"Lets go to the cafeteria"
Drake said and walked in the direction of the cafeteria. Jake was also starting to feel hungry, so he quickly followed the professor. Lee stepped forward and followed Jake, and Mira walked last.
After a few seconds, as they were walking in a line, the visual interface began to twitch violently. Lee frowned as he witnessed this, but did not slow down his pace. He kept walking as the interface glitch furiously. After almost a minute of disturbance, the interface disappeared. Lee was confused as to what had just happened.
'D? Hudson?'
Even after calling a couple of times, there was no reply. Lee began to storm his brain and recollected all the instances where Lee had talked about the system. Nowhere in his memory, had D mentioned about a glitch or bug.
Hoping that everything was fine, Lee walked towards the cafeteria. But what he did not know was that there was a battle going on inside the system.
The cafeteria was not vast and large, but was about half the size of a football ground. Few students were sitting here and there as a group, and a very few sat alone. As their eyes fell on Drake, Jake, Mira and Lee entering the cafeteria, the dull sounds of conversations became silent.
"Just a moment."
The professor told them to wait for a moment, and walked towards a set of tables and chairs, different from the common ones. Those sets of furniture were isolated from the rest, with a partition as tall as waist. As many pairs of eyes watched, Drake walked into the section named Executives, and placed the books in his hand onto a table. He then walked to the trio, and led them to the serving counters.
"Breakfast for four, please"
To Lee's surprise, even those at the serving counters were students. An explanation was unnecessary as he deduced the reason. The students looked pleasant when they were serving and their hands moved with fluency and skill.
Four glasses of Coco Milk and four plates with Roasted Chicken was placed in front of them, and Drake picked one of each. Following him, Jake, Mira and Lee picked theirs and followed the professor to their seats.
Drake went into the executive area, but Jake did not enter. He was not an executive of the academy, so he was hesitant. Drake only saw the trio standing, after he sat down. He saw Mira's eyes glancing at the 'Executives' board.
"Don't worry about the board. It was meant to let the students have their freedom and privacy, as we, older people, sit here silently."
Jake was glad to hear the explanation. Without any delay, the trio entered and sat around the table. The chairs around the round table were perfect for a small family of four.
---
Slow and steady, Lee finished what was on his plate. Jake was not behind him. They had a silent competition between them as they saw each other's speed of devouring. It was after Mira smacked Jake's head, that he calmed his monstrous eating mode.
The interface glitched a few more times as Lee was eating, but he did not give it any concern. Not that he did not want to, but none of his internal yells were answered. So he could only wait patiently for D to surface and give a report.
And speaking of D, a panel appeared with a faint red exclamation mark in the background. The words made Lee pause his appetite.
==+==+==+==
D reporting. The system was at the verge of permanent crash, due to certain overlooked possibilities. The Tubian of Malice, Hegerus, had left a significant amount of Malice energy inside the system. How he did is unknown, but I speculate that he might have left his energy signature when I exited the System Space.
The threat was neutralised, but two irreversible damages have been sustained. First, the host, Lee, will no longer be immune to any element. The affinities are intact and untouched. It is assumed that the energy was targeted to take out your defenses. Two, the Quest feature has been corrupted beyond retrieval, and was thus lost.
The Quest was the only means of communication we had with the Will of Dimension. Now that we are unaware of anything happening at the fabrics of the dimension, I urge the host, Lee, to be more cautious and vigilant at times. Hegeus have successfully made us blind to their moves.
All traces of malicious energy have been removed. The energy is reported to have disintegrated itself, after being surrounded by the system sentience. Further in-depth scan is being carried on, and I will be unavailable for the next two hours. Consult Hudson if necessary.
==+==+==+==
Sweat drops appeared on the forehead, and Lee felt his heart have stopped for a brief moment. Glancing around, he found that no one had found him going pale from the sudden and unexpected revelation.
The system was his only assistance to contend in a world with Qi and Mana. For someone with neither of them, the existence of the system was crucial for his survival, as Tubians might have known about him by now.
'Hudson, do you hear me?'
[Loud and clear.]
'What happened?'
[It was about barely an hour ago. Lee suddenly felt the presence of something foreign inside the System Space. Within seconds, he found the energy of Malice hiding inside the space. We were attacked the moment it found itself exposed. D was injured and his right arm was cut off amidst the battle.
D removed all limitations he had imposed on himself for the stability of the System Space. Then, he went all out. If I am correct, he deployed each and every element against Malice. I assume that you might have noticed its fluctuations in the visual interface.]
'You call that fluctuations? The interface was going crazy.'
[Well, that was necessary to corner the Malice. The foreign energy found itself in a really troublesome situation, and broke down from within. The energy dissipated into nothing, and not even a trace existed. But there is a possibility that it might not have completely left.]