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Chapter: 13
Is Isaac helping me right now?
Karina stared at Isaac with wide eyes, but Isaac seemed to have no interest in her at all—his gaze was fixed solely on Xavier.
“So you’re the guy who was the only one to survive among the first adoptees?”
The fierce competitiveness blazing in Isaac’s red eyes made Karina immediately understand the situation.
So he wasn’t trying to help me—he just wants to fight Xavier.
“I heard you were the sole survivor of the accident during the final test. Looks like you’re pretty lucky.”
Despite Isaac’s mocking tone, Xavier remained ice-cold and composed.
“Well….”
Trailing off, Xavier tilted his head slightly.
“But was it really an accident?”
Something about his dark blue eyes was chilling. Even Isaac stiffened, his shoulders tensing instinctively.
Karina’s mind raced. Should she run away while Isaac and Xavier were facing off, or should she help Isaac and confront Xavier together?
The answer came quickly. There was absolutely nothing to gain from facing Xavier right now.
Even if she and Isaac attacked together, their chances of winning were slim. She remembered the monstrous ability Xavier had shown before.
Though she herself had yet to regain her original power, the fact that she—once a cult leader—felt such overwhelming pressure from a mere boy was absurd.
That guy was no different from a monster.
Even in the martial world, no one his age possessed such power and skill.
If she had to guess… the realm of supreme mastery?
A realm she and Namgung Hwi had only barely reached after turning thirty—yet this boy, not even of age, had already arrived there.
In any case, he was a monster. She had to avoid him.
Then, while Karina and Isaac stood on edge, Xavier slowly moved his lips.
“Well, I have plenty of time. Though I don’t know if you’ll still be around by then.”
Leaving only those words behind, Xavier slowly turned away.
Watching his retreating figure—so calm it was unsettling—Karina and Isaac stood there in a daze.
Coming to his senses late, Isaac stepped forward and shouted angrily.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going in the middle of a conversation?!”
Karina grabbed Isaac’s arm.
If he provoked trouble for no reason and it spilled over onto her, it would be a problem.
“He’s not someone you can handle. Don’t act up.”
At her cold advice, Isaac frowned deeply.
“What?”
“Are you reckless, or just stupid? Didn’t you feel it just now? The two of us can’t even touch a single hair on that guy’s head.”
Recalling the chill that had run down his spine moments ago, Isaac clamped his mouth shut without realizing it.
Seeing him grit his teeth in frustration, Karina sighed.
“I don’t know what made him change his mind, but we should be thankful he backed off quietly.”
She turned to leave, but suddenly Isaac’s voice stopped her.
“Hey.”
Karina turned back in confusion. Isaac was glaring at her with an unpleasant expression.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I didn’t step in to help you, so you don’t need to thank me. I just didn’t like that bastard roaming around my territory.”
Karina stared at him blankly.
“I never said thank you.”
“So you don’t need to—wait, what?”
“You didn’t need to step in.”
She meant it literally.
This was the duke’s estate. Killing adoptees outside the testing period was strictly forbidden by Duke Batius.
Xavier had threatened her only because he wanted to gauge her ability.
No matter who he was, he couldn’t casually kill an adoptee inside the duke’s territory.
Not if he wanted to become the duke’s successor.
Leaving the stunned Isaac behind, Karina briskly turned and headed back to the dormitory.
She needed to build up her internal energy as quickly as possible in preparation for the next time she crossed paths with Xavier.
* * *
The fifth test was a team battle.
Only eight adoptees remained.
“I’ll call out Team One.”
Eric, the instructor of the Red Hawk Mercenary Corps—now a familiar sight—spoke as the adoptees gathered.
“Team One: Isaac, Adolf, Felix, Denian.”
Mixed emotions spread as the names were called.
Most of the adoptees wanted to be on the same team as Isaac, the leading candidate for successor.
Those placed on Isaac’s team cheered.
Everyone except Denian.
“Team Two: Isabella, Karina, Ariel, Alvin.”
Naturally, the remaining four were assigned to Team Two.
Once the teams were decided, each group was given time to talk privately in separate rooms.
The reactions among Team Two were mostly despair.
On top of that, Ariel seemed particularly troubled about being separated from Denian.
“Will Denian be okay…?”
Karina sighed and pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“I don’t think this is the time to worry about Denian.”
Only then did Ariel look over the members of her own team.
Aside from a boy named Alvin, who had been completely unnoticeable until now, the team consisted entirely of girls.
“Huh? There are three girls?”
Ariel tilted her head and exclaimed innocently. Karina shook her head.
The problem wasn’t that most of them were girls.
The real problem was—
“What kind of test are we supposed to clear with this lineup?”
Isabella’s irritated voice rang out. Karina looked at her quietly.
Isabella’s only ability was emitting a useless fragrance.
“Well, wouldn’t it be better to put our heads together than to act alone?” Ariel said.
She was a healer, capable of restoring injuries, stamina, and mental strength.
“I-I agree with Ariel. E-even if we don’t like it, now that the teams are set, we can’t change them, so w-we just have to do our best…”
Alvin, the only male member, was also the smallest and stuttered when he spoke.
They didn’t know his ability, but it was clear he wasn’t a combat-type.
In other words, Team Two effectively had three non-combat members.
In this sigh-inducing situation, Karina rubbed her throbbing forehead.
Then, clinging to a faint hope, she addressed Alvin.
“First, we should confirm each team member’s capabilities. It would be best if we shared our abilities.”
Unlike individual tests, a team battle required cooperation.
One member’s mistake could doom the entire team, so understanding their strengths was essential.
At Karina’s question, Alvin—who had been shrinking back—scratched his cheek awkwardly and spoke.
“Um… actually, I don’t have any awakened special abilities like you guys do…”
“……”
“We’re doomed! We’re completely doomed!”
Isabella screamed beside a frozen Karina.
After a moment of blankness, Karina finally snapped back to her senses.
No, that couldn’t be right. All the adoption candidates Duke Batius had brought in possessed special abilities.
Even if someone hadn’t awakened yet, surviving all the way to the fifth test on luck alone was nearly impossible.
“You really don’t have any abilities at all?”
At Karina’s sharp question, Alvin shrank back and stammered.
“S-sorry…”
Who asked you to apologize?
Suppressing her frustration, Karina calmed herself and spoke again.
“Then how did you pass the previous tests?”
“Ah, well…”
After glancing nervously at the others, Alvin continued in a small, careful voice.
“They weren’t t-that hard. If you use monsters’ weaknesses, you can hide in blind spots or a-avoid them.”
He seemed to be referring to the second test—surviving against monsters—and the fourth test, crossing a monster-infested mountain range.
“How did you climb the mountain?”
“I r-remembered the map the instructor showed us and calculated the shortest route. If you c-calculate the diameter and height of the mountain range, then estimate the terrain and angles, you can roughly figure out a shortcut.”
The moment she heard that, Karina felt both enlightened and dumbfounded.
This guy… survived using his brain?
“Ah… and I don’t have a special ability like you guys, but if I have the m-materials, I can make artifacts.”
“Artifacts?”
“Y-yeah… my parents were artifact craftsmen before they passed away.”
Tools of some sort? She didn’t know exactly what artifacts were, but she understood this much—he had exceptional intelligence and skilled hands.
Maybe…
Just maybe, he might be more useful than she’d thought.
