MMORPG: Rebirth of the Mortal Online - Chapter 153

Chapter 153: Headmaster
A couple of days later.

Twenty-Fifth Floor of the Dungeon.

The tree that was as high as the sky swayed gently in the breeze, its branches reaching across the sky and casting a shadow over the entire floor.

Its leaves were golden and shimmered like stars during the darkest night.

At the land below, the tree’s roots protruded out of the ground and stretched to the ends of the floor. It looked like those roots split the floor in twelve different sectors.

At this very moment, inside the tree’s enormous trunk.

Stairs spiraled upwards towards the top. There were hundreds of doors alongside the stairs, leading to different parts of the tree.

At the end of the stairs, on the highest floor of the tree, there was a small room with a window that showed the entirety of the floor.

The room was at such a high place that it was almost in the outer space.

Currently, in the room, behind the desk, the Headmaster of the Eldertree Institute, Renard Marshal, was reading through a letter from a familiar name from the Crimson Hounds.

“Adam Palestar…” Renard muttered to himself. “S-ranker….”

He removed his glasses from his nose, then pinched his glabella and put the glasses down on the desk.

At that moment, his shoulders started shaking as if he were containing his laughter.

His lips parted, and he leaned against his chair.

With his mouth moving in laughing matter, it looked like he was laughing, but no sound came from his mouth.

It was truly a strange sight to behold.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door, then the knob turned, and a scrawny-looking young man entered the room with a big bruise over his right eye.

“Terry,” Renard shook his head. “What happened now?”

“I was studying in my room, then they broke through my door and beat me up,” Terry explained in a shaky voice.

“Did you at least manage to fight back?” Renard asked.

Terry bit his lip and shook his head.

There were many other bruises around his scrawny body, but he was hiding them under his baggy clothes.

“Do I need to send you to the Culling Chamber?” Renard asked.

Terry’s face paled. “P-please, no!”

“Then why did you come here?” Renard asked. “You want me to punish the ones that hurt you? You want others to fight the battles for you?”

Terry lowered his head and shook it.

It was usually forbidden to fight outside the classes, so there was usually punishment for those who did.

However, what Renard hated more than the rule-breakers was the weak. It made him sick.

“You have a brilliant mind.” Renard stood up, walked over to the young man, and patted his shoulder. “You have a gift that many are jealous of, but you squander it away by being weak.”

“W-what should I do?” Terry asked. “Whenever I want to fight back, my body freezes over.”

Renard smiled and whispered in his ear. “The Culling Chamber.”

“P-please…” Terry’s eyes shook with tears falling. “Anything else, please!”

Renard rolled his eyes and smiled. “I ain’t letting you do it by yourself; no need to worry.”

“W-what?” Terry looked into his eyes. “W-with who?”

“There’s a new student coming in.” Renard walked over to the desk and looked at the letter. “A very special kind of student.”

‘A special student?’ Terry gulped. ‘Who could it be? The headmaster rarely speaks so highly of someone.’

“When he arrives, he’ll do the Culling Chamber with you; no need to worry.” Renard said. “Meanwhile, you go and wait in your quarters till you’re summoned.”

“P-please, mercy!” Terry fell on his knees and begged. “I’ll do anything else!”

“You’re pissing me off!” Renard said angrily and smacked his fist across Terry’s face.

Terry collapsed on the floor in a crumbled heap, bleeding from the nose and mouth.

Renard stomped over him and broke a couple of bones.

Terry’s tears mixed up with his blood, and he tried to scream, but Renard covered his mouth and muffled the sound.

“Shh, shh, don’t cry now.” Renard used his other hand to wipe away Terry’s tears.

Terry’s eyes looked horrified.

“You’re from a proud Kingston lineage,” Renard said. “Your family has high hopes for you, but if it so happens that I have to expel you, they wouldn’t be happy with you.”

Terry’s eyes widened in shock, and slowly, his tears stopped falling, and he stopped screaming.

It was the only reason why he had stayed in the Eldertree Institute for so long.

He managed to deal with the bullying and constant abuse by just remembering what would happen if he quit or got expelled.

Renard removed his hand from his mouth and stood up with a smile.

“I’ll give you special permission to skip the classes.” Renard said. “After all, I want you to be in a tip-top shape for the Culling.”

Terry climbed back to his feet, barely able to keep his balance.

Renard turned around and returned to his desk. Then he put his glasses back on, waved his hand in a dismissal motion, and started writing a letter for Digby to accept the enrollment.

Terry turned around and approached the door, then came to a stop and turned around to look at Renard.

“E-excuse me.”

“What?” Renard asked, his tone impatient.

“What’s his name?” Terry asked.

“Whose?” Renard frowned and looked away from the letter.

“Of the new student.” Terry said and gulped. “I want to know his name.”

“Adam.” Renard replied and turned his head down at the letter. “He’ll arrive in a couple of days.”

“Adam…” Terry whispered, curious about this new student.

They were going to do the Culling together, so there was already an invisible bond between them.

After all, they had to work together or they wouldn’t get anywhere there.

‘I hope he is nice.’ Terry thought and opened the door. ‘I hate everyone else here.’

…

A night fell over the Dawnwatch.

Guards did their usual routine check-up on the Crimson Hounds and made sure all was secure before the darkness settled in.

Without them noticing, a shadow flew over the compound like a slithering snake and disappeared as soon as it appeared.

Inside Amelia’s room, she was sitting on her bed and scratching the back of her head.

She was given a task by Valora, and that was to learn Magick.

However, she didn’t know how to start learning it. She wasn’t given any instructions except the ones in the scroll.

‘Damn, how do they expect me to learn this?’ She gritted her teeth and bit her nail, looking very unfeminine.

The window suddenly opened, and cool night air wafted inside.

Amelia shuddered in cold and looked at the window that was suddenly open.

She frowned, stood up, and went over to the window.

As she opened the window, she peeked out and looked around to see anyone.

She shrugged her shoulders and closed the window, but at that moment, from the reflection of the window, she saw a masked figure standing behind her.

Before she could scream, the masked man wrapped his arm around her mouth and stabbed her through the back multiple times.

She kept screaming and screaming, but everything came out muffled, and then everything went black for her.