"So who's ready to pick their partners for the upcoming portal excursion?" Professor Hodgens announced after he entered the classroom.
Wait we have to choose? No one will pick an F-rank?! Aria was frustrated with the news, she thought it was a random assignment of groups. But apparently that is not the case.
Professor Hodgens continued, "Let me know your groupings as soon as possible, but you have till tomorrow morning. Groups must be 2-5 people total.
Aria had to brainstorm, what should she do? Who could she ask?
...
After class ended, a few girls approached Aria at her desk.
"Hi Aria, we wanted to invite you to join our group for the upcoming portal," the girl at the front of the group asked. Aria was suspicious, why would they ask an F-rank to join? They were part of the group who made fun of her the previous week so they weren't kind hearted people.
"May I ask why you want me to join?" Aria wanted to know before she agreed to anything.
The same girl responded, "Portals are often quite dark and we hate that, so we need a flashlight to guide our way. You are kinda like Rudolph in the old Santa Claus stories."
Aria didn't know why but that statement pissed her off, "I refuse to join for such a stupid reason like that."
"You won't get any other offers, F-rank. You better accept it or you'll be going solo." The girl snapped back.
"I would rather go solo than work with your group, now goodbye." Aria got up trying to leave but before she could, one of the girls from the group attempted to push her over. She only attempted, she didn't expect that Aria would be so hard to move. With Aria's stats at the moment, she was like a boulder, solid in its place.
*ding*
[ Defend Thy Honor Part 2! - These girls have insulted you to your face and even tried pushing you, time to fight back! Defeat all 3 Reward: 50 Exp, 3 additional stat points. ]
This quest was just what Aria needed, she didn't seek out violence but she would defend herself.
Looking at the girl who just tried pushing her, Aria threw a punch at her face using half of her strength. *Bang*
The girl was knocked to the ground, completely unconscious and with a large bruise on her cheek. The other 2 girls gasped and immediately backed away activating their abilities in defense. "What kinda savage are you!" The one girl screamed.
"She just pushed me, I am only defending myself." Aria responded calmly. Aria then scanned to two remaining girls.
[ Targets Scanned Successfully ]
- Name: Amelia Terrone
- Bloodline: Spirit ( Oak Dryad )
- Rank: D
- Name: Sarah Weaver
- Bloodline: Greek Mythology ( Arachne )
- Rank: C
Aria was a bit concerned looking at their ranks, both at the same time could be tricky.
Sarah was the first to act, sending out tiny white threads that wrapped around Aria's body. It's like a spiders web, they are strong but I'm still stronger. The webs were strong as steel but Aria was able to rip out of them regardless.
Sarah was speechless, "But how?" Aria took advantage of their shock as she lunged forward and thew an uppercut at Sarah. Even at half strength, Sarah was lifted into the air slightly and instantly knocked out. She fell to the floor with a thud.
Only one remaining, Aria looked at Amelia and waited for her chance to attack. Amelia was frightened, her C-rank friend just got destroyed. What could she possibly do? In a last ditch effort, Amelia threw out a few seeds towards Aria. Using her ability, they quickly grew. Tree like limbs crawled along the floor and trapped Aria's feet.
If Aria could break the steel like strength of the webs, then tree bark wasn't going to stop her. Leaning over she ripped the wood encasing her feet before walking up to the trembling Amelia. "Sorry," she said before nailing her in the stomach causing to her to double over and pass out as well.
[ Defend Thy Honor Part 2 Completed - 50 Exp earned, 3 additional stat points have been added.
[ Exp: 130/400 -> 180/400 ]
Aria calmly walked out the classroom leaving the chaos behind her. Maybe I could ask if Maya would be willing to team up with me?
.....
Aria went to the cafeteria to look for Maya, but no such luck. She looked by the training rooms, the arena, the courtyard, but no sign of her anywhere. Not knowing where she could be, Aria thought about looking in the Library. It was a quieter area on campus, not many people would go there but it was worth a try.
As she entered the library building, she couldn't help but admire the beautiful cobblestone building. Inside was even prettier. With technology having such a prominent place in society, books had become forgotten about. While they were still kept to preserve history, not many people would actively seek out reading them.
The inside of the library was made of polished wood floors, tall wooden bookshelves lined the walls and stood in rows throughout the room. The ceiling was a metallic gold, with area's that were decorated like a Renaissance painting. All along the walls above the bookshelves were more painted murals. With two stories, it was a large space.
"What can I help you with?" A girl with light green hair asked her.
Just who I was looking for! "Oh, I was um just taking a look at the different buildings. I'm new so this is my first time here." Aria came up with a plausible excuse.
"Well take your time, I volunteer as an assistant librarian here so feel free to ask me if you have any questions," Maya smiled lightly before walking to a nearby bookshelf where she was sorting some books.
Aria didn't want to be weird, so she looked around the library a bit. Maybe I should see if I can find out anything about Titan or Celestial bloodlines while I am here. After wandering around, Aria couldn't make heads or tails of where she needed to look.
She approached Maya again, "Excuse me, could you help me find some books about Titan bloodlines?"