Soulless Players

October 7, 1857 - Wednesday

Philip trudged towards the university, his steps were heavy and sluggish due to the lack of sleep he had endured throughout the night - Just as he expected from the uncomfortable sensation brought my upgrading his Physique to the limit.

However, the good thing was, when the sun had finally shone, Philip noticed that his Mental base stat had increased by one and that the allocated stat points returned and could be used again.

Stats:

Physique: 18 (+50) [>]

Mental: 14 (+27)

Mana: 0

Spirit: 0

Attributable Points: 1

This change made Philip realize that the attributable points were reusable and that the base stats were upgradable with growth and training.

'If that's the case, then it's good to suffer from insomnia and restlessness every night.' Philip chuckled but his face darkened.

While it was beneficial to him, he didn't want to endure sleepless nights every day! Even though his physique keeps him from feeling fatigued at the moment, who knows what the future holds? He was uncertain if his mental state could handle the exhaustion every day.

Philip sighed and allocated the one stat point to Spirit as he felt uneasy seeing it at zero. As for Mana, he would worry about it later if he had any excess stat points.

After finishing his class for the day and a quick dinner at the inn, Philip headed towards the College of Medicine where the Mental Study Society had their clubroom located.

Along the way, when he set foot on the building, he noticed some students with large eye bags dressed in white garments, which were different from the usual brown uniform.

Similar to Philip, these students also noticed him and could not help but wonder. They stared at him with confusion and asked internally why a student from another college was present in their zone.

Feeling out of place. Philip hurriedly searched for the club room while keeping his head low. Internally, he was questioning himself whether attending the meeting was a good decision. After all, his major, Conrad's major rather, is totally on a different spectrum from the club's.

Eventually, after a long walk, he found a brown wooden door with a sign in the middle that read "Mental Study Society" at the end of the corridor. It was perfectly located at the center which adds a sense of individuality compared to the other rooms on both sides.

Checking the time on the watch he 'borrowed' from Conrad, he saw that the long hand was on ten and the shorthand was close to six. With this in mind, ten minutes before the scheduled time, he grabbed the doorknob and entered the room.

As Philip stepped into the room, he was taken aback by its sheer size. The space was equivalent to two standard classrooms, with long tables running down both sides of the room, each accompanied by rows of wooden chairs.

Some of the chairs were neatly placed underneath the tables, while others were scattered around willy-nilly. In the center of the room, there was a platform with a bare, dirty-white wall. Philip could only assume that there was a chalkboard there previously, but it appeared to have been removed.

Upon the platform, there was a wooden podium adorned with a circular logo of the club, featuring a brain surrounded by laurels and the words 'Mental Study Society'.

The room was well-lit, with large windows on both sides, offering breathtaking views of the university and the trees outside. The borders of the windows were draped with thick black curtains, adding a touch of elegance to the space.

Overall, the room was immaculately clean and gave Philip a fantastic first impression of the club.

As Philip observed his surroundings, he noticed that there were four people in the room. Two of them were soundly sleeping while sitting near the left window, while a shy and nervous-looking girl was seated alone on the right side of the room, near the second long table. The fourth person was a man who smiled warmly upon seeing Philip walk in.

"Hello there, did you come for the club gathering? If so, how did you find out about this place?"

Philip replied, "Yes, I saw a poster in the library and it piqued my interest."

He dug through his bag and produced the poster he had found the day before.

Seeing this, the man nodded, welcomed him with a smile, and said, "Great! Take a seat and relax, we still have a few minutes until the session starts."

He then went to a cabinet near the entrance and retrieved some items.

Initially, Philip wanted to assist him, but he decided against it since he was new and unfamiliar with the surroundings. Instead, he turned his attention to the only woman in the room, who was secretly scrutinizing him at the same time.

He introduced himself with a smile, "Hi, I'm Conrad Davies, a sophomore in civil engineering."

The girl, dressed in the same brown uniform he had, looked shy but managed to respond, "Yes, I know who you are. You're quite well-known in your department. I'm Sarah Williams, a sophomore in primary education."

After exchanging pleasantries, the two of them were left in an awkward silence.

Philip suddenly felt ashamed. He had been living in the forest and had just arrived in the city for four days. So aside from Maris, his weird relationship with Conrad, and his short talk with the scary Adolf, he didn't know how to socialize with people of his age. Moreover, he had to act like he was Conrad and couldn't be impulsive.

Good thing that Sarah appeared to be in a similar situation and understood that the two of them could not talk without the presence and help of a third party, preferably an extrovert.

Philip scratched his neck as he pulled up the chair next to her to sit.

The man who had greeted him earlier looked at them and smiled again, but this time, his smile wasn't friendly or welcoming - it was teasing and had a hint of mocking.

The two of them looked down and pretended to clean the non-existent dirt in their fingers, trying to ignore the man's behavior.

A few minutes later, a group of five people wearing the same white garments that Philip had seen earlier entered noisily.

"What will we learn today? I hope I can finally master sleep paralysis today."

"Have you tried it alone in your room?"

"No, I wouldn't dare. I always feel like something heavy is sitting on my chest when I do it by myself."

They continued discussing their daily encounters and subjects in class which Philip could not understand as they were filled with jargon and difficult words.

Soon, more students entered the room. Most of them wearing white uniforms, while only a few had brown ones like his.

As Philip observed the incoming crowd, his eyes widened for a moment before narrowing them down.

There, he saw, in the center of the crowd, the staff of McRonald he met on his first day in the city. The one who forced... no not forced... but drove him to order more unconsciously.

The woman caught Philip's intense gaze and instinctively looked over. When their eyes met, Philip immediately composed himself and slowly took his gaze away. However, it was too late as the woman approached him with the same annoying smile she had worn in the past.

"You seemed to know me and despised me? Why? Do I know you? Have we met before? Are you perhaps one of my forgotten boyfriends? If so, want to try it again?" asked the woman who is the perfect depiction of contradiction as she appeared to be both alluring and boyish.

Philip's eyes flickered again. He had thought this in the past but he felt she was indeed very talkative leaving him no way out but to follow her lead subconsciously.

While Philip was in mental turmoil, Sarah looked over them in curiosity. She stared at Philip first and at the woman then quickly bowed her head which was slowly turning into a tomato.

Philip had no time to observe Sarah's unusual reaction as the woman across bombarded him again with a series of inquiries.

"You're skin is so smooth. What products do you use? And you seemed so pretty. Oh if only you're a woman you would have been prettier than me. Hehe. Oh, I think I know you! You're the mascot of the engineering department! Haha. Why would someone from that dirt-loving major be here in the loving and delicate world of psychology?"

Philip's forehead wrinkled as his mouth twitched slightly. He also began to notice that the people around him were starting to scrutinize him and eventually, obtained the attention of all.

While he was thinking of how to answer and how Conrad would act in this situation, a voice saved him,

"Stop that Lala. You're scaring the newcomers." Sam, the same man who had greeted him earlier, scolded.

Lala just smirked as she gave Philip a quick wink before moving to the front.