Chapter 51: A Hunter’s Mind
After Darren’s humiliating defeat, no one dared to speak loudly about Lian anymore.
Even those few who had called him a liar just minutes ago now stood quietly in a corner. This applied to Roderick’s supporters and subordinates in the elite class.
Yes, they were Roderick’s subordinates, but they were not stupid. They could read the room. In the current situation, it was better to just stay quiet, or they would become the laughingstock themselves.
Valerius looked at the crowd. His sharp eyes moved over each student one by one.
Then he said quietly.
"Power matters."
No one spoke.
"Speed matters."
Again silence.
But his next sentence made the atmosphere even heavier.
"But what kills most Awakened... is stupidity."
A few people frowned. Some did not understand what he meant.
Valerius continued.
"Monsters are dangerous. Ruined Realms are dangerous. But the biggest killer... is the wrong decision."
He raised his hand. A massive crystal in the center of the field began to shine. Threads of blue light came out of it, and space began to twist.
A few seconds later, the world around them changed.
The students suddenly found themselves on top of the walls of a massive city.
The sky was red.
Smoke covered everything. The sound of people screaming could be heard from a distance. Buildings were burning. Streets were full of blood.
The smell of death wafted through the air. Some students unconsciously lost color.
The simulation was too real.
Valerius appeared next to them.
"A fallen border city. I am sure some of you know that one of the country’s small border cities has fallen."
"The government managed to save many people, but of course, there were casualties."
He pointed into the distance.
"Monsters are inside the city. Hundreds of civilians are still alive. But time is limited. You only have thirty minutes."
Information windows appeared in front of everyone. Each showed several reports.
A group of children were trapped inside a school. A shelter was collapsing. An elite monster had been spotted in the city center.
The city’s resource depot was on the verge of collapse. Several families in the south of the city had requested help.
But...
There was not enough time to do everything.
So the question was, which ones should they save first? What should they do? Which people should they go to?
Valerius said.
"There is no right answer. Every choice has a cost. Now show me how much you are worth and what you would do to save this city."
A second later, everyone disappeared.
The test had begun.
One student almost without thinking went toward the school. In his mind, saving children was the best choice.
Several other students made similar decisions.
Some went toward the city center. Some went to the resource depot. All of them thought they had made the right decision.
But the truth was different. At the school, a large ambush was waiting for them. Monsters were already there.
A lot of time was wasted. Casualties increased.
In the city center, the situation was not better. The monster was just bait. While the students were busy with it, dozens of civilians were killed in other parts of the city.
Every minute had its price.
But Lian... from the very first moment, he did not move. In his part of the simulation, he waited. His eyes moved over the city map.
He checked all the paths. He read all the reports. He calculated all the possibilities.
He was in no hurry, because he knew that hurry was what kills people.
Three minutes later, he finally moved.
But unlike the others, he did not go toward the victims. He went straight to the north of the city. A place where no rescue requests had been recorded.
Valerius, who was watching, frowned and raised his eyebrows, wondering if this boy had figured it out.
Lian kept moving. A few minutes later, the reason for his choice became clear.
Under one of the abandoned buildings was the main lair of the monsters. The place where the main crack had opened and the monsters were entering.
The monster leader, the strongest monster, was there. The creature that controlled all the monster groups.
For the first time, Valerius raised an eyebrow.
Almost no one found this part of the scenario.
Lian attacked. The battle was short. The monster leader was killed. And suddenly... the behavior of all the monsters in the city changed.
Their coordination broke down. Their attacks became irregular, and they became panicked. They realized their connection to the strongest monster was gone.
Why? What had happened to their leader? They realized that there was a powerful hunter who had hunted their leader.
And the resulting fear caused them to scatter, and the pressure on the city was greatly reduced.
After that, Lian only then started saving the survivors. But even then, his choices were ruthless.
He ignored some groups. He rejected some help requests. He even changed his path deliberately several times.
The students who had finished their simulations were shocked from outside.
"He abandoned that family!"
"He didn’t save those children!"
"Damn it..."
But Lian did not care. He only looked at the final result, not momentary emotions. This was what he had seen in the Vorhelm family growing up and experienced in the Ruined Realm.
Thirty minutes later, the test ended.
The world collapsed. The city disappeared, and all the students appeared again in the simulation ground.
Some were sweating. Some were tired. Some still looked confused.
Valerius opened the results screen.
"Student number twelve, Elias, score: fifty-eight."
A few people sighed.
"Student number seven, Atlas, score: sixty-one."
The results were announced one after another. No one had gotten an exceptional score. Not even the best in the class.
"Student number four, Liana, score: seventy-two."
"Student number three, Selina, score: seventy-eight."
Hearing the scores of the two girls, no one was surprised. After all, those two girls were among the top five students in the entire first year, and it was normal for such geniuses to get such scores.
Finally, Valerius reached the last name.
He was silent for a few seconds.
Then he said.
"Lian."
All eyes locked onto Lian.
"Score: ninety-six."
Absolute silence took over. A few people thought they had misheard.
"Ninety-six?" One of the students said.
"Is this a joke?" Another said.
Even Selina and Liana were stunned. The gap was too large.
Out of 100 points, he had scored 96! In a sense, his decision was the most correct.
Valerius closed the folder. Then he slowly looked at Lian. A few seconds of silence followed.
Then he said.
"The rest of you still think like students."
No one spoke.
Thinking like a student is not bad. After all, they are students. But here, theories are no longer the point.
These people are all going to the Ruined Realm next week. To explore, hunt, and become stronger.
So their mindset also needs to be correct.
"They still want to be heroes. They still want to save everyone. They still don’t understand that sometimes not choosing... is better than choosing wrong." He was saying this to everyone.
What he witnessed most was that Awakened went to save survivors who seemed most worth saving from a distance.
But the students did not analyze or reason. They just moved forward. They ignored the fact that they needed to eliminate the city’s threat.
Then his gaze fixed on Lian.
"But him..."
"He decides like a hunter. That is why he survives."
The class was completely silent.
And for the first time... everyone understood that the most dangerous thing about Lian was not his level ten.
It was the mind behind that power.
