?


    Inside the monitoring room.


    Raja and the masked supervisor which was Neychta focused on one screen that disyed two ck-haired boys, Zio and Enzo.


    Someone shouted ''30 seconds left before the unlock!'' in the background, their voice reverberated across the room.


    The camera on that particr screen zoomed in, establishing the focus on the Nova Watch on Zio''s wrist. The clock was ticking, changing its shape number every second.


    "What is he doing?" Raja finally broke his focus.


    Too bad for him, Neychta was too focused on the screen that she might not hear him. Sighing defeatedly, Raja turned his attention back.


    As the clock on Zio''s Nova Watch changed to ''11:00''. At the same time, someone''s voice echoed, giving the order to unlock whatever he meant by that.


    A few secondster, Zio finally moved away from his position as the camera zoomed out, following them heading east.


    "What. How does he know about the game mechanism? I thought the instructors had left it a hole for the student to figure out?" said Raja, his face disying genuine confusion.


    The other supervisor around who coincidentally saw the same screen replied to him, "They didn''t tell them."


    "What about the second-year students? Maybe one of them tell him about it," Raja argued.


    The supervisor shook his head, "No way that''s the case. You also attended as a supervisorst year, right? It was a different concept thanst year''s exam so I don''t think they telling anything to their junior will be useful."


    "Then how did he know?"


    Annoyed by Raja''s chatters, Neychta finally sighed through her mask. When she did so, her mask ss, or likely a one-way visor would glow a dim purple light for a while before returning to its original white color.


    "Not everyone is dumb and has a shrimp brain like you, Raja. If he knows about it then maybe he has already figured it out."


    "But, I mean, how? I''ll let it go if he figured it out five minutes after the unlock, but he–"


    "Like I said, not everyone is dumb and has a shrimp brain like you."


    Raja sighed defeatedly.


    He went quiet and filled in his evaluation report on the digital tablet.


    ***


    "We just need to go straight from here. I can smell a crowd— a battle, hundred meters ahead," said Enzo while his nose was sniffing like those of dogs and wolves alike.


    That didn''t escape my sight of course. It was such a rare asion to find someone who could track others by their smell, not to mention that it wasn''t a skill but a natural talent.


    "Are you a hunter beforeing here?"


    Enzo nodded. "Something like that."


    Well, if he was a hunter then that alone was enough to answer my questions.


    What I meant by hunter here was a literal hunter, a real hunter.


    You know, those who usually live in the forest. Yes, that very hunter. Not the one that refers to those who enter a dungeon portal.


    Anyway, following after Enzo who lead the way as he was the one who could smell the crowd. We eventually arrived at the said ce.


    The situation of the ce was chaotic just as how it projected in my mind when I was using my irvoyance Pathfinding.


    A fight. No. Calling it a ''fight'' would be inappropriate for the situation, ''war'' might be the best word of choice to tell what happened ahead of us.


    As far as I could see, the war was between three different factions.


    The first one was Lux''s faction, they only had five people. But. thanks to Lux and Seo Yeong-Ha that they were able to survive this war, dominating them even.


    The second faction wasing from 7 to 10 different teams who worked together to bring down Lux team, Draco-30''s g.


    The reason why they targeted Lux was because they were jealous. Most of the girls, both freshmen and sophomores were flocking to him like a ma. Well, that was actually just a minor reason. The actual reason was that Lux wasing from an unknown lineage, none about his past history was known to the students.


    These students, mostly boys who were jealous of Lux''s fame, power, and charm despite being a low-born—it was what they call a person who came from an unknown, insignificant background.


    They used their status, jealousy, and skepticism as the foundation to find something to hate, to find reasons for justifying their actions.


    As you can see from their rather regal appearance, with at least two rings in each hand and many other essories they wore. Those were people or a faction, literally a faction that served as a social circle for those who had a clear background to identify themselves such as the Child of The Riches, Child of The Strong Figures, etc.


    Kaiser was their faction''s name.


    And thest faction was mine—Uhh no, actually, I didn''t want to be part of them…


    sigh…


    Thest faction was Ember''s along with Hulio and Niah.


    I could see by how Ember maneuvered herself in the middle of the fight, that she was an unexpected variable for the Kaiser.


    I stood still as I watched them fight. I was focused on the fight at first before my mind trailed off somewhere…<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Looking at how the ''war'' was so intense that made all of them focused on each other, it seemingly caused the Kaiser to forget their purpose ofing there.


    If I was to guess, their purpose was of course to eliminate Lux''s team. But, for some reason that I wasn''t aware of, their original purpose seemed to change. They didn''t care about the g anymore and were focused to subdue Lux''s team first then took over the g.


    That was the direct thing a team could do to eliminate the other teams. Of course, for them to be able to do that, they had to be stronger than and confident to beat them up.


    If they couldn''t do the direct elimination, then stealing the g and keeping it for 5 minutes was the only way a weak team could defeat the stronger team.


    They– the academy did not want to see their student power in raw strength only. They also wanted to see how much their students actually use their heads.


    Scheme, Tactic, Etc.


    But, it seemed that most of the students were relying too much on their bodies and physical aspects that they forgot they could use trickery and scheme to win.


    I meant I might be like them too if I my adrenaline was high. Because a direct confrontation only needed me to move my body and instinct.


    Though I still prefer a subtle approach like trick and scheme.


    My eyes were sweeping the crowd for the g.


    After focusing enough on my vision, I spotted it– Lux''s g that was still stuck on the gpole stand.


    "What should we do, Zio?" Enzo''s voice finally broke my focus.


    I grinned, turning to face him, "Say. You may be a bitzy person, but that doesn''t mean you''re craven too, right?"


    Enzo raised an eyebrow, genuinely puzzled, "What do you mean?"


    "I have a challenge for you," I began, pausing to get his reaction. When I realized it was a positive-interested reaction, I continued. "If you can blow away all of them in a single shot like you''ve done before. I''ll give you a Horizon Elixir and the hyped Catalyst Potion."


    Enzo frowned, finding it difficult to believe.


    "That sounds impossible," he replied.


    I cleared my throat, realizing the truth in his words. It would indeed be too much for someone with an overall <E> rank.


    ''That''s true,'' I thought, dismissing the idea from my mind. Instead, I presented him with an alternative challenge.


    "You''re right. How about this: distract them by blowing away their shy essories?"


    "Deal!" Enzo responded almost immediately.


    He notched an arrow onto his bowstring, ready to take aim.


    Then, the wind began to swirl around us. Enzo channeled his mana and materialized wind element, intertwining the arrow with the power of the gusts.


    He focused his gaze. His eyes narrowed while he was concentrating on the control over his mana to surge the wind.


    With a deep breath, he released the arrow infused with his wind magic.


    Swoosh—!


    ''Damn,'' I screamed internally.


    The arrow sailed through the air, propelled by thebined force of Enzo''s bow skill and the natural wind currents which actually didn''t help at all because his wind alone was enough.


    Halfway toward the crowd, the swirl around the arrow became bigger, eventually creating a wind drill.


    The gust of wind spread and swept across the crowd ahead.


    I could hear their shocked voice as the wind raged, sweeping everything. Their hair and clothes fluttered wildly under the storm.


    The Kaiser Circle''s essories fluttered and drifted away in the gusts of wind. They screamed frantically as their expensive essories flew away.


    When the crowd was idle in confusion, I took that chance to slip between the crowd toward the g guarded by three of Lux''s team members.


    Swoosh–!


    I skillfully avoided the crash with the other while I was moving at a high speed.


    With the help of the mana coating technique, moving at incredible speed wasn''t impossible for me. Not to mention that I had learned mana control and consistently reforged my mana core.


    Then, as I arrived behind the three guards, I made sure to knock them out first before grabbing the g.


    As the *click* sound reverberated in my ears, I pulled out the g from the gpole stand.


    At the same time, Seo Yeong-Ha turned around and spotted me.


    "You!"


    I grinned, waving the g in my hand. On the g cloth was written Lux''s team name ''Draco-30''.


    "Hello!" I eximed mischievously.