Ethan gave a tight smile, hiding the thousand thoughts racing through his head. "Steal a kill? From you guys?" He chuckled softly, deliberately letting his voice tremble with faux disbelief. "I nearly pissed myself just seeing the crater."
He leaned against a nearby tree, adding a wince for effect. "Sothing exploded, that's for sure. Thought it was maybe a mana surge or soone else fighting. I didn't stick around to find out—I value breathing."
The glaive-wielding girl stepped closer, eyes narrowed. "You're covered in blood."
"Mutated howlers," Ethan replied smoothly. "Got three of them. They bleed black, don't they?"
There was a pause. The trio exchanged glances. The spear guy muttered sothing under his breath, clearly still suspicious. But the axe wielder grinned and slapped his comrade on the back.
"Forget it, man. Why interrogate the poor guy like this?"
But just as Ethan thought the trouble was over, the axe wielder continued with a whistle. "How about you hand over that spatial ring? We will take a look inside and give it back to you. That should settle everything, right?"
Ethan's smile didn't falter, but sothing behind his eyes turned cold. "You want to look inside my ring?" he asked lightly, tilting his head. "That's a hell of a demand for soone who just said I didn't look like much."
The axe wielder's grin widened, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Just precaution. I an, you could be lying. We're offering you a chance to prove you're not. What's the harm?"
Ethan's gaze flicked briefly to the glaive girl, who was already shifting her stance. The spear guy had one hand resting casually on his weapon. Not full aggression—yet. But the kind that said they expected him to fold.
Ethan sighed, loud and theatrical. "You know," he murmured, "I've had a very long day. Used up most of my mana, got slashed up by howlers, nearly trampled by sothing I didn't see." His tone dropped a fraction, losing its lazy rhythm. "And I'm not in the mood to be robbed by three overgeared upperclassn playing pretend border patrol."
He tapped his spatial ring with his index finger, once. "So unless you've got a signed mandate from the academy or a death wish, I suggest you back off. Or," he added with a smirk, "you can try and take it from ."
He could have started a fight with these three, but he did not want to kill anyone on his first trip to the wilderness. He still did not know how things were monitored here. There was no need to ruin a good thing without adequate information.
However, all of that could be changed. He waited for the trio to respond, but luckily for both of them, another party walked in. "What was the disturbance here? Everything contained?"
Ethan smiled. It looked like his caution paid off after all. This was still in the outer zone of the wilderness, and he had a feeling a lot of people would be around. It was too risky to blindly run around killing off other students, and now, he saw his intuition was bang on.
The three upperclassn froze like wolves caught mid-prowl. Their posture straightened almost instantly as five newcors strode in. The situation quickly de-escalated, and the group dispersed.
With that, the squad moved on, and the upperclassn quickly vanished in the opposite direction. Ethan remained leaning against the tree for a mont, then exhaled long and slow. Yeah. Definitely ti to head back.
He hurried back, and in a few minutes, he reached the outpost and took the teleportation circle. A heartbeat later, Ethan stood back in the Slayer Association building at Blackstone.
A younger clerk—this one clearly newer and significantly more enthusiastic than the one he'd t before—perked up the mont he saw him.
"Welco back! Did you complete a mission?" the clerk asked brightly.
Ethan nodded tiredly and tapped his token against the registry pedestal. "Mutated howlers and a tusker."
The clerk blinked. "Like a real tusker?"
The clerk's eyes widened but said nothing more as he logged the kill and took the beast corpses.
A beat later, a system chi rang out.
[Ding! Mission Submission Confird.]
[Slayer Credits Gained: 3 (Mutated Howlers) 30 (Unlisted Rare: Mutated Tusker).]
"Oh, 30?" Ethan was satisfied with this progress, considering this was his first day. He turned around and walked out of the building. His information crystal told him that he needed a total of 100 credits for using the advanced training room, so he would probably have to co in for the next couple of days.
Ethan then headed straight for the dungeon portals. He very badly wanted to collapse, but there was no rest for the wicked. He had an army to feed. No longer bothering to enter green portals, he started with the first blue portal dungeon as he religiously began his dungeon grind.
He then had a peaceful al in the cafeteria with everyone still avoiding him like the plague and went to bed late in the night a happy man.
The next day, there was a new piece of information. Ethan surprisingly woke up to the entire academy being in so sort of a buzz.
When he reached the main hallway, he caught bits of conversations flying fast and hushed between students leaning in too close, eyes wide, voices tense. Not fear exactly, but not far from it either. Everyone looked extrely excited.
Ethan grabbed a passing second-year he vaguely recognized. "What's going on?"
The student looked at him like he'd just erged from under a rock. "You haven't heard? The date for the annual academy tournant has been announced. It starts in two weeks."
Ethan blinked. "Already?"
The second-year gave him an incredulous look. "Yeah, they're starting it early this year. There is a rumor that it is because of a special tournant reward, but no one knows. It's going to be massive. All year groups are included. And get this—first years can join directly without nominations. Voluntary entry."
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