AThousandCurses

Iris Ascendis

An answer? Ms. Steeler's response was vague but held a complexity that Chunji didn't know whether he should involve himself with. There was too little to go off of, but was Ms. Steeler talking about Rio? Rio fulfilled the criteria of being male and being a bodyguard to Chloe. Though with her calling him a hamster seemed to contradict this hypothesis. Whatever the case, Chunji decided to shelf it for later. It wasn't his business.

"I see." Principal Raja's favoritism seemed to be more apparent than ever. Chunji felt bad when comparing the differential treatment between Chloe and every other student that received Raja's grace. If Raja was clearly interested in Chloe's research, then wouldn't she at least have the Alchemy Professor oversee it? It seemed that perhaps Raja saw this as more of a pet project than any other.

Chunji's eyes narrowed at the ground by the time Chloe had moved herself into his frame of vision. Chloe was right, the Professor was still sound asleep. "Yes," Chunji gave a short response. His transfixed eyes faded away as he turned to look at Chloe. "My Ethos allows me to see what I want to see." It was a simple explaination even though Ethos were fundamentally complicated by nature. "With it, I've located the nearest faculty in the area."

Walking up to the door, Chunji tried to 'neaten' the door as much as he could before continuing. "The Alchemy Professor is currently underground and in a state of unconscious. Judging by his appearance he's seemed to have exhausted himself with his last night's activities." Already the Alchemy Professor surpassed his respect for Principal Raja. It was an incredibly low bar to begin with, but nonethenless, Chunji respect hard working individuals. "If you want you can go find him. Since I lack any permission of the sort, I'll have to remain outside."

Expedition to Isekai

"...Maybe it would be better if I was gone." For both them and her. Whatever good will she had with the students had disappeared when she struck Ayana. Would the situation back at the meeting worsen if she hadn't hit used her fascimile against Ayana? Thinking made her stressed her out and getting stressed out meant that she wasn't happy. If she wasn't happy then that meant she was living the carefree life that she had desired.

Slowly confidence grew inside her. "Yes, yes, I have to do this." Strength gathered inside her as Shun stood right back up. With a swipe of her sleeve the moisture was swept away. "Maybe I can find a way out. I'm fast, I bet I can discover more of this strange world if I look around." The fuel in her exhaust was still full, though there was a question to be made. Where would she rest? The night had dawned in and the relatively safe place was the lake. Though that mainly was because the group was there.

This would most likely be her only opportunity to leave the group. After that she'd would need to discover food, water, and shelter all by herself. She had a full bottle of water, and she'd recently eaten. That was about it. Refinding food and shelter would prove to be an ardous task for the middle school student, if she wanted to survive in these lands. However, a sudden thought crept into her head.

"Do I really need to do all that?"

In this hopeless, foreign world, Shun had an epiphany. Did she really need to survive to be happy? There was no escape in this land, her classmates were bound to kill each other eventually, and the flag of death loomed over her head. Wouldn't it be better to be herself till the very end? To feel the wind brush against her hair. A cry of joy and a sense of euphoria. A sudden calmness washed over Shun.

Seemingly a trance, Shun departed into the forest. Any thoughts of long-term survival had vanished as she disappeared into the woods. What did the world have to offer for her compromised life? It was a question Shun would have to find for herself.

Iris Ascendis

So, Clover name wasn't Clover. For a brief moment Chunji felt embarrassed, but soon began to rationalize it. Everyone made mistakes and mistakes are what build people from the ground up, there was simply no shame in making them. However, Chunji swore to never make the same mistake again. "I see, Ms... Steeler. I too will apologize, for getting your name wrong and making assumptions." Chunji didn't call the elf by her first name, because he had spaced out due to his embarrassement.

Putting aside Ms. Steeler's grand delusions of narcissism, Chunji listened closely to her woes. So, Chloe was also one of the ones that the Principal has paid attention too. Granted, it seemed Chloe less favored than the ones previously met and she did receive permission in comparison to Emelie's situation. Though that begged a question. "Ms. Steeler, if I may ask, what are you researching?" To have the Principal give permission meant that Chloe's research had some invested interest in it.

There was a lot more questions, but none of them pertained to their topic of alchemy at the moment. For now, Chunji wanted to focus on the alchemical arts before anything else. "In any case are you aware of the person in charge of the workshop? I'd assume that the faculty would have unlocked the doors for you if the Principal Raja gave you permission to do so." Whether it be the Alchemical Professor or a janitor, they'd have the key to unlock the door.

Speaking of which, Chunji scanned the nearby surroundings. "透过现象看本质." The new world had opened to Chunji's eyes once more. He wanted to see if there was anybody nearby, preferably any of the faculty. He'd prefer not to commit breaking and entering within academy grounds. Well, the breaking might have already been done, thanks to Ms. Steeler, but they hadn't entered yet. Chunji assumed it didn't matter whether or not if the workshop was opened or not, as long as they had someone to watch over the experiments it would be fine.

Iris Ascendis

I'll post tomorrow!

Iris Ascendis

Wow. Looks like she does have a nice side.

**Turns out it was a ploy all along and she's just luring Chunji into a false sense of security**

Iris Ascendis

It would seem the elf, Clover, he recalled incorrectly, was as healthy as an ox. This analogy was utilized because Clover was using a short-sighted, brutish method of getting inside the workshop. For an elf that acted high and mighty, she always resorted to violence at a moment's notice. It was an interesting view that Chunji didn't reject. Some problems could be resolved with unrelenting fury, and Chunji would need to remember that if he wanted to grow as a person. However, it did surprise him that Clover was into alchemy.

"Facilities are required to be monitored by trusted staff to ensure materials aren't stolen nor used for illegal experiments. As we are both first-year students who have been here for less than a day and outside of opening hours, we do not have access to such an establishment at the current time. Position in the social hierarchy is irrelevant to the current case as the academy has accepted Strigidae into the academy." The only Strigidae Chunji had encountered was the Owl Boy, but his case still stood.

"Furthermore, constant attempts to enter the room without permission may warrant trespassing. Any damages inflicted on the door may be fined to you on a small amount of silver coin. As a witness to this blatant attempt of crime, I will have no choice but to report this if needed."

This was Chunji's 'helpful' advice to Clover against banging against the door. He genuinely believed that Clover needed an explanation for her rhetorical question on why the apothecary was closed to them at this given time. After all, she looked frustrated, so Chunji decided to give her some advice. Then it hit him. Was this what they called compassion? Is concern over another living being aside from oneself? Could this be a way to solve his problems in healing magic? Deciding on the course of action, Chunji proceeded with the next step.

"I see that you have recovered. How are your injuries now?" Chunji began. "You took a variety of attacks during the orientation. From a knife to the spine, getting hit by Divine magic from fifty feet in the sky, and getting kicked in the face. I'd imagine that'd be rather painful to experience." Speaking of kicks, he still needed to get his shoe replaced. "Granted, that could stem from your actions of painting a target onto your back, but nonetheless, you have sympathies." With a nod and his ever-expressionless face, Chunji did not realize that his delivery came off as a provocation rather than genuine empathy.

"Regardless, I am glad you have recovered. Clover."

Iris Ascendis

Say, what is the currency in thsi world?

Expedition to Isekai

Things were getting bad. Things were getting really bad. Shun felt as if a chunk of sand was fitted into her mouth. She could not speak as the discussion was about to turn into a bloodbath. It was suffocating and Shun was trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation. She at least needed to mediate before things got worse, but every time she opened her mouth the metaphorical sand filled her mouth.

Asahi was wiring out his facsimile. Ayana, or Oros, seemed to take his threat as a challenge. Akito was getting strangled by a newly facsimile armored Kogen. As much as Shun felt upset over Akito's comment, Kogen going out of the line. This needed to be stop before it got ugly. Though just like her mouth, Shun's body stiffened. The recent memory of crushing Ayana's bones were relatively fresh on her mind. The mental breakdown she had in the forest only steeled that fear.

If she were to interfere now, she would make things worse. Just like with Ayana, just like with Masato, just like with Yuudai.

As the chaos ensued, Shun slipped away from the group and made her way back into the forest. She clutched her arms together as she darted into the woods. Everything would be alright, they could solve it by themselves. There wasn't a need to be there. Yes, they could do it by themselves. They were classmates for almost a year, surely they could solve it by themselves.

Shun rationalized to herself. She didn't realize how far she went, but as long as it was far away from the camp it would be okay. She could already come back when she needed too.

Iris Ascendis

Opening his eyes, Chunji made note of his surroundings. Rio had already left the room, so Chunji was the sole occupant of the room currently. As if clockwork, Chunji immediately prepared himself for the day. Streches, basic hygiene practices, and cleaning his glasses, Chunji grabbed one of the books he had from the library and disembarked from his room.

There were several hours before the first class would start, so he had some time to himself. A stroll would help circulate blood through his veins.

'Dayin, set an alarm for 8:00 AM.' The rustling of pages were heard in the echoes of Chunji's mind. If it was anything like orientation, Chunji felt that there was going to be more chaos in the future. His opinion on the academy were already low, so he already expected them to be broken again.

A loud bang echoed throughout the halls. Chunji had paid no heed to it, but his path laid outside of the dorm. Reaching the scene, if Chunji had any doubts that Rio was still injured, there were dismissed as Rio stood before three students. Chunji could already tell that this was going to be a common occurence. Just as Chunji was about to move on, Chunji made eye contact with him. Out of politeness, Chunji gave a robotic wave before moving on.

He spotted the Owl Boy and one of his orientation accomplices going down to the courtyard. Chunji briefly thought of follow them but decided against it. They had no connection outside of orientation and stalking wasn't something Chunji would take a hobby. Instead, he went to check if there were any workshops for practicing alchemy.

There was a chance that they would be closed, given the time of day, but it was better to seek it out now rather than later.

Iris Ascendis

Yoooo? Baten Kaitos? Based????