Jack thought his head was going to be split open, but the next moment he opened his eyes, the pain was gone.
'What was that?'
Without realizing, Jack had ended up in the library, making him frown. In truth, Jack used to go here all the time hours before class and review his materials along with his friends.
Now, the siight of students hunched over desks, studying with genuine focus scared him. Negative emotions swirls around him every time he reializes how little effort he was putting in and how he wasn't able to get the results he wanted.
He felt like a sinner.
After all, wasn't he just wasting his parents' money, planting false hopes in their hearts, fooling everyone around him… including himself?
Jack chose a table near a window draped with curtains and decided to rest for a while.
'Strange, why do I feel so weak today and that earlier… what was that?'
After that, his head could be seen nodding back and forth, each tilt a quiet battle against sleep.
"Jack, Jack, Jack."
With a gentle tap on his shoulder stirring him, Jack heard a girl's voice in his daze, and thought he was still dreaming, but couldn't help but open his eyes when he felt a sharp pang in his head again, feeling worse than earlier.
"Are you okay? You look…tired."
The one who hagd disturbed his peace was a black-haired girl with her ponytail swaying lightly behind her.
Her name was Cindy Loffert. She has large brown eyes, slightly pale skin, and a neutral expression which gave her a strong, almost unapproachable presence. This girl wasn't exactly attractive at least not in his eyes but there was something undeniably appealing about her.
"…What are you staring at?" She suddenly said accusatorily.
Jack closed his eyes to ease the pain, feeling like his energy was leaking out of him.
"Cindy," he then stated, rubbing his eyes and massaging his forehead, "Don't worry. I wasn't exactly looking at you."
As always, Cindy raised her right eyebrow and felt annoyed at his attitude. "I saw you here in the library for the first time in decades, and here you are dozing off instead of reading. Stand up now. Class is about to start," she added flatly.
"Decades…you are exxagertaing." Jack retorted.
"It's a figure of speech." She replied.
Cindy was one of the few people Jack considered a true friend. They had started as simple classmates in high school when they were sixteen, grew closer in college, and remained friends now in law school.
"I haven't reviewed yet…" Jack lamented, remembering that they will be having an exam that very night.
"that's obvious. You went to the library for no reason," Cindy laughed, before shaking her head. "You, of all people, really need to do better. Otherwise, I might not see you next year. I don't want that."
Jack laughed in return. He only could.
In law school, students fall into two categories: working and full-time. Naturally, more were expected from full-time students due to the amount of time they have compared to working students. Cindy have always met those expectations.
Jack? Jack never cared to meet someone else's expectations in all his life. He was a tout believer of himself. He knew what he was capable of so why bother trying to meet someone else's expectations of him? At least, that's how he used to feel. Lately though he wasn't so sure anymore.
When they arrived in the classroom Jack set down his bag and fumbled for whatever study materials he could find, much to the disbelief and quiet disappointment of his seatmate, Cindy.
'It's too late, stupid.' She thought.
Soon the professor arrived, and the exam papers were handed out.
There were twenty bar exam essay questions to be completed within three hours.
After an hour, however, Jack's head were about to explode and his eyes had turned red and veiny. He stared down at the test paper again and again but the dull throbbing had started pulsing at his temples again. Normally, exams left him a nervous wreck and couldn't perform as he usually thought he could. He usually wasn't a top scorer, but he could always scrape by.
But today, that confidence felt distant.
The letters were swimming in and out of his sight every time as if he was shaking. He tried to concentrate but his head was really about to split open.
"Are you all right, Mr. Crawluster? You look pale," the professor who had been watching him the entire hour couldn't help but ask.
"I'm alright, Attorney." Jack replied groggily.
But his current state was obviously not good, "You should get yourself checked after you finish. You don't need to stay."
"Yes, Attorney, thank you."
Jack wgas trying his best to ease and ignore the pain but the pounding only grew sharper with each tick of the clock, making his pupils dart back and forth in panic. It had reacghed the point where the sound of the pen, people drinking, and the shuffling of papers were echoing in his mind, sounding likge annoying bells.
He started wheezing, making even Cindy normally so focused on an exam look at him with worry.
Unable to endure it any longer, Jack suddenly stood up and wore his backpack, startling almost everyone. Whistles, sarcastic and sincere praises, echoed around the room.
But when he passed his exam notebook forward, the professor's brows furrowed in concern.
"Are you sure about this, Mr. Crawluster?"
However, Jack had already prepared to leave. Outside, the professor noticed him leaning against a wall for support and was about to help but Jack had suddenly rushed somewhere.
In the restroom, Jack leaned onto the sink, and began hurling.
[Finished: 180 minutes]
[The Urban System has been finally calibrated.]
[Congratulations!]
…]
'what the hell is happening to me?!' Jack internally screamed. Floating holo-panels were flickering violently one after another, overlapping, spinning, flashing, and making him almost blind. His world was twisting like jelly, jerking across his vision and the fluorescent lights above were stabbing at his eyes like countless knives.
"Ugh—bleeghhh!" He doubled over, retching hard.
"You okay?" someone outside the door asked.
"I'm fine…real--" Jack croaked, vomiting again.
The guy waited outside watching him for a few seconds, but Jack eventually heard fading footsteps.
Seeing no progress, Jack started speed-walking out of the building. His head was down and his body was even trembling.
At that time, there was still sunlight. Although the sun already hung low, ready to vanish into night at any moment.
When he was outside the gates he didn't think about catching a ride.
He just started running.
'What is this!!'
With each step, he was reminded of his unstable condition; his world was spinning, making him barely notice where he was going.
Beep…Beep…BEEP!!
"Hey! You wanna die??!" a truck driver yelled at him as Jack darted across the street without looking.
In the background, Jack could hears the car horns and tires screeching. Unknown t him, a motorcycle even swerved violently to avoid him, the driver cursing as it skidded past him, before crashing into an electric post. But Jack didn't stop nor looked back.
Angry people shouted at him as he bumped into them through intersections without knowing.
'What is this?!'
Jack's legs soon gave up, unable to run any longer. He tried to walk again but then he suddenly lost his balance and fell down a flight of stairs.
everything went black for a moment.
But he survived.
"Ugh!"
Paid was exploding through his body, and stars spun around his head. His head was even bleeding and blood trickled down his face.
The good news was the pain in his head slowly disappeared and his vision likewise returned to normal.
Right there and then, he finally read it.
[User: Jack Crawlluster]
[Age: 24]
[Occupation: Hopeless Deadbeat Loser]
[Level 1]
[Race: Human.]
[0/100 exp]
[HP: 10]
[MP: --- ]
[Strength: 8]
[Speed: 6]
[Stamina: 4]
[Skills: Speed reading, basic fighting, Appraisal]
Jack blinked .at the floating windows, mouth half-open. He rubbed his eyes—once, twice, then yanked at his hair—but the panels didn't vanish. He raised his hand slightly and attempted to touch the glowing panels..
Yet it only passed right through them like mist.
'This is a…'
He chuckled nervously and rubbed his eyes.
"Who am I kidding," He chuckled, but in doing so, he decided to entertain his hallucinations once opening his eyes.
"According to this, I'm Level 1 and my class is hopeless deadbeat loser? What kind of class is that?"
A mix of disbelief and various emotions swept over him. Then, he looked at his stats.
Jack's eyes widened and chuckled for a efw seconds
"Single digits are wild. HP ten? Stamina four? These numbers seem puny."
Looking at the last panel, Jack tilted his head.
"Speed reading, basic fighting and Appraisal? What the hell do I even—"
He focused on a random rock near the steps and as if instinct took over, he thought of doing that and his mouth moved on its own. "Appraise."
[Small Stone. Weight: 14g. No special properties.]
Jack froze.
"PFFFT—hahaha! Oh my god…"
"What the hell…"
He was entertained and began using the appraise skill on other objects and was amazed. But then, the panels in front of him suddenly glitched g like a tv screen with bad reception.
The clean blue glow disappeared and then it flickered red, and a sharp chime rang in his head.
[Warning. Warning.]
[Threat detected.]