The night lazily bled into the sky, letting its twinkling stars mock the earth as it crept in—the cold winds and little to no illumination from the sparse lighting of this area.
Left alone on this abandoned part of the academy, Andy kept on thinking of what to do.
Whether to wait for these miscreants to carry out their plans, or deal with them before they do.
He even slightly considered killing Corey. But the consequences kept this idea at bay. He already killed one person on the academy grounds, did he feel guilty?
No, it was an act of self-defense first before it became one of emotions.
However, despite the absence of guilt, Andy had refused to think much about it.
A more terrifying thought came to mind.
What if he was only imagining things? What if the things he'd seen weren't monsters but just people? What if the sickness wasn't in the world but in his own head and the system was just feeding the delusion?
Even though he knew what he saw, Andy's sanity had been on the verge of collapse for a while now and this was its weight on him. He was drowning in questions with no answers.
The need for a solid fact, something apart from what he had seen with his own eyes, anything to prove that the world or his mind was broken, became a physical ache.
[Quest! Difficulty: Low-Threat]
The sudden appearance of this quest snapped Andy out of his thoughts.
[The Baron has left the Academy's grounds. Head to the Baron's abode in the forbidden area of the academy and search for his ledger.]
[Penalty: None]
[Rewards: +10 Agility. +10 Endurance. A part of the truth of the Naver Academy.]
[Hint: If you want to sneak around, dress the part.]
The first question that came to Andy's mind when he saw this quest was; Who's the Baron?
He had never heard of anyone being called that in the academy, however, just looking at the rewards that, most especially one of them, Andy was already convinced that he was going to take the quest.
As soon as possible.
The matter concerning Corey and the rumors spread about him seemed not to matter as much right now.
Was he scared of what he wanted to do? Yes!
This time, his confidence or will to head towards the Baron's abode had nothing to do with the influence that Yaroslav's personality had on him.
It was all Andy this time.
Looking at the hint and pondering on it a bit, Andy went back to his room to get prepared.
He searched his wardrobe for something that he thought would match the system's hint, however, there wasn't any.
Andy had to make a makeshift mask with a beanie and then tied an old scarf that belonged to Zeladin around his neck. He picked out an all black outfit and snuck out of his hostel, but not before branching into the dormitory kitchen to steal another knife.
To make sure that he wasn't being followed, Andy decided to follow an unconventional path, the river.
The bodies of water in the academy are all connected, and there's a part that extends close to the forbidden area of the school.
As for this forbidden area, it wasn't anything crazy or scary, rather, it was forbidden because the Academy said so.
It was the 20% that had been barred from exploring, so very few knew what was in there.
The forbidden area of the academy was known as the lowest point of the lands as it was at the bottom of a hill. Surrounded by tall and lush trees, barricaded by water.
There were barely any forms of illumination around this area, making it a bit eerie than it was.
As Andy swam towards it, the branches of the trees looked as if they had monsters perched on top.
His imagination began forming images that weren't there, but before it could birth any forms of fear or reconsideration, his skill restricted it.
If there were indeed monsters or Wesens on these trees, were they capable of maneuvering in bodies of water like him?
Upon getting closer, Andy sighed. They were all figments of his imagination. Getting to land, he dried his body off a bit and put on his makeshift mask.
Andy slowly crossed a forest and followed the only source of light his eyes could see.
Soon he came upon a small cluster of fine architectural buildings that only stood 2 floors above the ground.
If not for the goal he had in mind, he would have loved to admire it.
How do I know which building's the Baron's own?
Andy observed.
All the buildings except one, had their lights turned on. Out of curiosity, Andy wondered who lived in these buildings.
But with his attention drawn to the building without any signs of activity, he ran over silently, heading for the front entrance.
He expected the door to be locked, but to his surprise, it wasn't.
He didn't step in immediately and used his senses to investigate the insides for a minute. When he saw that the coast was clear, he went through the doors.
Expecting to see horrible things, Andy was met with the sight of a normal… parlor.
His spiked adrenaline slowed down. Andy began searching around, looking for anything that resembled a ledger.
The search took him upstairs, and that was when he found something.
A diary, bound in what felt like smooth leather. He flipped it open to a random page. An elegant handwriting greeted his eyes, scrawls of dates and chemical symbols, with repeated phrases like; "Subject Vitality Persists."
Picking it up, he threw it into his inventory. There was no time to study this, but it was interesting enough to gain his interest.
Andy moved to a room that looked like an antique room—a laboratory even. Even though the lights were off and everywhere was dark, his ability to sense his surroundings made it easier for him to navigate his way.
This room smelled like ozone and had a lot of jars filled with what looked like animated organs. Some were filled with squid-like animals. Jars of eyeballs that followed Andy's movements.
Walking deeper into the room, Andy came across a few blue stones that glowed. They crossed his eyes, and without thinking much, he threw it into his inventory.
Just right when Andy had finished checking the room out and was about to go to another, he heard a loud growl come from the other side of the building.
Following that was the constant thud of a fleeing person.
Before he could say anything, this person, with a black mask, ran past him with a book in hand. Andy was shocked by the speed of this person.
It was only for a moment, but Andy was able to see a bit of the contents of the book in the masked man's hand.
The Ledger?
Stretching his hand, Andy caught a good chunk of the book, and due to the other person's momentum, the book tore.
The mask guy turned to the sight of Andy, noticing his presence for the first time, but he didn't stop.
Soon, Andy realized why.
A three-headed dog was chasing after the guy.
"Roff!!" Its bark echoed off the walls and seemed to want to devour Andy.
With sudden realization, Andy too chased after the masked man.