In just a moment Victor was put in a vulnerable situation. If everyone knew he lacked a combat ability, he knew he would face more people trying to bully him out of his shards. So for as long as possible, he should try to keep the details under wraps. Victor could only trust his friends with knowledge of his ability, but he might soon be forced to reveal it to someone else.
Even so, Victor tried his best to worm his way out of the situation by firmly keeping his mouth shut, yet he found a strange pressure building up in his head. Eventually, like a breaking dam, that pressure forced his mouth open, and he was compelled to speak.
"I already turned them into attuned shards."
The pressure disappeared, and he experienced a slight, imperceptible weight lift from his body.
Rufus's expression turned from bored indifference to intrigue. "How did you do it so fast?"
This time Victor tried telling only half the truth so he didn't expose himself too much, yet he would still be telling the truth. "I just used my ability."
Yet as Victor paused, he didn't feel another weight lifting off of his body. In fact, that strange pressure kept building. 'It seems lying by omission doesn't work either.' Once again the words involuntarily spilled out of Victor's mouth.
"Turns out I can interact with the shards directly and speed up their absorption." Victor sighed in defeat, feeling another small weight lift from his body.
Rufus's eyes then flashed as his expression turned serious. "Your ability... Can you use it on other people?"
Since the cat was already out of the bag, Victor decided he might as well market himself as useful. He recalled seeing Darius's prismatic hand and Rosa's pinwheel at that precise moment. The fact that he could even see them in the first place indicated it should be possible. "I think so. I just haven't tried it out yet."
Rufus sucked in a breath. "Does anyone else know about your ability?"
Victor shrugged before answering. "Just a few people." Obviously those people were his friends, but Victor didn't feel the need to elaborate on that.
The pair finally reached the entrance of the medical center as Rufus considered Victor silently before nodding. "This year is definitely going to get more difficult from here on out. It would be beneficial for us if we formed an alliance. So how about it?"
"I'll think about it." Victor responded noncommittally.
"Anyway, I've got places to be, just think about it for now." Rufus then left, disappearing down the hallway.
Victor watched Rufus round the corner before walking through the door to get himself treated.
'What an interesting guy. He seems to know a lot. He definitely could be useful.'
A short time passed in the room as the staff used a mix of machines and abilities to determine his condition before injecting him with a vial of healing liquid. Victor felt the uncomfortable feeling in his chest subside as his bones began to reconnect.
"You'll be fine in around 30 mins." The nurse said. Victor quickly thanked the nurse and headed over to the cafeteria to meet his friends.
Elain was the first to notice Victor's approach. "What took you so long?"
Victor shrugged before answering with a sigh. "One of my new classmates shattered my ribs, so I had to drop by the medical center. I'm guessing he was trying to extort me of my white shards..." Upon hearing that, everyone immediately stopped eating and listened intently as Victor explained what had happened.
"What the hell is up with those transfer students? They show up and think they can walk around like they own the place. We have to teach them a lesson." Darius clenched his fist in anger.
"Don't get too hasty. From what I understand, most of them have already saturated their components. Not only that, but they also have other trump cards as well, like those tattoos. For now, let's just avoid trouble and try to get strong as quickly as possible." Victor spoke carefully.
"He's right. I don't know if I really trust that Rufus kid. He sounds really suspicious to me." Jax's eyes narrowed.
"But think about it, having an ally among the transfer students wouldn't be a bad idea." Rosa reasoned. "After all, who else would best know how to deal with them? Plus, he did save Victor after all. Even if he has ulterior motives, he seems much better than the other transfers we have seen."
Elaine shrugged, seemingly uninterested. "That's cool and all, but I'm curious about that duel that happened. How did they start a duel? I don't remember hearing about any rules. Does it even count as a proper duel without rules?"
"Who knows, but we will probably end up seeing it more often." Rosa calmly sipped her soup.
"I could ask him about it next time we meet." Victor threw out a suggestion
Jax shook his head in disapproval. "Let's try not to be too reliant on that guy. If anything, we should ask the teachers first."
Jax then lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in with a serious expression. "...The way he acted confirmed it. Your ability is quite unique and valuable. So from now on it's probably best to keep your ability under wraps, especially in front of those transfer students."
Elaine looked over at Jax with a slightly ridiculing look. "You know, if you really wanted to keep secrets, we should have gone to a place more private. You're lucky that it seems no one is paying attention, but who knows if someone in this room has a spying ability?"
"She's right. From now on we should be a lot more cautious with our secrets. We should consider developing better security measures. Like maybe a secret code." Rosa added.
"Secret code?" Darius asked incredulously. "Isn't that too much? I really don't want to have to learn a new language."
Victor shook his head. "It doesn't have to be that complex. Hand signs or possibly just a code word will do."
Victor glanced up, and by coincidence he noticed Matt enter the cafeteria as if he were looking for someone with an enraged look on his face. He then signaled to his friends, who turned and watched as Matt stormed in the direction of a certain table, apparently having located his target.
Victor looked off in the direction Matt was walking and saw a group with some unfamiliar faces, so he assumed they must be transfers. After a quick count, he realized that of the five people sitting around the table, he actually did recognize one of them.
Of the five students at the table, there was a boy with dull brown skin, a round face, and tired-looking eyes, listening to their conversation with a bored expression. Another one of them was a pale girl with a sharp nose and short blonde hair intently focused on her food. In between both of them was a red-haired boy who had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and who looked to be the leader of the group. He was tall, and unlike most of the transfers, his tan skin had a much healthier look to it. Currently, he looks like the one leading the discussion in the group. Sitting across from them was another boy with a larger, more muscular frame currently wearing a vicious smile while looking at the guy next to him.
"Isn't that Theo? One of the guys from Matt's gang?" Rosa queried.
"Yeah, that looks just like him. Why is he sitting with those transfer students?"
Indeed, the boy sitting next to the muscular teen was actually one of Matt's friends. He had black hair with dyed blue tips and light glowing skin. Currently he was wearing a nervous expression on his face as he seemed to be in conversation with the red-haired boy.
Victor looked back at Matt making his way across the room as most students cleared a path for him due to his fearsome reputation. Once Matt reached a table's distance away from the group of transfers, he grabbed a chair from under another nearby table and lifted it over his head before chucking it at the group of five without any warning.
Having already noticed his approach, all the members of the group dodged out of the way in response. A crash echoed across the room as the chair harmlessly missed all Matt's targets. By this time, the situation had caught everyone's attention in the cafeteria. Many of the students looked on in shock, confusion, and interest, still unclear about the situation. Yet as Victor looked towards the school staff, he noticed they were merely watching without showing any intent of stopping the commotion.
"You red-haired asshole! I challenge you to a duel!" Matt screamed with rage and clenched fists.
In response, the red-haired transfer revealed a mocking smile, seemingly relishing in the commotion. "You want to duel me? Sorry, I don't duel weaklings."