"Don't look if you don't wanna get blasted like Bram," Cail casually warned them.
He turned his back and opened his helmet. He took off the glasses from his eyes and hurriedly shut the helmet cover down.
He touched the gear on the side. He had no idea how these glasses worked, as artifacts seemed to be unpredictable. If someone were to ask him before, "You have a compass that has superpowers. Guess what's the superpower?" he'd answer something similar to direction or navigation. Never would he have thought that it could blast someone away.
He tried to twist the gear. He had never done this before. Fortunately, he had no dilemma as to how he would operate the gear, since the one from the left side seemed to be the only working gear, and it could only be twisted once in clockwise.
He opened his helmet back and put his glasses on, then he closed it again.
The moment his vision adjusted, he felt overstimulated. This reminded him of when he first got his glasses in 7th grade. Everything looked vastly different. Like, hey, you're supposed to see each leaf in a tree? I thought it was supposed to be just a blur.
That was actually a funny but unfortunate moment of his life. He had been nearsighted since he was young, but his mother never noticed. It wasn't until he almost got hit by a car that a good-hearted teacher bought him glasses because his mother didn't think it was necessary.
Back to the present, Cail felt an intense headache and eye strain from what he was seeing.
He had no idea that the world was this colorful before. This was the most color he had ever seen in his entire life; there were even colors that he hadn't known existed before. It was a mix between oversaturation and a fever dream.
Everything had an outline. Cail could even see random blasts of light shooting through the air like it was falling stars.
He looked up. He saw a faint white dome surrounding the entire plaza. "Bind artifact?" he whispered, remembering what Clea said.
He looked back at the students and saw that they were just obediently waiting for him. He got a grip on himself and walked towards Bram.
Bram had a frown on his face while unconscious. He seemed to be in pain.
The moment he laid his eyes on Bram, he saw something unusual. When he saw the monstrosity on Bram's chest, he almost wanted to immediately ditch this guy.
On Bram's chest was a mouth. It looked remotely close to a human mouth. It seemed to be eating a light blue light. That light was very similar to the light the compass was emitting.
Cail felt goosebumps. The mouth had two layers of teeth, one at the front and one at the back of the first teeth, all were very sharp. If that wasn't horrifying enough, the fact that it had a 13-inch-long tongue wriggling around like a snake was enough to make Cail feel uncomfortable.
"He's fine," Cail concluded. "He seems to be eating... or, for a mellow description, absorbing the 'void energy' from the compass."
This time, Hal interjected. "Sir, stop joking. How could someone eat void energy? Did you mistake it for something? We should send Bram to the infirmary."
This time, Cail was a bit pissed. Now that he was telling the truth, no one believed him—but if he lied, they'd believe it?
Base on what Hal said, Cail manage to get an information. What's happening to Bram isn't the norm.
He stood up and patted his pants. His headache was worsening the longer he wore these glasses. "If you don't believe it, then you're free to go."
The reason why he tried checking on Bram was because of the bit of guilt he felt and he also want to try out the function of these glasses.
Clea raised her hand and said, "Sir, we cannot leave the plaza unless you let us."
You'resaying you'd leave here if you can because of how unreliable I am?
Cail sighed. He wanted to go home. He went here expecting relaxation, but all he got was stress.
He looked at the dome surrounding the plaza. The southern side seemed to be fainter. Let's try checking it out.
He pointed at that side."Let's go there." Even if they couldn't get out, the fact that Cail got in without any issues proved that he had a higher chance of leaving here. Since they couldn't go out without the instructor, they probably couldn't chase after him if he ditched them.
"Sir, Bram, sir... Clea, the only healer, can't carry him," Neris said, pointing at the unconscious Bram.
"Why don't you carry him? There are three of you guys. Why would you let Clea carry Bram?" Cail was confused.
Neris was helpless. "Did you forget, sir? We're not like you, who had already achieved a high mastery of void arts. Letting us carry Bram for such a distance will make us sick. Bram's radiating void energy from that artifact attack."
So it's my fault again? Well, it really is, but listening to that annoyed Cail. He felt wronged, he never expected the compass to be an artifact and react that way.
But this Neris is really good at giving him information. People at their level will be sick once in contact with void energy for a long time, but the healer was exception to that rule? What type of 'void energy' will make them sick? Is there any other information behind all of this?
Cail clicked his tongue. "Oh, I forgot you're all weak." Still, Cail felt annoyed. He wanted to turn off these glasses, but he probably needed them to see the barrier dome. What if he couldn't get out? But the headache was really killing him. He had experienced migraines before, but this one was worse.
"We're still students," Neris grumbled.
Cail back-strapped Bram. He circled his arm around his shoulder and carried him forward. "What grade level are you? Section?" Cail wanted to distract himself as the headache got worse and worse.
The talkative Neris was happy to talk to him. "We are from the honor class, Umbral Innate."
Cail had no idea what that was, but he took a note of it. He continued chatting. "Clea is the only healer in your group?"
Neris nodded. "Clea is the healer, Hal and Idris are for attack, Bram is defense, and I'm support."
Hal frowned the moment he heard what Neris said but didn't think much of it. Although he felt a bit of discomfort at Neris randomly spouting about their team's combat formation, he didn't think it was a big deal since he only mentioned it to an academy instructor.
Another piece of information gained. Cail was about to ask for more information, but he suddenly felt something on his back.
It was sharp and sudden, as if something latched on him.
He was sure what he felt was a bite. He instantly knew what it was.
"Was it the mouth?" he thought. He wanted to throw Bram to the ground, but he couldn't move his body.
Except for walking, his body was incapable of any movement.
"Fuck, I didn't know it was parasitic!"