"Her name is Rizel. She's human for now, but she'll eventually become one of the most powerful and dangerous villains this world has ever seen," said Lorelle, his hands still resting behind his head.
[But she seems so innocent.]
"She probably was, at the start, but she began to change."
[Why?]
"She has a problem, and it's one of the biggest reasons she ends up becoming what she becomes."
[And that is?]
"Curiosity."
[…]
"It has something to do with the bloodline she awakened. It made her so intensely curious that, if left unchecked, it would completely overwhelm her," said Lorelle, lifting his gaze to watch the three girls talking far below.
[But why would curiosity lead to something like that?]
"Didn't I just say it's not normal curiosity? It's curiosity amplified to an extreme, like an uncontrollable thirst to know more that never gets satisfied. Though, to be fair, it wasn't really that much of a problem at first, she could manage it just fine. She was completely normal when the story began. I think it only becomes uncontrollable when she gets too fixated on one particular thing, and that fixation can only happen with one thing and one thing alone, and that's when the obsessive curiosity gets pushed to a point she can no longer control," Lorelle muttered, his eyes narrowing as he watched her.
[Let me guess. That thing she becomes fixated on is the son of the WILL?]
"Stop calling him that, it sounds strange. Just call him the protagonist," Lorelle said, clearly uncomfortable with the title. "And yes, something like that. She just wanted to understand what he was, but the more she found out, the deeper she got pulled in, becoming more and more curious until there was no coming back from it."
He looked straight ahead as a man walked in through the front of the classroom, his steps unhurried and his confidence obvious.
[But that alone doesn't seem like enough to push her into the kind of darkness you're describing.]
"Well, that curiosity eventually turned into obsession, and that obsession turned into a twisted kind of love, combined with an extreme level of possessiveness. After a while she started getting curious about how he felt about her, and that's where things really started to unravel."
[I see.]
"I'll put it this way. If the protagonist weren't strong enough to defend himself, she would have taken him by force after he rejected her."
[He rejected her?]
"Not directly. He didn't turn her down outright, but he said something about a certain heroine that made her realize he had no intention of being with her alone. So she started thinking, what if she just got rid of every girl he was close to?" Lorelle said, then stopped as the teacher stepped up to the podium and looked out across the room.
"Please take your seats, it's time we got started," the man said, and everyone who was still standing quickly found a chair.
"I'm Maxwell Glen Wilston, and I'll be your mana theory teacher for the next month. For now, you've all been placed in one class since the initial grading wasn't sufficient to separate you. That will change by the end of the month. After the grading test, you'll be divided into two classes, higher rankers and lower rankers," Maxwell said, his gaze moving steadily across the room.
"Yes, you," he nodded toward a raised hand.
"The dorm rooms seem to be set up for pairs of two, is there a specific reason for that?" a girl in the middle row asked.
"Yes. After the grading tests, you'll each be assigned a permanent roommate, and by permanent I mean that person will be your roommate from now until you graduate," the man said.
"Can it be changed?" someone asked.
"There are certain conditions that allow for that, but I'll tell you now, it's a very tedious process," he said, and quite a few students exchanged anxious looks, already worried about who they might end up with.
"You, and that'll be the last question I take on that topic," the teacher said, nodding toward another raised hand.
The student stood. "Sir, I found out my assigned roommate is actually a male student. Isn't that inappropriate?"
A wave of murmuring broke out across the room.
"The roommate placement system doesn't discriminate by gender. Keep in mind, however, that all assignments are made with power level as a primary factor, so you won't be placed with anyone who would be considered a threat to your safety. There are also strict penalties for breaking the rules that will be made clear to you shortly," the man said, then stepped forward.
"Now, I'd like everyone to introduce themselves, as that's standard procedure," he said, then looked at the student seated in the first row, who stood up.
"I'm Ace Reeves," the student said, and the introductions continued from there.