A Trio's Attention, A Trolling Quest, and Zen-filled Zoning

As John walked off along with the rest of the students through the halls to their first-period classes, the very trio of students that his Observe failed on walked towards one another with curiosity in their eyes and guarded confusion.

The first was a red-headed young woman around the age of 18 and a member of the student council. She had a striking face of Western European descent, likely British or Scottish features, a muscular Amazon physique, plentiful breasts, wide, child-bearing hips, and well-toned arms and legs. Yet rather than detract, it actually made her seem even more attractive to the male students around her as her clothes seemed to have a hard time concealing her femininity effectively. She was a Paladin and the current Warden in the Order of the Golden Rose and heiress to become the next leader of her Order.

Opposite her was a lean yet petite Korean young woman, also of 18 years of age. She had her black hair let down in a short shoulder-length cut of wavy locks as a small braided pony-tail hung from the back of her head trailing slightly behind her. Her figure was very muscular, yet still obviously feminine, though it was clear years of exercising too much and focusing on building muscle over healthy dieting has had detrimental effects on her build, but in a tomboyish rather than disfiguring way. Her martial background was demonstrated in how she carries herself with clear grace, efficiency, and minimal movements deeply ingrained in her every motion. This is the heiress of the Moon Guild of Demon Slayers.

The third young woman they were approaching in the middle was a blind young woman carrying a cane who didn't give off a warrior's gait, yet somehow still carried a grace of movement that belied her clear disability. Even though her ivory eyes couldn't see, she still followed the other two women's movements as if she could. She had a lithe build, yet did nothing to diminish her curves. Her hair was a dark color with auburn streaks within it. Her timid and soft-spoken demeanor gave her a very adorable cuteness that could cause insulin shock just from the sheer natural sweetness her behavior emitted without even trying. This was the adopted daughter of the head of the Peacekeepers as well as an Oracle apprentice.

"...was that you?" the redhead asked the Korean and blind girls both at the same time, guarded caution and curious confusion clearly shown in her expression.

"I thought it was you." the Korean girl replied back, just as on guard and confused. Both turned to the Oracle present, who simply shook her head before replying.

"No...it was someone else, though their aura was strange..."

"How so?" the redhead asked in alarm at the idea of an unknown being in the school without her knowing.

"...there was no outright malice, yet it bore vindictive resolve. It seemed almost mechanical, yet also alive...it's so confusing. Especially since I only got a glimpse before it completely suppressed itself..." the blind oracle timidly responded with a cute pout that would have made all the boys immediately try to pamper her as much as they could had they seen it.

"Did you at least see what they were?" the Korean girl asked, a frustration at someone managing to slip away unnoticed before she could catch them. Her pride as a Demon Slayer being completely wounded as perception is one of their greatest strengths, though that usually only applies to demonic enemies, but even so...

"...that's the thing...I got a brief glimpse, but that's what...confuses me so much...I'm only an apprentice...I can't compare to the Order's oracles..." the blind girl frowned as the redhead and Korean shared a look as the implications sunk in on the potential trespasser into their territory.

"What did you see?" the redhead asked gently to make it easier on the timid girl.

"...I saw what looked like a humanoid machine...half man, half robot...with a large number of similar entities behind his back...all sharing two distinct....features..." the redhead and Korean both turned to look at the blind girl, as she gathered her thoughts before she spoke up again. "...glowing blue eyes...and a crown atop their heads..."

The Korean and redhead both widened their eyes at this description. Glowing eyes usual indicates Abyssal heritage, usually divine or demonic. But a crown as well? That's usually not a good sign for them...

"...keep an eye out. If any of you find them, drag them into a barrier and contact us."

Nodding, the trio hurriedly made their ways to their respective first classes of the day, ignorant of the fact that the one they're so wary of is in fact just someone trying to do just the same as them right this moment...

Meanwhile, Completely Oblivious to the bullet he just dodged

John P.O.V.

I was just about to sit down in my seat when a prompt suddenly made a cold sweat break out at what I was reading...

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Alert: Observe attempt Failed and Detected!

Stealth Check! Initiating...

Three different Abyssals have noticed your presence!

Zero Abyssals have identified you!

Three different Abyssals have marked you as a possible threat to locate!

Zero Abyssals have located you and given up the search for now!

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Achievement Unlocked: False Alarm! Nothing to See Here!

Successfully alert at least Three individuals of Abyssal origin at the same time to your presence, and then completely slip their notice undetected.

Rewards: + 3 Lvls to Stealth, + 1 CHR and AGI, Rare Item: Cloak of Nobody, New Skill: Gamer's Luck

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New Quest: False Flag Operation!

The local Abyssals attending Ashcroft Academy have become aware of your existence, and are now beginning to investigate to try and locate and identify you as a potential threat. Throw them off until you are at least prepared to defend yourself if you have to!

Objectives:

• Avoid getting detected or caught by them for at least a week [O]
• Reach Lvl 15 before they catch you [4/15][O]

Bonus Objectives:

• Reach Lvl 20 before getting caught by them [4/20][O]
• Train at least 5 combat-related skills to Lvl 10 before they catch you [0/5] [O]
• Manage to alert them and slip away without them catching you at least 7 times [1/7] [O]
• Steal something of value from each of said Abyssals without getting caught at least once [0/3] [O]

Rewards:

• Gain 2 Rare quality items
• +5 to Sneak Skill Lvl

Bonus Rewards:

• Gain 10 Stat Points
• Gain a Training trait
• Gain an Epic quality item
• Gain the 'Phantom Thief' Title
• EXP gained depending upon number of total objectives completed

Penalties for Failure:

• Arrested by said Abyssals
• Possible Death of yourself and/or your loved ones
• A bounty is placed for your head

Accept?

Yes / No

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....holy shit. Thank Goddess I dodged that bullet, but now I already got a goddamned target on my back, and I don't even know if it's from friendly or enemy attention, dammit!

Still the quest is both entertaining and terrifying.

It's entertaining because it would be pretty damn funny to pull all manner of stealthy bullshit and give them the runaround while trying to find me. The sheer prank potential I could pull is sorely tempting me right now.

It's utterly terrifying because if I get caught, they could probably kill me if the fact the quest is saying to get to level 15 at bare minimum and level 20 as an optional objective, as well as suggesting I rob each of them. At least this one didn't auto-accept and gives me the choice to pursue it or not.

On the one hand, the rewards are very tempting, especially the two rare and even an epic item rewards. I very much want to try it just for those rewards alone...

But on the other hand, I don't have a theft-type skill, and there's a good chance this could come back to bite me on the ass if I'm not careful about how I go about this...

...fuck it. I'll take it. Not like I'm not already risking my life every day I live just knowing about my own heritage(or rather what I DON'T know about it yet). At the very least, the rewards will incite me to complete them and the penalties will motivate me to succeed and not fail. Though the theft objective is a hard 'no' from me. Tweaking their noses a bit is fine. Annoying them by pulling a little trolling is not a problem. Outright stealing from them? That's just asking me to die if I get caught. And again, I don't even know if they're friendly or enemies yet. My opinion for that particular optional objective? Fuck. No. I like living, thank you very much.

I shake my head to clear my depressing train of thoughts before I spiral. Nothing for it now. What's done is done. Too late to regret now. I didn't even know my Observe could be detected, much less blocked. At least I learned from this mistake in an easily forgivable situation and not in a crucial moment of life and death. That rare item from the achievement though, I feel like it's meant as a jab to me for whatever reason...also why does its name sound familiar?

Opening my inventory, I check the newest addition to my list, and...

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Cloak of Nobody

Rare quality Hooded Overcoat

An enchanted cloak designed for one who wishes to walk through the darkness unnoticed by all. While worn, it boosts the efficiency of any stealth-related skills while within dark or shaded areas. When the hood is drawn up, gain a limited form of invisibility by bending light around you to hide within the shadows themselves, visible only to those who wear a similar cloak or sufficiently high Darkness affinity. Attacks, both your own or by an enemy, or removing the hood will break the invisibility effect. Can obfuscate mana detecting methods while worn by obscuring your mana signature through bestowing the status effect 'Mana Obscurement' to throw off mana sensors.

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...yep, as I thought. It's the fucking cloak used in the Kingdom Hearts franchise by the bad guys and travelers through the Realm of Darkness. The black cloak with absolutely no discernible features when the hood is up, as a perpetual shadow obscures their face, goes down to their ankles yet somehow doesn't hinder their movements or trip them in any way, even in mid-combat, and was surprisingly stylish for such a plain-looking attire. It also is apparently a low-level invisibility cloak too, which, in hindsight, explains a lot. That ought to be helpful for the next week or so, until I either get outed or find something better.

Checking the system's settings for my inventory real quick, I discover I could equip it as part of a 'battle outfit' while keeping it invisible outside of an ID, so I immediately go for that by equipping it into my cape slot for my battle equipment, causing me to feel like I just had a cloak stuck to my body, and focusing causes me to see it on myself as an illusory silhouette visible only to me. It's not much as far as protection in battle goes, but right now it's better than nothing, as stealth is currently my best friend. Though when I checked, I noticed I'd be going commando beneath it until I find a useful combat outfit to go under it.

...Gaia is such a pervert to incorporate such an overly lewd flasher aspect to my gamer system's inventory function.

Somehow, I get the feeling Gaia was doing this on purpose, and this reward was-wait...Cloak of 'nobody'. As far as the Abyssals I barely evaded earlier are concerned, I'm basically a 'nobody' as far as they are aware of me, neither a friend nor a foe currently known to them. This cloak boosts my stealth skill while rendering me nearly undetectable while in darkness and with no eyes on me and my presence remains unknown. Oh...I get it now. Hahahah. Real funny Gaia. Note the dry sarcasm there, my divine patron?

Putting that rather cheery thought aside for now, I decide to check my new skill out to see what use I can get from it.

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Gamer's Luck Lvl 1/20

This skill is a manifestation of the Gamer's fortune in any activity operating off of pure chance, increasing the chances of fortunate encounters while decreasing the chances of unfortunate encounters.

• Passively increases lucky encounters or valuable item drop rates from defeated opponents.
• Can slightly skew games of chance in your favor, but only pure games of chance.
• Passively boosts Luck based encounters and events by 5% chances of favoring the Gamer.

Please Note: Can only be leveled up through truly fortuitous encounters or games of pure chance ending in the Gamer's favor.

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...okay, now I KNOW Gaia's messing with me. This skill all but practically calls me a lucky bastard. How the hell am I supposed to even level this skill up? Waltz into a casino and play poker? There aren't any in Springfield, and I sure as hell am not going to one. Not in my current tenuous situation. Knowing my track record, I might accidentally waltz into one full of Abyssals and get myself killed, or worse if some of the things from games or stories I've read end up being even the slightest bit accurate. Shaking my head slightly from this equally straightforward yet vague skill's description as I dismissed the window, I look up to see as Mrs. Flung walks in to start the first class of the day. English Lit.

However, most people simply doze off in this class, and not just because of how early it is. No, the reason is simply due to how dry and boring Mrs. Flung's lessons tend to be. I honestly can see that Mrs. Flung isn't a bad teacher, per say. She's an older woman who's nearing retirement age, but the problem?

Her lessons just don't grab people's attention or manage to keep it if they do. At all.

They're so dry and boring, in fact, that you'd be more likely to find people snoozing during her class than not. Even I'm not able to completely keep myself from nodding off a bit, and I'm usually enduring her dry lessons simply due to my GPA being mandatory to maintain my scholarship here to Ashcroft.

Today, however, though I'm not completely ignoring her, I decided to try a little something to calm my heart after the scare I just had giving me a near-heart attack while grinding Stealth. Activating the skill, I then focus on my plan of how to pass the class without completely nodding off like some of my fellow students already have. Try and center myself, completely zen and serene. Breathe in deep. Hold for five seconds. Breathe out slowly. Rinse and repeat...

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New Active Skill Created: Meditation

Meditation Lvl 1/25

Meditation is the art of relaxing the mind and attaining an inner peace, and is often used as a method of relaxation among the mundane population. For those of the Abyss, however, it is utilized for various mystic practices, including regenerating mana. By focusing under a relaxed state of mind, find your center and increase your mana regeneration rate by (Skill Lvlx2)% per minute. There is also a chance of developing a new skill or spell while meditating from any unlocked passive skill or magic. Note: You cannot use Meditation in active combat while under attack by enemies.

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....huh. Well that'll be useful. My current mana regen buff only lasts until about lunch time, so this will make training far easier, since I'll have more MP to work with once it wears off.

Continuing with my meditation, I keep the skill going until the class bell rings to dismiss us to our next class, successfully getting two levels in it and nearly a third while Stalth leveled up twice before the bell and I have to stop grinding both. Now it's time for my next class. Ashcroft Academy has a unique hour-long class schedule going from around 7:00 A.M. to about 2:00 P.M. every afternoon, assuming you don't have clubs, from Monday through Friday every week, with a one hour lunch break at 12:00 every day of classes. It's also not like most schools or academies, as it's closer to a halfway point between a trade school and a college prep school for the elites of society. So while it might not be as strict as some colleges or as lax as some trade schools, it's a mixed neutral ground between the two, depending on if you're attending as a scholarship student like me or a rich kid getting a free ride from family connections, like Frank and Vanessa.

Taking this scheduling into account, I just need to avoid letting those Abyssals here in Ascroft catch wind of me for about seven school days. Hopefully I can avoid drawing the further attention of any more Abyssals during the interim, but something tells me I can't hide from them forever. Packing up my stuff, I made my way to my next class of the day.