Since then, Ban Yue had remained in one pce with nothing else to do except look out the window. As the skies slowly turned dark, and the wind started to gently blow, Ban Yue almost fell asleep. It was only when he heard the loud sound of a bell ring all over the campus that Ban Yue jolted fully awake. At the same time, he heard Ludville shift underneath the covers, clearly startled by the unusual noise. The sound of a switch flicking could be heard at the same time Ludville’s bedside mp turned on. It shone a warm glow against the gray walls.
“What’s going on? What time is it…” He compined in a groggy voice. He had lifted up his eye cover and was currently rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.
Ban Yue wondered if there was somehow a malfunction in the school’s arm system until he saw the entire campus come alive.
One by one, as if programmed in a specific order, bright lights started to stream out of every room in each building. Outside, the two furthest mp posts at the end of the central pathway blinked open first. Then, as if the deity of light was passing through, each pair of mp posts turned on in a sequence until the entire campus ground had lit up like a beacon in the middle of a dark forest.
Ban Yue squinted his eyes.
He could see the slightest movement among the rose bushes.
Then, with a start, he realized that he could suddenly hear the loud sound of feet stomping against the ground…
No, it wasn’t stomping.
It sounded more like people walking at the same time with the same exact force and cadence simir to an army.
Chills went up along Ban Yue’s spine.
It was as if someone had pushed on the “pause” button and only then remembered to click “resume”.
He turned to Ludville who was still frozen on the bed. Now that he was fully alert, his face showed a terrified expression. Seeing this, Ban Yue’s heart thumped when he realized that this was the perfect time to execute his pn.
He just needed to ride on the moment and make Ludville believe that he was a haunted box. Then, he would make him believe that he was a well-meaning ghost, convince him that their lives were both in danger, and then he would ask him to bring him out so they could look around for clues together. Now that the atmosphere has been set and Ludville was on edge, the results will surely be better than he was aiming for!
[Pyer Ban Yue used a jar of
At that exact moment, a faint wind blew causing Ban Yue to topple over to the ground. Ludville who was still sitting at the bed jumped when he heard the light sound of an empty box hitting the ground.
[Ludville Eckart’s movements has been affected by the item
[NPC Ludville Eckart’s HP has been reduced to 98/100.]
[Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 98/100.]
[Pyer Ban Yue’s defense has increased by 1 due to the item
The sound outside had already stopped when Ban Yue hit the ground. As he remained tilted on the ground, Ban Yue could feel Ludville’s eyes boring into him, “……”
Ban Yue caught his reflection on a nearby mirror.
He wanted to let out a long sigh when he saw himself.
It was more pathetic than he imagined.
He sighed.
His dignity as a human being was slowly disappearing the longer he stayed in this game.
“…Something smells bad. Did I imagine it?”
Ludville stood up from his bed with a worried look and walked over to where Ban Yue had fallen. As he knelt down to pick him up, Ban Yue could see that Ludville looked shaken but not scared enough to suspect him to be haunted. He propped him back up on top of the rger boxes and returned to his bed.
“No, I can’t let this chance go!” Ban Yue thought. He hurriedly summoned back his inventory.
[Pyer Ban Yue used a jar of
[Pyer Ban Yue used a jar of
[Pyer Ban Yue used a jar of
[NPC Ludville Eckart’s movements has been affected by the item
[NPC Ludville Eckart’s HP has been reduced to 92/100.]
[Pyer Ban Yue’s HP has been reduced to 92/100.]
[Pyer Ban Yue’s defense has increased by 3 due to the item < Aerias’ morning breath >. Effect: 00:59:38]
Another gust of wind blew into the room. This time, Ban Yue toppled to the ground a little farther away than the first time. He heard Ludville shift uncomfortably as he spoke.
“…There’s something wrong with that box…” Ludville said with a shaking voice.
He started to walk over to Ban Yue with slow steps, as if he was incredibly scared of something. Ban Yue held his breath in anticipation.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! Ludville, I’m a haunted box! I’m a haunted box! Talk to me! I’m a friendly ghost. I’m a ghost, but I can save you! Let’s work together and escape this creepy pce!” Ban Yue eagerly excimed in his head.
He felt himself being lifted up gingerly. If Ban Yue could smile right now, he would probably be already beaming with joy.
Ah, the taste of success! The taste of freedo-!
But Ban Yue’s imaginary grin fell abruptly when Ludville’s face was revealed to him.
Ludville’s nose was scrunched up in the air as he spoke, “…It stinks.”
Ludville held Ban Yue between his two fingers, opened his door, and walked out into the well-lit hallway.
He walked a few flights of stairs until he finally made it to the ground floor.
A gust of wind blew together with the sound of ruffling leaves, and Ban Yue realized that Ludville had stepped outside his dormitory.
But it was only when Ludville set him on the ground and turned his back that Ban Yue realized what was happening.
Ban Yue was dumbfounded as he watched Ludville’s diminishing figure disappear in the distance.
Ludville Eckart had dumped him in the garbage dumpster.
Because he stank.
Clearly, Ban Yue underestimated the potency of Aerias’ morning breath.
Truthfully, Ban Yue himself couldn’t smell anything at all, so he thought it was just one of those marketing strategies where they made the names of items interesting to make them more eye catching. He only wanted to make use of its dispcement effect and affect Ludville’s judgement briefly.
He hadn’t expected to be thrown away like this!
Ban Yue looked around inside the dark rectangur space.
The rge bin where Ludville threw him in was mostly dry and empty except for other simir and sturdier-looking boxes. Thankfully, Ban Yue didn’t spot any rotting items that could attract all sorts of insects and vermins. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know how to cope as a lowly box that couldn’t even cry out in disgust and horror. For a while, Ban Yue stared at the boxes in front of him in deep thought. When a sudden idea crossed his mind, Ban Yue tried his best to focus on the words in his mind.
“Hey you, box. Yes, you. Can you hear me?” Ban Yue thought in his head.
He paused for a moment and strained his ears for the slightest of sound. When he received no response after a full minute had passed, Ban Yue ughed at himself for being foolish, “Ha, of course not.”
Ban Yue was thinking that the developers of the game wouldn’t have pced the box in the pile of choices if it were completely useless. Since he and these other boxes were basically of the same species now, maybe he had somehow gained the ability to speak with other boxes?
It was a strange train of thought, but Ban Yue thought, why not? This was a game that cimed to be able to make people’s deepest desires come true. If he wanted to telepathically talk to a box, why can’t he?
But Ban Yue could only sigh in disappointment.
This wasn’t it either.
He really was just a box.
A pin, old, below average, useless box.
The biggest disappointment in an entire cn of boxes.
This game was a scam.
“Still, why throw all of these away?” Ban Yue couldn’t help but frown at the waste id out before him.
The boxes that kept him company inside this dingy garbage dump were filled with random objects and small trinkets that were still in perfectly good condition. Ban Yue saw some golden candebras, white wax candles, matches, mps, golden circur hoop pendants with a crescent moon in the middle, and decorative pieces. Among them were also hardbound books with intricate designs as if they had been lovingly and carefully carved with handheld tools one by one.
Ban Yue clicked his tongue as he shook his head. Hardbound books are already so expensive in the present times, and books with these kinds of intricacies can usually be found in museums where you pay an entrance fee just to see them from afar. This kind of sight was too painful to see.
Ban Yue didn’t have any arms to look through the pile so he could only observe the items on the top of each pile. He could see book titles like The Nature of Magic, The Founding of Clodine Becket Academy, The Assembly of the Holy Knights, The Battle of the Red Moon, as well as The Biography of Clodine Becket.
There were many books with simir titles among the pile that it was almost hard to believe that these were thrown out by mistake. Most of them were also topics reted to the Clodine Becket Academy and Clodine Becket himself. It seemed more like someone had gone through the academy’s archives and handpicked each book that contained any information reted to Clodine and dumped them in the dumpster.
Ban Yue felt confused.
Wasn’t this entire campus named after Clodine Becket?
He thought anyone who entered the academy would have a certain level of respect towards the man. Who would do something like this? If Clodine Becket was considered the king in this academy, then this kind of act can only be considered treason!
Ban Yue was sure that he had stumbled upon an important clue.
If Ludville Eckart was the main character who somehow got caught in the middle of a fight between the good and the bad guys, and Clodine Becket was someone considered to belong to the side of the “good”, then anyone who intended to wreak havoc in this pce which was named in his honor must be the “vilin” of this scenario – someone who hated Clodine Becket enough to want to get rid of all his traces in history. If Ban Yue could follow this clue, he might just find out who he was up against.
From there, he would have a better idea about what he needed to do to clear this game.
“But first, how do I get out of here?” Ban Yue frowned before sighing.
He realized that he was back to square one.