CHAPTER 175: 175 - THE FIELD TRIP [8]

After his first encounter with a majin— Raven continued walking deeper into the forest.

The air was thick with the scent of wet soil and damp leaves, and every sound of rustling branches seemed louder than usual. Each step he took felt heavier than the last, not because of exhaustion, but because of the endless silence surrounding him.

Does he have a goal? Is he planning to recover something he knows from the novel?

Well... no.

He’s just aimlessly walking through the forest, wandering without a clear destination.

And in doing so— he encountered beasts, monsters, and a couple more low-rank majins!

All of them were only ranging from [E] Rank to [D] Rank though, and they came one by one, which made it easy for Raven to take care of them without much effort.

’I guess there really is someone following me... a professor or a staff member, maybe. Whoever they are, they’re doing a good job in limiting the ranks of who or what I encounter.’

Raven thought to himself, narrowing his eyes slightly as he kept walking.

[They’re significantly stronger than you as well, both of us can’t detect them.]

Then Sariel appeared out of thin air and said that.

’True... I’ve been trying to get a sense of my surroundings, paying more attention and scanning further areas. But still no sign of them.’

’They’re probably assassin-type awakeners, right?’

Raven followed in his head, and although he couldn’t see it, he could feel Sariel nodding at his words.

Anyway, at that moment—

"Kekeke, who do we have here?"

Another man majin appeared. Raven already knew he was approaching and was expecting him.

He appraised the majin, and Sariel told him the creature was [E] Rank.

"What are you doing alone he—?"

PSH—

Raven raised [Nyx] and shot the majin straight in between its brows before it could finish talking. His face remained straight and uninterested, his expression cold.

PSH- PSH-

Then he pulled the trigger two more times! One of the bullets hit the majin in the heart, and the other one in the throat!

And in the next moment—

THUD!

The majin fell on the ground, lifeless. He didn’t even know what just happened. It all occurred in a split second.

His body was only a few meters away from Raven, and looking down at it—

"He’s the fourth guy I killed with my own hands."

He muttered that and approached the dead body.

He crouched down beside it and started searching through the majin’s belongings. He always did this after killing one, hoping he’d find something useful.

’I’m getting used to killing now... I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.’

Raven thought to himself, his gaze distant for a second.

He knows because he was the author of the novel that he’s living in right now. This field trip—

’It’s being used to get us students experience of taking a life by making us fight majins we can easily defeat.’

Raven wrote this part in his novel to have Alec and the other main characters kill someone for the first time. A human at that, even though they were majins.

It was meant to explain later why the main characters would kill villains without guilt or hesitation. It was his way of showing growth through experience.

And it’s not like the [Lunar Academy] doing this is strange. After all— they’re nurturing future heroes. Every student here is bound to kill majins anyway.

They’re just making it happen now to steel the students for the real thing once they graduate.

"Now that I’m experiencing it myself and knowing that that’s the real goal of this field trip— this is a bit disgusting, isn’t it?"

Raven said to himself, smiling sarcastically. He felt a bit responsible because he wrote this... Everything.

Then, suddenly—

[The Transcend Beings just gave you 500 CP.]

Sariel came out and told Raven that.

"Huh...? What for?"

Raven asked, a bit confused.

[Well... They said you did well getting used to killing so fast. It’s a reward for that.]

Then Sariel answered with that.

"..."

Raven stopped moving and became silent after hearing his words. He was just blankly staring at the floating system window in front of him— Sariel.

’I don’t even know how to feel about this.’

He said in his head before standing up.

"This guy has nothing in him too, all he has is trash."

Then he mumbled that and started walking away.

Raven decided to just ignore the Transcend Beings altogether, brushing away the strange feeling lingering inside him.

...

...

...

[5:09 AM]

It’s been hours since Raven entered the forest. He roamed around endlessly, cutting through branches, jumping over roots, and continuing to find enemies so that he could train and gain more experience.

And right now, currently—

"..."

He’s resting, sitting on a tree stump. He cut down the tree himself.

Raven was eating a simple bacon and egg sandwich he prepared back in the hotel. It was his breakfast, though it felt more like something to fill the silence.

Then in his right hand—

"..."

He was holding a book...

[Dominating Darkness Sword Technique]

It was the book he took away from a major villain— Hans Zimmer.

Raven was reading it quietly, his eyes scanning each page like he was dissecting its very soul.

"Sariel, record everything in this book and memorize it. Then use [Understanding] to find the reason why whoever learns this swordsmanship is bound to fall into madness."

He commanded Sariel with a calm voice. He didn’t stutter or hesitate. This had been his plan for this book even before acquiring it.

[Got it... It might take a while, a few days at most.]

Sariel responded.

"No problem."

Then Raven simply replied, nodding his head lightly. He already guessed that would be the case.

Anyway, he was sure that with the help of [Understanding], he could neutralize or completely remove the side effect of the [Dominating Darkness Sword Technique].

’There’s no way the pioneer of this swordsmanship really left their soul in this book— they probably tweaked some techniques, and that’s what causes the side effect.’

Raven told himself.

Then with a shrug of his shoulders—

"And even if that’s really the case and I can’t remove the side effect... then I’ll just have to [Request] a mental skill in the [System Shop] to block it."

He added that, tone casual, as if solving an ordinary problem.

Raven already had everything figured out and planned in his head.

That’s why he’s all calm about this.

"Hmm?"

Moving on, his eyes suddenly landed on the brooch pinned to his chest.

It was the [Crest of the Hidden Monarch].

This artifact was currently suppressing his aura. That’s why the majins were attacking him without much precaution.

They all thought Raven was a low-ranking awakened with no combat skill. Heck, they probably even thought he was unawakened.

’Its ability to hide one’s aura is really impressive... I’m more curious about its other ability though.’

Raven said in his head, slightly disappointed but intrigued.

(He was talking about the brooch’s second ability— it doubles his aura release output.)

Anyway, just as he thought of that—

FWOOOMM~!

"...?!"

Raven suddenly felt a strong aura approaching— fast! The pressure made his skin prickle and goosebumps rise on his arms.

"Hey now... why did the one watching over me let someone like that approach me?"

Raven asked in a whisper as he stood up.

And even though he said that... A smile unconsciously appeared on his face!

Fwoosh~

Then [Emmeranne] appeared in his right hand, and [Nyx] in his left.

And just like that, the air around him turned heavier once again.