I, The Anomalous God

Chapter 8: I will report an abuse to the education department!

Reborn left the three sprites and sprinted ahead. He was quick. All obstacles that blocked his running path were either jumped over or rolled under. There were a few monsters that chased after him like a level 2 Fanged Rabbit or a Level 2 Striped Hunter. Reborn did not mind them, they were slower, and he outrun them.

“I hope Khal is okay.” He muttered under his breath.

Soon, he arrived at a location that he thought to be where the flare was shot from. He looked around the area. There was nothing there but trees and huge rocks. He climbed the rocks and look, he thought Khal was in between but there was no sign of him there.

“I might have gone a different direction.” Reborn whispered. He continued looking around the area but still did not find any trace of Khal. He also noticed that the three sprites did not come after some time. “I guess, I really did turn to a wrong direction.”

Reborn started to back trace from where he came from. He ran and ran until he heard some noises not far from where he currently is. He slowly crept under the bush.

“Frackles! How many of these apes are there?!” Jess complained as he telekinetically smacked down one.

“Stop complaining! Just kill as much as you can!” Burron said while throwing his black spear towards a winged ape. “Fran! How is Khal?” he called.

“His wing is broken, his leg too, but apart from that, he is fine!” Fran called out from a hole.

“Okay, do you know any healing spells?” Jess asked Fran. She is from the magician class.

“Yes. I learnt one. But it is not enough to mend his broken wing and leg, at best, it will only stop the bleeding and relieve the pain.” Her answer.

“That…” Burron deflected an ape’s claw with his black spear, “That is good enough!”

“Where the frack is Reborn?” Jess complained as he stopped an ape with his telekinesis.

 Just as Jess was complaining, another ape jumped him from behind. It was about to slap him mush when Reborn jumped out from the bush.

“I am here!” He screamed and tackled the ape.

“Oh, frack!” Jess was startled. He did not notice the ape coming to his back.

“Argh! Take this!” Reborn punched the ape again and again. The ape whimpered as it was pinned on the ground.

“Ting! Hard Punch skill acquired.”

Reborn’s punches became harder and harder every time he throwed one.

“Ting! Winged Stone Ape killed. 0% experience gain.”

“Where the frack did you go?” Jess asked after Reborn killed the ape.

“I got lost, sorry!” Reborn said. “Force shield!” Reborn activated his skill as he waved his hand. The hole where Fran and Khal were walled with Reborn’s force shields.

The three of them continued fighting with the apes until dusk. “I am tired!” Jess threw another complaint.

“I knew we entered a nest!” Burron said grumpily.

“Fran?” Reborn called. “How are you two doing there?”

“I am fine, but Khal is not looking good! The spell is not working anymore!” she replied.

“We have to endure! Do everything you can to keep him alive! We need to pass this!” Burron said firmly.

“Ye-yes! I will do what I can!” Fran said.

=====================

After an hour, Reborn was the only one standing. Burron and Jess went inside the hole and Reborn covered it with force shields.

“Just stay put in there, guys! I will hold out as long as I can!” Reborn said. Then he checked his status.

Name: J¤•■ A¤<□♡□$

Level: 1 (Exp. 3.26%)

Race: Human

Class: Worm

Age: 1 week, 4 days

Health: 8187

Mana: 9456

AP: 4380

DP: 8623

Strength: 15 (+300)

Dexterity: 10 (+300)

Intelligence: 100 (+508)

Vitality: 100 (+505)

Wisdom: 50 (+290)

Agility: 10 (+302)

Active Skills: Telekinesis (Lv.3), Float (Lv.3), Divine Light (Broken), Sprint (Lv.1), Force Shield (Lv.2), Meditation (Semi-passive/Level 3), Parkour (Lv.1), Hard Punch (Lv.1)

Passive Skills: Universal Language (Max), Fear Resistance (Lv.1), Pain Resistance (Lv.1), Memory Bank (Semi-active/Lv.1), Illusion Resistance (Lv.1)

Title: Anomaly (Awakened), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted, Reborn, Coward, Worm

Title Skill: Danger Sense (Passive/Lv.1)

Status points: 0

“I can still do this all night, boys!” he muttered.

===============

It was almost midnight, when finally, the apes were all defeated. Reborn was exhausted. He checked his status again. There is only 1500 points left in his HP and 1239 MP left, but everything was worth it. He was right. This dream world can really help him grind skills.

His Telekinesis, Parkour, Force Shield, Hard Punch and Danger Sense skills all rose one level.

“Guys!? Are you okay in there?” He called but no one answered. “Guys?” Reborn went to look inside the small hole. The four sprites were unconscious. They were exhausted and injured.

“Clap! Clap! Clap!” Clapping sound suddenly echoed from behind Reborn. He quickly turned around and saw the Grand Scholar.

“Good work!” he said. He snapped his fingers and they were transported back on the open field. The four sprites were back in tip-top shape. No injuries can be seen on their bodies.

“Wha-what just happened?” Jess, as usual, was the one to speak first.

“Grand Scholar!” Fran exclaimed softly.

“Great work everyone!” He praised. “You all survived, but unfortunately, not all of you finished your tasks except for Reborn and Burron.” He added.

“Sir, what was the point of the tasks?” Burron asked. He wondered why he was given such a lousy task.

The Grand Scholar smiled and said, “You always do things alone. You even left your home and father a few days after the naming ceremony.”

The other sprites and Reborn looked at Burron weirdly and amazed. “You are a soldier and a soldier need to fit in a group, work with the group. Also, it is easier to survive with company than surviving alone.” The Grand Scholar continued. “Your father even gave you his Black Spear. Do you think you can really do things all by yourself?”

“And you Khal, what task did you get? Tell them.” The Grand Scholar said to Khal.

“My task? It was trivial. I did not finish it so that’s that.” He said evading the Val’s question.

“Yes, it was indeed very trivial. Your task was to cooperate with the group, that is all.” Val revealed. “Yet, you went on by yourself and got cornered. It is good to be competitive, but you also must learn to cooperate with the group, do things with the group. That kind of behavior will get all members of your group killed. In fact, if not for Reborn resisting the Winged Stone Apes, you all would have been dead early.”

Then he turned to Jess, “I commend you for taking the lead, Jess. There is just one problem, you always complain. Focus on the task and think ahead. You will be a fine soldier, son.” Val praised.

“Fran.” He called her softly. Fran straightened up her posture and prepared herself to listen to the Grand Scholars teaching and advises. “You have focus and a good heart. One thing you need is confidence. You can rely on others in times, but you must remember that in this world, you can only rely with yourself to become stronger.”

Then, he looked at Reborn. He stared at him for a while and sighed, “I do not know what to say to you. You finished your task the earliest. You even fought and killed a level 5 Silent Cat and killed a nest of Winged Stone Apes. You were calm, a bit rash at times, but calm nonetheless.” The four sprites stared at Reborn in a very strange way after hearing the Grand Scholar. “You might have gone to a wrong class.” He said.

“Yeah, you are more of a soldier than a scholar!” Jess pitched in.

“Alright, that is enough. Class is over, time to wake up.” Val said and snapped his finger.

Reborn and his companion woke up in the lecture hall, as well as the other sprites. “Free time this afternoon. You can do what you want or study.” Val said. Surprisingly, they only spent half a day in the real world while they spent one whole day till night in the dream world.

Reborn started to walk out of the lecture hall when he heard a voice in his head, “Meet me at Knowsborough later at two in the afternoon.”

The voice was familiar, it was Val’s. He turned around and glanced at the Grand Scholar who smiled and nodded at him. “How did he speak in my head?” Reborn wondered in his thoughts.

====================

Later in the afternoon, Reborn met up with the Grand Scholar in Knowsborough. “What do you need of me, sir?” Reborn asked.

“Well, I have a task for you.” The scholar answered.

“A task?” He was just given a task and he did not even finish it yet and now here is another task. He felt wronged.

“I want you to explore outside and collect data about a certain flower.”

“Outside? You mean beyond the border?” Reborn was surprised. It was forbidden to go beyond the border, why is the Grand Scholar giving him a task that involves going out? “Okay, who will be my teammates?” he asked.

“It will only be you.” Val said. It made Reborn more confused. Earlier, he personally taught them about staying in groups when going outside the border, he thought why is the Grand Scholar giving him a task alone outside the borders? “I know what you are thinking.”

“You know, so why? Do you want me to die?” Reborn exclaimed questioningly.

“Oh, stop it. There are only low-level monsters outside the border. You killed an entire nest.” Val pointed.

“Yeah, in the dreamworld! And what low-level? I was almost killed by a level 10 monster before!” Reborn retorted.

“Almost. You survived and that was when you knew little skills. You knew more skills now, right?” Val pointed back.

Reborn was speechless. He does know a lot more skills and they are leveled up but still, going out alone, no matter how he thinks about it, it still feels wrong. “My mother will not agree to this.” He needs to find a good excuse.

“She already approved.” Was Val’s short reply.

“I still have that Sprite Magic research task.”

“You can bring it with you.”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Reborn sighed.

“No.” Val smiled. Reborn was so confused. What is the Grand Scholar thinking? He wondered.

====================

The next day, “Stay safe out there, okay son?” Tatiana reminded Reborn while handing out, telekinetically, a bagful of supply.

“Yes, mother.” Reborn replied to her.

“Now, you will spend two days outside the border.” Val handed a scroll and wooden tube. “Your task is written there, and that tube is a distress signal. Use that only when you are in extreme danger. Remember, this is also a test. You fail if you use the tube.”

“Yes.” Reborn took a deep breath and walked out of the border.

When he was no longer in sight, “Are you sure that he will be fine?” Tatiana asked the Grand Scholar.

“Do not worry. I took care of everything. Besides, he needs this experience because sooner or later, he will be out there alone.” Val said to her.

“Are the elders really going to throw him out?” Tatiana already knew about Reborn’s real identity, that he was a human.

“I do not know. The council is divided right now. I just hope they decide what is right.” Val said sighing.

“I hope so too. He is just a child. I will raise him well; he won’t be a threat to our race!” Tatiana said hopefully.

====================

At Elder Mishap’s tree, the elders convened about Reborn, “The child is outside the village. What should we do?” An elder asked.

“Hm. Nothing now. I am sure Val is tailing that kid.” Mishap said. “Call Tumpol here, I have something for him to do.” He ordered the elder.

After some time, a burly sprite entered the room. “You called, sir?”

“Tumpol, I want you to survey a particular… sprite.” Elder Mishap said.

“Pray tell, sir.”

“Reborn, Tatiana’s son. He is outside the village doing a task. Follow him, but do not let Val find you.” The elder ordered. Tumpol bowed and left the room.

Meanwhile, in the Sprite King’s royal courtyard.

“My King, Grand Scholar Val sent the kid outside the village alone.” A sprite soldier reported.

“Val, what do you intend to do?” The King wondered. “Ask Misha to follow the kid… discreetly.” The King ordered.

==============

Reborn traveled more than 500 meters from the village. “Where do I find these new species of flower?” he muttered while walking. His task was to find a new species of flower some scholar discovered by chance during a hunt.

The Grand Scholar’s task for him was to find this flower and record its characteristics. It is a scholar’s job he said. “I am only more than a week old. This is abuse! I should report this to the department of education or the commission on higher education… wait? Is there a department like that in the village?”

Reborn rested on a stump. “I am hungry!” he said while pulling out his supply from his bag.

“Chip! Chip!” a rat-like animal came closer to him while he was eating.

“Oh, do you want some? Here.” Reborn placed a tiny piece from his dried fruit biscuit to the animal. The animal picked the food and slowly ate it. “What kind of animal are you?” he wondered. Reborn was not able to read a lot of books in Knowsborough, so he still did not know much about the animals around the village or in the forest.

“Are you a rat perhaps?” He muttered. He has not seen other animals except the animals reared by the sprites like the Spring Chickens, Trolley Cows, and others.

He stared at the animal while it was eating. He sighed, “I wished I had those Appraisal Monocles. It would really be a huge help this time.” He wished. Then a though came to mind, “Maybe I can learn it.” He stared at the animal intently. “What are you? What are you?” These words sounded again and again in his mind.

A few minutes after, he stopped. Nothing happened. He did not hear the familiar ring and announcement. “Well, the Grand Scholar did say it was hard to learn skills on your own.”

He took out the scroll where his task was written. There was a map drawn on it, showing where the flower’s location. “I should be somewhere here. I am still far from it.”

He started walking again. The rat-like animal followed him, though. “Chip-chip!” it called.

“You want to go with me?”

“Chip!”

“Okay. Hop on!” He said. The small animal quickly climbed up his shoulder and squeaked happily.

Hours passed, he was now very far from the village, he walked almost a mile, “Almost there.” He said while looking at the map. During his tread towards the flower, he keeps on staring at the little animal and whispered, “What are you?” again and again; hoping to learn the Appraisal skill.

“Chip!” The animal suddenly squealed as if frightened by something. Reborn’s Danger sense did not flare up. “What’s wrong?” he asked the little animal. Then, he suddenly felt danger, the hairs on his nape stood up like needles and he hurriedly ducked.

“Fwiip!” A bone arrow passed over his head. If he did not duck in time, that arrow would have lodged in his noggin.

Reborn quickly turned around and erected a force shield. “Fwip! Ka-thunk!”

Two arrows hit the shield and fell on the ground. “Grahh!” An angry shout came out from behind a tree. A hideous, green-skinned monster came out.

“What the hell is that?” Reborn exclaimed. “Woah!” he deflected another arrow fired by the monster. His level 3 force shield began to c***k as an arrow and another arrow bombarded it. The little green monster was fast at reloading and firing of its arrows.

“Damn!” He erected another shield to reinforce the cracked shield. He saw a rock the size of his fist on a corner. Using his telekinesis, he hurled the rock towards the monster. However, the monster was quick and hit the rock with an arrow. “Grahh!” It screamed.

The monster left its bow and empty quiver and made a run for Reborn. It took out a small bone club from its back and smashed the shield. “c***k!”

The shield broke immediately. “Oh s**t!” Reborn dodged the bone club by rolling to the side. “What the hell? Telekinesis!” He screamed. He pushed the monster away with his telekinesis.

“Grah!” The monster grunted as it was thrown onto a tree. It stood up and charged at Reborn again.

The monster was fast and arrived in front of Reborn quickly. It brought down its bone club at Reborn’s head. Luckily, Reborn caught it with telekinesis.

Then, he punched the monster squarely on its face with his Hard Punch skill. The monster squawked, touching its broken nose. “Groahh!”

Reborn did not wait for the monster to recover and followed with another heavy punch on its face. “Kwaak!”

The bone club fell off from the monster’s grip. Reborn saw it and grabbed it with telekinesis. He readily bashed the monster’s skull with it, again and again.

“Ting! Level 2 Hunter Goblin killed. 2.5% experience gained.”

“Ting! First Kill title acquired.”

“Ting! Skull Bash skill acquired.”

“Wooh! That monster came out of nowhere!” Reborn picked up the bone club.

“Ting! Level 1 Bone Club obtained.” An announcement was heard after that.

“What the… why is there an announcement? What is this Bone Club?”

“Ting!

Name: Bone Club

Level: 1

Durability: 8/10

Attack: +15

Option: None

Details: A bone weapon made from a thigh bone of an animal.”

“Ting! Appraisal skill acquired.”

Reborn was surprised of the following announcements. He finally learnt appraisal and he did not even try to learn it forcefully now. He quickly viewed his status screen.

Name: J¤•■ A¤<□♡□$

Level: 1 (Exp. 5.76%)

Race: Human

Class: Worm

Age: 1 week, 5 days

Health: 12100

Mana: 16905

AP: 4380

DP: 8623

Strength: 15 (+300)

Dexterity: 10 (+300)

Intelligence: 100 (+508)

Vitality: 100 (+505)

Wisdom: 50 (+290)

Agility: 10 (+302)

Active Skills: Telekinesis (Lv.4), Float (Lv.3), Divine Light (Broken), Sprint (Lv.1), Force Shield (Lv.3), Meditation (Semi-passive/Level 3), Parkour (Lv.2), Hard Punch (Lv.2), Skull Bash (Lv.1), Appraisal (Lv.1)

Passive Skills: Universal Language (Max), Fear Resistance (Lv.1), Pain Resistance (Lv.1), Memory Bank (Semi-active/Lv.1), Illusion Resistance (Lv.1)

Title: Anomaly (Awakened), Tatiana’s Son, Contracted, Reborn, Coward, Worm, First Kill

Title Skill: Danger Sense (Passive/Lv.2)

Status points: 0

He saw it. He finally learnt appraisal. He immediately activated it and everything he saw changed. There were floating names and level on the things were his eyes are focused on.

“Common Rock, Common weeds, Common tree… they are all common.” He muttered. “Oh! What’s this?” he found a differently named rock. “Uncommon rock…what is so uncommon with this?” he wondered while checking out the rock.

He slowly walked to where his task is while inspecting the things around him with appraisal.

=================

Somewhere, a few hundred meters away from Reborn, a shadow appeared. “He easily killed that Hunter Goblin!” The shadow said.

“Well, he is special, of course.” A voice suddenly spoke from above the shadow. The silhouette hurriedly looked up and saw the Grand Scholar smiling at him.

“Grand Scholar!” Tumpol exclaimed.

“Tumpol, you can go back to Elder Mishap. Tell him that everything is fine here.” Val said still smiling.

“But…” he did not finish what he was going to say because he sensed an oppressive feeling from the Grand Scholar. “I… I will leave right away, sir!” Tumpol hurriedly scampered off.

After Tumpol left, Val gave a glance at a certain direction. He sighed, “Even the King sent someone to watch over. I guess, I should modify my teaching strategy again. This is too eye-catching, apparently.” Then he disappeared.

In the direction where the Grand Scholar stole a glance, a figure materialized and breathe out a long sigh, “The Grand Scholar even noticed my Cloak Void skill. He truly lived up to his name!” Misha said and disappeared.

===================

After hours of walking and casual fighting with low level monsters, Reborn finally arrived where the flowers are. “They’re beautiful!” he exclaimed.

He saw the greenish bell-like flower swaying with the wind. He took out a pen and a blank scroll and started to observe the flowers’ characteristics.

“Buzz! Buzz!”

He suddenly heard. Reborn stood from his position and looked at the direction where the buzzing sound came from and was startled. A dark cloud of bees is flying in swarm towards his position.

“Damn, the Grand Scholar did not mention a guardian monster in the scroll!”

He used his appraisal skill on the bees and was frightened at what he saw. Several names popped up in his field of vision, but it was not the name that spook him, it was the levels.

“Level 5 Tiger Bees… Level 6 Tiger Bees… Level 4 Tiger Bees… damn!” It was a collection of fairly, high-leveled monster bees.

He quickly covered himself with force shields all around him. “Thunk! Thunk!” The bees started to dash and poke the shield with their sharp stingers.

“I am screwed!”