A name you'll never forget

"In fact, this is great. I cou-"

Two sudden knocks interrupted Servare. Servare fell quiet, and after a while, she finally spoke.

"Who is it."

"Servare? Oh my god, you're okay! It's me, Cya!"

"Oh, come in."

Servare walked towards the door and opened it. Cya then stepped into the room; she wore a white uniform with blue accents. Cya opened her arms and hugged Servare; Servare stood still and let her do so.

'So this is what the uniform looks like. It's okay, I guess.' Servare thought.

After a while of silence, Cya let go.

"Are you okay? I heard you got tangled in Leo's fight with some demons."

"Leo's fight?" Servare's tone changed.

"Yeah, they said professor Leo battled a demon and accidentally dragged you in."

'Is that his way of getting revenge for declining his offer?' Servare inwardly laughed.

"Hah, yeah. That's what happened." Servare smiled.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

'Is she seriously worried about me?' Servare thought,

"I'm fine."

"Really? Good." She smiled; after a few seconds, her gaze fell to Servare's hair, and her smile faded.

"What happened to your hair?"

"It got cut off during the fight. Leo's fight."

"It's not that bad; it's still salvageable. Oknur used to be a barber in his dad's shop; he'll know how to fix your hair. If you'd like, I can get him for you."

"Sure."

Cya quickly ran off, and Servare sat back down. She thought about opening the system again, but it'd be too risky as it might spark a conversation about their skills and abilities, none of which Servare wants to discuss. After a while, Cya returned, along with Oknur walking by her side.

"Here we are," Cya said.

Cya looked at Oknur, who stood still and said nothing and then at Servare, who did the same. Cya found the atmosphere uncomfortable, while Servare and Oknur found it oddly calm like they finally found someone who shared the same vibe.

"I-I should get going now; I'll be getting Servare her school supplies, her uniform, and her schedule. I'll come back after a few hours or so." Cya walked out and closed the door.

'What is she, my mom?' Servare inwardly laughed.

"Shall we get started?" Oknur spoke.

"Sure."

"Sit here." he grabbed a chair and placed it in front of the mirror; Servare sat down, and Oknur took out various combs and scissors from his belt. He looked for the right pair of scissors and, after doing so, started cutting Servare's hair. Pieces of her white hair fell to the ground; after an hour, they stopped.

"Done." Said Oknur,

Servare stood up and looked at her hair in the mirror. Her previously long hair now barely reached her shoulders,

"It's beautiful." Servare turned around,

"Thank you." Servare smiled faintly.

"Hm," Oknur turned away and started picking up his tools.

"Don't worry about the mess; I'll clean it," Servare said.

"Okay." He picked up the last of his tools and headed for the door.

Servare picked up a broom and started cleaning,

[Stella, the star goddess, loves your hair.]

"Yeah, I like it too." Servare twirled her hair.

***

"I'm done cleaning, finally." Servare put the broom down and stretched her arms,

"I should take a bath; there's still a bit of hair on my neck." She walked towards her backpack and pulled out another hoodie. She then walked towards the shower when a knock interrupted her.

"Servare, it's me. Cya."

"Come in; the door's unlocked."

"Hey, I got your uniform and your schedule, as well as your books. Here." She handed Servare a white bag with blue accents.

"Thanks."

"No problem. I should get back now; curfew's at 10. Oh, love your hair, by the way." Cya waved.

Servare closed the door and walked back to the shower.

***

Servare flipped her back and wiped it with a towel,

"Haven't showered with hot water in a while."

She sat down and checked her schedule for tomorrow,

"First class is about demons, hm. After that is… Fighting and combat, taught by Professor Leo, this one should be interesting; lastly, there's system apprehension. That's all the classes before lunch."

"I should get to bed then; classes start at 7." Servare pulled her blanket up and tucked in. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift away; soon, she fell into a deep sleep.

*******

Servare slept peacefully until a few faint dings echoed through her head. After a while, they progressively got louder, waking Servare up from her slumber. She opened her eyes and sat up; in front of her were three notifications.

[Infaustus, the god of misfortune, is calling you.]

[Stella, the star goddess, is calling you.]

[Luna, moon goddess, is calling you.]

"What's happening?" Servare looked at the clock that hung above the mirror.

"It's 6:56 already?" Servare immediately stood up.

Servare grabbed her school uniform and rushed to the shower; after 3 minutes, she ran out and yanked her bag off the chair. She spent the last minute racing to the hallway.

She ran around looking for a door with the professor's name.

'What was his name again? Adder? Or something?'

Servare kept running and started reading the names on the door.

'Professor Leo, professor Jackal, professor Peter, professor Adler…'

'Wait, Adler? Was his name Adler?' Servare opened the door and peeked inside. In front of the class, a man with dark brown hair stood.

"Is this Demon class?" Servare said.

"Yes, and you are?" The man raised his eyebrow,

"Servare, Servare Solem." Servare walked in and grabbed a seat.

"Hm," He went back to teaching.

"As I was saying, demons are one of the only ways to gain EXP, but in the past few months, demon gates have been appearing less and less, making them rarer. Normally, this would be good, but for the last two centuries we've built around these gates, they've become an integral part of our society; now that they're becoming rarer, gifted won't have a chance to level up; luckily, our school has invented a way to level up without the help of demons.''

"Can anyone guess what they are?" Adler looked around,

"Is it the ranking system?" A student raised his hand

"Yes. As you know, there are ranking systems built into the very bottom of your stats menu. The school has decided to make its own. Every week the new rankings appear at the cafeteria; those who get in the top 10 will receive a good amount of EXP by the end of the week; students can also bet their EXP while fighting."

'So that's how they get EXP here.' Servare looked out the window and let her mind drift; Servare had already heard everything useful the teacher had to say.

***

After an hour or so, Servare's class finally finished. Servare stood up and grabbed her bag before walking out. She looked at her schedule and headed for the next class, professor Leo's class.

Servare walked in and saw professor Leo in front of the room,

"Hello, professor!" Servare smiled. "Thank you so much for saving me before; I could've died without your help." Servare stared at Leo.

"U-uh, of course, no problem!" Leo put on an awkward smile.

"Your fight was amazing."

'I couldn't care less about who takes the credit, but seeing him panic is quite amusing.' Servare laughed inwardly.

"Ahaha, thanks." Leo smiled awkwardly,

"Uh, today we'll be learning the basics of hand-to-hand combat." He declared.

Servare started listening but soon stopped as she already knew everything Leo said. After an hour or two, Leo finally finished.

"Tomorrow's lesson will be about the basics of armed combat." He said before most of the students rushed out.

Servare got up and walked to her last class, system apprehension, taught by professor Smith.

Servare didn't pay attention as Professor Smith only taught the very basics of the system, and servare had already explored everything the system had to offer, or did she? Servare remembered she had yet to explore the skills menu.

"Skills menu." She whispered,

———————————————————————————

Quick hands (Lv. 1)

The user has quick and stealthy hands allowing them to swipe objects unnoticed. [More info]

Hunger resistance (Lv. 1)

Hunger affects you less. [More info]

Poison resistance (Lv. 1)

Poison affects you less. [More info]

Disease resistance (Lv. 1)

You have a stronger immune system than most, and diseases affect you less. [More info]

———————————————————————————

'I have quite a lot of skills, probably because I lived in the streets, eating things out of the trash. I wonder, how do you level these up.'

"Excuse me," Servare raised her hand,

"Yes?" Professor Smith said.

"How do you level up skills and abilities?"

"Well, that's simple. Skills and abilities level up the more you use them."

"Any more questions?" Professor smith looked around the classroom.

"…" The class kept quiet.

"Okay. Let's continue on,"

"The more you use them, huh?" Servare looked around, and her gaze fell on a dollar peeking out of her classmate's pocket.

"Quick hands…" She whispered,

Servare swiped the dollar and shoved it in her bag; she looked around again and saw a small purse on her classmate's table.

"Quick hands."

She once again swiped it unnoticed; she repeated this process until everything in her vicinity was either taken or out of her reach. By this time, Professor Smith had finished her lecture. Servare picked up her bag — a bit heavier than before — and walked out.

'I hope their food is good..' Servare walked to the cafeteria.

She picked up her food and sat at a table in the corner. She began eating when she saw a bunch of students gathering in the middle of the room. Servare tried to get a glance of what they were looking at, but tens of students blocking her obstructed her view. She gave up and continued eating when she suddenly felt someone sit beside her, Servare looked over, and beside her, Cya sat; she smiled before calling the rest of the group over.

"Hey, Servare!" Gaia waved.

"Hi there…" Koal said sheepishly.

"Hm," Oknur nodded upwards.

"Hey.." Servare sighed.

Servare continued eating while the group started chatting.

"Hey, what's over there?" Servare suddenly spoke,

"Oh, that's whe-" Cya got cut off,

"That's where the weekly rankings are shown." Oknur said.

"Oh…" Servare looked over to the crowd of people,

"Who do you think's on the top ten?" Servare said,

"Hm, Tina's probably up there somewhere. She always is." Gaia said.

"Hm," Cya nodded in agreement,

"Who's Tina?" Servare said,

"She's the rude bitch with purple hair; her blessing's from Venenum, the god of poison." Gaia said.

Servare looked back at the people in the middle; this time, fewer people were there; as soon as a few more left, Servare stood up. She headed for the screen and took a look.

———————————————————————————

Weekly ranking:

1. Cain Alastor

2. John Collins

3. Tina Forger

4. Avisio Nocturna

5. Penelope Kanshka

6. Melody janeihu

7. April Holden

8. Oknur Dease

9. Cya Anderson

10. Jacob Tilberg

11. Halo Parta

12. Rasca Quinn

13. Yahir Cedric

14. Xander Merca

15. Alice Anderson and Baley Anderson

———————————————————————————

Seravare's eyes widened,

"Avisio… Penelope… Melody? They're here? Of course, they are. Why wouldn't they be?"

Thoughts, bad ones, started racing through Servare's head, filling her with rage; just when she was about to burst, a hand landed on her shoulder, she looked towards it, and there stood; Servare took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Do you know them?" Cya said.

"Unfortunately, yes." Servare looked back at the screen,

"…You're on it," Servare said.

"Hm?" Cya tilted her head,

"You and Oknur, you're on the rankings."

"Oh, haha, yeah." Cya said.

Servare looked over at Oknur, who seemed to be staring at a name, and one name only. "1. Cain Astor"

'What? Does he want to beat him? Surpass him, maybe?' Servare looked closer at Oknur.

'No, it doesn't seem like it. It's more like he's upset or disappointed. Why?'

'Whatever, it's not my problem.' Servare turned away.

"On the bottom, Baley and Alice, are you related?" Servare looked at Cya.

"Unfortunately, yes." She sighed.

"Sisters?"

"No, they're not my sisters, not anymore."

Cya turned away and returned to the table; Servare and Oknur followed behind.

***

Servare finished her lunch and said goodbye to the group; she checked her schedule and headed to class. Servare opened her menu and started scanning her skills and abilities. After walking for a while, Servare suddenly hit her head on something hard, she looked up, and in front of her, a brown-haired guy stood.

"Sorry." Servare said; she walked off and continued what she was doing.

"Hey." The guy said.

"Hm?" Servare turned around,

"You bumped into me." He said,

"Yeah, sorry." Servare turned away.

"Don't you know who I am?!" He yelled,

"No." Servare kept walking.

"Well, you're about to." He rushed towards Servare.

He lifted his arm and swung at Servare, almost hitting the back of her head; Servare barely dodged, but then another arm swung at her; she kept dodging as a pair of arms kept swinging.

'What the hell's wrong with this guy? He's mad just because I don't know who he is. Am I supposed to memorize everyone who's attending?'

"Stop dodging!" He yelled.

As several punches bombarded Servare, he unexpectedly raised his leg and kicked her in the stomach; Servare, caught by surprise, couldn't dodge. Luckily, she instinctively backed up a bit, diminishing the blow; if she hadn't, she could've been pushed across the hallway.

Servare held her stomach and curled to the ground; she panted, trying to catch her breath. She placed her hands on the ground and tried to push herself up, but as soon as she did, a foot kicked her side, making her fall back down.

"Ha, struggling to get up with just one kick?" He scoffed.

"You won't last another day here." He smiled and raised his foot, preparing to stomp on Servare.

Servare rolled to her side and avoided being stepped on. She dragged herself up and backed away; Servare knew she couldn't beat him. She looked around for anything she could use as a distraction, but as she was frantically looking, a fist came swinging at her; Servare fell to the ground.

"What're you looking around for? You can't escape; there's nowhere to run." He laughed.

He stepped forward and got closer to Servare; he knelt down and grabbed her chin,

"Jacob, Jacob Tilberg's the name. Don't ever forget it." He stared Servare straight in the eyes before punching her one last time, almost knocking her out.

"Hahaha!" He laughed as he walked away.

Servare watched as his laughter slowly faded, and her eyes started closing,

'Jacob Tilberg, huh? Don't worry; I won't ever forget that name.' Servare thought as her eyes closed.

***

Servare slowly opened her eyes; a white ceiling stood before her.

'The infirmary?' Servare thought.

She sat up and looked around, her guess was indeed right; she was in the infirmary.

"Stats menu."

———————————————————————————

Main stats:

Name: Servare Solem

Race: human (Gifted)

Level: 2

EXP needed to level up: 100/200

Hp: 99/100

Mana: 50/50

Stamina: 100/100

Title: None

Blessings: the moon goddess, the star goddess, the god of misfortune

Currency: 1,000

Attributes:

Strength: 1

Defense: 1

Agility: 6

Vitality: 0

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 0

Sense: 1

Endurance: 0

Ramaining stat points: 0

Other stats:

Overall kills: 10

Animals killed:

Humans killed:

Demons killed: 10

Demon portals closed: 1

Overral power: 22

Country power ranking: None

Worldwide power ranking: None

———————————————————————————

"It seems i'm fully healed."

Servare stood up, but her head started hurting.

"Well, almost."

She regained her balance, and walked towards the door. It seemed the nurse wasn't here; Servare strolled to her dorm room and sat down.

"I wonder if Sola's okay… I'd like to go see her, but first, i need to get stronger. What's the point in getting into the country's biggest academy if i can't become a gifted strong enough to protect my only family?"

A knock echoed; Servare walked to the door and opened it.

"Who is it."

A pair of arms reached from outside the room, embracing her.

"W-what?"

"I heard what happened, are you okay?" Cya hugged tighter.

"U-uh Y-yeah. C-can you let go? Can't. breath."

"Oh, sorry." Cya let go.

"I'm fine, you didn't need to come all the way here. It was just a few punches, it wasn't that bad. I was just weak."

"No, don't say that. You're strong, strong enough to get more than one blessing."

"Yeah, but they were stronger."

"Who?" Cya's tone changed.

"Jacob, Jacob Tilberg."

"Ugh, him." Cya's face soured.

"Servare why don't you come with us later this afternoon? We're going to the arena." Cya said.

"The arena? Sure."

"Good, we'll see you there." Cya waved.

Servare checked the time and immediately ran to her next class.

*******

After a few hours, Servare finished all her classes. As she walked back to her dorm, a familiar voice called.

"Servare!" Cya waved.

"Hey!" Gaia said,

"Hello.." Koal smiled,

"Hm," Oknur nodded upwards.

"Oh, hey." Servare said.

"Come, the arena's this way." Cya said.

After walking for a bit they reached a huge double door at the end of a long and grand hallway. Cya pushed the doors open, and before them a grand and gigantic room sat.

It had a big crystal chandelier hanging in the middle and emerald green curtains on the windows. The floor was shiny and glossy; in the middle two guys charged at eachother with immense speed, and as they did, cheers coming from the audience echoed throughout the room.

Servare stepped forward and truned around, above the pair of doors they entered, three layers of seating were placed. As Servare looked around, an immense force slammed into her, she looked back at the guys fighting, they were now continuously clashing into each other, backing up only to charge again.

Cya turned to Servare and the group,

"Let's take a seat." She said.

Servare followed the group as they climbed to the highest seats; luckily, there was no one there. Servare sat down, right beside Gaia. As they continued to enjoy the fight, Gaia spoke,

"Hey, did you know. Oknur and Cya weren't the only ones who were on the weekly rankings."

"…" Servare looked towards her,

"Me and Koal were once up there too." She looked back at the fight.

"What happened?"

"Well, Koal wasn't exactly built for fighting. He hated hurting people and he was really clumsy, in the end he dropped out of the rankings and never got back up. I, on the other hand, was pretty good at fighting, the problem was my fear of getting hurt. I couldn't attack, and instead spent my time dodging and avoiding attacks, in the end, I ended up like Koal."

"Oh.." Servare looked back at the fight.

The two guys just finished fighting, it seemed they ended in a tie, with one sustaining more damage than the other. A pair of school staff carried them out on stretchers, and the next pair of gifted stepped forward.

"There's less staff today." Cya said,

"Yeah, there's usually four of them." Gaia said,

"Most of them are outside, cleaning the mess the demon's made." Oknur said.

"I think it's starting." Said gaia, as she turned towards the fight.

For a few seconds, they did nothing, standing on the ruined floor, they occasionally kicked around some rubble. Servare wondered what they were doing, but after a few seconds, it became clear. The floor, the curtains and the walls, everything slowly fixed itself. The rubble floated back to their place and the curtains sew themselves back.

As soon as the room returned to normal the two guys got into a battle stance, but just as they were about to fight, a brown-haired guy stepped in the room, he climbed up the stairs and stood in front of the top seats.

"Hey, it's you again." He said.

Servare's eyes widened as she heard the familiar voice.

"What was your name again? I forgot, but hopefully you haven't forgotten mine." He grinned,

The group turned to him and Cya stood up.

"Stop it, Jacob." She said,

"Cya, my friend! What are you doing here? Don't tell me your friends with this loser?" He stepped closer, grinning even wider.

The students below them looked up, they were more focused on them than they were at the fight, which had now stopped because of the commotion.

"Keep her out of this, this fight's between us." Cya said.

"Fight? I never challenged you."

"You did the moment you spoke to Servare."

"Servare? Is that your name?" He turned to Servare.

Cya stepped closer and her face soured, "Step away from her."

"Hm, what about… No." He grabbed Servare's chin and lifted it upwards.

"I said keep your hands off her!" Cya sprinted towards him and retracted her arm, before punching Jacob straight in the face, launching him to the battlefield.

"Ugh…" Jacob groaned as blood dripped from his nose

"Are you okay?" Cya said,

"Yes. Thank you." Servare said.

Cya walked down, and onto the battlefield, she stood in front of Jacob and went into a battle stance. She raised her hand and waved it towards her, implying for Jacob to come at her.

Jacob stood up and wiped the blood dripping from his nose; he looked to the side and spat out some blood, after which he looked back and grabbed a plastic box that was tied to his belt. He opened the box, emptied it, and then threw it away, all while grinning. Thousands of needles fell from the box and onto the floor; he placed his hand above the pile of needles and said,

"Needle manipulation (Lv. 15)"

The needles on the ground started shaking; they slowly stood up, and started floating below Jacob's hand. After the last needle left the ground, Jacob raised his hand and pointed at Cya. The needles spun and pointed at Cya, right before shooting at her with immense speed.

Cya aimed both her hands at the ground and said,

"Fire creation (Lv. 13), Fire manipulation (Lv. 13)"

Flames then erupted from her hands, they poured to ground and created a shield made of flames. The needles barely passed through, but they as soon as they melted they dropped to the ground.

"Needle creation (Lv. 10)" Jacob grinned even wider

The melted blobs of metal on the ground floated up and formed the shape of small sewing needles; the curtains near Jacob did the same, they rattled and shook, before flying of the wall and forming thousands of needles.

"Haha, how will you deal with this now, huh? I've improved a lot since our last fight." He said.

"It seems so, but you're not the only one who improved."

Cya kicked the ground and leapt forward, she swung her fist and crushed Jacob's nose.

"Ahhh! That hurts!" He grunted while stepping back

Jacob lifted his hand and formed a shield made of needles, he then attempted to fix his nose with the other. He kept fiddling with it until he heard a loud crack; he brought the wall of needles down and turned around.

"God that hurt!" He groaned.

"Now, let us continue." He said.

Cya stepped back and unfolded her hands, a steady flame came out, floating atop her hands

Jacob clapped his hands and every needle in the room immediately came back to him. He pointed at Cya before waving in a circle.

The needles headed for Cya, but right before hitting her they spread apart and formed a circle, completely surrounding her.

The needles slowly blocked off any exit, encasing Cya in a hollow sphere made of needles.