The Author's POV

"Is that him?"

"Did he really get injured over such a simple mission?"

"He really does look weak"

Aimlessly walking around the mansion, I ignored the whispers and stares coming from some of the students that I passed along the way.

Yesterday night, after completing the mission, I returned to the mansion all battered up. My whole arm was bleeding profusely and my clothes were all torn.

Though I didn't pass out, to the people who saw me return, it looked as if I had been through hell.

Because I had some notoriety, news of my battered state spread across all of the students...and soon I became the hot topic of the first years.

Because the missions that we got were not a secret from the other students, after a bit of digging, people immediately found out who my target was and news of me getting beat up by a ranked individual spread across the academy.

...in the end, this resulted in me becoming the butt of the jokes of the first years.

'Weakling'

'Loser'

'Trash'

Walking along the corridor, I was called all sorts of defamatory names by everyone that saw me.

On a normal day, I would've grumbled and cursed at the people talking crap about me, but today...

Staring at my hands, I recalled the moment when my sword reaped through the lives of multiple people at once.

'...I killed'

I didn't sleep throughout the whole night.

Right now to the people around me I probably looked like a lifeless corpse that was aimlessly wandering around the mansion.

My mind kept replaying the moments where I reaped through the lives of the four bodyguards.

...I could vividly recall Karl's pleading face as he begged for me to spare him.

"Fuuuuu..."

Letting out a long breath and staring at the ceiling of the corridor, I tried to calm my mind.

What had happened already happened.

...There was no going back.

I had killed and I needed to move on...

This wasn't going to be the only time, and it sure as heck wasn't going to be the last time.

This was the path that I had chosen for myself and thus had to take responsibility for my decisions.

Moreover, there was something more important I needed to worry about.

'The massacre of Hollberg'

The second big event in the first arc of the novel.

Tomorrow at 9:45 P.M, the last day of the trip, when everyone was sleeping, an organized attack will happen.

Though their primary targets were Kevin and the others, the other weaker students weren't spared from their pursuit.

...Meaning that I was also not safe.

Though I decided not to interfere, I needed to prepare myself for what was to come.

Placing my hand on my chin, I fell into deep thought.

First things first...I needed to memorize the whole building blueprint.

as well as attract the least amount of attention. The reason why I needed a good view of what was happening was so that I could overlook anything that deviated from

want another incident like the one with Amanda

mysterious book with me. With it, I could more or less tell if something outside of the norm was going to

anything that deviated from the plotline happened, it was my job to prevent

needed to quickly recover from the

they couldn't heal all my injuries that quickly. Especially since my whole shoulder had been pierced and my shoulder muscles had been

needed a full day to

I would get an electrifying pain coursing through my body. Though I

needed to sort out my

in the right state of mind to be put

...I just couldn't.

killing again was causing my hands to tremble uncontrollably. I was not ready mentally

tomorrow I would use [Monarch's indifference] throughout the

first time yesterday did I realize how many flaws I had, both

I was too emotional.

get over the fact that I had killed someone, the thought of what future lay ahead of me and how many more lives I

right? Was everything that I was doing really

brewed inside of my mind as I tried to

to go before being able to confidently stand up against demons and

ridding of all my distracting thoughts, I quickly headed to my room and started preparing for

be the longest two

...

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

"Huff...huff..huff"

empty room filled with training dummies, an extremely handsome individual stood in

honed body was drenched in sweat, and

-Gulp!

quickly dashed before one of the training dummies and punched

"Die! Die! Die!"

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

and continuously punching the dummy until he ran out of air, small shockwaves spread throughout the room as the sound of the collision between his fists and the dummies reverberated around the

the young

he clenched his jaw hard and he covered his eyes

what am

assigned, Jin couldn't help but feel a massive wall standing before

a wall that

find any way to bridge

Kevin that much more talented

the fact

"Damm it..."

-Bang!

fist hard, Jin punched

I have access to the best resources

an orphan and had nothing managed to surpass him who was born

He couldn't accept it.

was no way

-Gulp!

some of his energy, Jin immediately downed another

you

-Bang!

one of the training dummies he once again started training until

repeated continuously until his fists were both

after passing out from overworking

...

and old wooden tables and

one of the two stunning girls that had short creamy brown hair looked at the girl in front of

you notice something strange

at Emma, Amanda frowned for a second

"No"

"Really?"

for a bit, Emma's brow

"Maybe it's just me..."

few days, Emma had this sense of discomfort. She constantly felt as if someone was

unsettling...but in the end, she