Silas leaned back in his chair as the lecture droned on, his eyes half-lidded, and his attention split between the classroom and the translucent interface drifting at the edge of his vision. The second quest pulsed softly in pink, reminding him of what he had to do. The system was showing him the quests in sequence so he wouldn’t lose track of things.

[Quest 2]

[Humiliate Damien]

[Progress: 0%]

He couldn’t help but smile unconsciously. This quest was too fitting for him. He’d already humiliated the guy, but it wasn’t anything potent, and he didn’t feel like that was humiliating enough for a person such as Damien. He needed something that would humble him for good.

Looking ahead, he was Damien, seated three rows to his front, leaning back in his chair as if the world belonged to him, his long blond hair tied loosely at the nape of his neck. He wasn’t doing anything yet, but that alone was suspicious. Damien never wasted an audience, so this was new, though not entirely. It only meant that Damien was planning something wickedly stupid or stupidly wicked?

The reason why he was seeing Damien now was because the current class was a shared one for all students of Class 3. Classes 3A, 3B, and 3C were all seated for this class. Among them were some powerful people even Damien wouldn’t dare offend. That was possibly one of the reasons why he hadn’t thrown some idiotic remark at Silas.

Soon enough, the bell rang, and chaos followed. Chairs scraped loudly as students stood, and instantly indulged in conversations unrelated in any way to the class they’d just had. Damien rose slowly, his eyes following the powerful people as they left, stretched deliberately, and turned just enough to look back at Silas with a crooked grin that would make anyone punch the living daylight out of him.

"Hey, Pinky," He said loudly, drawing all attention to himself and Silas, who was acting as if he was leaving. "Try not to run into anyone today. Wouldn’t another accident, do we?"

A few snickered, finding it funny. People always found fun in the stupidest ways, and one was bullying. Even if it wasn’t funny, they would laugh and comment about it all in a good way once they weren’t the victim.

Silas, on the other hand, didn’t even look at him. He stood, slung his backpack over one shoulder, and started walking calmly with an unbothered and nonchalant expression. If Damien or any of the people around were so perceptive, they would’ve noticed the twitch around his lips, but a stupid person will always be stupid.

The system was showing him an opportunity. Pink indicators flared briefly across the floor, showing him signs of subtle density distortions. Damien was adjusting gravity with light touches, nothing teachers would sense, just enough to make Silas stumble. After all, he wouldn’t be able to see it or possibly sense it. He had completely forgotten how Silas had dodged all his gravity attacks the previous days. As for his talent? It was commendable. To be able to control your ability to achieve subtle manipulations of something as complex as gravity was pretty solid. If only he would focus on doing better things than bullying a pink-haired orphan.

Silas was careful, pretending not to notice what was happening. At the last second, he stepped out of the altered zone instead of through it, causing Damien’s adjustment to overshoot, and the effect rippled. A nearby desk’s leg buckled slightly, and a girl yelped as her books slid off while another student stumbled forward.

Damien’s own shoe got caught in the shift. It wasn’t dramatic... That was the beauty of it. He lurched, arms windmilled, his carefully maintained balance betraying him, and slammed knee-first into the corner of a desk with a sharp, undignified thud. The room went silent for a few seconds before it exploded into sharp and uncontrolled laughter.

[Progress: 35%]

Silas stopped beside him, looked down at him with a blank face, and asked.

"You okay, bro?"

Damien’s face flushed red in embarrassment and anger. "Watch where you’re going, freak!"

"I did, though," Silas tilted his head, his pink eyes catching the light, and walked on, completely ignoring the seething guy on the floor with a bruised knee and a bruised ego.

[Mischief Potential: Elevated!]

’This is new...’

Outside in the corridor, Damien stormed after him, rage radiating off him like a sword that was being cooled after being taken out of the forge. Silas moved steadily, letting the crowd form naturally. His face was so blank that anyone would believe that he really had no idea of Damien following. The students around sensed blood and killing intent. Something bad was going to happen, but there was always a plot twist somewhere.

Damien raised his hand again... That was a bad idea. The system overlaid the scene with delicate pink vectors, showing Silas what was coming, and it was so accurate. Silas intentionally misstepped, just slightly, and Damien, ever the fool, overcorrected his attack.

Gravity spiked too much, and the floor released a loud boom. The shockwave didn’t hurt anyone, but it sent Damien skidding backward, slamming into the lockers with a metallic clang. His bag burst open, spilling books everywhere. A lunch container popped open and rolled across the floor, its contents splattering on his face.

Silence once again enveloped the corridor for a few seconds, and exploded into louder laughter this time. Some even got the guts to take out their phones and take shots of it.

[Progress: 90%]

Damien scrambled up, furious and humiliated as he stared at the walking Silas with the hate that now bordered on madness and obsession. He now hated him obsessively. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The system flashed in front, updating him on his current progress, and the results were satisfactory.

[Quest 2 Completed!]

[Efficiency: High]

[Style Bonus: Applied]

[Crowd Impact: Significant]

[EXP Gained: +30]

[New Trait Gained: Mischief]

He didn’t smile. He didn’t need to. As he disappeared down the corridor, one thing was certain across Valecrest that morning: Damien hadn’t just lost a fight. He’d lost face. And in a place like this? That was worse.