Caius’s POV
I entered my room and walked toward the plush sofa before sitting down. A wide smile was on my face as I looked at my ring.
Why?
Well, today I received my prize: three thousand medium-grade essence stones, which is equivalent to about fourteen million credit points.
An amount I never imagined I would ever obtain.
I wasn’t the only one who received his reward today; Elliot did too, and even the others.
In fact, our entire class was honored and given some rewards, even if they were small compared to what Elliot and I received... Well, I didn’t know what they were given because I didn’t attend; after all, who wants to hear empty words of gratitude from some old fossils?
So, after ignoring the messages and calls asking me to attend and wait for them to finish this ceremony, I went and took what was mine. And here I am, taking out the essence stones and placing them on the table; the table wasn’t even enough, and the glowing stones spilled onto the floor with a faint sound.
I sighed: "I really can’t get enough of this sight."
With this, I have compensated for the price of the flower and much more.
But unfortunately, I must consume them to reach Rank 3 as quickly as possible, especially before the upcoming story events. So far, I haven’t had a noticeable impact on the plot, so things are supposed to proceed as they did in the game.
I reached out and picked up one of the essence stones, beginning to consume it. According to my estimates, I will need about 1500 stones to break through to Rank 3. This might take about two months, more or less.
After reaching Rank 3 Beginner, I will need 5000 stones to progress to the Intermediate sub-rank, then 10000 for Advanced, and to reach Rank 4, I will need 15000.
15000 medium essence stones... what a ridiculous number, at least for me.
It’s not as if everyone who possesses this number of essence stones can reach Rank 4; as you know, there is a limit to talent, and these numbers will double several times after reaching Rank 4, so this path was not available to everyone.
And of course, not for me either.
...
Three weeks passed without me noticing. Nothing interesting happened, just my usual routine.
Attending some boring classes, training until my body collapses, absorbing essence stones... that’s all I’ve done in the past days.
Oh, and of course, working as an assistant to a woman who gets weirder every day.
Anyway, let’s leave that aside for now; because today we will be sent to our last mission for this semester, and after that, the exams will start again. And of course, there are other theoretical exams, which means more math... let’s not think about that.
What matters now is finishing the mission and taking our pay, then I’ll see what I can do.
Our mission this time has no impact on the story; you know, just those side quests added in games to make the game longer.
It’s worth noting that I skipped this mission, so I don’t know anything that might happen there... Well, I don’t think anything important will happen, after all, it has nothing to do with the plot.
The mission requires us to investigate the disappearance of several people in a small town near the Empire’s border, which is smaller than Carthin but in better condition.
But recently, in the past weeks, 21 people have disappeared in a strange way without leaving any trace behind, or so they say.
The city patrols searched for any useful clues: bodies, blood... anything indicating how they disappeared, but in the end, all investigations yielded nothing. So we were given this mission to help city security discover what is happening and prevent any further disappearances.
And this time, this mission did not include the entire elite class; instead, we were divided into two groups of seven people. My group will go to this mission, while the other group will handle another task.
My group includes: me, Kyle, Elliot, Izel, the Princess, Leona, and Talia; seven people in total... while Ivan and Garon were sent to the other mission with the rest of the class.
And now, here I am riding the train headed to Helen, the city where the disappearances occurred.
Why don’t we use teleportation portals to make it faster like last time?
In fact, there are two types of teleportation portals.
The first can send you to the coordinates you want, but activating it is very expensive, so the Academy only uses it during emergencies, special occasions, or to head to isolated places.
As for the other, they are those portals linked to each other; this type isn’t as expensive as the first, but the problem is that small towns do not contain one, so we always end up riding the train for several hours.
I sat in the seat assigned to me near the window while staring at the scenery outside the train.
In fact, it wasn’t assigned to me but to Elliot, but I like sitting near the window so I took it.
We sat in two opposite seats, where Elliot and I sat face to face with Leona and Talia.
"So, what do you guys think is the cause of the disappearances?" Talia asked.
In the past hours, we reviewed the files of the victims, who included men, women, and even children. There was nothing in common between them; not age, nor gender, nor even the place of residence, so we had no starting point other than our imagination.
Elliot seemed to think of something as he answered: "Maybe it’s a serial killer or something similar, with an ability that enables him to erase any traces behind him."
Well, that was a very reasonable guess. This matter might be related to the Void system, but that isn’t their way; anyway, I still need to be cautious.
The three spoke and exchanged opinions throughout the way while leaving me in my own peace. Since the mental capacity test, their behavior toward me has changed slightly—not in a bad way, anyway—so I didn’t care.
The train came to a complete stop, and the loudspeaker asked the passengers to disembark, and so did we. We gathered with the others before exiting the train, and like last time, there was someone from city security to receive us.
So there he is standing before us, a man who seemed to be in his late twenties, with dark hair and a light beard on his face.
He gave us a small bow: "Welcome, Axis students, to Helen... my name is Rock, and I am here to fulfill your requests and answer your inquiries."
He straightened himself: "Now, you must be tired, so let me guide you to the place where you will be staying."
The Princess simply nodded.
"Please."
No one objected; because the sun was almost setting already, and it wasn’t appropriate to start the investigation at night.
...
In the end, we found ourselves sitting in a reception room, while Rock was briefing us on the cases of disappearance.
"The first to disappear was a man living alone in his home, after his wife died last year."