章 44: Game

[Chapter 43 Comment]

[Adam_Balch_7324: After everything that I've read about you that seems like a nightmare though I'm sure you are aware of that with the smile you made]

Theo was walking towards the school. Before starting his little game, he looked at the comment section.

"Well, I will surely enjoy it. You've got to enjoy things or you will be bored soon." Theo chuckled before continuing to the previous comment. "Sorry that I didn't reply to your comments previously."

"No and yes. No, I don't carry the power I currently possess to my original world. However, I do carry the knowledge about it. It might not work, but the concept is there. I just need to tweak it a bit and make it my own. As for whether the power between realms can be used, then yes. You can see that my students are starting to cooperate with each other because if they combine the power of two realms or more, they can make their own power even stronger."

"As for the last one..." Theo paused for a moment. "You may consider that, but for me, you are real humans. I have read the explanation about the system genre in a novel, which is similar to what I have now. However, there is something different. Mine only has this one function while the others have several functions. In addition, you are coming from another universe while the others are coming from the same universe, which is the novel's universe. So, I still think it's different."

While replying to the comments, Theo noticed a few figures hiding on his path.

Behind a huge tree near the school entrance, two people were peeking at him. They were also paying attention to their watches, ready to catch him the moment the game started. One of them was looking at the blue screen of his Lumina and said, "I have the radar that locates his heartbeat. I'll also fly some drones to catch him. You should find a way to stall him, Maya."

"What should I do? I mean, do you think I can stop him?" Maya contemplated. "I can watch the radar. Why don't you go, Oliver?"

"Huh? I have the radar, so you go." Oliver furrowed his eyebrows. "Just do whatever you can. Maybe a honey trap?"

"Are you serious?" Maya's eyebrows twitched.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"..." Maya contemplated for a moment before taking off her tie. Then, she unbuttoned the top two buttons and stepped out of hiding. "Tea—"

Right after she stepped to the side to reveal herself, her foot suddenly slipped as if she had just stepped on a banana peel.

"What—?" Maya panicked and ended up falling to the ground. As a result, her other foot kicked the radar up.

"!!!" Oliver hurriedly jumped and caught it, checking if the radar was still working. To his surprise, multiple signals appeared on the screen.

"It broke?" Oliver gasped. As he was about to scold Maya, all the signals on the radar suddenly started moving in different directions, confusing him. But Oliver quickly realized that it wasn't a malfunction—it was a deliberate attempt to deceive them. "Not good!"

Oliver took another look and saw that Theo was nowhere to be found. He had managed to slip away. "We've been fooled." Oliver looked down at Maya, who had tripped over nothing but an illusion. "Tsk."

"We should chase after him!" Maya pointed towards the field.

"Alright, let's go. Luckily, the school isn't crowded yet," Oliver agreed.

The two of them hurriedly moved to a different location, searching for any signs of Theo. Little did they know, Theo hadn't actually moved from his spot. Instead, he had created an illusion that made it seem like there was no one in the field, fooling Maya and Oliver. He had also cast an illusion on the radar to further deceive them, knowing they relied on it.

As they made their way through the hallway, Maya and Oliver encountered three people lying in wait: Serena, Li Wei, and Jayden. It was an odd combination, but they seemed to be working together on something.

Jayden, being from the same realm as Theo, provided them with information about demons. Li Wei used his essence sensitivity to track Theo's presence, while Serena used her perfume potion to create a scent trail that would lead them to him.

However, Li Wei noticed something amiss. "Wait a minute. Why are you guys heading this way?"

"Huh? We're chasing after Teacher Theo," Maya replied innocently.

Both Li Wei and Oliver wore puzzled expressions. "Huh?"

They realized that if Theo had gone in this direction, he would have already passed them. The fact that they couldn't find any signs of him meant that he must have taken another path.

"There are three paths that lead to the main building... He must have gone the other way!"

"We have to chase him." Li Wei and Serena nodded in agreement. "Let's go."

The five of them hurriedly split up, each taking a different path in an attempt to catch Theo. But when they reached the second path, a hallway that led to the field on the side of the main building, they saw Aurora and Lancelot also searching for someone.

"Huh?"

"Why are you two..."

"What happened? Did he trick you?"

"..." Lancelot scratched the back of his head, feeling embarrassed. "Yeah, we thought we had him."

Aurora sighed. "I underestimated him. I thought my wind spirit would inform me of his location, but as soon as the spirit did, we found nothing. Even the wind spirit was confused." They looked at each other, uncertain of their next move.

"Anyway, he must have gone this way. We have to chase him." Maya pointed towards the field. "We'll enter the main building through this path."

"But you know how Teacher Theo operates... Don't you think he wants us to think that and choose the last path?"

"Then maybe he wants us to believe that we've outsmarted him and choose this path."

"What's with this situation... Outsmarting the outsmarting of the outsmarting or something?"

Opinions were divided. The students didn't know which one was correct and which one was wrong.

"In any case, we'll split up here. Maya and I will take this path." Oliver pointed towards the field. "We're going to enter the main building. Remember, Teacher warned us not to cause any damage or disturb too many people."

"I know. My group will take the third path," Serena nodded, leading her group towards the last path at the back of the academy.

However, as they arrived at the third path, they found Avalon standing before the hallway, sword in hand. He appeared solid and immovable, like a wall determined to block anyone from passing this way.

"Huh? Avalon? Since when have you been standing here? Did Teacher Theo pass you?" Serena frowned, puzzled by Avalon's sudden appearance.

"No one is allowed to pass through this path," Avalon harrumphed.

They were at a loss for words, unsure of how to respond to his actions. Serena asked, "Why are you still standing here? It seems that Teacher Theo has already reached the main building through the field."

"You all can go. I will continue standing here and challenge him to a duel," Avalon declared, raising his voice. "I challenge Teacher Theo to a duel. Come out if you dare!"

They never expected Avalon to take such a direct approach. It seemed like he wanted to shame Theo by challenging him openly. However, upon further reflection, they realized that there was no need for Theo to accept the duel. It was clear that Avalon was trying to outsmart him with this plan, but it seemed that he hadn't quite grown much if he thought he could use this to catch him.

"In any case, we're going to the main building," Serena decided to leave Avalon to his own devices and continue chasing after Theo.

Before they departed, Avalon asked, "Why did you all group up? Even if you find him, only one person will be chosen, right?"

"Teacher Theo has taught us the importance of combining our powers. While it's true that only one person will be chosen, by working together, we increase our chances of finding him. And once we find him, we'll only have to fight amongst ourselves. It's better to fight two people than the entire class," Serena explained with a shrug. "Anyway, we're off."

Serena's group hurriedly made their way to the main building. However, to their surprise, they encountered Avalon walking in the hallway looking confused.

"Huh? Avalon?" Serena furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you doing here? Weren't you..."

"Kh." Li Wei gritted his teeth, realizing what had happened. "We've been tricked."

"Huh? What are you guys talking about? I just came out of the bathroom," Avalon replied innocently.

"We need to go back immediately. The person we encountered earlier was Mr. Theo," Jayden said, clicking his tongue in frustration.

They never expected Theo to employ such a trick. But when they returned to the previous path, he was nowhere to be found. Instead, they discovered a wooden sign with a smiley face on it.

"We've been fooled," Serena bit her lip and grabbed the sign, only for it to reveal itself as an illusion. As a result, her balance shifted, and she stumbled to the ground. "Gah!"

Li Wei covered his eyes, trying to avoid the embarrassment of the situation.

"What should we do? Theo's ability to use illusions makes things much more difficult," Jayden frowned.

"That's true," Li Wei pondered for a moment. "If he can become any one of us, it will complicate things. If we lose sight of each other, he can easily kidnap one of us and take our place to disrupt our plans. First and foremost, we need a secret code to identify each other."

"No, we need to think on a broader scale. He might not only disguise himself as one of us but as another student from a different class or even another teacher. When that happens..."

Serena raised a finger, trying to act nonchalant. "Did you forget the rules? We can't cause a major disturbance. In other words, we have to operate secretly and find a way to identify him."

"Looking at it from another angle, doesn't this feel like searching for someone in the midst of a bustling city? We can't draw attention to ourselves because the authorities would surely intervene," Jayden shifted his perspective once again.

"Now that I think about it, that's true. I can't help but remember Mia's words from yesterday," Serena pinched the bridge of her nose. "She said it's like fighting against a master of illusion in guerrilla warfare. I suppose she was right."

"By the way, what is she doing right now? We invited her to join us, didn't we?" Li Wei asked, glancing at Serena.

"I did invite her, but she told me she had no intention of participating in the next mission."

"Instead of inviting her, why don't we try asking her about any tricks or hints that Teacher Theo might have given us? Getting some clues from her should be sufficient."

"That's a good idea. I'll ask her during class. Let's use the remaining time to check in with the other groups and see what they've discovered."

The trio nodded in agreement and quickly set off to find the other students.

Little did they know, Theo had prepared multiple layers of traps and challenges for all of his students.

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