Calista Elise Medley
First-Year One Student
Level 2
XP: 82/100
HP: 100/100
EP: 76/100
RP Status: Ridiculed— -137 RP
Weakness Lvl 19
Calista’s body ached as she power-walked to the Recreation Station, but she was willing to endure it if it meant she’d catch Harrison before he sat down for breakfast. She was dressed in the same custom uniform as the previous day; as painful as the experience was, she gained RP, and she wasn’t about to fawn away by reverting back to the default uniform.
‘Default’. The word was bitter in her mouth.
Her anger flared at the sight of his messy brown curls and red uniform bodysuit walking towards the Mess Hall doorway. She wordlessly caught up with him and grabbed his arm, turning him to her.
His sapphire blues lit up at the sight of her. “Everyone’s talking about last night! What the bugs happened?” he said.
“What happened is that you didn’t tell me I was a glitching Favorite, jerk!” She shoved his shoulder.
-10 Rel-P
Harrison closed his eyes, realizing. “Okay, wait-”
“How come everyone knows about it already? Why didn’t you say anything? I literally told you I was going to that Lounge, and you didn’t think to-”
“Just let me explain-”
“They said it was by default. Is that true? I’m just getting it handed to me on a glitching silver platter, just like they all say?”
“No,” Harrison said fiercely. The volume of his voice attracted a few ears, and he sighed, lowering it. “No,” he repeated calmly. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I knew you’d want to earn it, and I want you to earn it. I wanted to wait until then.”
“You still could’ve given me a warning when I told you about last night!”
“I thought you were just ‘hanging out’ with Dropkick.”
“Yeah, at the lounge. I told you that and you just said that Cam’s a cool person.”
He nodded. “She is. I just… I don’t remember…” His face turned a bright red and he averted his eyes. “I-I guess I… didn’t hear you say that. I’m sorry.”
Calista rolled her eyes. “Men.”
+2 Rel-P
“Are you okay? Everyone’s talking about you accepting a challenge from the glitching Alpha ASC. I knew you were crazy, but not that crazy.”
“I didn’t want to accept, but… I had to.” It was Calista’s turn to blush now. She knew that her decision was extremely stupid. She would’ve been fertilizer if the woman hadn’t gone easy on her— it was a miracle she bothered to. “I don’t know why I did, okay? At least I’m alive.”
“You got that right.”
“Hey, it’s kind of your fault I wound up in that mess. If I had known, I would’ve avoided that place.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would come up.” He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m hearing some pretty good things about that fight, though.”
+2 Rel-P
Calista scoffed. “I lost. I was humiliated. I could barely breathe after it was over.”
“‘Course you did. She’s hundreds of Levels higher than you. No one expects you to beat her the way you are now— heck, lots of experienced people can’t beat her. But you showed a lot of potential to her. Now people will know why VP Kalley recommended you… and I know now, too.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
+5 Rel-P
Her exhaustion and initial anger were replaced with elation at his words. “Thanks… you really think I did good? People exaggerate…”
“Someone sent me the recorded scan of the fight. You fixed a lot of the mistakes I told you about.” He chuckled. “I guess it took Hothead trying to beat you up to get you to quit throwing punches without advancing.” He patted her shoulder and walked into the Mess Hall. “At Guild Training, you’ll see something really new. I’ve figured you out.”
“Figured me out?” Calista smiled curiously.
“You’ll see.” He winked, making her knees melt. She summoned her strength to stay on her feet. “Good job, Calista. I’m proud of you.”
The words echoed in her head. I’m proud of you.
Proud. No one besides her siblings ever said that to her.
She stood in the Mess Hall doorway, staring at Harrison as he walked all the way down to the Student Coach table. Her throat tightened and her heart fluttered.
+20 Rel-P
Approaching Good Friend Status
He’s proud of me. Someone’s proud of me.
She wanted to burst into tears, but stopped herself. She definitely couldn’t start crying in the middle of the cafeteria while everyone was talking about how well she held her own against Rosalina Wiasod. As she always did, she inhaled her tears back into her lungs and confidently walked to the Kappa Guild table, smiling as she heard people whispering and looking at her.
===
Calista’s Rep Level fluctuated all day. It didn’t reach ‘Hated’ status anymore, but it stayed within the range of Ridiculed Status— between -100 and -149 RP. Calista pretended not to overhear the gossip as she went through her day of classes, study breaks, and training.
“Did you hear what that Socializer girl did?”
“She fought Rosalina Wiasod! The glitching Alpha ASC!”
“Rosalina beat her like she was nothing. She was pathetic.”
“I heard she taught her some things.”
“She almost cut Rosalina’s eye!”
“With a decorative fan. It was so humiliating. I got second-hand embarrassment seeing the scan.”
“If that girl becomes a Favorite, I’m not going to bother respecting that status. If she can get it, anyone can.”
In Teamwork period, the whole class fell silent when she arrived. Rosalina continued talking to her fellow Alphas, not even sparing her a glance. She always ignored her, so Calista assumed she was continuing their normal interaction in class, but she noticed a lack of insults on her part whenever she tripped up during an exercise.
Hillary didn’t even wait two seconds to taunt Calista with all the mistakes she made during the spar. Her snotty voice muttered by her ear the whole time.
“If she hadn’t gone easy on ya, you would’ve been nothin’.”
“You’re nothin’. Don’t think a stupid challenge like that gives you any worth.”
“You should’ve gone to your cachehead Socializer school if you care so much about your meaningless looks.”
“You deserve every bit of pain you got in that fight. I wish I was there to beat you up myself. Don’t think I don’t plan on it.”
Calista ignored her the whole time, but her anger was at a simmer by the end of the period. She eagerly awaited the day she could kick the glitch’s face in.
Once Dinner was finally over, Calista left the Kappa table. This time, only Cam had accompanied her, Belinda choosing to eat with her own Guild, which Calista didn’t mind. Her Reputation Level was being affected, too.
“Are you going to ask for your badge?” Cam asked her as she accompanied her to the Training Center with the other Guild members.
“I don’t know…” Calista shrugged.
“I think you’ve earned it. Not many people can stand up to Rosalina Wiasod and live. Even if she went easy on you, it was mighty impressive for a Level 2. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t Level Up right there.”
+5 Rel-P
“Well, I have a lot of… drawbacks that slow my XP rate.”
“You mean your Weakness Level? Everyone has those.”
“Not as bad as mine.”
“You know, Weakness Levels only go so high if you let them. Once you stop letting your limitations actually limit you, that Level goes down real quick.”
Calista pondered on that. Harrison had told her that many times, but she found it so difficult to not constantly obsess over her Weaknesses, especially when looking at the more elaborate notes on her insecurities, anxieties, and aftereffects of mods. Her whole life, she’d been taught to constantly cover her Flaws up, reminding her over and over again how imperfect she was. Here, it was the opposite; while Weaknesses had to be kept in mind, a fighter was encouraged to look past them.
“A tip: you can turn your Weaknesses into Strengths. You’re quite flexible, right?” Cam asked hert.
“Yeah, that gives me high Agility.”
“There you go.” Camelithia’s pink hair had spots of yellow slowly floating across the braids. “You also have a bit of a temper, I noticed. You could channel that anger behind the force of your attacks rather than just jumping into it foolishly. Self-control is key. Also, don’t underestimate the power of weaponry. Like Hothead said, if you’re up against a stronger opponent, weapons will help you. Of course, learning to go hand-to-hand against a higher-Leveled opponent is wise, but improvisation is very important. You did good with that barstool, but you just kind of stood there without using it.”
+5 Rel-P
“I just thought it was a stupid idea when I picked it up.” Calista blushed and scratched her neck. “And I thought… well, I wanted to hit her, but I thought the stool would hurt her too badly and I’d get in trouble.”
“I understand. Socializers have an aversion to any sort of violence, right? That must be why you’re always pulling your punches. If you really hit someone with full force, even with your Level, you could do some good damage.”
“You think?”
“I know. Take it from someone else that has no abilities other than changing hair color.” As if to display it, she completely turned it yellow, giggling. “And don’t worry about hurting someone that’s from a stronger species. Hajjians have an impossibly high PT. That stool wouldn’t have done anything, but you would’ve at least showed some skill.”
“I hesitated,” Calista sighed. “I’ve never really fought anyone like that before… not when I’m so angry, or so… scared. I was scared enough fighting Piranha.”
“A lot of people are scared to fight Piranha. That’s why she’s called that.” The two reached the hallway. “Anyhow, good luck in your lesson today. Be proud of yourself. You did well last night.” Camelithia patted her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
+6 Rel-P
She approached the other green-patched students, who eyed her judgingly, but said nothing. Calista caught Belinda’s eye and waved, receiving a wave back.
+3 Rel-P (Belinda)