After the torture, he went straight to school, once again sat in the back of the class. However, this time he was not left alone.
"Sit up, you bastard."
It was a blonde kid from his weapons class, not anything special.
Cassian kept his head down, trying to rest his mind if only for a moment before class started.
"I told you to sit up."
A fist slammed into the back of his neck, but he didn't even flinch.
"You dare ignore me?"
This time, he drew a sword and brought it high in the air. Cassian caught wind of the perfect telegraph. The bully was telling him exactly how he was going to move.
'A novice mistake.'
Cassian dodged the blade, which made the desk explode. Splinters of wood flew in every direction.
Cassian blocked his eyes with his arm while a dozen splinters impaled themselves in his arm, chest, and other parts of his face.
"Ugghh." Several people sympathized with the pain.
Cassian froze while staring at the pieces of wood, still traumatized by that night's torture.
"How dare a peasant like you dodge my blow?"
He raised his sword again, telegraphing another attack.
This time, he only needed to lean back in his chair to dodge the attack.
The sword passed by, and he began to calmly pluck the wooden splinters out of his skin.
The bully was furious by now and raised his sword high, "Power Slash."
This time, Cassian didn't wait to dodge; instead, he grabbed the boy's wrists before he could ever bring the sword down.
This stopped the blow entirely, and he followed it up with a kick in between the legs.
The boy fell over and clutched his groin while groaning in pain.
"F-ranks can only fight dirty." A tall boy started joking, and several people quickly agreed and added insults.
Cassian replaced his desk with the felled boy's and sat back down, ignoring the world.
Class started, and they began to learn about the Greenhill dungeon.
The Greenhill dungeon has monsters level 1-6, and has three elite monsters and one boss monster. In addition to the drops of the elite and boss monsters, the school was offering a prize to whoever defeated any of the four.
The prize for the three elite monsters was an attunement stone, which increases the power of skills. However, the prize for the boss monster kill was even higher: a skill scroll.
'If I did kill one of them, would the school even give me the prize?'
Cassian was doubtful of how the school would support an F-rank.
Cassian tried to leave for weapons class as soon as homeroom was dismissed, but he was grabbed at the shoulder.
It was the tall kid who insulted him, along with several goons.
"What do you want?"
Two students then pushed him to the ground.
"Know your place, you dog."
The tall kid then summoned an orb of water in his hand. The ball flew straight towards his face, and the contact made his head snap back.
He could feel his broken nose immediately set itself back in place.
-7.81
A bloody red number appeared above Cassian.
Cassian tried to stand up, but was kicked back to the ground by several goons. Then two mages started blasting him with weak magic, and the warriors hit him with sheathed blades.
Dozens of red numbers flew from Cassian, each of them quite low meant that at least they were not trying to kill him.
Cassian just lay there face down, taking their assault.
'It doesn't exactly hurt, but they will keep doing this if I don't teach them a lesson.'
Cassian moved quickly, unsheathed his blade, and cut the legs of all the students attacking him. Each of their yells sounded different, but each was equally loud.
A small pool of blood formed between them while they grasped their legs.
"HELP!" they screamed together.
Their homeroom teacher, Mr. Hill, immediately ran outside the classroom.
"What happened?" He asked the group.
"He just attacked us."
The entire group pointed at him with greedy smiles.
"Cassian, drop the sword now." The teacher threatened.
He did not drop it, but instead sheathed the blade.
"Drop it!"
Cassian refused to comply; his pride as a swordsman refused.
Mr. Hill grabbed his arm and started pulling him away.
"We are going to the office; it will be merciful if you aren't expelled."
While the injured students were getting medical treatment, Cassian was being pulled to the office.
They walked in and were immediately brought to the disciplinary chair. A sickly looking lady with a sour face.
"This student, Cassian Locke, attacked and injured several of my students."
"Did he now?" A slight smile pursed her lips.
"They attacked me first. I was only defending myself."
Cassian put up an argument.
"Then how come I can't see any injury on you?" Her eyes sharpened.
"My clothes are soaked and burnt at the same time."
"Still no injuries, and what about them?"
She faced Mr. Hill.
"Each of them got a gash on their legs."
"You used a weapon on them?"
She spoke with fake anger.
Cassian held quiet; he now understood that this was not a place for him to even talk. Nobody would listen to him.
"Since this is the first offence, I say we confiscate all the school-provided equipment."
"That sounds sufficient."
Mr. Hill quickly agreed.
'It's as if they were planning on this.'
"Hand over the equipment, F-rank."
Cassian put down his boots and bracers, "The school didn't provide this sword."
'I need to at least keep the sword.'
"Then you must return the original sword."
"An instructor broke it."
"I don't care about your lies. If you ca not return the school-provided sword, then you must compensate us with that one."
"But-"
"No buts, if you do not compensate for it, I will expel you immediately."
Cassian reluctantly placed the sword down in front of him.
'It's a disgrace for a swordsman to relinquish his sword.' He had spent years practicing with swords and considered himself a swordsman. It was the tradition his father left to him, and through it, he developed a close bond with swords. Relinquishing his sword made him angrier than anything before, more than being bullied or attacked by his fellow students.
"Now leave, no need to show up for class today."
Cassian left quietly.
'I need them to pay for my hunter registration and the dungeon. Otherwise, I won't be able to move forward at all.'
He tried to cope the best he could, but his anger was growing.
'Why?'
'Why me?'
'Just because I'm F-rank.'
'When I'm protecting everybody from demons.'
'When I suffered for you.'
Cassian walked home and immediately picked up a wooden practice sword. It was what he would have to use from now on, what he would have to enter the dungeon with.
He had no money to buy anything else. The lowest grade of equipment would cost thousands of dollars.
He swung away to forget his troubles and his pain. To forget what he had done the previous night, and what he would have to do that night and every night in the future.