The Over-Break System

Cynrik stood quietly in the room with Gabby for several minutes after the Professor left, his heart racing in excitement and a matching grin plastered across his lips. When the old man had moved, it was so fast that he appeared to be teleporting even with [Mana Sight] active. However, that wasn’t the scariest thing about the man; instead, Cynrik had no idea how powerful he was. For the first time ever, his skill had failed to give him a comprehensible reading, opening the door for speculation about Professor Constantine’s strength.

“Heh, sometimes this world never ceases to amaze me,” chuckling under his breath, Cynrik shook his head and licked his lips. He had faced down fearsome beings way more powerful than him in the past, and come out on top only because of his wit and planning, yet when he thought back to how helpless he felt in the instant Professor Constantine moved, he couldn’t help but feel defeated. If the old man had wanted him dead, there wouldn’t have been a thing he could do.

“Oh well, no point dwelling on it; let’s head out, Gabby, onward to the cafeteria.” However, when Cynrik turned around, Gabby was petrified, pale as a sheet, and sweating heavily.

“Eh? What’s got you all riled up, little rabbit?” Waving his hand in front of her face, Cynrik asked.

“He…he…he was so fast, and his Image, so much pain and sorrow, how can he deal with it in silence?” Gabby whispered quietly, tears forming in her eyes.

After reaching Tier-2, Gabby’s Psychic Affinity had undergone a massive qualitative leap. However, one of the side effects came to light when she was around people with strong emotions. She had described it to the party as everyone having a hazy colored version of themselves floating behind them, or on their shoulder, like a ghost. Titling these ghosts as “Images,” the more realistic they were, the stronger the emotions. She was even able to tell what those emotions were due to the facial expressions and size of the ghost effect.

“Gabby, tell me what you saw.” Cynrik’s expression turned stern at the girl’s words, and he pulled her to sit down on the nearest table before crouching down and looking her in the eyes. To comfort her, Cynrik even placed several sourballs in her hands.

“His Image was impossible to see fully; it was like the size of that snake guy we fought, instead of a mini-person on their shoulder. Its face transitioned from rage to sorrow to howling in silent pain. And its eyes, Big bro Cy…Ivar its eyes were lifeless as if everything it ever loved had died while it watched on helplessly.” Closing her hand around the candies, Gabby took a deep breath before telling Cynrik everything she saw.

“It makes sense, Gabby; once you reach a certain age, you tend to experience many things; friends you had may pass away, and let’s not forget that it wasn’t that long ago when the world was a chaotic mess of monsters. So how old do you think the Professor is?” Trying to make sense of the description, Cynrik realized something, If the Professor was at a potentially higher Tier than the HeadMaster, shouldn’t he have a longer lifespan than lower Tiers? The fact that the old man appeared to be in his 90s meant that he was clearly significantly older, but to what extent.

“I…im not sure, but if the size of the Image can be considered a reference for Age and strength, then He is at least a couple hundred years old.” Slowly unwrapping one of the candies and placing it in her mouth, Gabby calmed her heart and exhaled heavily before patting Cynrik’s head.

“Thank you, Big Bro; I am okay now; it freaked me out for a second to see that.” Giving him a weak smile, Gabby hopped down from the table and walked to the door with her hands clasped behind her back and over her skirt.

“We gotta go meet the others for lunch; if not, well, im sure your Daaaarrling~ Selly will be all sad and stuff.” Putting on a teasing face, Gabby poked at the still crouching Cynrik, who jumped up and chased her out of the room with grumpy mumbles.

[[Hey, we are on our way, where are you guys at?]] Walking out of the Scholar Wing, Cynrik opened up the party mind link and was instantly inundated by a rapid-fire of comments.

[[WOWWWW Fancy of you to finally talk to us.]] Brance smugly retorted.

[[Oh, look, Cyn has remembered we exist, isn’t that nice?]] Selene’s voice was laced with heavy sarcasm.

[[He must be hiding something from us, maybe he spent the whole time flirting with my Gabby, tsk.]]

[[GASP, DON’T YOU DARE CYN, GABBY IS LIKE MY FAVORITE PERSON, BUT IF YOU THINK FOR A MINUTE I’LL ALLOW YOU TO LOOK AT OTHER WOMEN, YOU’LL HAVE TO FACE MY WRATH.]]

[[Oh shit, Selene’s goin all Tsundere, Cyn, you better state your case while you can, I’m already struggling to hold her back. HEY, STOP TRYINA BREAK SHIT, SELENE.]] Brance used his usual teasing voice and acted out as if he had Selene in a headlock while she struggled to break free.

[[Will you both SHUT THE FUCK UP! We have a huge fucking problem right now, and I don’t have time to deal with your childish bullshit.]] Gritting his teeth, Cynrik snapped in the mind link, shutting up the two knuckleheads.

It took some time, but for the duration of the walk to the cafeteria and most of the one-hour Lunch period, Cynrik explained everything he had learned from his class, only to be met by silence from Selene and Brance when he finished his narration.

[[Now, I don’t want to jump to conclusions, nor am I going to bother with theories, for now, I will stick with what we know. Currently, it is 3299 ACSH (After Central System Hub), which means that over six thousand years ago, another Strife was triggered in the ancient Vinestra. This Strife, in which the Deities came down and “bestowed” upon the many races a way to evolve and dominate their foes, led to the inevitable reshuffling of power; then, the so-called Mana Burst caused planetary destruction on top of the merging of continents.]]

Sitting at a long lunch table with benches instead of chairs, Cynrik scooped a spoonful of Mac and Cheese into his mouth while glancing between Selene and Brance.

[[Things continued like that for a couple thousand more years until all the champions, or as we would call them, Charges, were chosen, and then the TRUE battle for Vinestra began. Mass Slaughters, eradication of races, the Egresses’ arrival, it all points in the direction of the LS.]]

[[The last thing we learned about is how these three “Legendary Heroes,” as they’ve been dubbed, put their heads together and forged the founding platform for the Central System Hub.]] Finishing his bowl of food, Cynrik placed the spoon down and sighed.

[[Oh, I also forgot to mention, the Professor, who is like 90 years old physically, tried to jumpscare me and almost made Gabby shit herself.]] Cynrik casually threw in as he began cleaning up his and Selene’s treys so he could toss them in the garbage.

[[WAIT WOAH WOAH WOAH, Hold the fucking phone, WHAT! A teacher basically assaulted you and scared Gabby, and you don’t LEAD with that?]] Brance froze mid-motion as he, too, was in the process of cleaning up after Gabby and himself.

[[Bah, it was no biggy, Professor Constantine wasn’t showing hostility, he just closed a gap of like 25 meters in the blink of an eye and got in my face, is all, I had your little girlfriend blocked off behind me, so I woulda taken the brunt of the attack if that was what he planned. But instead, he just gave me a typical old man speech about letting go of the past and not allowing it to hinder me.]]

[[I figure he probably got some kind of memo about our so-called “Mental Health” and “instability,” in fact, im pretty sure all our teachers were filled in on us ahead of time.]] Shrugging his shoulders and getting up, with Selene hot on his heels, Cynrik walked over and tossed the garbage in a can, and made his way out of the large dining hall.

[[But the whole Gabby being scared thing is because of her new latent ability to read people with her Affinity. Apparently, the dude is super old and emotionally damaged. What do you expect, though? Who knows how much shit he’s seen in his couple hundred-year lifespan. On the other hand, he is clearly one of the Upper Eschelon of the Academy, and his power level was too high for me to read, so odds are he is one of the Guardians or something who got roped into teaching history because he’s old.]]

Placing his and Gabby’s treys into the garbage, Brance pulled out a bottle of hand sanitizer to clean his hands before giving some to Gabby and double-checking that she was okay after the incident. Once he verified that she was, Brance hurried Gabby and Benny after Selene and Cynrik out of the dining hall and into an expansive open courtyard lined with trees and flowers.

“Hmmm, this feels like a date, Ivar, teehee, the two of us walking under the trees like a couple,” Selene said, wearing a broad smile as she looped her arm around Cynrik’s, walking happily beside him.

“Oh? I figured you were the “walking through a hellscape of corpses and fire kinda girl,” I didn’t take you for one who enjoys the “pretty” nature hikes. Guess you learn something new every day.” Replying sarcastically, Cynrik smirked and looked up to the sky where the three Sun’s hung equidistant apart.

“Hmph, I can be girly sometimes. Besides, that other one you said doesn’t sound so bad if it’s only the two of us and not the three tagalongs.” Selene glanced over her shoulder and saw Benny, Brance, and Gabby jogging over.

“Tsk, it looks like our alone time is over.” Noticing their arrival as well, Cynrik couldn’t help but feel bitter; he had to admit, it was slightly, maybe a little, entertaining to spend time alone with Selene.

Slowing down to let the others catch up, Cynrik turned to look at Benny.

“Lead the way, Benny; up next is 3rd Period Combatives Class; I know you three probably didn’t get much of a workout since your Tank Class was all fundamental theories and formations, so we should be able to work up a decent sweat. Odds are, the Professor will end up pitting us against each other since I don’t foresee there being any other First Year Tier-2s in the class, so just take it easy and don’t show off too much.” Cynrik said, stepping aside to let the excited Benny pass by and take point.

“Gotcha, Big Bro; we still have around 30 minutes until the next period, which is plenty of time; let’s go.” Seeing Benny act so animated, a far cry from his usual quiet and stoic persona, was a fresh change of pace for the party, who all chuckled and followed after him.

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