Chapter 106: Exhilarating

Reaching the teleportation passage, I could see students standing with their respective groups.

Almost everyone seemed to have arrived.

Maybe I was the last one.

The moment I stepped inside the area, one by one, I could feel each student’s gaze on me.

The reason was pretty obvious.

My team was placed in the first position with a score of 324 points.

Out of them, my own individual score was around 228 points. The rest were scored by my team.

In second place was Noah’s team with 156 points, and in last place was some team with 120 points.

My group was far ahead of the others…

Ignoring their gazes, I headed towards a particular boy with brown hair and equally similar eyes.

As I approached him, the nearby students went silent.

None dared to make any movement. Even the students speaking with John, had stiffened under my presence.

Did the people here have a hobby for dramatics?

It wasn’t like I was some psychopath, walking around to kill everyone!

John, sensing the change in atmosphere, turned to look behind.

“Oh Kael! Damn, you scored a big hit, huh!”

As energetic as ever.

Looking around, I could see that John had managed to make some friends.

I just nodded at his words, waiting for the teleportation to begin.

The students nearby had stopped all of their earlier discussions, not daring to utter another word.

“Guys, you don’t have to be this scared. Kael’s a cool guy!”

John said while placing his hand over my shoulder.

I could have put him in his place, but decided against it. There was no real benefit in presenting myself as some arrogant noble brat.

Taking my silence as confirmation, I could see the students letting out breaths of relief.

In moments, most of them had returned to their previous topics of discussion.

Clap. Clap.

“Is everyone here?”

An instructor clapped his hands to gather the attention of the students.

Once he cross-checked the numbers with the student list, the instructor seemed to have notified the personnel controlling the passage.

One moment we were in the desert, and the next—

The mighty walls of the academy were the first to greet us.

“Congratulations on completing your practical!”

An elderly instructor was the first one to speak.

“All the instructors are quite happy with your performance, so as a gesture of appreciation, a dinner has been arranged for all of you.”

“Finally!”

“Damn, I was hungry as hell! Hey, but will it be the same?”

“Are you stupid? Why would they give the everyday food if today is meant to be special? Isn’t that common sense?!”

“Is it?”

“…”

The usual bickering of the students continued, with many of them cheering for themselves.

After all, this must have been the first time for most of the students to actually kill a monster with their own hands, and without any support from their guardians.

A new experience for many.

Some of the students cheered, while others were simply happy for the conclusion of their gruelling day.

As the instructors stepped back, the students began to move towards their own rooms to get refreshed before the dinner planned for them.

John walked along with me.

“What was your score?”

I was curious about it.

John raised his index finger.

“One?”

How could someone score—

“Ten, Kael! Do you think so low of me?!”

John raised his voice in defence.

I mean, I kind of expected him to be unable to kill a single beast. But maybe I was underestimating the poor guy.

“I mean, I can’t exactly blame you. The monsters were tough to beat. For all the time given, we were barely able to kill five of them.”

Huh?

“We or you?”

Was he talking about him—

“Me? Haha… You are funny, man. My team killed five of them.”

“…”

“What?”

“And your individual score?”

“Uh…”

John thought for a moment. Was it something difficult to remember?

“Doesn’t my team’s score count as mine? I mean, I had played a key role in killing the beasts.”

John raised his hands in a fist of victory.

“…”

I just kept looking at him.

My gaze seemed to have made him uncomfortable.

John tried to ignore my stare, but he had no one else to change the flow of conversation.

“Z-Zero.”

“Hm?”

I moved closer to him.

“Alright! I didn’t kill a single one. But I had managed to—”

Outpacing John, I moved towards my room.

Sigh.

It was my mistake for overestimating him.

So much for wielding spears…

“Kael! You thought something bad, right? Hey—”

Click!

I shut the door behind me.

My room was as silent as ever. I had never been one to store unnecessary things, as could be seen from the current state of my room.

Except for the furniture provided by the academy, there wasn’t a single item that I had added to my residence.

I liked keeping things simple.

Looking in the mirror, I looked crazy. My clothes were stained with the monsters’ blood, and even my face was messy.

But the more I looked, the better I felt. Even in my messy appearance, I looked kind of cool.

Haa…

I needed to take a shower.

Moving towards the shower, I removed my clothes, the hot water falling over my body.

I felt my entire fatigue wash away with the droplets of water. At least the mental fatigue.

I wasn’t injured physically, as my regeneration had taken care of all the damage.

I let my hair soak under the warm rain, my eyes closed, as I remembered the day’s events.

Honestly speaking, it was fun.

Hunting monsters had always been one of my favourite things to do.

The feel of slicing your blade through their muscles… The pained roars that follow soon after—everything was a huge dopamine releaser for me.

Even after such a heavy battle, my body was craving more.

There was a different pleasure in ending a creature’s life. Their bodies falling lifelessly on the ground with that melodious… Thud!

Haa…

I wanted to rank up badly.

I had this strong urge to fight stronger opponents.

Surely the pleasure derived from them would be—

Exhilarating.

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