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.

get a good view of what was happening 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

like the one with Amanda to

book with me. With it, I could more

happened, it was my job to

needed to quickly recover from the wounds that I

had healing potions, they couldn't heal all my injuries that quickly.

needed a full day to completely heal

movement and I would get an electrifying pain coursing through my body. Though I could tough it out, I'd still prefer if

to sort out

right now, I wasn't in the right state of mind to be put through another scenario that required me to

...I just couldn't.

hands to tremble uncontrollably. I was not ready mentally to go through such an experience

had already decided that for tomorrow I would use [Monarch's

I realize how many flaws I had, both combat and

I was too emotional.

to get over the fact that I had killed someone, the thought of what future lay ahead of me and how many more lives I would take made me question my

everything that I was doing really okay? Was killing the

continuously brewed inside of my mind as I tried to find the correct

the end, I still had a long way to go before being able to confidently stand

my distracting thoughts, I quickly headed to

the longest two days of

...

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

"Huff...huff..huff"

inside of an empty room filled with training dummies, an extremely handsome individual stood in the middle of the room

honed body was drenched in sweat, and

-Gulp!

young individual quickly dashed before one of the

"Die! Die! Die!"

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

ran out of air, small shockwaves spread throughout the room as the sound of the

the dummies, the young individual laid on

hard and he covered his eyes with

what am

night the mission was assigned, Jin couldn't help but feel a massive

if a wall that he couldn't

in, he couldn't find any way to bridge the gap between himself and

Kevin that much more talented than

accept the fact that Kevin was better

"Damm it..."

-Bang!

his fist hard, Jin

accept this! Even if my talent is not as good as his, I have access to the

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

He couldn't accept it.

way

-Gulp!

of his energy, Jin immediately downed another potion

you no

-Bang!

of the training dummies he once again started training until he couldn't

his fists

only after passing out from overworking himself

...

plants and old wooden tables and boards, two stunningly beautiful young girls

of the two stunning girls that had short

did you notice something strange happening these

at Emma, Amanda frowned for a second before shaking

"No"

"Really?"

for a bit,

"Maybe it's just me..."

sense of discomfort. She

of unsettling...but in the end, she could only think of it as her being