Although this was all simulated through a computer, I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the scene before me.
Crystalline clear water that neatly reflected the incoming rays of light coming from the sun, and vibrant green vegetation, surrounded the calm lake. Animals could be seen peacefully sharing their surroundings with the other animals as they each slowly drank the crystal clear water from the lake.
"Oh! you're here Patrick!"
Snapping me out of my revere was a high pitch male voice coming from the right.
"Oh Lucas, you're here. I got the perfect man for the job"
Waving towards the direction from where the voice was coming from, a boy that looked to be about 14 years of age showed up. His curly hair was a mixture of brown and blonde color and accompanied by his green emerald-like eyes, made him resemble an elf.
He looked rather lively and seemed to get along with Patrick quite well.
"Oh! is that him?"
Noticing my presence, the young boy scanned my body up and down and cheerfully smiled.
Extending his hand, he smiled.
"Rank 429, Lucas Thyme"
Soon a screen appeared before me.
Extending my hand to shake his hand, I smiled and presented myself.
"Pleasure to meet you, rank 1750, Ren Dover"
-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!
"Ohhh, I have never seen someone as lowly ranked as you!"
After shaking my hand, Lucas excitedly clapped his hands and looked at Patrick.
"Patrick you're absolutely right! He is indeed the perfect man for the job!"
"Hahaha, I was quite fortunate"
Tilting my head, I looked at Lucas and Patrick who were both happily conversing with one another.
"Excuse me? But you guys keep saying that I'm the perfect man for the job...but what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"Oh? Patrick didn't tell you?"
Tilting his head, Lucas alternatively looked at me and Patrick for a couple of seconds, before seemingly having realized something. Soon a wide smile appeared on his face.
"Oh, I see, okay then I will explain it to you"
Pointing towards the center of the lake, Lucas looked at me.
"You see over there?"
Looking in the direction where he pointed, I squinted my eyes so that I could get a clear look at what he was pointing at.
After a couple of seconds, I could make out what seemed to be a small lilypad with a red flower neatly nested on top of it.
Because it was so small, if it weren't for the fact that Lucas pointed it out for me, I probably would've never been able to notice it.
"Yes I see it"
"Okay, so in short we need the flower on top of that lilypad in order to get the extra points"
I already kind of get the gist of the situation.
If this was how I suspected things were, at the center of the lake there was a large monster guarding the flower. Because Patrick and Lucas's strength was not too different, they decided to get someone who was weaker than them and force them to become bait, while reaping the rewards for themselves.
On the off-chance that I survived the ordeal, they'd later kill me to keep the reward for themselves.
"You see there's a large monster inside of the lake, and so we needed someone who could help us be bait so that we can freely get the flower."
So predictable.
So very predictable. Was this why third-rate villains always died first?
Smiling Lucas looked up towards my face, while Patrick went behind me. Noticing the situation, I lightly sighed and said.
"...Can I say no?"
"Why would you say no?"
Tilting his head in confusion, Lucas looked at me once again.
"Shouldn't dogs eat whatever their owners are feeding them?"
There it is!
His true personality finally showed up.
There was no way Lucas was some random brat that acted like a child.
He was definitely a two-faced scheming bastard that would resort to any trick to get what he wanted.
I'm fairly certain Patrick was being fooled by him as well.
In the first place, you can only get 1 point from completing a hidden task.
How could you share 1 point?
Thus, the mastermind behind this whole thing was fairly obvious. If I'm not wrong, once Lucas gets rid of me, his next target would be Patrick.
By backstabbing him when he least expects it, he could earn the extra point without needing to lift a finger throughout the whole ordeal.
Truly a scheming bastard.
At least I know who to target first.
"Okay...not like I can fight you guys anyways"
"Hmph, good choice"
-Clap! -Clap! -Clap!
"Yay! Now we can get the extra points!"
Bitterly smiling I nodded my head, to which Patrick sneered and Lucas smiled and clapped.
"Okay let's go!"
Excitedly rushing forward towards the lake, Lucas prepared to directly jump into the lake.
"Stop! before we start I need a few things, even though I am bait, I want to increase the chance of me surviving even if it's a little bit"
Stopping himself from jumping in the lake after hearing my shout, Lucas contemplated for a few seconds before nodding his head.
"Hmm, I guess a good owner needs to reward their pet for their obedience, okay tell me what is it that you need"
"Ah nothing much.."
-Clack!
"huh?"
-Clink!
Thud!
Thud!
"GAaaaaaaaahhhH!"
"guuuuuuUUUU!!"
Two dreadful screams resounded across the forest, scaring the nearby animals away.
"3 seconds huh"
Staring at the katana in my hand which was dripping with blood, I shook my head in disappointment.
Although I was only about halfway towards reaching the minor realm of mastery, in the week I stayed in the academy I diligently trained my sword for 4-5 hours a day.
I managed to reduce the time taken for me to sheath and unsheath the sword from the scabbard, but, It seems like I was still very far from reaching the point where the sword become invisible.
Looking beneath me, the bodies of Lucas and Patrick who were both still alive squirmed on the floor. Both their legs had gone missing.
Although the pain reduction in the VR world was reduced to 50%, the pain of losing both limbs was still something that no one would find pleasant.
The reason why they were like this was simple, they let their guard down.
Although yes, I technically was indeed stronger than both of them, that was only on an individual level. If I was to face them both at the same time, the chances of me winning was only at around 40%.
I took advantage of their arrogance and chose the most appropriate moment to strike, which happened to be when they turned their backs on me and felt like they had me in the palm of their hand.
Why cut off their legs and not kill them?
Well, that was simple really.
I myself was in need of some good bait.
Since you want to take advantage of me, I'll make sure you pay the appropriate price.
Like I said before.
I take my grudges deeply.
"Well, look who decided to do me a favor?"
Looking down at both Patrick and Lucas whose faces were grimacing in pain due to the loss of their limbs, I smiled.
"Kuhk..I'll kill you!"
"How dare...kuha..dog...do this to me?"
"It's not my fault you guys were stupid enough to actually leave your back exposed to me. This happens every time, whenever someone hears my rank they automatically think I'm garbage. "
The rank given to students was determined through measuring potential, stats, and academic achievement, in this case, through the entrance exam.
Students tend to forget, but in the beginning, ranks were pretty much useless. Initially, for most of the students who enrolled in the academy, although they had different ranks, the gap in strength between the bottom-ranked students and the middle-ranked students was about the same.
Well, that was at least for anything above 300. For ranks between one and three hundred, the strength gap between each rank was quite significant.
In the story, it was only after the first half of the year had passed that ranks become a more accurate estimation of someone's strength.
In this case, Lucas and Patrick misjudged my strength because of my rank, and thus were both easily taken down by me.
"Cow..kh..ard"
"Oh? Sorry did you say something?"
Leaning my ear next to Lucas's mouth, I imitated Lucas's childish accent.
"Bastard!!!!!"
Provoked by my taunt, Lucas tried to bite my ear, but I swiftly leaned my body back and avoided his teeth.
Shaking my head as I looked at them, I stared at the lake before me.
"You know, from the moment I saw Patrick I knew he was an idiot"
"Khuuuuak!!...I'll fucking kill you"
"I mean, did you seriously think you could share the hidden task?"
"!"
Looking at Patrick's surprised face, I raised my eyebrow.
"You actually didn't know you couldn't share the reward? Tsk, tsk, tsk, no wonder you're an idiot"
"What are you..cough!..talking about? Lucas sai..d that you could!"
Smiling widely, I looked at Lucas.
"Is that so?"
"Don't listen to him Patrick! He's merel..kuk!.. trying to get to your mind"
"Pffff...Are you even listening to yourself? Why would I need to get to his mind when he's already disabled? Moreover, why would you even trust someone who is not even in your group?"
Looking at Lucas who had gone pale, Patrick clenched his teeth and stared at Lucas with hatred.
"Is what he said true!"
"N-nnno"
"DID YOU LIE TO ME!!??? ANSWER ME!!!"
Clenching his teeth, Lucas's previous cheerful demeanor vanished completely, as he stared at Patrick like he was looking at a bug.
"So what if I lied to you? A do..kh..g only needs to f..follow orders and not a..khu..questions!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Using his hands to drag his big body forwards, Patrick tried to force himself onto Lucas.
-Clap!
"Alright show's over, I haven't got too much time to deal with you guys, so please just be good"
Clapping my hands once, I grab the back of both Lucas's and Patrick's shirts, before dragging their legless body towards the lake.
"kaahkk...Reale..ase me!"
"Let go of...kh..me!
Ignoring their protests, I stopped right before the lake and looked at them.
"Make sure you create as much of a scene as possible"
"Wai....t.....guuuuuuaaaaaaa"
"Noooooooo"
-Splash!
-Splash!
"I'll k...sphh...ill you!"
"Bas...sphh..ard"
Since they both had missing limbs, the only thing they could do to stay afloat was to use their arms by constantly hitting the water.
There was a reason why I only decided to cut their legs.
A good bait needs to create enough commotion to attract the prey.
And sure enough, a minute after I threw both Lucas and Patrick into the lake, a large shadow appeared beneath them.
"Well that's my cue"
-Splash!
Diving into the water, I swam towards the flower which rested in the middle of the lake.
As long as they both act as good baits, retrieving the flower shouldn't be a problem.
And it was indeed just like I had predicted.
While the lake guardian was busy enjoying its 'delicious food', I safely swam towards where the flower was located and easily brought it back to shore.
"It's kind of nice that things went just like I predicted"
Looking at the red flower on the palm of my hand, I secretly rejoiced once again at the fact that I wasn't reincarnated as the protagonist.
If Kevin were to have been the one who went to retrieve the flower, nine times out of ten the lake guardian would've spotted him and made things harder for him.
Fortunately, such a thing won't happen to an extra like me.
"Let's get the extra point before anyone else has a chance to steal it from me"
Squeezing the flower in my hand, the flower instantly turned into light particles that floated above my head.
[Rank 1750 Rend Dover +1 point (Lake trial): Team points: 5]
Alright!
Now even if I were to die, Arnold wouldn't give me crap for dragging the team down.
[Teammate Arnold Kane has died - Team points: 4]
"..."
"pffff"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
Talk about a punchline.
Just when I managed to get an extra point, that bastard goes and gets himself killed.
Where was that high and mighty attitude from before?
"Make sure you survive, else..."
What a clown.
He got what he deserved.
...I hope he doesn't start stuff with me for taking over his spotlight.
Checking my watch to see how much time has passed, I nodded in satisfaction.
"Alright, I have completed my task, so all I need to do now is survive for 23 more minutes before I can go back to my dorm and relax."