The next day, after the 'Banquet of Obelisk', at the Obelisk Tracking Field
The sunlight illuminated the surroundings that gave warmth to the students on the tracking field as every one of them do their own business. Although the sunlight provided warmth to every student, it was not scorching enough to burn one's skin.
A certain group t on the tracking field after last night's agreent; Russell, Freya, Ary, and Alie ca to do so exercises and train their bodies, especially under the heat of the scorching Sun.
'This heat is considered child's play when compared in Bhaskara…' Russell thought as he rembered the 'Desert' country on the southern part of the Orion Continent.
'Co to think of it… Murock Smith… the attacker last night ca from Bhaskan origins based on his na. I am not sure about the other two, but it doesn't matter right now,' Russell thought, rembering the sight of Ceru using the Unique Skill: Predation as he felt like becoming nauseous again.
"Oppa, Samantha wasn't here, didn't you invite her?" Freya, who was sitting beside her older brother asked with a sarcastic tone. Russell put on a forced smile on his expression as he replied to his younger sister.
"On one hand, I t her here for the first ti coincidentally. On the other hand, I am not crazy enough to invite her."
'I knew she often cos here sporadically, but I never expected to et her here that ti…' Russell lampooned, as he rembered the first ti she encountered Samantha, also the derivation of what he knew based on information he got on her Status Window.
As Russell thought about such matters, the other two; Ary, and Alie approached them as they just finished running for so ti, and took a seat beside Freya while catching their own breathes as the bench was wide enough that it could accommodate at least 10 people.
"Alie, what happened?" Freya asked as she was curious since earlier they t here on the Obelisk Tracking Field because Alie's eyes had signs of soone who just cried last night. While Freya asked the question, Alie just smiled as she don't know what she should reply at the mont, and Russell who looked at Alie made a puzzled expression as he thought of so mundane guesses.
'Was it the usual afterparty emotion when a person will experience nostalgia as she separated from her friends?'
Russell rembered in his previous life before he beca a shut-in stock trader that friend gatherings always produced euphoria, but after everyone went to their separate ways, they would be engulfed with poignant or lancholic emotion.
As he thought about the reason, a gloomy look appeared on Alie's face, seemingly cannot hold herself to cry, but she looked away from them.
'She's a soft-hearted person…' Russell made a guess as he continue the flow of his thoughts…
'But a soft-hearted person… when forced into a corner would only take a step into sowhere she wouldn't walk away from…'
"Hey, Alie, if you can't tell ask now, I hope you will be able to… Okay." Freya said with an evident expression of concern on her face and tone, while Ary was just maintaining her usual aloof atmosphere while taking glances at Russell.
'Why are you always glaring at like that!' He wanted to shout at her face but refrained from the rude act as her younger sister would probably elbow him, then he as thinking about Ary, and took a gulp of water from his water bottle; Alie Rose asked a sudden, unexpected question that threw him off-guard.
"Last night, a Constellation looked at , but its na wasn't on the System ssage."
"Cough! Cough! Cough! Ehem ehem!"
Russell almost choked with water with the sudden question, prompting Freya, Ary, and Alie to look at him with a deadpan expression, as if the montum just now beco broken.
"What's wrong, Oppa? Are you okay?" Freya asked who beca worried, thinking that his older brother might be sick, but she rembered that was impossible in these present tis aside from mana-related sickness.
"Ehem… Yes, I'm okay, haha… hahahaha…" Russell replied with a laugh as he's scratching his head. The trio's initial expression turned into a suspicious gaze against him.
"Do you know sothing about it, Russell?"
Alie asked with a pair of eyes full of expectation and curiosity, and as Russell was thinking of sothing, Freya voiced her thoughts.
"Strange, isn't the normal System ssage would ntion the Constellation's na?"
"Right, last night while…" Alie paused her words as she rembered herself crying then continued after she composed her mind.
"The System ssage last night was only one… after that nothing followed up."
She recalled the strange System ssage as she couldn't make a guess of it, while the usual quiet Ary Blight spoke with an aloof tone.
"That just ans the ssage or Constellation was not normal."
Russell nearly face-pald himself with her words…
'Nice deduction! Why didn't we think of that?' He couldn't help but lampoon inwardly. But her next words caused him to form a frowned expression…
"Right, Russell?"
'What the hell is wrong with this woman? Why asked ?'
Russell barely repressed himself from blurting such words to appear composed on the outside, then he made a reply with his honest thoughts.
"Yes, it's definitely not normal. Well, considering the lessons we always encountered during classes, we often heard professors saying the phrase, 'We were not exactly sure yet'."
Russell subconsciously looked at the afternoon sky as he said his thoughts, though he couldn't see the vastness of space. Suddenly, he heard a System notification, prompting him to look on his left side, under the scrutinizing gaze of the trio.
[Constellation, 'Night of Primordial Chaos', says that one of her subordinates took an interest in an individual nad: Alie Rose rveil, and asked her for permission to groom the target 'Player']
He didn't know what reactions he should make as he read the System ssage, but the trio sensed that he got a notification from the System just now, though the holographic screen was personal and cannot be seen in the air aside from the System's ssage recipient, one could still guess if the person received a ssage with body language.
'Goddess, this timing is too untily.' Russell frowned, but he beca curious about the System ssage's content as he looked to Alie Rose while using the Skill: Gaze of the Abyss (EX) as he thought about what would garner the interest of one of the subordinates of the Goddess of Night. He rembered from his novel setting that only the Primordial Goddess of Night, daughter of Chaos itself could make such a System ssage appear where the Constellation's 'Cosmic Title' was hidden, aning that last night it was the Goddess of Night who checked Alie Rose whom her subordinate took an interest in.
[Activating Skill: Gaze of the Abyss]
[You have chosen to inspect the 'Simplified Status Window' of the 'Target']
ALIE ROSE RVEIL
Title: NONE
Health Points (HP): …
Mana Points (MP): …
Stamina Points (SP): …
Age: 16 (Earth Years)
Sex: Female Height: 167 cm
Planet: Earth
Rank: E
Profession: Dark Healer
Constellation: NONE
…
Russell rembered the three kinds of Status Windows; Simplified which only focused on the personal profile, as well as Profession and Constellation na, while the Standard included the person's stats, and lastly, the Detailed where everything can be seen such as regeneration rate of the person.
Five minutes passed as the trio continued to exchange opinions about the matter, letting Russell finished his business of looking at System ssages as it was not an uncommon thing, but what made it suspicious from the trio's perspective was the timing of the System ssage's arrival.
'Goddess, your timing is really bad, I can't interject in their conversation right now!'
Just as he thought about it, he also beca curious about Ary Blight's profession, this he used the sa skill to check her Status Window in simplified form.
'Blood Swordsman?' Russell almost lost his composure as he was familiar with the class… because it was good at murdering others! It was like a Berserker class, but more composed, cold, calculative, and not hot-headed.
But after so ti, he organized his thoughts and just decided to ruminate about so things when he is alone.
'Nothing beats a shut-in in his past life when it cos to thinking alone.' He lampooned as he understood the interest of the Goddess of Night's subordinate with Alie Rose…
'Dark Healer'
…
"Right, Russell?" Ary asked him as she was sizing him up, but she heard an unexpected reply.
"Yes, it's definitely not normal. Well, considering the lessons we always encountered during classes, we often heard professors saying the phrase, 'We were not exactly sure yet'."
'He's got a point, but my instincts are telling that you are hiding sothing…' Ary thought inwardly as she was bad at expressing her full thoughts about just every matter.
'I really suck at explaining things with words!' She thought as she saw Russell frowning slightly.
She rembered her parents told her sothing…
"Do not force out a mystery, but if you ever felt prying with sothing based on your instincts… be prepared with your life and regret as so things are not worth knowing for.
"Alright, how about another story?"
"Yes, Mother!" The younger Ary replied with a cheerful expression, a complete contrast with her current self.
Her mood beca gloomy as she rembered the past when her parents were still alive.
…
Room 26, Freya Moon's Dormitory, Rigel Building
The evening after their dinner, everyone separated ways, but it was more like Russell who alone just got separated as she, Ary, and Alie Rose were residing in the sa building.
The woman with deep blue eyes and deep black hair, Freya Moon sat on the couch beside her bed as she turn on the television and hugged a pillow of small size, but the words from the news do not register in her ears as she ruminated about the conversation they had in the Obelisk Tracking Field earlier afternoon because based on her older brother's reaction with Alie Rose's words, she knew in her mind that her older brother knew sothing about the System ssage where a Constellation's na wasn't specified.
Freya suddenly thought of them when they were younger…
'Oppa, at first was a shy person like out of instinct… he didn't want to talk with other people, but with Mom and Dad's persuasion, he managed to change…
'Our family back then was so poor that we couldn't eat three tis a day, but in recent years, Mom and Dad got a stable job… and Oppa liked reading newspapers, taking interest in daily news…
'Although I find nothing strange with Oppa's mature behavior as he showed his affection towards , Mom, and Dad… I just hope the secret he will tell on my upcoming birthday in a few months is everything, and nothing to be left out.'
Freya turned lancholic as she hugged her knees, ignoring the television in front of her.
…
Room 31, Alie Rose rveil's Dormitory, Rigel Building
Alie Rose who just got separated from Freya and Ary inside the Rigel Building slumped down on her bed as she found it tiring what happened today, both physically and ntally.
"Should I tell them?
"Will they avoid if they co to know of my predicant?
"It was just been a few weeks since the classes started… can I really trust them?
Various thoughts flooded out of her mouth as she looked at the white ceiling of her dormitory, admiring its cleanliness and design, making her fall asleep unconsciously.
…
12:01 AM, in the sa dorm room, Alie Rose woke up as she heard a sound near her coming from a chanical object as if so news were being delivered.
"Are you awake?"
The voice entered her ears that cleared her trance-like state as if she beca instantly sober, she reflexively took out from her Dinsional Inventory a black staff with an 'eye' design on its tip, but before she could cast a necessary defensive spell for the possible incoming attack, she recognized the owner of the voice as she asked in wonder with a shocked expression on her face.
"Russell!?"
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