The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 39: Day 1 [6]

Biting into a juicy piece of meat, feeling a portion of my exhaustion vanish, I glanced across the river, seeing multiple fortresses in the distance, towering above the oak trees.

Snapping me back to reality, Ren suddenly said.

"Don’t you wonder how this whole thing works? I mean...we’re eating in a virtual reality world. The food and water in front of us shouldn’t even be real, and yet our hunger and thirst are somehow vanishing."

"It just doesn’t make any sense, does it?"

"..."

Yeah...it didn’t make any sense?

Glancing down at the piece of meat in my hands, I paused.

It wasn’t even real...it was just a part of this virtual world. But then...why was my hunger actually vanishing from eating it?

I was sure it wasn’t the placebo effect.

The book had simply glossed over this detail...what did that mean?

What the hell was this place!?

Perhaps noticing my disturbed expression, Ren chuckled and said.

"Relax, I was just thinking out loud."

"Yeah..."

Scratching his head, Ren leaned back, dipping his hands in the river beside us, and said.

"Ready to head back?"

With my mark still on him, I felt a sense of anticipation and excitement swarm through my body.

He didn’t want to leave...did he?

Shaking my head, I stood up and wiped my hands in the river.

"Let’s go attack a fortress, shall we?"

Leaping up from the ground like an excited child, Ren threw his arms around my back, almost pushing me into the river, with a wide smile on his face.

"I knew you wouldn’t say yes!"

In the original novel, he would have gone on this duo mission with Haerin on the second night of the exam anyway.

...

...

...

"..."

Enjoying the silence for a moment, I examined myself.

With my weapon art based on emotions, it was important for me to first understand my emotions and thoughts before heading into a fight and then adjust my attack and defense style as needed.

Glancing at the fortress before the two of us, as we stood in the darkness of the densely packed trees, I felt a weird sense of excitement.

It was time to put my new insights to use.

When it came to understanding the emotions of an opponent, I had a special advantage with my mark.

Seeing Ren nocking an arrow, whose tip was glowing a light-blue, in his bowstring, I held my up my hand and whispered.

"Wait a moment."

Activating Anubis’s Flerry, I flew upward into the sky and over the fortress’s walls, rapidly scanning the area below me.

Where is it? Where is it?

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally found a small trace of golden particles leaking from the first floor of the castle keep...the worst place.

Scurrying backward in the air, I barely managed to exit the fortress’s airspace before feeling my body rematerialize.

Free-falling downward in the air, I desperately attempted to activate Anubis’s Ferry, but I already knew my cooldown was about five minutes.

However, as the branches of the trees below me rapidly approached, I suddenly felt my body...come to a halt.

Glancing downward, I found my two legs...atop the shaft of an arrow, which was glowing a light-blue.

Somehow, I remained perfectly still atop the arrow for a moment, completely defying gravity.

Below, not even a second later, Ren practically screamed.

"T-the arrow is going to break. HURRY UP!"

Leaping off the arrow, which instantly snapped above me, I managed to safely land on one of the trees below me without too much pain.

Jumping downward, I found Ren desperately gasping for air, his body trembling.

He really...was a true regressor.

Not only could he imbue objects with mana, but he could apply properties such as hardening through mana to them already, a skill only the top second-years knew.

Shaking my head before the exhausted Ren could scream questions at me, I said.

"We’re quite unlucky. The golden ball is the underground area of the castle keep."

Shrugging his shoulders, Ren simply said after regaining his composure.

"Their portcullis is open for some reason. Let’s just go; it’s not like they could beat me regardless."

Seeing him walk forward, I followed him and muttered.

"Us."

His head snapping back, Ren mockingly asked.

"Did you say something?

As Ren nocked another arrow, I unsheathed my Dao and re-evaluated my emotions before answering.

"Whoever gets the most eliminations has to stand guard for the next 2 days."

"Deal."

*WHOOSH"

The arrow surged forward from Ren’s bow; however, upon passing through the fortress’s open gate, the arrow suddenly limply...fell to the ground as if it had hit a wall.

*BANG*

*BANG*

Of course, they had to have an alert formation...

Formations were simple drawings that anyone could memorize and use with mana, so practically every advisory has access to the basic ones.

Comedically, the doors to the fortress’s chapel burst open, and tens of students flooded out, reminding me of how students in movies used to run out of school after the bell rang.

"IT’S HIM! T-THAT’S THE RANK #4...THEY’RE FROM THE TOP ADVISORY!"

"CALL FOR HELP! CALL FOR HELP!"

Calming down the panicking students, one boy emerged from the crowd and slowly approached us.

"Calm down, no matter how strong they are... There are only two of them. Plus, we have tons of defensive formations already set up. I’d like to see them try."

Behind the boy, the students slowly examined us, slowly coming to a consensus.

"Yeah, right, there’s no way they can just barge in here!"

"I don’t care what rank they are...40 against two is just impossible."

"Who do they think they are, anyway? Coming here with only two people? They must think we’re a bunch of fucking fodder."

"If we eliminate them here, we’ll surely receive a high individual contribution grade, right?"

Right in front of our eyes, the students confidently unsheathed and pulled out their weapons, completely forgetting about their panic from a moment ago.

They were like sheep.

Smiling, the leader boy simply gazed at us, only a few steps seperating us at this point, and said.

"Come on in, then, won’t you?"