My Evil System

"His commanding presence drew men to him, yet he had no friends. Women were drawn to him but he showed no interest. He is the youngest son of House Volmont, Edward Volmont. One of the four powerful houses here in the Kingdom of Rustin.

"The four houses are the backbone of this country, and their influence is second only to the Church. Even the King and Queen of this country are no match for their power. They could usurp the throne if they wanted to.

"But rumors had it that they needed a puppet to sit on the throne while they roam free and did whatever they wanted.

"It was a known fact throughout campus that Edward was courting Amara, and the woman had been living like a princess ever since.

"Too bad that Amara doesn\'t like him. Apparently, she sees Edward as boastful and arrogant. I guess not even a status of a prince can charm her.

"Or she was just playing hard to get it. Some said that Amara didn\'t like Edward because of the custom of nobles marrying more than one wife. Others said that she didn\'t want to be his wife because of his arrogant and boastful character.

"But whatever it is . . . one thing is for sure. Even not returning his affection, Amara enjoyed the attention. Also, rumors had it that Edward\'s ATP were all in the thousands already."

Just two hundred. I corrected him in my brain.

But I was indeed intrigued. Looking over at Amara, there was something tugging at my heart. She was still the same . . . using others\' affection to her advantage.

Just like what she did with me when we were in grade school when I bought her those expensive magic pencils in return for promising to be my girlfriend but ended up with my best friend instead.

<Host should just do the main quest and have your revenge!>

The best revenge was by showing her that I was living my life to the fullest.

<Making her jealous and envious is good and all, but she doesn\'t even recognize you, Host,>

". . ."

"Whoa . . . She\'s that amazing," Thomas said, and he looked over at me and whispered. "Aren\'t you going to talk to her? Maybe she would remember you now?"

I shook my head. "It\'s fine. I also forgot most of our time during grade school. It was such a long time, after all."

I did remember. I just didn\'t want to talk about Amara and me. There was nothing to tell. She was popular and I was not. End of story.

<Not for long if Host takes that Handsome Elixir>

Jorge was still spouting some nonsense. While adding in suitable interjections to show that I was listening to him, I exchanged looks with Thomas to move into the main topic.

"Maybe you should stop there?" I said when Jorge was already giving information about some random lewd encounters of his.

"You\'re right. I forgot that I should only tell you one gossip. So how about it?" Jorge grinned. "Want to hear about the four families or how about the players? One that you should befriend with and one that you should avoid? It would only cost you 100 CR or 1000 gil per topic."

I looked at him in disbelief. "So expensive?"

Jorge shrugged. "Not as expensive as this boar, though.

"Your choice. You can roam around here and bump into players that you shouldn\'t have and risk of being the target of bullying or you can avoid them and save yourself another peaceful day. Being ignorant has its consequences, you know."

Thomas didn\'t know what to do and he shifted his eyes at me and Jorge. He was waiting for my answer from the looks of it.

Though I didn\'t want to admit it, Jorge had a point. If I wanted to know more about the school and this world, I needed to acquire this information even though I had to pay for it.

Besides, I had so many gil. Was there something I couldn\'t afford right now?

<Host is beginning to embrace his evilness. You\'re not the one who harvested the money, but you\'re the one using it. Kekekeke>

Ha? I was a part of this whole idea, okay. Even if my other self didn\'t think of those Crystals Lights, I would think of it later on.

<Right . . . ~>

"Okay," I said reluctantly. "I\'ll pay you in gil. Tell me those names."

Jorge\'s eyes shone with delight. "Money first," he said, waving his hand at me.

"I\'ll pay," Thomas immediately volunteered but I was quick to hand 1000 gil to Jorge which the latter quickly pocketed.

"Well then, let\'s start with the first one you should avoid," Jorge said. "It seems like a lot of people are talking about this player called Jin. Apparently, he is a newbie who joined the Thieves guild just recently. He has been seen around town quite often and even in the dungeons. Rumour has it that he is also a Bug Player like Amara."

"So he is currently here?" I asked.

Jorge pointed to a lone man sitting in a corner. His face was hidden by a hoodie by his fur jacket, and based on the bits of appearance I could make out. His hair was white and his frame was lean.

"Jin himself, strangely, was as much an enigma to his companions as to us. He was counted amongst the greatest Thief of his age, yet he took no pleasure in feats of arms and never done any fights in school."

Jorge then leaned a little and whispered in our ears while his eyes were straining left and right. "Rumors had it that Jin possessed a special ability and already killed hundreds of players. So you better stir clear from that one."

". . ." That was not how I read him using Evil Eyes, though. It said in his bio that he got transported here six months ago. He did possess a certain skill that was unique to him, and he was indeed a BUG player.

But given his class, he could only level his AGI 5x with 100 EXP.

His skill, [Silent Killer], allowed him to instantly kill his opponent as long as his STR, AGI, and LCK were higher than his enemy. If either one was lacking, then his skill was useless.

What\'s more . . . though he appeared serious and aloof, the reason why he enrolled in the academy after six months of roaming around was because of a woman.

And it wasn\'t Amara for once.

"Alright, next," said Jorge and simply pointed at the lady sitting on a chair alone. From the looks of it, she was also a loner like Jin.

She possessed black hair and purple eyes. Hers was a harsh, austere beauty. But the funny thing was, she was the reason why Jin was here in the first place.

"She\'s Lina, and like Jin, you should avoid her."

"She seemed nice," Thomas interjected.

Jorge laughed. "On the outside. But even those who knew her found Lina stern, serious, and unforgiving. There\'s this guy that pestered her once, and he died without a trace."

It was probably Jin\'s doing. I thought.

"There\'s also one time when she was minding her own business, and some guy who didn\'t know what\'s good for him approached her, and she got annoyed and blew a hole in his skull."

"Egh? Is fighting in school allowed?" Thomas asked, shaking in his seat.

Jorge stared him seriously in the eyes. "What do you think?"

Thomas shrunk on his seat. "B-but I thought that this place is safe?"

Jorge laughed in a condescending manner. "This school only provides roof and food for newbies, but it didn\'t mean that killing here isn\'t allowed."

"N-no way . . ." Thomas shaking seemed like he had epilepsy. I couldn\'t blame him, though.

We really thought that the school was a safe heaven. I guess there was no safe haven anywhere in this world.

<Host, should just create one and smashed those who threatened you into a pulp>

Shut it.

"That\'s why it\'s important to know who your friends and enemies are because, at the end of the day, this school is just another prison with your only chance of survival is lying low and avoiding players you should avoid," Jorge said in grim voice and I thought Thomas stopped breathing when I noticed his pale face.

Jorge then broke into a smile and laughed. "But, of course. The chances of that are low since there are teachers and other players present here. Chances are, they would intervene if your life is on the line."

At least, that made Thomas breathe easy . . . and me too.

"So all we have to do is make sure that we\'re in a crowded place, right?" Thomas asked with a trembling voice desperate for a confirmation.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)