Looking at her new stats, Aria was excited. She wanted to test her new strength in one of the training rooms and see the progress. She had one more day left of her weekend, and after today she needed to relax. She soon drifted of to sleep, forgetting one small but important thing. Her daily quest.
Dawn broke the next morning as Aria trudged out of bed. Doing her normal routine, she got dressed and had something quick to eat. She was going to do her daily quest early today, and get it over with. Opening her system, she noticed a notification from exactly midnight.
[ Daily Quest Failed: Penalty, -20 exp ]
[ Exp: 140/400 -> 120/400 ]
"Ahh, I worked so hard for those points!!!" This was the first time she didn't complete her daily quest, she never knew she would get penalized. "At least my stat points are safe, but I don't want to risk losing those. No more cheat days for my daily quest it seems," she groaned with annoyance.
Finishing her daily quest for the day, she got back half of her lost exp.
[ Exp: 120/400 -> 130/400 ]
"I want to get a bit stronger before the class trip coming up soon". In a few days, all the 2nd years will be going to clear a reoccurring orange portal. This type of portal was one that once cleared, would dissappear only to reappear the following week. It had to be cleared at least once a month so it doesn't break, releasing the hordes within.
The dungeon inside the portal was slightly different each time, the map and monsters inside varied. The difficulty level never went above a D-rank portal though.
While they would be paired up in the dungeon, Aria couldn't trust her classmates to assist her. She had to get stronger enough so that she could survive alone, if it came down to it.
"Tomorrow I will use the Mythic Mimic skill, but who should I use it on?" She thought of Victor perhaps, he was one of the strongest but he may be hard to find. "What about Eric?" She thought back to the aloof student who sat in the back of the classroom.
For some reason her scan skill didn't work on him, her suspicion was that he was too strong for the skill to work on him. The other thought was he had an ability that somehow distrupted her ability.
As she left for the training rooms, she made up her mind. He was her target tomorrow, for better or worse.
.....
Later in the practice rooms, Aria had just defeated a D-rank rock golem hologram. She was quite out of breath and was defeated a few times before she managed to win. "This isn't good enough," she still felt weak.
After finishing up in the training room, she cleared her score history before leaving the room. A student was lingering nearby, they walked up to Aria and confronted her in the empty hallway. The girl is around the same height as Aria with long white hair. Her icy blue eyes stared at Aria's ocean blue ones. "Stay away from Victor," she spoke in a chilling tone.
"Uh... why? All we did was spar together once," Aria was extremely confused.
"Don't care, just avoid him and never approach him again." After saying her piece, the girl with white hair walked away leaving Aria speechless. What did I do?!?
What Aria didn't know, was that Victor mentioned a certain person to a childhood friend of his. Perhaps jealousy was sparked and Aria caught in the middle. But life goes on.
...
The next day, Aria was back in her homeroom classroom. She was working up the nerve to talk to Eric. Maybe I can introduce myself and offer a handshake? He might think I'm weird but if it works then whatever. Classes were about to start, so she needed to make her move.
Getting up she walked to the desk where Eric sat. "Ahem," clearing her throat, she hoped to get his attention. He continued to keep his head down on the desk, not reacting at all. Is he sleeping maybe?
"Excuse me, Eric is it?" Hearing her voice he finally he moved, lifting his head to look at Aria. He responded with an interested tone, "I don't believe I told you my name."
Aria was flustered at his response. "I asked a few classmates out of curiosity," she said quickly.
"Hmm so you are interested in me, now why would that be?" He countered right away.
"I wanted to know what bloodline you have," she came up with an excuse trying to turn the conversation back into her favor.
"I don't have any reason to tell you that, why don't you tell me yours instead?" Aria wasn't sure what he meant, didn't everyone know already? "I have a Celestial bloodline, I am sure you heard the gossip going around," she responded after a short delay.
Eric asked again, "No, tell me what your real bloodline is." Aria panicked. How does he know?!?! What does he know? Her eyes went wide. She tried calming herself, but her reaction already told Eric plenty.
"I don't know what you mean," she answered, her voice wavered slightly.
"Alright then, keep your secrets. I won't tell you mine though." He smiled mischievously.
It's now or never. She stuck her hand out, in hopes of a handshake. "Very well then. My names Aria and it was nice meeting you."
Eric eyed her outstretched arm with suspicion. Knowing something was off, he still accepted the handshake.
[ Mythic Mimic Skill Activated - Target: Eric Blackwell ]
Aria was grateful he shook her hand as she kept holding it for the whole 5 second countdown.
[ 5...4...3...2...1 ]
[ Skill succeeded - ERROR, could not replicate skill from selected bloodline. Repurposing into usable skill. New skill created ]
[ Congrats you have gained a new skill ]
[ Celestial Cloak Skill - User is able to refract the light surrounding the body to appear invisible to the naked eye. Costs 10 AP per 1 minute of use. ]
The handshake with Eric had gone far too long at this point, Aria realized she was still holding his hand and she pulled it back quickly. Embarrassed, she walked back to her seat and sat down.
Within the next minute, Professor Hodgens arrived. "So who's ready to pick their partner for upcoming portal excursion?"