059 THE FASCINATING TEACHER
Damen raised his hand. "Sorry, I'm not usually in this class, but the subject could help me, so I came for the lecture."
Miss Gallum wasn't offended.
In fact, she was pleased. The high school curriculum was flexible, and students often dropped into classes they didn't belong to.
"Alright, let's continue. Does anyone have any questions?" she asked.
A girl in the second row hesitated before raising her hand.
"Miss Gallum… some of us aren't, you know, from rich families. Those meta amplifier rooms, the enhancement serums — we can't afford any of that. How are we supposed to grow? We can't even hope to graduate at this rate," she asked.
Miss Gallum's expression softened. "I understand. But the truth is harsh. Without resources or rare innate talent, it's nearly impossible to advance quickly. Effort alone isn't enough in this unjust world."
The words fell heavy over the room.
A few students lowered their heads, the spark in their eyes dimming. The atmosphere thickened with quiet frustration.
Damen could feel it too.
In this world, meta growth determined everything — power, privilege, even survival. It was a vicious cycle: the poor lacked resources to grow stronger, and because they couldn't grow stronger, they remained poor.
He knew that better than anyone.
Without his mining app, he would never have entered this academy. He would still be toiling deep in the aur mines, living miserably.
The bell rang.
Students rose, with the sound of chairs scraping across the floor.
Damen was about to leave when Miss Gallum called out.
"You said you were interested in my lecture. What part are you interested in, exactly?"
Damen froze. He hadn't expected that. "Think of an excuse. Any excuse?"
But what came out wasn't an excuse — it was something that had been burning inside him for a long time.
"In theory," he began slowly, "is it possible to transfer one person's meta abilities to another?"
The room seemed to still. Miss Gallum regarded him for a long moment before replying.
"That's an interesting idea," she said finally. "Transferring meta scores... But such practices would be illegal in our society. You should be careful discussing theories like that. The mainstream would call it taboo — even dangerous."
Damen studied her. There was the faintest smile at the corner of her lips, the kind that said she liked the question more than she should have.
"Alright," he said, bowing slightly. "I'll keep my crazy thoughts to myself."
Miss Gallum watched him go, her eyes thoughtful. "Crazy thoughts," she murmured to herself. "That's where all revolutions begin."
Then she started explaining, "Meta scores are what machines read about the meta particles inside our bodies. Particles are not static and may move… from one person to another… that has been documented in experiments."
"So, it's really possible to steal meta stats from other people?" he asked.
"Yes, that is true but it's a banned power", she replied.
"Who would have this kind of power to steal power from others?" Damen asked excitedly.
Miss Gallum hesitated a moment before moving closer and whispered, "Psychics."
-----
Damen continued attending Miss Gallum's class.
He liked her theories — they were fresh, almost revolutionary. Her lessons often brushed the edge of what was considered acceptable in meta science, venturing closer to the fringe than the school board would ever approve.
Meanwhile, Lander and Dorin weren't idle.
They had been monitoring Miss Gallum through the CCTV network for weeks. Every lecture, every conversation, every student she spoke to were all recorded and analyzed.
But there was nothing.
There was nothing abnormal at all about her. She was just a regular teacher.
"I don't get it," Lander muttered, frowning at the screen. "Something's not right."
"What's wrong?" Dorin asked, leaning over his shoulder.
"This Miss Gallum is just too clean. There's nothing to pin on her. No anomalies, no secret meetings, no strange aura readings. It's like she knows she's being watched."
"Maybe she is innocent," Damen said quietly.
He wanted to believe it. He liked Miss Gallum — her curiosity, and her unorthodox views and her views on social justice. A part of him hoped she wasn't the person they were looking for.
"What about the students whose meta scores improved?" Dorin asked.
Lander switched feeds. "I checked every one of them. Their routines are textbook perfect. Classes, dorms, meals. There is no deviation from the norms, no contact with the missing students. Everything's normal."
Damen leaned back in his chair. "Then maybe we were wrong. Maybe this whole lead is a dead end."
Lander shook his head. "No… look at this." He scrubbed through the footage again, his eyes narrowing. "Every feed — every angle — it's too perfect. Too clean. Not even a glitch or shadow distortion. It feels edited."
Dorin frowned. "Edited? …. You think someone tampered with the system?"
"I think someone wants us to believe nothing's happening," Lander said.
Damen didn't reply.
He wasn't sure if he cared anymore. The internship at the SIA offered nothing that he values besides the gym membership which he barely used.
What mattered more now were Miss Gallum's lectures — the only part of his week that actually felt alive.
And so, he kept going back to her class.
-----
Damen had been attending Miss Gallum's class for two weeks. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened — apart from her theories, which were as fascinating as ever.
Then, one morning, the class chatter took an unexpected turn.
It was Irine — the same girl who had once questioned the fairness of society, asking why the poor couldn't access the tools to raise their meta scores.
She stood by her desk, smiling a little too proudly.
"My meta score went up by more than five points this week," she said, her voice carrying across the room.
The others gasped. Five points increase in one week was unheard of.
Damen didn't pay attention at first. Students improved all the time. Some used better amplifiers, others took enhancement serums.
He himself could raise a hundred points in a day if he wanted — though his reasons were far from normal.
But then it clicked.
"Meta scores don't rise that fast without a reason."
He leaned back, pretending to listen while tuning in to the conversation.
"How did you improve so quickly? I'm so jealous!" Kurt asked. "Do you have some kind of secret method?"
Irine had a crush on Kurt, and everyone knew it. Normally, she would've blurted out everything just to impress him. But this time, she didn't.
"I have no secret method," she said flatly.
Her tone was wrong — hollow and mechanical. After that, she said nothing more about the subject.
Damen frowned.
Something about her eyes bothered him. He was on to something.