In the novel, Lucas kept his intelligence stat a secret from Nero.
He felt that being a strategist was too much work, so he took on the role of the rear guard and often slacked off during the mock war.
Due to the result of his actions, Amelia and Grace were appointed to be the two strategists for class 1-A-1.
That not only made Grace's work of leaking the war plans of class 1-A-1 to 1-C-8 easier but she was also able to easily frame Lucas as the traitor.
Yes, you can see where I'm going with this, right?
By taking up the position of one of the two strategists, I changed the plot once again.
Well, to be perfectly honest, keeping the flow of the story similar to the novel's plot was never my intention anyway.
From the start, I didn't shy away from disrupting the storyline. And after I acquired my very own golden finger (Edit Pen), I had no reason to hold back from changing the plot.
Yes, the logical decision would have been to follow the storyline as it was in the novel since that way I could've kept the knowledge I had about the future events.
But what you all don't understand is the fact that I wasn't inside a normal fantasy novel but a war fantasy. This world is destined for doom.
By volume 7, most of the world was destroyed by either Vampires or Kalis and most of the main cast were too powerless to stop it.
If I just keep following the plot of the novel as it was originally written, then I won't be able to change a thing.
And I will die a pathetic death.
Of course, I don't want that.
If sacrificing the knowledge I have on future events means being able to survive, then I'll gladly take that offer thank you.
"Okay, has everyone got their roles?"
–"Yes!"
–"Hell, yeah! I'm in rear guard!"
–"Aww man, front line soldier?! Tch, just my luck!"
After around half-hour or so, everyone was assigned a position and a role they had to play in this war based on their specialties.
While some people were distraught about the roles they were given, some couldn't be any happier.
While the background bustled with activity, I was leaning over the terrace railing with my gaze fixed on the picturesque scenery before me.
"Lucas, are you done staring at the scene?"
Right then, Nero's voice shook me back to reality. I turned around and faced him.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm done."
"Good," Nero nodded. "I was thinking about moving down on the ground and advancing."
"Advancing in which direction?" Amelia cut into the conversation and asked. "We don't know where the enemy has spawned."
"That's exactly why we shouldn't be sitting," Nero argued. "I suggest we take the lead and find them before they find us— attack them before they get a chance to realize what hit them."
"Yeah, Nero, that's really a bad idea."
"Oh, come on! Attacking them head-on is as simple as it could get!"
"I didn't say it was difficult. I said bad. It's a bad idea."
"But I am with you all. With my strength, it's our assured victory!"
"But it's way too risky!"
"Okay then, tell me," giving up, Nero decided to listen to Amelia's reasoning. "Why is it a bad idea?"
"For starters, we don't know how far they have spawned," Amelia touched her chin. "Aimlessly marching will tire our troops and expose them to an unexpected attack."
After a brief pause, Nero nodded in understanding. "Fair point. So what should we do?"
"We should get on the ground, establish a camp, and let them come to us."
"What if they don't come to us?"
"Then we will change our strategy. We'll maintain covertness while trying to locate their positions. Once we find it, we will execute a perfectly coordinated attack."
"Hmmm," closing his eyes before thinking for a moment, Nero nodded once again. "Okay, I like this plan."
Basically, Amelia suggested the famous war tactic combo— covertness, reconnaissance, and ambush.
It was nothing special.
Any smart strategist would suggest that in this scenario but a brilliant one would know better than that.
You see, the main focus of this tactic lies in the act of 'covertness.' That means, to pull it off, you have to stay hidden. That's impossible when you have a traitor in your ranks.
Though it may not be a pleasant thought, it is crucial to always be aware of the possibility of a traitor infiltrating your forces during a war.
A wise strategist considers their next step before making a move, but a genius strategist predicts not only their own actions but also those of their adversary ten moves ahead before the game even begins.
"Oh, right, Lucas!" suddenly Nero remembered something as he called out to me. "Do you have something to suggest as well before we make a move?"
"What?" Amelia frowned and spoke in a low, hesitant tone. "Why are you asking him? You don't trust my suggestion?"
"I do, Amelia, but there's a reason I've assigned two people as strategists."
"B-But I already–"
Clap—!
Before Amelia could complete her sentence, I clapped my hands loudly, causing everyone to look at me as a result.
"I get it!" I exclaimed. "It's so easy!"
"Get what?" Nero asked in a puzzled tone.
"I'll tell you. But first, Anastasia, can you shoot an arrow in that direction with as much force as possible?"
I pointed toward the northwest direction in the distance and asked Anastasia to shoot an arrow.
"Uh, there? Why?" Anastasia walked up to me to take a clear look at where I was pointing and inquired in curiosity.
"Yeah, why?" Nero too questioned with a confused frown on his face.
"I'll tell you but first shoot an arrow. Make it go as far as you can, okay?" I requested before raising my left arm. "I would've done it myself but as you can see, my arm still hasn't recovered yet."
For a moment, I saw Amelia flinching when I brought up the injury on my arm.
"Uh, sure."
Shrugging her shoulders, Anastasia took out a bow and a single arrow from her smart bracelet.
She knocked the arrow on the bowstring and aimed where I had pointed.
"Two degrees to the left."
"Okay."
After making a minor adjustment, she willed mana into her weapon and her arrow started excluding an azure aura.
Swooosh—!
As soon as she released the string, the arrow shot forward at an astonishing speed before…
Thwack—!
It hit an invisible wall and broke.
"Woah, Anastasia, you shot that arrow pretty far. It went roughly around 573 feet give or take."
"Yeah but I shot it with enough strength to easily go over that distance… How did it break? Did I coat it with too much mana?"
Anastasia winced her eyebrows in confusion, visibly bewildered as to why her arrow broke when Nero chimed in.
"It felt like it hit a wall or something."
"You're not far off actually," finally judging this as the perfect time, I began explaining:
"If you've played any game at all, you'll be familiar with the concept of 'barrier.' It's a place that a character in the game can't cross. Think of this as the same.
"Obviously, since we are so close to the barrier and we spawned here, that means the other team must have spawned somewhere in the opposite direction."
I spun around and pointed in the opposite direction to where I had pointed before – fat in the southeast.
"But that's just an assumption. What if they are not spawned in the opposite direction but somewhere random?" Amelia was the first to counter my reasoning.
By the look on her face, I don't think she was trying to challenge me or anything. She was actually trying to analyze the situation.
So in response, I calmly nodded and continued.
"Yes, that could happen but that wouldn't be fair, would it? Look around you. This city looks like it's recently been destroyed.
"That means there are resources like food and water here. If you think about it, the reason we were not allowed to bring food is clear.
"Yele– I mean, Cadet Council's vice president wants us to fight over resources. That's the theme here."
"The theme?" Amelia looked at me with questioning eyes.
"Correct, the theme," I answered. "Every war has a central theme driving it, such as revolution, justice, or survival. This war will be fought over resources.
"That implies a fair advantage will be granted to both sides so they can't object to the other team discovering the resources first.
"That's my explanation for my speculation that class 1-C-8 has spawned in the opposite direction from us.
"My prediction is there's something in the center, a mall or a shopping district filled with supplies, which will become a neutral territory - the location where we will engage in a full-blown war."
Along with Amelia, everyone else was left bemused by my insight into the situation.
Unbeknownst to them, I didn't come up with any of this explanation. In the novel, Amelia reaches this conclusion on the 2nd day.
I just repeated what she said. Heh, fools.