Chương 91: Chapter 87-Chosen Teleportation

Dingy. According to a book that I found in the library when we were searching for the symbol, it means gloomy and drab. Now, you might be asking why was I reading a dictionary instead of searching for the symbol? Well, that's not important right now. The dinginess of this place is important. This place being the Teleportation Nexus of the University. I mean, you expect this place to be more… nice? That's the word I'm going to go with. Maybe I should have read that dictionary more.

I mean, you've got dimly lit hallways, some cobwebs are gathering in the corners, and overall, a terrible waiting system.

"Number 38!" an Instructor yells. A pair of First Years that were half asleep startle awake.

"That's us! Fredric, clean up your slobber. We're up," a woman with stark black hair says as she pulls up a blond man. They rush up to the Instructor and are promptly led into one of the teleportation rooms. Hopper takes a bite out of a carrot as he loudly munches on it. With a gaze that could kill, I stare him down. He swallows hard.

"I think the rage is getting to you, CJ," he says.

"You think. I mean, we've been waiting here for what seems like hours, and your incessant munching isn't helping," I say as I stare at our ticket.

"Number 39!" an Instructor yells.

"Hey, don't worry, CJ. We've only been here for about fifteen minutes, and our number is coming up soon," he reassures me. Hopper's right. I need to remember to calm down. Our number is 40, and we've only been here for fifteen minutes. Need to remain calm. Rage is not the answer to everything.

"Number 41!" an Instructor yells. I just about jump out of my seat, but thankfully, Hopper holds me down.

"That son of a bitch. He skipped our number. I'm gonna get him," I say as I struggle to get out of Hopper's grasp.

"Relax, CJ. This is- Why are you so strong?" he says as I stand up with him holding onto me.

"Oh, sorry. Meant to say Number 40. Number 40!" an Instructor yells.

"See, it was a mistake, CJ. Now, are you calm?" he asks as he continues to be latched onto me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You should do the talking. Also, let go," I say as we trudge to the Instructor. The human Instructor pushes his glasses up as he looks over his notebook.

"Two for the Whisperwood Forest, correct?" he asks, not bothering to look up.

"Yes, that is correct. Here are our student IDs proving we're in the advanced class," Hopper says as I grumble to the side.

"Okay. Everything looks to be in order. Follow me, and I'll explain the process," he says as he walks further down the hallway. Something about him pisses me off. I don't know what it is, but it could just be the rage. Could be my general suspicion against all authority. Could be because I'm hungry. Damn, I'm hungry. I think the rage is making me hungry. You know, if this weren't a homicidal inducing rage, I think I could market this as a sort of weight-loss program.

I know some ladies back in the streets who would love this. It would certainly make their job market more competitive, and most of them already have the rage. Maybe… I could- NO! We are not creating a marketing scam.

"Okay, so you, too, are heading to the Whisperwood Forest. You'll both be transported and will be automatically returned to this room in one hour's time. In case of emergency, please use these," he says as he hands two sheets of familiar paper. I wonder if Professor Stargazer made all of these. She must be very busy if she did. Especially now that the First Years are also allowed to use the Teleportation Nexus. She must really care about the students. Hopper nudges me.

"CJ, come on," he says as he enters the teleportation room. Following close behind, I get an unnerving feeling. This isn't rage. Wha- I'm suddenly thrown into the room as the Instructor shuts the door behind us.

"Have a nice trip," a familiar voice says.

"Shady?!" I say, remembering the Shapeshifter I dubbed Shady. The runes and magic circle in the room alight with a white energy.

"CJ, what in the hells is happening?" Hopper asks as he pulls his bow out.

"Nothing good," I say as I pull my Uneven Blade out.

"Prepare for trouble?" he asks.

"What else?" The white energy fills the room and then disappears to reveal a large and open snow field. Hopper and I immediately tense up.

"Shame Penelope isn't here," I joke.

"It would have been nice. You see anything?" Hopper asks.

"Not a thing. Is this the Whispewood Forest?" I ask as my eyes dart from one side to another.

"I don't think so. This looks more like the Singing Fields," he says.

"The Singing Fields is where the other First Years that aren't in the advanced class train. So, we should be fine, right?" I ask as Hopper's ears perk up.

"Yeah, no, we should be fine. As long as we aren't in the Unsacred Clearing," he says with a wry chuckle.

"Unsacred Clearing?"

"Yeah, a small section of the Singing Fields that are off limits because of how dangerous it is," he says as the mounds in the snow start to rise.

"How do we know if we're in the Unscared Clearing?" I ask as multiple Zombies and Skeletons rise from the snow. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Well, that's a pretty good sign."

"Great." The horde of Zombies and Skeletons rushes towards us. Hopper and I look at each other and nod. We then break into a full sprint away from the shambling horde of Undead. Hopper hops along the snow with ease as I trudge through it at a slow pace.

"Hopper, a little help?" I say as the Undead gain on me.

"Got it," he says as he leaps into the sky and fires off a volley of arrows at the horde. The arrows find themselves lodged into the Undead horde, but it doesn't seem to have done much. A Zombie grabs the edge of my coat. With a simple slash, I cut its arm off.

"That didn't work," I say as I barely dodge another grab.

"They're dead. How do you expect an arrow to do anything against a dead thing? It's not like we have Holy mana," he says as he fires off another volley.

"Does anything else work on them?" I ask as I cut through a rising Skeleton.

"Um, I don't really deal with Undead. I don't really know. Decapitation?" he says, unsure of himself. Jumping over a rising Skeleton, I land and shatter another Skeleton's skull. The Skeleton doesn't reform. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. A Zombie grabs me by the jacket and pulls me in for a bite. With a second to move, I grab his head with one hand and decapitate him with Uneven Blade in the other. Dropping the head, I watch as the Zombie continues to snarl.

"Decapitation doesn't work, but shattering the skull seems to do the trick," I say as I pick the snarling head.

"Not really useful when I use a bow!" Hopper yells.

"I kn- Oh Gods, your breath is terrible. Here, let me help. [Clean]." The Zombie's head suddenly goes slack-jawed in my grasp. It's… dead, well, technically it was already dead, but you know what I mean. I look down at my hand and then back at the horde of Undead. No, it can't be. With a devilish smile, I turn to the horde.

"Hahaha! Who wants to be [Clean]!?" I yell as I rush towards the horde. The horde looks down at the dead Zombie and then back at me. They promptly begin to run away as I give chase. Hopper looks on in utter confusion as I maniacally use [Clean]. One by one, the horde of Undead falls until it's only left with one crawling Zombie. Crouching down in front of it, I give it a devilish smile.

"Hello there. Would you look at how the tables have turned?" The Zombie groans as it tries to crawl away.

"I don't think so. Let yourself be [Cleaned]," I say as I palm the Zombie's head. The Zombie abruptly falls dead right as Hopper catches up to me.

"You know. You sometimes act like a Villain, CJ," he says.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I [Lie]. 10 LvL. 7 Skeletons have been Defeated. 18 LvL. 9 Zombies have been Defeated. Skill <Clean> has Leveled Up Skill <Clean> has Leveled Up +1 LCK +1 INT Hopper looks at the surrounding area.

"Most of them escaped. I'm going to be honest with you. I've never seen a horde of Undead run away from someone before."

"Yes, but you've also never seen The Chosen One," I retort.

"True. So, you think these work?" Hopper asks as he pulls out the emergency teleport scroll.

"Definitely not. That Instructor who sent us here is a Shapeshifter. I wouldn't be surprised if these things led to certain death rather than to safety. The best we can do is wait out the timer," I say as I plop down in the snow.

"You think that still works?" he asks.

"Yeah. I'm guessing Shady used an existing teleportation circle. Shady probably isn't that well-versed in magic enough to mess with the circle," I say as I watch a Skeleton slowly rise out of the snow.

"Shady?" I give the Skeleton a glare and watch it sink back down.

"Yeah, it's what I call that Shapeshifter. It's not like he was courteous enough to give me a name. Also, if I'm wrong, there's nothing much we can do about it, right?" Hopper nods along and then plops down next to me.

"Well, you're not wrong. It sucks this happened when Penelope wasn't here."

"Well, this was just supposed to be a recon mission on where exactly the White Worm is. The fact that it turned into this is just unlucky," I say as I eat an almond cookie.

"Yup. What was she doing again?" he asks.

"She was going to talk to the Student Council about everything that has been happening. She was hoping they could help. Although I don't know how much help they'll be," I say as I internally praise my own [Cooking] ability.

"What do you mean?" Hopper asks as he slips out a carrot.

"Simply put, if they could do something, they would have already done it. Something tells me that they can't. Maybe it's political, but I imagine they have their hands tied," I explain.

"Isn't Prince Valerian the Student Council President? What could possibly stop him politically?" he asks.

"A lot. He's a Prince. Anything he does could negatively impact his chances of being Emperor. Abusing his authority in Slyvian University is far too much risk for him to take. Especially if it doesn't bear any fruit. Basically, to him this would be a high-risk, low-reward kind of deal," I explain. Hopper gives me a confused look.

"You seem to know a lot about politics. That doesn't seem like the type of thing you'd be into." My ears darken slightly.

"Let's just say I have a reason to pay attention now." Hopper nods and then hides a smirk.

"Yeah, a reason?"

"Shut it."

"I'm just saying-""Shut it."

"Reason?" I grab a snowball and [Throw] it straight at his face. Hopper wipes the snow from his face.

"It's on now."