The Over-Break System

“Tsss, fucking hell, GO EASY ON MY ARM, YOU DICKHEAD!” Cynrik howled as Brance grabbed ahold of the broken limb and squeezed tightly while activating his [Lay On Hands.]

“Quit your bitching; this isn’t even the worst break you’ve had; now sit still; if I don’t heal your arm properly, we will have to rebreak it, and ima be honest, I REALLY don’t want to hear more of your whining.”

Crack crack crack

Gritting his teeth until his gums bled, Cynrik watched as the bones and muscles under his exposed arm moved and popped back into place. After the second wave of healing, the bruising and swelling disappeared, and by the time Brance cast his skill for the third time, his right arm was good as new.

[[Hey, guys, what are we doing with all the gear we looted from those guys?]] Placing her hands on her hips, Selene ignored the pained noises her boyfriend was making and brought up the subject of all the equipment and resources they had gotten from killing the spies.

[[That…if you don’t know, who am I supposed to ask? Cyn, thoughts?]] Brance replied as he pulled down Cynrik’s sleeve and gave him a look.

[[We are selling what we don’t need. Although those weapons are nice and Tier-3, the ones we have being made by Uncle Jessup are infinitely better. We might as well hock it all at the Academy Store and stock up on merit points. OH, that reminds me.]] Cynrik started before turning and looking at the Headmaster, who was in the process of containing the Brawler and Squad Leader within two large Space Affinity Confinement cubes.

“Hey, Headmaster Rivia, since we kinda handled this situation on our own, don’t you think we deserve some kind of reward, like, I don’t know, Merit points, or better yet, Affinity Gems.”

Hearing Cynrik’s shameless words, Headmaster Rivia shot a hesitant glance at the greedy boy and sighed heavily.

“Each of you gets 300 Merit Points, but that’s it,” Finally, after a few moments of silence, Geralt lifted his Watcet and tapped it a few times, wiring everyone the promised amount of points.

“Thank you, Headmaster,” Brance, Gabby, and Benny all said as they bowed respectfully toward the man.

“Yeah, thanks, tsk stingy,” Cynrik murmured under his breath, with Selene nodding and wrapping her arm around his.

Headmaster Rivia smiled at the three good students, but when he saw the aggrieved expressions of Cynrik and the smug look on Selene’s face, he wanted to wring their necks.

Noticing the Geralt was about to woosh off the remaining spies, Cynrik jumped over to the Brawler and cast a sidelong glance at the Headmaster.

“I’m taking the remaining gauntlet; I need it for research and experimentation purposes. I’m sure you don’t disapprove, right?”

Annoyed by the boy’s shamelessness once again, the Headmaster grunted his approval but said nothing to dissuade him.

“Cool, alright, Brawler, ima just yoink this real quick, oh and the remains of the other one too. Don’t worry; you’ll get it back before our much-awaited rematch,” moving dexterously, Cynrik unhooked all the clasps and buckles of the man’s Shotgauntlet and slid it off his arm. Luckily, Headmaster Rivia had somehow put the man into suspended animation, so he could not argue against Cynrik’s actions and was currently in a comatose state.

Nodding in satisfaction and throwing both the damaged gauntlet and the intact one into his inventory, Cynrik bounced back over to his party and stood at parade rest, waiting for the Headmaster to dismiss them.

Shaking his head, the Headmaster snapped his fingers and sent the two spies through a spatial crack, assumingly to the Brig he had mentioned. Next, he turned to the two Instructors to dismiss them after giving appropriate praise.

“Instructor Garrison, good work out there, you too, Instructor Alistar, the two of you can head back and prepare for your upcoming lessons.”

At the Headmaster’s words, Garrison and Alistar saluted him, with Alister leaving immediately and Garrison turning to look back at MyrkLys.

“I look forward to working with you five in the coming weeks. I am, after all, the Academy’s team Instructor. Oh, and Student Benjamin, you have shown significant improvements; I look forward to seeing how much stronger you get once you have a proper sword and shield to use.” Tossing Benny a curious glance as if he noticed something, Instructor Garrison waved and vanished from sight.

“You five did well in handling things as they were thrown at you; however, I do wish you hadn’t killed the four beings you did so that they could be taken into custody, but the past can’t be changed. For now, you all should rest, Student Ivar has given me a detailed plan for the coming weeks, and if you don’t take a moment to relax, things will become increasingly more difficult as time goes on.”

“Yes, Headmaster,” Brance, Selene, Gabby, and Benny said in unison.

“Don’t go spoiling everything for them, Headmaster; it has taken me weeks to come up with this plan, kuekue. The less they know, the better.” Smiling so wide that his eyes became crescents, Cynrik smugly met the eyes of all four of his party members; each one recoiled as they all knew he had planned some dastardly shit that would be borderline torture under the guise of “training.” Only Brance scoffed and flipped Cynrik the middle finger.

“Yes, yes, I know, you told me several times; I am only warning them so they don’t walk in and get blindsided.” Rolling his eyes and shooting a worried glance at Selene, Gabby, and Benny, Headmaster Rivia sighed again and rubbed his temples before opening a spatial crack and disappearing.

CLAP

“Okay, back to the Dorm; first things first, I want everyone to pitch in and clean up the house. Well, everyone except Benny, I want you to run Melody home. She has had it rough today, so just escort her and get back as soon as possible. Once we get the Dorm sorted, we need to sift through our loot and figure out what we are keeping and what we are selling.” Shaking out his stiff right arm a few times, Cynrik began walking off across the destroyed terrain of the Core Area and toward the Dorm.

“Uh, Ivar…shouldn’t we have requested to have this place fixed up by the Headmaster,” Selene asked as she hurried over to walk alongside her boyfriend.

“There is no point in doing that; by the time we wake up tomorrow, the grounds keepers will have fixed the terrain, and I’m guessing there is a specific group of staff members who deal with building maintenance. The big thing is right now, we are the only residents of the Core Area, so I’m not sure how quickly all the other buildings will get repaired. But I want to handle our Dorm myself. At least this way, I can be sure that sneaky Geralt doesn’t try installing more cameras.” Shrugging his shoulders, Cynrik walked up to the destroyed doorway and sighed ruefully.

“So much for withstanding up to Tier-4 attacks. I knew it was bullshit. There is no way I generate that much power with my compressed fire.” Touching the scorched doorway and removing some of the ash, Cynrik clicked his tongue and stepped inside.

“We need to get a new door and a new window for Benny’s room, and….” Cynrik paused as he walked into the blackened and utterly destroyed living room. His heart hurt seeing the remains of his beloved recliner.

“Sigh, Sel, start up a list, beginning with a new fucking recliner, four couches, two coffee tables, five end tables, a new TV stand, and Holo-Tv.” Walking around the charred remains of the room, Cynrik began listing off everything that needed to be replaced, while Selene walked behind him like a secretary, inputting everything he said into a list so they would remember what was required during their shopping later.

“Holy shit, you did a number on this place.” Walking in calmly, Brance whistled loudly as he admired Cynrik’s handy work.

“At least now you can stop complaining about painting the walls black; it’s going to take us hours to get all this soot off the walls. Hey Selly, add all new kitchen utensils and dining furniture to the list. That blast Big Bro used obliterated the entire kitchen too.” Gabby chirped as she sadly walked over and picked up the remains of her rabbit-shaped cookie jar.

Walking up beside Gabby, Brance patted her head to comfort her as he spotted the glistening tears threatening to spill over. The cookie jar had been his gift to her three years ago on her birthday, and it was one of her favorite gifts of all time.

“It’s okay; I will buy you a better one, so don’t cry; at least everyone is safe and unharmed, objects can be replaced, but people can’t. I know you loved your jar, but it is still something we can either try repairing or buying a new replacement for.” He said as he helped pick up the charred shards of broken ceramic and arranging them on top of the remains of the kitchen cabinets.

“Un, *sniffle*, it just makes me sad. I kept it over here because you always ensured it was fully stocked for when I came over every day. But now…” Rubbing her nose with her sleeve, Gabby choked up and gently picked up all the pieces and stored them in her inventory. Even if it were broken, she would still try gluing it back together as it was the first present she had gotten from her now-boyfriend. Once it was back in one solid piece, it could sit on her nightstand, back in her bedroom, where she could remember the fond memory of opening it up that day years ago.

Meanwhile, Benny ignored all the destruction in the Dorm and made his way over to the training room; when he arrived at the door, he knocked several times and called out.

“Melly, it’s me; the fight is over. Can you let me in?”

At first, there was no answer, so Benny knocked a few more times and called out, with worry slowly invading his tone with each passing second.

“Benny? Is that really you? How do I know you aren’t one of the bad guys trying to trick me and lure me out? Prove it’s really you and not some imposter.” After several tense minutes, Melody’s sing-song voice came from within the room.

Stumped for a moment, Benny leaned forward and lightly smacked his forehead on the door in exhaustion. It had been a tough fight earlier, and now he just wanted to sleep.

“Before all hell broke loose, we kissed for the first time, and you and I are now dating…is that enough proof?” Without thinking, Benny blurted out the first thing he could think of; however, he didn’t expect the loud crash and rapid clattering coming from the other side of the Dorm, along with the audible gasps of Selene and his little sister.

“HOLY CRAP! BROTHER, YOU AND MELLY KISSED! PLUS, YOU GUYS ARE OFFICIAL NOW! EEEPPP! Ahh, Selly, stop squeezing me so tightly!” Gabby screamed practically at the top of her lungs, but soon her screams became pained as Selene scooped her up and began hugging her tightly and bouncing up and down in excitement.

“WOAH! GET IT, BENNY BOY, YOU FINALLY MADE A MOVE! SO HOW WAS YOUR FIRST KISS? HUH HUH HUH? How was it? Were there sparks and fireworks like in the movies? The first time Ivar and I kissed, it was like magic, all tingly and nice hehe.” Selene squealed since she was one to live vicariously through gossip.

“BENJAMIN, AHH, HOW COULD YOU TELL THE WHOLE HOUSE!” The panicked yells of Melody came through the door as she shuffled all the workout equipment away, ripped open the door, and pulled Benny inside while smacking his chest in embarrassment.

In the living room, Cynrik and Brance smiled and shrugged their shoulders while thinking, “it sure is getting lively around here these days.”

-This series is exclusively published on Web if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-