The Over-Break System

-Tier-2 Creature XP: (1000 x Level) = Base, (Base x BC )= Actual, where B = Brance Modifier (2), and C is Double XP (set to 1 unless double rewards)-

The four members of MyrkLys held their slips of paper, staring at them with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before setting about destroying them. Brance, Gabby, and Benny began tearing the paper into small chunks before pulling out small butane lighters from their wilderness survival kits stored within their inventories and burning the pieces. Only Selene handed hers back to Cynrik for disposal. With a snap of his middle finger and thumb, a small flame manifested and burned away the evidence.

“It is imperative you don’t leak this information, as it pertains directly to one of our faction’s biggest secrets. Although it isn’t privatized information how much XP you can gain from a creature, our calculations will always be different. The only reason I told everyone this is so they can prepare for the monstrous amount of creature kills we need to complete to achieve our goal.”

“Anyway, that’s all I have to say; for now, everyone should go about getting what they need to unlock their Sub-Class.” Standing up and stretching out his back, Cynrik concluded the meeting and motioned at Selene with his eyes, telling her to follow him to his bedroom.

Realizing he wanted something that could only be said between the two of them, Selene happily obliged and sauntered behind her man, closing the door to the bedroom and locking it.

Meanwhile, everyone else stared dumbfoundedly at the two’s disappearance act.

“You don’t think….” Gabby asked with a slight blush on her face. She was no fool; her Mom had already given her the birds and bees speech before leaving for the Academy.

“They wouldn’t, right?” Even Brance was slightly surprised by how bold the two were appearing.

“It’s none of our business, anyway; you two should change and head to the marketplace. Apparently, we wasted a whole day today, and it’s already a quarter after 5. Things will start closing in a few hours, so you may want to get going.” Standing up and putting the SeleneXCynrik situation out of his mind, Benny shooed off his sister and Brance to go to separate bathrooms and change.

One thing Cynrik had instilled in everyone after the first day of school, where he and Brance destroyed their uniforms, was to keep a spare set on them at all times within their inventories. And since school policy dictated all enrolled students MUST wear their uniform even on the weekend so long as they are outside of their dorms, Benny reminded them to change out of their workout clothes.

“Also…take a shower; you two both reak,” Benny said while holding his nose and walking towards his bedroom. However, when he passed Cynrik’s, he couldn’t help but pause his steps out of curiosity, but after a few seconds, the only sound heard was the shower running, so he gave up on eavesdropping and opened his door to check on Melody.

To his surprise, she was already awake and sitting up in bed, under the covers, with tired, unfocused eyes.

“Melly!” Running to the side of the bed and taking her hand, Benny happily chirped.

“How are you feeling? Are you still sore or injured anywhere?” Frantically speaking with a worried expression on his face, Benny checked her pulse from her wrist and placed the back of his hand on her forehead.

“I… I’m ok, Benny, just tired. So I guess it’s safe to say Björn’s trick calmed down my codex?” Looking around the room for a second before weekly smiling at Benny with a light blush on her cheeks, Melody asked in a soft voice.

“Yeah, I’m sorry you had to go through that; the Ragnarsson Brothers are a little…different; they prefer to do everything themselves and have all these weird ways of patching everyone up when we get hurt. Anyway, you had me..us pretty worried when you passed out, and you’ve been unconscious all day.” Benny exhaled a sigh of relief but stumbled through his words, changing me to us in embarrassment.

“So, this is your bedroom, huh? I didn’t think the first time I came in here; I’d be in such a sorry state. HM; you didn’t try anything funny, did you?” Melody teased, giving Benny a fox-like grin.

“Of course not; I just made sure you were still breathing after tucking you in so that you could rest. You were in so much pain and kept chugging down potions; I was one step away from taking you to the infirmary, but Björn said he could help, and since he has the lig,” Benny’s erratic sentence was cut off by a pair of soft lips pressing against his own.

Pulling her lips away from Benny, Melody panicked and hid under the blankets. She didn’t know how else to make Benny stop. He was so sweet and worried about her well-being that Melody made the first move and gave him her first kiss.

Although she was the same age as Selene, and Benny was clearly younger since he was in his First Year, she had never been close to a boy, let alone in one’s bedroom. This was because most boys in school were terrified of her Mom since she was a Professor. But Benny and his friends were different. They didn’t seem to care about her being older or that her parents were Academy Staff. They treated her like everyone else, and for this, she felt oddly comfortable around them all.

Still, Benny was different, usually calm and collected; she couldn’t help but find it fun teasing him to see what kind of new reactions he would make. And now, although she desperately wanted to see what kind of face he was wearing after the kiss, she was far too embarrassed to peek out from under the cover.

Benny was equally embarrassed and sat motionlessly; his hand raised with his fingers touching his lips in shocked silence. Just like Melody, that had been his first kiss, and it would be a lie to say he didn’t enjoy it. He could still faintly feel the warmth from when the girl sneak attacked him.

Gathering his courage and steeling his resolve, Benny leaned forward and slowly pulled down the blanket exposing the red-faced girl with sparkling eyes looking up at him.

“Melody, will you be my girlfriend?” Benny could feel his heart threatening to explode out of his chest as the words left his mouth.

Still, mainly under the blanket, and with her two small hands gripping the edge, Melody nodded “yes” slowly, with eyes glistening.

Benny smiled widely, getting the confirmation, and leaned forward, planting a kiss on her forehead.

—

Meanwhile, while the budding new relationship was being affirmed, Brance and Gabby had already met back in the living room after changing into their uniforms and were on their way out the door.

“Um, Brancie…do you not want me to go into your bedroom with you?” Gabby nervously said as she pulled at the hem of her skirt.

“Huh? What are you saying?” Stopping dead in his tracks as he was about to close the door, Brance turned and looked at the back of the girl standing a few paces ahead of him.

“Well…um…Brother and Melly are in his room, and Big Bro Cyn took Selene to his. Aren’t we…you know…boyfriend girlfriend too? So shouldn’t you bring me into your room like them?” By this point, Gabby had turned bright red and refused to look at Brance, but if she had, she would have seen the incredulous look he was giving her.

Heaving a sigh, Brance turned around, closed the front door, and ensured it was locked before tapping the ground and appearing in front of Gabby, who was staring intently at her feet.

“Gabriella, look at me, please.” Unsure if it was the tone in his voice or the fact that it was Brance using her full first name instead of calling her Gabby like he usually did, she immediately turned up her small frightened, bright red face and met his eyes.

“We aren’t like them, ok? Especially not like Big Brother and Selene. I don’t want to rush anything between us, alright?” Cupping her cheek tenderly and lifting Gabby’s chin slightly.

“Mm,” Gabby replied in a daze.

“We don’t need to jump into physical stuff until we are older, so don’t let those morons coax you into anything; what you and I do is between us and is none of their business. So for now, let’s just keep things as we have been…ok?” Brance had been worried for some time now about having this conversation. Especially with how physical Selene and Cynrik had been acting around the rest of the group.

Although he cared deeply about Gabby, in his mind, it was still WAY too early for anything other than middle school romance, like holding hands or a peck on the cheek. Thus, he refused to go any further until at least their 4th or 5th year at the Academy.

“Ok, Brancie, I understand.” Even though she was slightly disheartened, Gabby knew Brance had her best interest at heart. After hearing Selene talk about all kinds of different things, she had grown curious, but if Brance said he didn’t think they were ready to move on, she would accept it.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Brance leaned forward, brushed Gabby’s bangs out of the way, and lightly kissed her forehead.

“You are my girlfriend, and I am your boyfriend, so don’t get all worked up just because I don’t say it all the time.” Stepping back and smiling warmly at the girl, who was all fidgety, Brance nearly chuckled due to how adorable she was acting.

“Anyway, we gotta hurry up and make it past the checkpoints. I don’t want to get caught by the food rush and get stuck behind a large crowd.” Gently taking her hand in his, Brance pulled Gabby along and jogged away from the dorm.

“Hehe, kay!”

—

While Gabby and Brance were on their way out, inside Cynrik’s bedroom, Selene sat on the bed, and Cynrik was pacing back and forth with an agitated expression on his face.

“Cyn, are you sure? I mean, what if you are just acting overly paranoid right now. We have all had a pretty stressful day, so it would be understandable if you saw something that wasn’t there.” Selene stated as she cupped her chin with her hands and rested her elbows on her knees.

“No, no, that isn’t possible, nothing can escape my [Mana Sight], and I am telling you, I saw a small animal watching over us while we had our meeting earlier. It was no bigger than a mouse, but it was definitely there one minute and gone the next.” Stopping and giving Selene a frustrated glance, Cynrik crossed his arms before continuing to pace.

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you, darling; it’s just too random. Do you think there is a Tamer within the spies who sent one of their tamed beasts into the house?”

“That is the most likely scenario; someone needs to be on guard at all times now, especially if these bastards can infiltrate our dorm without setting off the high-level security systems I’ve put in place.”

-This series is exclusively published on Web if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg