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.

could get a good view of what was happening as well as attract the least amount of attention. The reason why I

another incident like the one with Amanda to

it, I could more or less tell if something

the plotline happened, it was

needed to quickly recover from the wounds that I had

quickly. Especially since my whole shoulder had been pierced

a full day to completely

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

needed to sort

the right state of mind to be put through another scenario that required me to reap through

...I just couldn't.

was causing my hands to tremble uncontrollably. I was not

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

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

I was too emotional.

thought of what future lay

Was everything that I was doing

inside of my mind as I tried to find the

a long way to go before being able to

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

the longest two

...

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

"Huff...huff..huff"

with training dummies, an extremely handsome individual stood in the middle of the room heavily panting

in sweat, and his

-Gulp!

individual quickly dashed before

"Die! Die! Die!"

-Bang! -Bang! -Bang!

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

minutes after continuously hitting the dummies, the young individual laid on the floor heavily gasping

hard and he

am

assigned, Jin couldn't

that

put in, he couldn't find any way to bridge

Kevin that much more talented than

he just accept the fact

"Damm it..."

-Bang!

Jin punched

to the best resources and facilities! This should be

to surpass him who was born with a

He couldn't accept it.

was no way he could

-Gulp!

his energy, Jin immediately downed

surpass you

-Bang!

once again started training until he couldn't

continuously until his fists were

the end, only after passing out from overworking himself did he

...

a small cozy cafe' decorated with beautiful plants and old wooden tables and boards, two stunningly beautiful

that had short creamy brown hair looked at the girl in front of her and

did you notice something strange happening

Emma, Amanda frowned for a second before

"No"

"Really?"

bit, Emma's

"Maybe it's just me..."

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

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