Hex Mactor is a 10th grader from the Solomon class.
The Solomon class is exceptionally adept at both academics and magic. It is also because of this that two Guardians, Jane and Hex, both hail from that very class.
Compared to other classes whose traits make them fairly easy to identify, such as Beowulf (all muscle, no brain), Gilgamesh (insanely arrogant), Arthur (an excessive belief in justice), Qin Shi Huang (united and secretive), Siegfried (calm and cautious), and finally, Charlemagne (breaking conventional norms), the Solomon class is... a gathering of quite a few eccentric individuals.
As far as anyone knows, throughout 300 years, or 150 years, or whatever the heck it is, I am not entirely sure, the Solomon class has continuously produced two types of people:
Those who make you go, "Phew, thank goodness that person is on our side," and those who make you go, "We are so cooked, that guy is on the enemy's side."
Yeah, meaning they are a bunch of lunatics with moral issues and skewed worldviews.
Most human experiments or crimes that cross the line originate from this class. Because of this, Principal Mirlen has issued numerous warnings regarding them. Though they are called warnings, the old man straight up executed a student right after that person did something they shouldn't have.
It sounds ruthless, but one must remember that times were extremely tense back then; lives were dirt cheap. No matter how rare a genius was, if they didn't stand on alliance's side, it was deemed safer to crush them in the cradle.
You might wonder, "Why not just control these people? After all, they are still geniuses, aren't they?"
But remember, talent without virtue is utterly worthless.
Consequently, many students with twisted mindsets from this class chose to hide their true nature, deciding to act like obedient dogs that wouldn't bite their masters.
It wasn't that they submitted or anything; rather, they knew that after graduation, they would become heroes. And heroes were permitted to do anything, as long as it served humanity and eradicated the Demon King.
And so, a series of infamous experiments took place, Homunculus, chimeras, torture, acts so cruel that even demons would question whether these students were the real demons, or if they were.
Especially the Chimera... Some lunatic decided to fuse his pet dog with his daughter, who wasn't even 10 years old yet, all just to test a method of creating a Chimera.
Afterward, he was executed by the alliance. The reason wasn't due to immorality, but rather: if he dared to turn his own family into a chimera, what would stop others from doing the same?
After the war ended, the alliance established specific laws mainly targeting humans, strictly forbidding extreme experimentation.
"You are an intelligent race, not monsters wearing the guise of living creatures."
The meaning behind this quote was essentially: "You're humans, stop acting like crazy freaks. We don't want to deal with you guys after we've already defeated the demons."
Yeah... humans became so notorious that other races, despite holding grudges against them, possessed enough sanity to stay away and avoid provoking a war. Thanks to this, the Solomon class restrained themselves significantly, and extreme experiments were kept to an absolute minimum.
But eh, to me, forbidden or not, they are still dangerous elements, especially the cards they create.
Hex Mactor is a prime example; compared to the wartime era, he actually has a decent amount of morality left.
It is just that he frequently robs graves to harvest remaining soul fragments to craft cards... He is also a necrophiliac...
A few teachers also came from that class. Some still have morals, while others don't. Fortunately, they are all on humanity's side, which is quite surprising since throughout the game, no one from the Solomon class ever defected to become a villain.
Anyway, back to the main topic. Hex stood before us, facing down the samurai.
"Ugh, facing this guy isn't a problem, it's just a waste of energy," he muttered, scratching his head as he drew his cards.
"Is that why you were hiding?" Alice asked.
"Of course. Fighting isn't my hobby. I'd rather find a nice, fancy spot to sleep; that would be way more fun."
With that emo look that clearly shows off your muscles, how do you dare claim you don't have a hobby for fighting?
Thud!
The samurai rushed forward, swinging its blade toward him. He simply took out a single card and activated it.
Thud!
Alice blinked, watching the katana slash right through him without leaving a scratch.
"Illusion of Ghost. It allows the chosen target to take no damage from physical attacks," he explained calmly.
Seeing this, the samurai immediately unleashed ice from the ground. However, the attack caused Hex to dissolve into a strange smoke, only for him to reappear right behind the samurai.
"Phantom Smoke. It allows me to turn into a mist immune to both physical and magical attacks. Now, is it my turn?"
He immediately pulled out a card and held it forward.
"I summon Coffin of the Dead."
Instantly, a decrepit stone coffin was summoned and crashed down with a heavy thud.
"H-Huh?" Alice was bewildered, not expecting the thing before her eyes to be a monster as well.
Coffin of the Dead (Lv. 1)
Type: Ghost
Atk: 0
Hp: 0
Race: Undead
'Oh... Is it that card?' I was slightly surprised but quickly calmed down.
"Activating Passive, If there is a Ghost-type monster on the field, it will be sucked into the coffin, regardless of whether they are an ally or an enemy."
Immediately, the samurai began to be pulled in slowly. It attempted to retreat, but the suction force was too powerful.
Other ghosts from all over the old dormitory also came flying in, getting sucked into the coffin.
The samurai stabbed its sword into the ground, struggling to resist the pull.
"Give me a break, I don't want to use forceful measures..." He sighed, pulling out another card.
This time, it was a very basic spell card, the kind sold on Caesar Street due to how easy it is to make and mass-produce.
"Using spell card, Push."
The name said it all. An invisible hand shoved the samurai. Unable to hold on any longer, the samurai was sucked into the coffin, and the lid slammed shut.
Right after that, a flurry of cards dropped out of the coffin, and the coffin vanished.
"...Is it really that simple?" Alice couldn't believe her eyes. After all, that samurai had given her a massive amount of trouble.
Hex put away his deck and walked over. Out of all the cards on the ground, he picked up only one. It was the samurai card, its identity finally revealed.
Winter Shogun (Lv 5)
Type: Ice/Ghost
Atk: 2000
Hp: 2000
Race: Warrior
"For a Level 5 monster, it certainly caused a lot of trouble for people while guarding this place, huh?" Hex muttered, slipping the card into his pocket before looking at the two of us. "So... why are you two kids here?"
"Curiosity," I answered bluntly.
"Curiosity... Okay, I can accept that. After all, I came here out of curiosity too," Hex said nonchalantly. He turned back into the room, then looked over his shoulder at us. "Coming in?"
Alice and I exchanged glances and entered the room.
The room was a standard student dorm, but unlike the other rooms, this place was filled with dust-covered documents. Indeed, there was something suspicious about this room...
"Senior..." Unable to suppress her curiosity, Alice questioned Hex. "What is it?"
"Those ghosts... the strange noises coming from the dormitory... the mysteries surrounding it. What exactly happened?"
Hex looked at Alice, then slowly explained, "Those are the monsters of a former student who lived here."
"All of them?" I asked.
"Not necessarily all, but most of them. If you're curious about who that person was, you're standing right in his room."
What? Really?
Alice and I were slightly taken aback by this revelation.
"As for the noises, they were meant to scare others away so they wouldn't enter. After all, this place has become the territory of these masterless yet loyal monsters."
No wonder they attacked without hesitation. The noises they made were a warning; if you dared to ignore the warning, they were ready to kill.
"Then the mystery... is just that? Then why did all the rooms and staircases transport me to random places?"
"Here." Hex handed a card to Alice to look at.
The card's name was Mysterious Hotel, a Special-type card. As expected of a Special card, nothing is more versatile than it.
"Are you really showing us everything as long as we ask?"
"Yeah, it's not like it's some massive secret anyway," Hex replied indifferently, walking ahead to continue his investigation.
I then recalled my two monsters and noticed that Elara had reverted to her original form. So it turned out the evolved state only lasted for 15 minutes, but that was more than enough for a single battle.
However, if it were a tournament match, things would be tight... After all, the cooldown for Ice Evolution (I) was way too long.
I walked up beside Hex, glancing at the pieces of paper. Most of them had smudged ink, making them illegible, and the papers themselves were so old they had grown moldy.
I also noticed a few drawings; they were quite hard to make out, but I could still identify the Winter Shogun monster.
So, this was also the master of that monster.
"What did you come here to investigate?" I asked.
"Nothing much. I was just curious about how this predecessor, who shared the same Ghost-type deck as me, died."
Died?
"You mean... he died before graduating from the academy?"
"Yeah, the rumor about that student dying is true. However, the manner of his death is just too bizarre to ignore."
Is it the person from the rumors? A student who exhibited strange behaviors only to die a mysterious death.
"Well, looking at this pile, the mystery is only going to get more mysterious." Hex placed his hand on his chin, pacing around.
I scanned the bedroom and then looked toward the bathroom.
Oh wow, this room actually has a bathroom? That's completely different from the other rooms.
"Back then, to increase competition and motivation among students, the academy implemented a ranking system. The better a student proved their ability, the higher their rank, and the rewards that came with it were equally substantial."
"Meaning..."
"Yeah, because of their high rank, it's no surprise the academy allowed that student access to forbidden knowledge and rather excellent treatment."
Currently, the academy has abolished this system, likely because it is peacetime now. If they had kept that system, this academy would be exactly like those academy novels where everyone looks down on the main character.
Alice looked a bit puzzled; this information was a bit too overwhelming for someone as innocent as her.
"Ah, forgot to mention, don't touch the crime scene."
"I didn't touch anything," I replied.
But truthfully, there was something strange here... Was it related to the main storyline, or just a tiny Easter Egg?
I walked into the bathroom and looked around.
Ugh, it's a squat toilet. The old days really lacked a lot of things...
"What are you going into the bathroom for?" Alice followed me.
"Just want to check it out. Once we've seen everything, we'll leave."
"But how do we get out?"
"Our senior is right here, isn't he?"
"Ah, right." This silly girl doesn't think things through at all.
I then walked over to the sink, looking into the old mirror. The place looked quite normal for a room designated for high-ranking students back then, though it was incredibly dusty.
I didn't see anything unusual about the bathroom... I suppose only the bedroom with the pile of written notes was worth noting.
Thus, I was about to step out of the bathroom.
"Wu wu!"
Suddenly, Felia's voice echoed from her card.
"What is it?" I picked it up, summoning her just to be safe.
Once summoned, Felia dragged me over to the trash can inside.
"Wu wu!"
I looked inside. It was entirely filled with toilet paper and... a few brown substances.
"...I don't want to dig through that."
"Wu!"
"...Elara."
Elara was summoned, her consciousness and intelligence now heightened.
"Grug?"
"..." I pointed down at the trash can.
Elara looked into the trash can, then looked at me. Her expression seemed to say, 'Is this my very first mission after gaining clear consciousness?'
Seeing that Elara and I both grimaced and refused to do it, an annoyed Felia violently kicked the trash can over, spilling the garbage onto the floor.
Alice watched curiously, wondering what they were up to, while Hex also walked over with an arched eyebrow.
"Junior, didn't I say not to touch the scene?"
"I'm sorry, my monster is just being a bit rowdy—"
I stopped mid-sentence, staring at a piece of toilet paper. My eyes widened. I immediately picked it up to examine it.
"...Umm, why are you picking up that filthy thing?" Hex asked, slightly bewildered as he approached.
However, it was then his turn to be startled.
0, 10, 5.88, -8.09, -9.51, 3.09, 9.51, 3.09, -5.88, -8.09, 0, 10, 10, 0, 0, -10, -10, 0, 0, 10, 10, 0
"This is..." Alice blinked, completely unable to comprehend it.
I immediately rushed out, looking at the pile of documents on the desk and walking over to them. Hex followed, standing and watching.
He had a few ideas, but looking at the boy in front of him, it seemed the kid knew something he didn't.
"Heh? Why am I the only one who doesn't understand anything?!" Alice was utterly confused.
I arranged each piece of paper, increasingly uncovering the key.
Felia and Elara watched curiously, their eyes widening as well. Felia had originally spotted something strange inside the trash can and brought it to my attention, but who would have thought we'd find something so unexpected?
"..." I stepped back, joining Hex and Alice in observing.
Alice stared in surprise at the papers, which were covered in smudged handwriting, with only a few words remaining clear and bold alongside sketches of monsters.
Although everything was arranged in a chaotic mess, a distinct pattern could still be seen when the clear lines of text and drawings were overlaid onto one another.
It was a star symbol enclosed within an outer circle.
"This is..."
"Traditional Alchemy," Hex muttered, looking at the pile.
Only, compared to that immensely famous traditional alchemy, this one seemed slightly different.
But I was the only one who knew exactly what this represented.
'...There's no mistake. This person... was trying to open a pathway for an Alchemist summon!'
However, a few things were still uncertain, so I ordered Felia to try using Cold Wind on it.
Receiving the command, Felia blew a powerful gust of wind, sending the papers flying everywhere. Yet, after Felia stopped blowing, the papers drifted down and still formed the pattern of the star within a circle.
...Tch, it really is it. I didn't think I'd encounter it this early.
So, instead of a few years from now, a new summoning ritual has already appeared in just a single week, no, a long long time ago.