Chapter 71: Walking Points

This was the fruit of Luca’s training. Although his offensive foundation was as shoddy as his identity, his evasion was top-notch.

He trained from the bullies of Tesseris all the way to the Grandmaster back at the training hall.

All Luca did at that point was to avoid anything that would be thrown at him.

He started out ultra slow and kept on getting hit and mangled. Eventually, he learned to use his spiritual abilities to improve his senses.

So, he heard it right away.

With his enhanced hearing, he heard the landing of several teams close by. Ideally, those people would have no idea about their presence until Greg started yelling at him.

What an effective strategy to lure out the enemy!

They didn’t even have to put in the effort to look for him— Unlike when he had to train under Grandmaster Tao. He had to keep looking for the master’s new location, only to be thrown out of the simulation for being too damaged.

At first, all he wanted to do was dodge, but then he saw Xavier move.

Luca was transfixed at Xavier’s fluid actions. From hooking his dagger to reverse gripping it alone, Luca could remember the horrors of him using his sword. The difference was night and day, and when he flew into the bushes for a vicious slash, it took something like half a minute.

*Crunch!*

With his sharpened senses, Luca could see the movement as if it had been slowed down in his eyes. This was one of his biggest takeaways from the training hall and was instrumental in allowing him to get that one hit on the Grandmaster.

The ambusher was caught off guard when Xavier’s minimal actions aimed straight for the heart, where the sensor was located.

“165 killed, 028 gained one point.”

In Luca’s opinion, it was a beep that signaled the start of the actual exam.

165 sat there, immediately dreading their move. There were 500 examinees, and he had to be the first blood. But soon, he would be comforted to know that he and his allies would be able to enjoy more forced vacation time.

It wasn’t just him, unlike Greg, who just sat there stunned; Luca and Jax moved towards the closest target.

Luca wasn’t as graceful as Xavier or was as brutish as Jax. It’s just that he was like a ghost that kept appearing and disappearing before getting close enough to ’tap’ the enemy’s sensor with his brass knuckles.

Two of them.

They were conveniently hunkered together, probably a duo waiting for the other team to test out the waters.

“078 killed, 004 gained one point.”

“189 killed, 004 gained one point.”

“115 killed, 030 gained one point.”

Greg couldn’t see what was happening but could definitely hear it.

Two kills for that little chicken? Did he cheat again?

“Oh?” Tenured Instructor Jin looked at the number and then at Instructor Falco.

Several instructors looked at what had caused Jin to react like that and then saw how he was looking at the group that had gotten the first kills.

They watched the replay and were shocked to see how that went. They even crowded Instructor Jin, who shooed them away to force them to watch on their own screens.

And it wasn’t just them.

Ollie felt like toppling over the railing when he saw the dagger approaching Luca.

He was a mecha mechanic and would definitely be caught dead by that. And he really hadn’t seen Luca fight; just a few stand-offs were all he saw of him.

So, when his peaceful-looking brother jumped out in sync with Xavier and Jax, Ollie’s hand slipped. And then he saw him take out not one, but two people.

The move looked a bit weird, but whatever works, right?

Where was peace?

Who needed that?!

Also, who the hell was that ignoramus? If not for the kill notifications, there was actually a different type of murder being planned.

If there was anything, Greg’s face had already been imprinted on many people’s minds. He better pray he never needed to buy anything from the stores, for a personalized embargo was in his future.

But thankfully, the were others who sacrificed to appease those people, ever so slightly.

“Wow!” Ollie exclaimed, and in this, he was joined by the people of the duchy. Especially the duke, who wanted to declare a planet-wide holiday for the celebration of his son’s first kill.

“Your Grace, maybe we should wait until after the competition. We don’t know how many holidays we’ll declare if we start this early!” Muttered Steward Han, who lost the chance to watch in person after losing the lottery.

And Steward Han was right because their Lord wasn’t close to done.

Now, if someone would just shut their trap, then it would be easier for everyone to hear better. Xavier had this in mind as he wanted to stuff Greg’s mouth with some soil.

But Luca and Jax didn’t seem to mind. He was probably the only one who kept on having headaches because this tag-along wouldn’t stop yapping.

If Jax hadn’t needed this guy to survive for longer, then he would’ve been gone the moment he said something about Luca.

But he couldn’t exactly kill this one when Luca barely even minded.

The chipmunk seemed to have greater self-control in that regard. Xavier thought better of his patience, especially after Greg had started another tirade.

For a guy who contributed nothing, he had the audacity to claim that Luca’s kills were likely flukes and tried dimming his prestige by insisting that next time, he should give the kills to those who can guarantee them.

Luca listened to what he thought was actual advice from someone with more combat experience and genuinely asked, “I see. Then, if it’s you, you’d be able to deal with them, right? I can leave the next ones to you then.”

Xavier’s ears twitched, and several viewers felt a jab in their kidneys after witnessing the bright-eyed, adorable youth ask the muddied Greg this very innocent-sounding question.

Greg was livid. He stuttered but responded that, of course, he could deal with them when he thought Luca was egging him on. In his heart, he wanted to show everyone that Luca was only riding on his partner’s coattails and would falter the moment he was alone.

But what the poor guy thought would be clue-hunting never happened as the three other people went looking around for more duos or even alliances.

What clues?

These people were monsters who never once asked for clues!

And what was really embarrassing was how he had been too shocked to react. Even when Luca handed over an enemy who was similarly wide-eyed, he didn’t even manage to deal the killing blow.

He missed.

It must be that Luca’s fault.

He was goading him too much that he couldn’t concentrate!

He was in deep now to convince Jax to leave, and his pride wouldn’t allow him to take this insult.

But after twenty minutes of walking, the three people stopped and looked in a particular direction.

There were people looking for hidden clues, and Greg recognized his roommate, who had a strong partner by virtue of his last name.

Leah Arzen was separated from her twin because another person came before them alphabetically. But together with other students from vassal families, they were searching for clues in an organized manner.

“There’s someone at 2 o’clock. Make sure to protect the Mission Badge.” Leah said in a tone that brokered no objections.

“Do you need back-up?” It was her brother who sent a voice communication.

“No, I can handle it.”

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