The Sleep World

4: High School City [14th March, 2013]

“What’s in it for me?” G throws away his fears. “Orchid, this is all still temporary.” He then glares at Nijiro, “I want to become an A-ranked if I defeat this guy.”

“Hold on,” Nijiro walks into the battle hall as the others sit down to watch the scenes unfold. “You don’t get to tell GM what to do!”

“Shut up, Montenegro!” he yells at the douchebag and then turns his attention back to the GM, “Orchid,” G glares at her as he moves in the battle hall. “If this is part of my fate then I’ll accept this, but I need something in return.”

“Sure,” Orchid waves her hand at him. “I’ll give you a clue if you win.”

ROUND 1, FIGHT!

“You are getting on my nerves! I’m going to kill you,” Nijiro brings out his sword. “I hate your face and I hate that you get to be introduced like that. I hate everything about you!”

I wonder, should I be passive, neutral, or active? Uh whatever… I won’t let fate decide on this one.”

“Isolator,” G summons the blade. “It is called swords magician and not magic swordsman.”

Seeing the blade in my hands, Nijiro and every other guild member fall silent. It’s obvious… I am wielding the sword of a god. What a revelation, isn’t it? I wonder why we aren’t televised yet. I was also wondering why none of the members are taking pictures or videos of us.

“If you are concerned about that, let me tell you that every other temple disrupts the flow of devices,” Orchid reads G’s mind. “Yeah, I can do that too, G. Aside from what I said, the laws of Dream Entrance hold superlative powers like that of a-”

“Of a god, I got that,” G sighs. “Make your move, MONTENEGRO!!!”

“I surrender,” Nijiro drops his sword and kneels down. “Orchid, this guy is wielding a god’s sword!”

“He is still in training though,” Orchid still wants to provoke this guy to fight G. “He is also a fresh graduate of Techincal University and he just started working for me 2 days ago.”

“Wait a second,” Snow Layfield jumps into the battlefield. “If you said that he just started two days ago, how is it that he already has that sword?”

Snow Layfield, a famous celebrity witch from Wiz Town, Destiny Island is an S-ranked member of Dream Entrance. She has icy blue lenses on her eyes, and a long silky smooth icy blue hair about waist level. She has the magic power to control ice as a mark of her inheritance from the Layfield family line.

“That’s what I would like to ask you, Layfield,” Orchid stares at the tall white beauty who is approaching G. “He accomplished that quest on his own and survived the evil magicians Macay and Kroth. How much were you paid for accomplishing the request, G?”

“Uh about 50k Coronets,” G backs off and raises his blade as Snow approaches him, “Not to mention this Isolator…”

What the hell is Orchid doing anyway? Why is she making me that famous already? Hearing the 50 grand and maybe that quest which is surprisingly overwhelmingly hard, the guild members start conversing among themselves.

“Macay and Kroth are both S-ranked magicians and that is them just using their magic powers,” Snow stops a few feet in front of G. “How is it that this guy is able to accomplish the request within that time period? I checked this guy’s history and it doesn’t make sense for him to be that strong already.”

“That is why I am telling that A-ranked members in this place to test him out,” Orchid smirks. “OKAY DREAM ENTRANCE MEMBERS, SETTLE DOWN NOW! I WANT TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!”

WE ALL KNOW WHY YOU JOINED THIS GUILD. WE DON’T WANT THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT TO MAKE USE OF YOU. YOU DON’T WANT THEM MONITORING YOUR EVERY MOVE! YOUR LOYALTY AS MEMBERS OF THIS GUILD IS THE THING THAT KEEPS YOU FROM BEING USED FOR EVIL PURPOSES, MY BLESSING. THE GOVERNMENT ITSELF IS AFRAID TO FIGHT AGAINST US AND WE WILL KEEP IT THAT WAY UNTIL THE TIME WHEN WE WILL BRING THE GOVERNMENT BACK INTO CAPABLE HANDS. AS ALL OF YOU HAVE KNOWN, SENATOR RICHARD RUBBERS IS SECRETLY A MEMBER OF THIS GUILD AND BECAUSE OF YOUR LOYALTY, THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT OUR OWN PLANS. WE’VE SUCCESSFULLY WEEDED OUT INSIDERS HERE IN DESTINY ISLAND AND BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS, DESTINY ISLAND IS FREE FROM THE GOVERNMENT’S EYES!

Of course, there will be a huge roar from the crowd after she finishes her speech. Orchid’s influence is really godly and well she is in fact a goddess. Awkwardly however, Snow is still keeping her eyes on me. Nijiro already left the battlefield and back to the balcony with the other members, but this woman is simply unconvinced.

TOMORROW, I WILL GIVE EACH OF YOU MEMBERS WHO ARE CURRENTLY IN YOUR OWN GROUPS SOME HARD QUESTS. FOR THOSE RANK F MEMBERS NOT IN A GROUP YET, YOU CAN GROUP YOURSELVES I CAN GIVE YOU AN EASIER QUEST TO ACCOMPLISH. ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS WILL BE PUT TO GREAT USE AND ALL OF THESE MISSIONS INVOLVE THE FUTURE OF THIS REGION! LADIES AND GENTS, OUR TIME IS NOW!!!

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!*

“So uh where are we going?” G follows Orchid to the way-gate. “I thought we’re still going to train…”

“You won without even fighting, you know that,” Orchid sighs. “A good goddess keeps her promise.”

“Good goddess said she wanted a death match,” G mutters as he rolls his eyes.

“I heard that…”

“Of course you heard that,” he stands in front of the way-gate. “Do I get to find something useful?”

“Perhaps, if you can pick up that easily,” she sighs. “High School City is our destination. Oh yeah, be careful because we are already going out of this island.”

“You mean the watchful eyes of the government,” G notices Orchid to magically disguise herself into a plain-looking person. “You look so… simple.”

“Simplicity is sometimes an advantage,” she takes of his badge. “You won’t be needing this for now.”

“Should I need a disguise?” he asks thinking of some outfits in his mind as he passes through the gate.

“Are you Snow Layfield or something, G?”

“Yeah I’m not that famous yet, thanks to you and I don’t intend to be one,” G gives her a grim look. “It irritates me that you made me infamous in the guild. I don’t know anything about the magical word LOYALTY, but trust me about it. One way or another, someone will have to betray you.”

“I offer them my blessing in exchange of their loyalty,” she smiles at me. “Have you seen the number of the guild members? There aren’t as many as you think…”

“That was about 200 members or more, that’s many already.” G sighs as he looks at a familiar view. “Brings back memories of my high school…”

“Those 200+ are the lucky ones I could qualify to be very loyal till the end. Diamonds in the rough,” she exclaims as she turns her attention to the city where 80% of the population are high school students. “You’ll better be ready to throwback G, we will be going back to your high school, Babylon.”

High School City, 80% teens and 20% adults, is a big city comprised of five great high schools: Babylon High, Empire State High, Everest High, Great Wall High, and Super High.

Starting off on the Southwestern part of the city, Super High is a high school that caters to students who acquired the power source known as gifts and are from Mysteria Region, a region somewhere in the North. Gifted people have strange powers that are highly different from magic and that school calls them superhuman beings. Gift is a power source gained only at Mysteria Region by means of praying to the goddess of stars, Sera Chandelier.

Found at the Southeastern part of the city is the Everest High. They cater to students who want to invest their powers on becoming a familiar trainer. Familiar or elemental training is a power source that can be acquired by anyone, magician or not. However, magicians do have the edge because they can have up to six familiars with them while non-magicians can only have up to three familiars. According to scholars of the old, having three is enough.

Moving on to the Northeast, Great Wall High caters to students who want to invest more of their power towards spirit partners. Spirit partner is a power source that focuses on channeling the power of a soul or a spirit. Magicians and half-magicians have an innate spirit partner that is born with them while non-magicians will need to make a contract with a wild spirit. Tackling spirits is a difficult subject and must be learned at that school so…

On the Northwest of the city, the Empire State High caters to students who are invested with using magic. This isn’t as racist as it can get but only those with magic in their blood can learn magic. Those who really have no historical blood background of having magic can really never learn. A magician can learn up to five different specific types of magic. Usually, having two types of magic is more than enough for a magician to remain stable and that is how that school disciplines their students.

Finally at the center is my Alma Mater, Babylon High. Said to have been created by the god of humanity, essence and sin, Babylon High is the first school to have created the High School City. The school is very picky on choosing its students. Once you become a student, you can never transfer to another school until you graduate and that they do not accept transferees from other schools. The main reason for which is that those who become students of this institution are given a power source called the SIN from the god of essence and sin itself, Sade. In addition, my alma mater teaches about gifts, spirits, familiars, and magic.

“Tell me Orchid, I’ve been meaning to ask but what is this clue anyway?”

“The clue is waiting there at the front gate,” Orchid points to the school’s principal, Mr. Samon Detan. “He might blatantly give you the answer but I think he won’t be.”

“Yeah because you are with me,” G sighs.

“Not really,” Orchid grins, “even though he is #6 of the strongest gods.”

“He’s a god?” he slows down for a bit to process what he just learned, “No way…”

“Ah there you are,” Samon approaches them. “Let us go to my office with… why isn’t he approaching us?”

“G, hurry up and stop processing that lagging mind of yours,” Orchid sighs. “He is having a flashback sequence of his high school life of this school.”

“I’m sorry,” G shakes hands with the principal. “Hello sir, we meet each other yet again…”

“Of course, like we always do during your time here in this school,” Samon laughs. “This boy is quite the delinquent himself during his time.”

“I only fought to defend myself and my friends,” G is honestly telling the truth though, “and you know that Mr. Samon. Although… I noticed that it is much more peaceful around than when I was still studying here.”

“Changes had to be made accompanied by drastic measures to ensure that none of the students skip classes they don’t like.”

“I guess things change as time passes…” Orchid smirks, “except maybe for our kind…”

“Yes, for our kind,” Samon repeats her words. “Ah finally, we have arrived.”

Checking out his office, Orchid lets out an impressive compliment, “Cozy. I guess even someone like you have a taste for room decorations.”

“One of the new staff that I hired seemed to have done a pretty good job to change your impression of my school,” Samon feels proud of his accomplishment. “Vandalisms have been changed into Graffiti, if you didn’t notice…”

“Actually, I did,” G, being the observant type, really sees a lot of changes done to his school. “However, the pressing matter right now is that according to Orchid… you are a god.”

“Of course I am,” he grins at G. Making sure that the doors and windows are proofed and sealed, he and Orchid remove their disguises. “Does your power of sin ring any bell to you?”

That spiky hair with a combination of a very light green on top and red orange down below. Those same types of yellowish green eyes with horns of the same color style as his hair on both ends of his shoulders. Also, there is god that is said to have given the power source of sin to its students of this school only. There’s no doubt about it…

“Sade, god of essence and sin,” G inexplicably gets goosebumps. “Are the scary stories about people gaining fame but dying young after making contract with you true?”

“The f**k,” Orchid blurts out trying not to laugh. “It looks like you were being portrayed in a different fashion, Sade.”

“Well actually that was true in the ancient times, when I have not yet built this school,” Sade sits down on his chair, “I used to give sins to gain worshippers by making contracts with them, but they ended up abusing their powers and of course anything excess kills. Nowadays, I use this school to fuel my powers… I am more inclined to being the god of sin than being the god of essence.”

“So how’s this supposed to be my clue?”

“I don’t know,” Sade blatantly lies, “Me being able to talk to you as a god should be enough for a clue, right?”

“Could it be because I am fated to meet you?”

“Maybe, but I suppose… meeting you here would benefit you, Crimson Vengeance,” Sade drops G’s old title during his high school days. “Do you remember your weapon here in the school before, the Titanium bat?”

“I remember that. It’s my very first weapon when you allowed me take it from your underground facility.”

“I was told by Orchid that you are aiming to be a swords magician, so I thought I could add a feature to that bat of yours to suit your preferences.” Samon winks at him.

“My Titanium Bat,” G grins. “I thought that I would never see it again…”

“I love reunions too, you know,” Sade grins as he puts back his Samon Detan disguise back.

Orchid does the same and disguises herself back. “So the government officials…”

“Those impudent mortals, of course,” Sade scoffs, “thinking that they own this land and all. I can’t help but wanting to punish them… but of course this is your job G, a clue to guide you.”

“Huh,” G starts to wonder what he meant. “It’ll take some time for me to understand…”

“Worry not for now,” Sade reaches for the door. “I’ll be visiting Orchid’s domain soon to give you some deathly training~”

“I can’t afford to waste my precious Save-potions,” G begins to worry.

“Those are used for your training only which includes my quests… they are all part of your training,” Orchid pinches his nose. “Experiencing death is necessary for you to avoid dying in the future. Life is precious and you know that unless you’re a masochist and you want to die so badly…”

“Goddamnit Orchid…” G takes her fingers off his nose, “I’m not a masochist…”