Max still thought that what he was experiencing was just a joke, taking a step back with laughter at the situation he was in.
He didn't want to believe it, but the movements of the vampire and the girl with tiger ears were so fast that Max's eyes couldn't see them clearly.
Groar! Max heard a groan of pain right behind him. Max turned his body quickly, and he saw that the first vampire who had attacked him was still on the floor.
The vampire groaned in pain, and crawled up, trying to stand up to get back at him.
[I didn't think that salt would actually have an effect! I was just trying my luck when I remembered that salt powder could drive away evil spirits!]
"I will suck your blood dry!" The vampire was still trying to get up.
"This really isn't funny! You guys are just playing with me, right?!" muttered Max.
"You're right!" someone was suddenly there, and spoke right beside Max who became instantly alert.
A boy who looked no older than Max stood casually with a friendly smile looking at Max. "...no one is playing you." the boy continued.
"Who are you?!" Max remained vigilant.
"For now, you don't need to know who I am. Right now I just want to help you!"
"Help me?!" Max was really paying attention to the young man in front of him.
"Yes." said the young man as he swung his left hand casually, making the vampires on the floor stand up and ready to attack Max.
Max followed the young man's hand movements without being ordered, and he saw that the swing of the young man's hand made the vampire who had just stood up and was about to attack him disappear like dust in the wind.
Max was not wrong at all, if the young man just waved his hand, without touching and the vampire immediately turned into dust.
Max began to feel fear for the young man.
"You don't have to be afraid of that." the young man said casually.
Max frowned at the young man's words. "You just turned the vampire to dust without even touching him! So, how can I not be afraid?! I could have met the same fate, turning to ashes in the hands of a stranger!"
"Hehehe... sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!"
[Geez... he talks so lightly!]
"It's okay that you don't believe." Suddenly the boy spoke as if he could understand what Max was thinking.
Max became nervous at the words of the boy in front of him who apparently could understand what he was thinking.
"I only want to do five things. The first one is obviously to help you who got trapped into the protective dimension accidentally."
"Protective dimension?! What dimension do you mean?!"
"You do realize that everyone suddenly disappears, right?"
Max nodded. "Yes. You're right! Even my friend disappeared while talking to me!"
"They didn't actually disappear, but you unknowingly crossed into a protective dimension created by a mythical creature power user! The protective dimension itself is shaped like a large dome of varying sizes. As long as this place is within the protective dimension, even if it is destroyed like anything, everything in the original world will not be affected!"
Max nodded again. "So that's why everyone disappeared. Then how do I get out? Or, can I get out once I find the edge of the dimensional dome you're referring to?"
"There's no guarantee you can get out!"
Max's mouth opened quite wide at that answer. Max closed his mouth again.
"From the start, you've already been caught by that vampire who can drain your blood in an instant! Then you could also be affected by the collision of the great forces that are fighting in this protective dimension!"
Max was speechless after receiving the explanation.
The boy walked to the cafeteria terrace, then turned to Max. "Come here."
Max followed the boy's words.
Arriving at the terrace, Max realized that the sky around the school was reddish.
"The sky?!" Max's eyes rounded at the sight of the supposedly bright, blue spring sky that had now turned a reddish color.
The boy nodded. "That's the shape of the protective dimension! Ordinary humans can't see it! You know what I mean?"
Max returned his attention to the boy nearby. "But I'm just an ordinary human..."
"You can see me and hear what I say clearly, can't you?"
Max was silent. He did feel a different aura from the boy nearby, but it wasn't the spirit Max had seen.
"You said you wanted to do five things. So what's next?" Max deflected the question.
The boy smiled. "Okay. Then the second one."
Max waited and listened carefully.
"The second one, I just want to see you and the third one asks for a bit of your time to talk."
Max held his breath for a moment. "Okay, now you've seen me and are talking to me. So what's the fourth and fifth?"
The boy smiled broadly. "The fourth one... it's actually just preparation for your eligibility, since you're not an ordinary human!"
"Okay! I admit, I can only see spirits and talk to them! That's just normal stuff. So, what do you mean by eligibility preparation?"
"In five years, at the age of nineteen you'll know. And five, the last one... Even you, I'm telling you now, but it'll be useless because you'll forget everything that happened here because of your limited abilities..."
Max paused, starting to feel an unusual aura with the presence of the boy in front of him, Max backed away slowly as the boy looked at him. "But still I'm curious and want to know what this is about?"
The boy smiled at Max's question and it was enough for Max to breathe a sigh of relief, because the boy's aura was unusual. Not an ordinary human and not a spirit that he often saw.
"Well, if you're so curious and can't wait until you're old enough, so are your abilities." the boy said casually and with a friendly smile.
Max nodded firmly although he also felt nervous.