Chapter 4: Gachapon and The Swindler

I woke up and found myself lying on the floor, my chest still stinging. Ugh I need to get out of here.

With extra effort I woke myself up, seeing that the entire hallway was back to normal—although there were still red splotches like before, everything was tidy, there were no damaged props, walls or floors and not a single black figure was present in the hallway this time.

How long would it take for me to regain my consciousness? And would I really be able to come back to life? In the end all I did was scratch my temples that weren't itchy.

Ah, the toilet! But should I take a detour or head for the stairs and another floor? If I go back will the challenge of jumping over the tiles happen again?

No, no, I don't want to jump again to pump up the adrenaline and if I step on the red tiles once then the sound that attracts the attention of the black figures arrives.

Yes! Better to take on a new challenge, right?

I decided to go ahead and head for the stairs until five steps in, something from the ceiling of the hallway appeared, and formed a monitor that looked so friendly, like the children's toy monitor available in the family car, of course it was twice as big as the car monitor.

I looked up and read the words Jester on the monitor. Who was Jester?

"Hello," I said as I waved twice at the monitor, a second later I felt stupid for doing that.

But the one in question actually responded to my greeting, displaying the phrase, "Hello, I'm Jester."

Without me having time to respond the writing on the monitor disappeared and now changed to, "This is the first time we meet, oh tortured Image." Then the sound of laughter coming from the monitor that named itself as Jester boomed throughout the hallway, of course his laughter was so strange to my ears, is there really a creature that laughs like that?

And what did he say? Tortured? Huh even though there is nothing wrong but why do I feel annoyed to hear—i mean to see it.

But what I asked was not my annoyance but the designation Image which I understood to refer to myself-—perhaps.

"Right, Image is you, you're the one who has to survive in this school!"

As if knowing what I wanted to ask afterward, the monitor again erased the text and replaced it with, "Free! Your destination is up to you. Including going to the toilet, am I wrong?" The laughter that made me thrilled was heard again, what is the problem with this monitor?

I nodded in understanding, well my mind had also been chaotic since I woke up in class at that time.

Then a sound like getting a jackpot prize was announced by the monitor, until it made a little jolt.

The writing was again displayed on the monitor, "Because I'm kind, I want to help you make conquering Afterimage easier with a random thing I gave you, but for this time... just for trial! Because the Afterimage I'm providing is still in the prototype stage."

I didn't understand what the monitor meant by helping me but I did as I was told-advanced three steps and the area was again covered by transparent walls both behind me and in front.

The monitor's display gradually began to change and the words 'Get Your Power' were displayed there, along with the Roll button below the words.

The monitor brought itself closer to me so that I could touch it, of course the most fun Roll symbol I touched was the red one.

The various weapon symbols spun so fast that my eyes didn't know what weapons or powers were displayed on the monitor, until 15 seconds passed. The rotation slowed down and now stopped at the symbol of a large glowing sword with Excalibur written below it.

It was one of the highest rarity weapons available on the power machine carried by the Jester, and the monitor even added confetti effects around the monitor.

"Wow! Congratulations, you got the Excalibur trial weapon for this training session!"

It wasn't long before my right hand glowed and this rather heavy sword-I had to hold it with both hands, was successfully obtained.

"Wait, so I'm going to defeat the black figure who tortured me the other time with this sword?"

The monitor responded with a well-drawn smile review.

"Without waiting any longer let's start the experiment!"

A second later there was a black figure in front of me-about 7 meters away with a burly stature and four arms that had huge muscles.

But I didn't bother, with a definite movement I positioned my sword straight with both hands forward so that I could stab the black figure's chest.

The experiment began and it turned out that my opponent also jerked forward and prepared with his fist, but with the scarcity of weapons I had, the fist that attacked me was easily pierced by Excalibur's sword and even more devastatingly pierced the monster's entire chest when I pierced it with extra power.

"First black figure down, nine to go."

Two seconds later another black figure appeared from 7 meters in front of me, and this time there were two! They were shaped like spiders with 7 feet on the ground and between them were weapons-formed from their black bodies, a hammer and a sledgehammer, each held by the remaining hand.

Will I be able to finish them off in one strike this time? Perhaps a horizontal movement could instantly split the two of them!

I deftly raised my hand up to give me room to approach the monsters that were ready to clash with me, when the momentum was right I stopped and slashed horizontally from right to left and managed to cut off the weapons of the two black figures.

They were in pain and gradually disappeared on their own, Wow! How strong is the sword I'm using?

While I was preparing to wait for the next black figure to come, suddenly the experiment was stopped and the transparent wall was opened

"Hah! What's going on? Why is it over already? Aren't there seven more black figures left?" I snapped irritably at the Jester up there after sticking Excalibur's rare sword on the floor.

"Since the experiment is over, thank you Image for being my guinea pig! Kekekekekekeke~"

And with the departure of the monitor, the sword that was in front of me a second ago now also disappeared, leaving only the memory of a moment of meaningful pleasure—defeating the Afterimages with a single strike.