I've spent the whole day reading this and I LOVED it! The plot is engaging and the vibe, scene and atmosphere were set up very well. Can't wait to read next build!
I've some theories about where the story going to be headed (SPOILER ALART)
In the prologue we've given the death scene of Nika and Jakar. The killer must be: A) know both of them and be considered as friend and B) ability to do the killing in the dark. Since there's some supernatural in play (hinted by the killer looked different by both), point B maybe not that important and bring uncertainty to the scene we saw.
From all the info we currently got, none of the characters fit perfectly. Atticus is the only one we know being close friend with Nika and Jakar but don't think he fit to kill in the dark. Kai fit the latter but the relationship between both is unknown. Same for Vulterus, we've too few info about him that put him as the killer, also Acadia stated he's a bully, don't think he will be in good relationship with both.
For now I believe we need more information to determine who's the killer, but I'm putting my bet on Atticus.
And now the hypnosis part. About the supernatural the MC experiencing, I think there are more sinister going on under the surface of Reconnect program. And I suspect it all linked to kolterran artifacts and the invasion Kai is talking about. I suspect Verpulian took an artifact during the invasion and brought into Reconnect program by Vulterus for unknown purposes.
We already know the artifact can somewhat influence the presence during the first encounter between MC and red eyes, Kai's sword tried to warn MC not to go out, even spoke to MC, but failed. As for the ability of red eyes is still unclear, I believe it can only control people with weaker mentality state, hence why only MC and "the killer of my theory" affected but not others. Here where the Dean's odd speech come in play, trying to inject fear to the students for mind controlling.
I'm really sorry for the long post, I'm so excited to share my thought and can't wait for the new build!