Chapter 125
The Groundskeeper once said this.
When a player entered a hunting ground, there was a designated starting point for each one.
The mont I heard that, one idea had imdiately co to mind.
-What if I entered first, planted landmines, and then when other Transmigrators entered later, they would step on them and get rid of themselves for ?
Since it all happened in another world, there was no risk of getting caught. And being able to target only Transmigrators precisely—well, I judged that to be an excellent idea.
But there were several reasons why I didn’t do it.
The first was that I simply didn’t have the ti.
At that point, before Aaron’s personality could swallow whole, I had to act quickly. I had no leisure to run all the way to the hunting ground just to plant mines and all that.
Besides, Miyu was already busy creating duplicates of and new modules and all sorts of things. It was impossible to burden her further, and I didn’t want to draw suspicion by trying to obtain explosives elsewhere.
The second reason was that I didn’t feel the need.
Even I, who had earned the most Contribution Points throughout the entirety of Part 1’s main story, only managed to get four tickets as scenario-clear rewards.
That ant the hunting ground entry tickets had an extrely high difficulty of acquisition. I judged that other Transmigrators wouldn’t easily be able to co here.
And even if they did obtain such a ticket, by that ti I would already be done farming here and moving on to higher-level hunting grounds.
The third reason was because of the possibility of recruiting them as allies, like I had done with Ciel.
In this world, there were Transmigrators like ‘Araya’, but on the other hand, there were also ones like ‘Ciel’… or even like ‘’.
Back when I had lost all my modules curing a terminal illness, my nerves were strung tight and I thought, ‘Every Transmigrator is a rival, an enemy. They must all die.’
But looking at Ciel’s case now, I wondered if there really was a need to go that far.
‘By now, they must also have been influenced by their bodies, changing their personalities.’
Depending on when they had appeared in the original work, there would be differences. But in the end, they weren’t just ‘readers who possessed characters’, they had beco ‘characters with the knowledge of readers’.
If that was the case, then they could also be seen as residents of this world. And unless they made their enemy first, I didn’t need to treat them as enemies either.
So rather than planting mines at the hunting ground’s starting point and crushing those who ca after —in the middle of all this chaos—I had decided it was better to just watch and see.
‘But it seems soone else thought of the sa idea as .’
Seeing the mines laid out at the start point, I could tell that unlike , they judged it better to cut down competitors in advance.
“Hmm……”
I fell into thought.
What should I do about this?
The first question that ca to mind was: just how had this person gotten a Violet Hunting Ground Ticket?
Sure, the Violet Ticket could be bought from the shop. But the Navy Ticket was extrely difficult to obtain.
‘Even Ciel, who had the second-highest Contribution Points after , never once saw a hunting ground ticket. That ans it couldn’t have been a scenario-clear reward.’
The fact that ‘Violet Hunting Ground Ticket’ wasn’t on my shop list made it highly unlikely that they bought it either. I had already confird through Ciel that the shop sales list was the sa for all Transmigrators.
‘That leaves only two possibilities…….’
Two hypotheses.
Either they obtained it in the Violet Hunting Ground.
Or they cleared a scenario.
The first hypothesis: they scraped together points to buy a Violet Hunting Ground Ticket, went there, and by chance obtained the Navy Ticket.
‘This one’s more likely.’
It wasn’t like I had fully identified all the drop items from the Violet Hunting Ground. Another Transmigrator could have just stumbled upon sothing that I hadn’t managed to get.
No—it had to be that way.
‘Otherwise, things get troubleso.’
The second hypothesis: without knowing, the culprit had already cleared a scenario in Act 2 and obtained it as a reward.
It wasn’t impossible that the objective of Part 2 wasn’t tied to the main characters, the Academy, or the Student Council, but had instead started and ended sowhere completely unrelated.
Not a thought I enjoyed entertaining.
‘Maybe that’s why there hasn’t been the slightest sign of Part 2’s main story beginning…….’
And if they obtained so ridiculously powerful reward from Part 2 that gave them overwhelming strength, enough to surpass even ……
“No.”
I shook my head.
I couldn’t deny the possibility. But it was pointless to let my mind spiral in the worst direction endlessly.
If that was the case, then what if a Transmigrator had possessed a Dragon and suddenly swooped down to destroy the city?
What if one possessed a God and freely bent the physical laws of this world?
Or if suddenly the author decided to kill off for daring to defy my fate as Aaron?
Pointless worries.
It was like fretting endlessly that the sky would fall soday. Planting one more apple tree was more productive than that.
‘Do what I can right now.’
Perhaps while roaming this hunting ground, I could find traces left behind by the culprit and deduce their identity.
Even if not, my original purpose here was to gather materials to craft a Lv.5 Arcane Module.
‘As long as I finish farming properly and return…….’
Soon, in my hands would be a new ‘Ga Changer’.
No—an unprecedented Lv.6 Arcane Module.
‘Ga Destroyer.’
“Module Online, [Cloud Spider].”
I deployed the module that was practically my identity itself and shot threads toward the ground in every direction.
Boom! Crack! KWAANG!
I blew up or destroyed all the mines detected by my ocular scanner and, after slinging my pack once more, started walking again.
Hoping that I could find so usable essences here.
Lexus Bane’s first training session was over.
In conclusion, Iri had lost.
It was certain that she possessed monstrous talent, but she was still just a first-year fledgling.
She must have trained hard and gained so real experience, but it wasn’t enough to overco a veteran with over thirty years of combat under his belt.
‘Still, it was fun.’
Lexus looked down at Iri, who lay collapsed on the ground, gasping heavily for breath, and muttered that to himself.
Iri, dodging even bullets purely by instinct without any modules. Her personal talent was astonishing enough to inspire awe, but in truth, the more interesting part was sothing else.
‘She changed the atmosphere.’
Lexus recalled the strange shift in the air the mont Iri appeared in the training ground.
Before that, the students’ coordination had been, to put it bluntly, pathetic.
Sure, they had trained at the Academy and knew how to form teams and attempt combined attacks. But it was like trying to force mismatched gears to turn together.
Then the mont Iri appeared, their eyes changed. Even the exhausted ones rose to fight again, and their coordination beca far more natural.
‘Just what is this girl?’
Iri’s talent was undeniably great, but her current ability wasn’t overwhelming. She wasn’t the strongest here either.
No matter how I looked at it, it was strange that students from first-years to fourth-years all regarded Iri as a leader, or sothing like a savior.
Of course, not everyone felt that way. So ignored her, and others felt uncomfortable around her. Still, the fact remained that her presence had succeeded in tying all the students together more tightly.
‘Especially that girl, Raina…….’
Unlike the other students, her motivation for battle itself changed drastically depending on whether Iri was present or not.
It wasn’t just her willpower, either. Her entire fighting style shifted. Lexus couldn’t help but feel a little thrown off as he tried to adapt to it.
And then, a mory flashed through his mind.
‘So that’s what Aaron ant.’
Aaron’s request—that he see if other talents could be applied in combat. Just as he had said, Raina had no talent for battle itself. But when it ca to reading soone’s thoughts and keeping pace with them, she seed to have an outstanding sense.
‘In daily life, she must be constantly reading the room.’
The type who usually stayed timid, but only shone when she found soone she resonated with.
‘With a little adjustnt, that girl could beco quite a useful card.’
Thus, the analysis of Iri, Silence, and Raina—the ones Aaron had ntioned—was now complete.
There were still a few others among the students who drew so attention, but those could be confird gradually later.
With that, Lexus sorted his thoughts and shouted toward the students sprawled across the floor.
“Training ends here for today! Get up and get lost! If you’re in bad shape, head straight to the infirmary! And take the unconscious ones with you!”
But no matter what he said, their bodies refused to move. The students only groaned as they stayed slumped on the ground.
So Lexus shouted once more.
“If you don’t get up and leave right now, I’ll take it as you wanting more cozy training with !”
Only then did the students barely drag themselves up and flee, and Lexus watched them with satisfaction before turning his back.
Since the training had deviated from the original plan he’d reported, and since the floor, walls, and everything else had been wrecked in places, his next task was to squeeze out so excuse to write into the paperwork.
But then—
“Hm? What’s this?”
As all the students hurried out of the training ground, one instead approached him.
It was Iri.
She could barely walk properly, leaning on her shield like a cane as she staggered closer. Her violet eyes, filled with fierce determination, fixed on Lexus.
Lexus imdiately realized what she was thinking and snorted.
“Forget it. You can’t even walk straight. Training’s over. What I said earlier was just to scare you.”
“I…….”
“You want to get stronger, right? I know. I can see it in your eyes, kid.”
Lexus let out a long sigh, then asked her again.
“Why? What do you want to do by getting stronger?”
“Just because……”
“Is there soone you admire?”
“……”
Iri didn’t answer.
But her silence spoke her truth more clearly than any words could. After all, the wish she held in her heart was so outrageous that she felt too embarrassed to ever say it aloud.
“……Aaron Stingray.”
Lexus answered for her.
At that, Iri lowered her head, unable to et his gaze. Lexus spoke firmly.
“Wake up.”
So might think he was too harsh. They could argue that it was fine to set high goals, or that admiring soone wasn’t a sin.
But Lexus’s conviction was firm.
“That man, at your age, was already stronger than at my peak. That’s not just so tree you can’t climb. It’s better to think of him as a monster living in another world.”
“But……”
“You too. In a few years…… no, if I really grind you hard, by next year you’ll be strong enough that other kids will call you a monster. Later on, you’ll probably get much stronger than . But compared to that man? Forget it. Even monsters have classes.”
“……”
“So don’t break yourself trying to rush it. Just train steadily at your own pace. If you get it, then go rest.”
Iri slowly raised her head again. This ti, she gazed into Lexus’s eyes without a word.
And in her athyst eyes—
Light was flickering.
The light of sothing called ‘admiration’.
Lexus sighed again.
“Kid.”
“……It’s Iri Elisbell.”
“I see why that man favors you.”
“Huh? W-what?”
“He seems to care about you more than the others. Didn’t you notice?”
“T-that’s, no, I……!”
Iri stamred in embarrassnt, her cheeks turning faintly red.
Lexus chuckled at the sight and said,
“Follow .”
“Huh? W-where?”
“My employer prepared sothing for you. I thought it was unnecessary, but now I see he was right.”
He really did know her well.
The man who once treated every human besides himself as trash had changed so much.
Thinking that, Lexus added one more line.
“You said you want to get stronger, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop talking and follow . It’ll help you chase after his back—just a little.”
With that, Lexus turned sharply and began walking ahead. After hesitating briefly, Iri carefully followed behind him.
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