"There is no need for that, Rin. I will always be there for him," Shota said with a straight emotionless face. 

His countenance changed the very moment he realized Rin was from Norxus clan.

Why?

Nobody knew.

Erix was flabbergasted by their strong reaction. He did not expect his story to resonate with them so deeply.

"Fine guys, I can take care of myself. You don't have to worry about me," Erix said, trying to calm them down.

"If you ever get into a problem, and Shota isn't there, please do let me know. We are roommates now, or maybe friends if you don't mind," Rin said, wiping off invisible tears from his eyes.

In Erix's mind, he was thinking the word friends was a huge stretch. He would consider them as on the 'not gonna bite soon' list at most. 

He'd yet to grasp if they were being truthful or not. 

For now, he will try to stay on their good side and see how things play out, never letting his guard down a bit.

"I once said it, don't worry about him, I will always be there for him," Shota voiced out with resolve.

At this point, Rin began to learn what was going on. Shota doesn't seem to like him that much. 

He found Shota's behavior quite weird. 

He'd done nothing wrong to deserve such treatment from him.

'Did I sound too happy? Maybe that's why he didn't want me near Erix. I think he sees me as a psycho now. I guess I will soon be alone again.' Rin thought, feeling awful. 

For some reason he was sad. He wishes to have a friend but it seems it isn't gonna work.

"How come the two of you know each other? I thought everyone got displaced from the people they previously knew?" Rin asked after he composed himself.

"We got to know each other during the entrance test," Erix answered. Shota was reluctant to answer the question so he had no choice.

Rin nodded. "Oh, I see."

After they finished their discussion, Rin came up with the idea of playing video games as a pastime and Erix gladly agreed. 

He was very poor so never got the privilege to play video games.

Therefore, now that he's gotten an opportunity to play it, he didn't want to let it pass.

On the other hand, Shota declined the idea at first saying it was childish and wasn't his thing, but after seeing Erix's enthusiasm, he half-heartedly agreed to join them.

They played three different racing games. At first, Rin would win every single time while nearly overlapping both Shota and Erix. 

Erix got used to the control really quickly. By the end of the play session, Erix was nearly able to take the win against Rin.

Erix's mind was completely invested in the game. He never thought he could have so much fun. He let go of his facade as he genuinely enjoyed himself and not just pretending. 

Strange enough, even Shota who was hesitant to play the game at first suddenly started to enjoy it. 

"What the hell! How come you're so good? Are you sure this is really your first time playing a video game?" Shota asked in disbelief.

"To be honest, the boy was pretty fast in catching things, unlike most people," Rin said, indirectly mocking Shota.

After, Erix realized he just let himself go unchecked for nearly three hours. He felt really stupid and ashamed of himself.

'So much for not letting my guard down.' He mentally sighed.

Erix took a few moments to reorganize his thoughts and soon went back to normal.

When they were tired of playing video games, the time was already 11 pm, so they decided to get some sleep to wake up refreshed enough for school tomorrow. 

The day has been long, after all, and tomorrow would be a long day too since it would be the first day of school, so they needed to have a good sleep to regain their strength. 

As Erix looked back at the time he had tonight, he would be lying if he said he didn't have fun.

Erix still does not possess a silver of trust in his roommate. But, even if they were just pretending, he could not help but feel a little thankful for them being nice.

'If really they are genuine about their feelings, then I see no point refusing to be friends with them. But that will be after I observe them a little longer and find out, they had no ulterior motive,' Erix thought, before abandoning consciousness and drifting to sleep

*****

After 7 hours of sleeping, Erix woke up feeling completely re-energized.

It was 6 am already.

It was quite early so Shota and Rin were still asleep. And since classes would only begin at 8 am, he didn't want to wake them up.

Since he had nothing else to do, he decided to do these daily quests.

[Daily optional quest]

- [Do five push-ups

Reward: 5 exp]

- [Do five sit-ups

Reward: 5 exp]

- [Drink 1½ Litre of water

Reward: 5 exp]

[2 attribute points]

Today he had one more exercise to do. And he was quite glad because that means he could be able to gain exp faster than he initially thought. 

If he had these three quests every day, then he would be able to level up before weekends.

That thought only makes him squeal in joy.

'Like in video games, when a character gains exp and level up, they would be able to gain more skills and then increase their physical attributes. I hope the system works that way too.' His instinct told him.

He tried to do the quests quickly, but even with the little amount he needed to do, he took a while. His body wasn't made to do sports since he didn't have any muscles.

He was quite skinny, and it was hard to even lift his weight.

But still, he managed to do them, and when he was done, he was happy to see a new number displaying on his exp bar.

[Quest point: 5/100]

[exp: 25/100]

[+2 attribute points]

'Attribute point? What's that for?' Erix thought but got no answer.

'Pfff, I almost forgot this isn't human.' He mentally sighed.

However, as he was about to shut his system, another screen popped up before his eyes.

[General A.I guide installing..]

[A.I guide installed]

[A.I guide: Supplies host with the available information on any feature of the system]

[Attribute points: These are additional points given to host to increase physical attributes]

'Wow, I never thought the system had such features. I guess there are still more things uncovered in this system.'

In the end, before he closed the system, he finalized to assign the two free points in agility since he will be needing them if ever he gets into a fight. Not like he was confident he would win anyone in a fight.

His agility was now 12 instead of 10.

And since it was still early, he went to the bathroom to take a long shower. 

Once he got to the bathroom mirror and put his clothes off, he was rather surprised.

"Is it I or my body that has changed from yesterday?"

It wasn't an assumption because it was truly the case. 

It wasn't so apparent, but since Erix knew his body quite well because he got a lot of bruises every day, he noticed any changes that were affecting his body.

"Is it the system?" He said in a low voice since he didn't want to be heard by anyone.

"I have the impression that it has given me a healthy body. Before, my skin was a little whiter, whereas now it's darker," He observed.

"Well, if there are more benefits than drawbacks, then why should I complain?" He said as he entered the bathtub.

He could have stayed in the shower long if he wasn't gonna eat. He needed to eat, so he exited the bathroom around fifty minutes later. Since it was still 7.00, he still had enough time to eat and properly dress. 

So, he put some clothes on him, that's to say, the military uniform.

Even though the uniform was from the military, it didn't have the usual brown and red color like Erix could see in old films that were taken before the war. 

On the contrary, it was quite elegant.

It was composed of a dark green shirt and black pants. 

The military selected that color because of its poor reflective nature. Like this, stains on it wouldn't be noticed at first glance.

Well, even though it stains, it wasn't really a problem since students have many uniforms in their closets.

Students from different years were differentiated by neck scarves.

First-year students make use of black scarves, while second-year students use purple neck scarves. 

Like this, the military won't have a hard time distinguishing between both years.

The third-year students were free to use any scarf they liked provided that it was neither black nor purple.

After he dressed up completely, he decided to go get some food in the school canteen. 

The school money system started today, that's to say that all students were bound to be receiving 40 points every day.

The money was to enable students to purchase anything they need besides feeding since the school already ran the expenses for it.

Sometime later, he heard yawning sounds coming from the boys, showing they were on the verge of waking. He quickly ran out of the room before they could fully wake.

He wasn't in the mood for talks, right now.