He then got the craziest idea , something that could flash out his stalker.
If the monster mimics sounds then if he created any sound the monster would mimic it. If makes a sound loud enough he might be able to pinpoint the exact location.
So he just had to make noise in this empty looping hallway. A normal person would test it cautiously but he wasn't a normal person to begin with.
" All right you echoing parasite," he said with a manic grin while rolling his shoulders ," let's see what you can't copy."
He inhaled deeply and turned to look at the approximate location of the monster and gave it the Sweetest smile he could Master.
Shawn angled himself near the wall and slammed his full body weight backwards against the wall.
BOOM!
Pain shot up dhs spin and his head spinned a little. He could feel blood dripping from his hair into his clothes
He wheezed ," Ow- ow-ow - okay that was a bad idea ,but pain is temporary. Stupidly is forever ."
While he was complaining internally, it happened. A second impact reached his ears slightly softer than his right next to him.
BOOM!
except when he looked there was nothing there just a small chip on the wall a a dent.
His grin widened.
" Oh , you slipped."
He felt a small movement a small wind blew past him.
He scrambled to his feet his delight plastered on his face." Oh my God, you actually copied me. Are you stupid or just dedicated? Because I genuinely respect both."
He felt something shift in the air, it was more of an instinct for him than anything.
Shawn took a step back, he heard the footsteps move away as though also taking a step back.
" Ooh , I see now ," he said his voice low almost giddy ," you are like a stalker but with no personality."