A silver-haired elven beauty made her way down the empty hallway with effortless grace, finally arriving at the door to the VR room.
Her mind had been consumed with boredom, leading her to step away from her responsibility of monitoring the cadets who had dived into the virtual world.
Click—!
As she pushed open the door to the VR room, she saw a weird sight— a spiky-haired orange boy was frozen in front of a glowing holographic screen. His eyes widened in disbelief as he gazed intently at the scene playing out in front of him.
The holographic screen displayed the situation of the cadets who entered the virtual world. Till Yelena was out, he was spectating them.
"Dylan, what's the matter?" Yelena asked, a confused frown visible on her alluring face.
She had known Dylan for essentially her entire life, but she had never seen him as unsettled as he appeared now.
His face had lost its color, his eyes were wide with shock, and his mouth hung open in surprise— it seemed as though he had just encountered a ghost.
What could have possibly transpired to leave her childhood friend in such a state?
Through quivering lips, Dylan muttered:
"He found it…."
"Hmm? Did you say something? I didn't catch you," the frown on Yelena's face deepened.
"I said, he found it," Dylan repeated, still struggling to steady his voice.
"Who found what?"
"Lucas, your kid brother. He found the theme of the war. He even predicted where the class 1-C-8 had spawned and the location of the neutral zone where we intended them to fight."
"..."
It took a few seconds for Yelena to process what information the orange-headed boy had revealed.
"...When?" finally recovering from the shock, Yelena inquired.
"Not even 20 minutes after spawning," Dylan answered, the color gradually returning to his face.
"Hmm."
Without uttering anything, Yelena silently stood in front of the holographic screen and started watching the live telecast of the virtual world.
She wasn't silent by choice. It was more like she didn't know what to say in the current situation.
She knew Dylan wasn't stupid enough to feed her misinformation. But still, this was unbelievable.
Of course, she was aware that it was only a matter of time before someone found out the theme and devised a strategy accordingly.
But she would've never guessed that 'someone' to be Lucas!
Well, looking back at the memories of Lucas, she could remember him to be a true embodiment of intelligence and wit.
At the incredibly young age of 8, Lucas had already acquired a fluent grasp of the highly intricate and rare High Elven language that she still struggles with.
His thirst for knowledge and unwavering determination was evident in his dedication to learning the art of war tactics from their father.
But his talents extended beyond just academics alone. He had a rare talent for weapons.
In fact, he was more talented than both her and their youngest brother, Adel. Due to this, he was first in line to inherit their mother's sword art.
Even though Yelena and Lucas were fairly close during their childhood, she couldn't help but feel jealous of him.
In the den of wolves, he was a phoenix that shined brighter than any of them. He was untouchable.
However, fate is a prude little whore.
When Lucas and his younger twin brother, Adel, awakened, the hierarchy of the Morningstar siblings shattered.
Lucas awakened [Gold-3] rank potential and Adel was revealed to have the chance to reach up to [Immortal-2] rank.
Although [Gold-3] is not a poor potential, but rather just average, it failed to satisfy the bar their parents had set for Lucas.
Gradually, the love, attention, and affection that Lucas received during his childhood began to shift towards Adel, who had been living in the shadows of his twin brother.
And although it was wrong, even Yelena started shunning Lucas. Much like Adel, even she was living in his shadows.
The phoenix fell and the wolf bared its teeth.
Soon Lucas became the target of bullying, both at school by his brother Adel and at home being treated indifferently by his family. This mental abuse was too much for a 10-year-old boy to handle.
She recollected a night when Lucas entered her room, tears streaming down his face and his hand pressed tightly against his chest.
"Big sis," he whimpered, trying to keep his sobs at bay as he sniffled. "It hurts...my chest is hurting! My heart… it feels like it's being ripped apart!"
She wanted to comfort him. She wanted to tell him, "I'm here for you." She wanted to hug him and take a stand for him.
However, at that moment, all the jealousy she had felt toward Lucas all her life suddenly burst out.
"Hahahahaha!"
She laughed.
As the 10-year-old Lucas stood there crying, she laughed at his unsightly face full of tears.
She was only 12 at the time, but that was no excuse for what she did.
After a while, she didn't remember when Lucas went back to his room. Starting the next day, he changed.
He stopped coming out of his room for family dinners. He started acting out by getting into fights and skipping school.
His actions only worsened as he grew up. He got into alcohol and drugs, red light streets became his daily stop, and he even started ditching his training.
She couldn't remember how many times their father had to clean Lucas' mess. But his patience broke when he tried to force himself on one of his classmates.
After that, he was disowned.
And somewhere deep inside, Yelena blames herself for it. If only she hadn't laughed that day, if only she had listened to him, if only she had consoled him by saying all the things she wanted to… but at the end of the day, she couldn't change the past.
Her brother, as she knew him, was dead. That gentle and kind Lucas was dead, and all that remained was his shell.
"It must've been a fluke," she concluded.
"Yel, I don't think it was a fluke. He gave logical reasoning to his conclus–"
"I said, it must've been a fluke."
"...I see."
†
"Huaaaa~"
Using one of the half-destroyed buildings, we have set up a camp for now. We have nothing to eat or drink and we are hungry.
Well, they are. I'm sleepy.
Yes, even in the virtual world, we can feel hunger, thirst, and lethargy!
This stimulation is way too real. Talk about going overboard.
Well, I guess they want us to experience the war in its real sense.
Soldiers at the border sometimes go without food or drink for over a month, relying solely on mana circulation to sustain themselves.
Yes, circulating mana within your body gives you a feeling of fulfillment but it can't erase hunger completely. At one point, you'll reach your limit.
Hence, they require strong willpower and determination to endure the deprivation and carry out their duties.
Yes, this will be part of our training. At the near end of our first year, we'll be sent to a deserted island for a month with bare minimum supplies and be forced to fight in a battle royale.
It will NOT be fun but I'll be prepared for it like I was this time around.
Since I knew what was going to happen, I ate a lot, and by lot I mean a LOT, last night and this morning, so I think I'll be good till tomorrow.
Heh, one of the perks of knowing the future.
Anyway, currently, I was in a room that was given to strategists. Sitting on a broken, dusted sofa and eyes closed.
"And then- And then I asked her out but she rejected me. I don't know why. Saying stuff like, I can't have a threesome with her and her sister. I mean, talk about being conservative, am I right?"
And guess who is right beside me. Yes, it's Kent.
He was talking about something that was too bothersome for me to pay attention to but I occasionally nodded my head and hummed and casually added, "Is that so?" or "Oh, I see" in between.
"Oh, by the way, Lucas!"
"Oh, I see."
"Lucas!"
"Ahh! Uh… Yeah?"
"You shocked everyone earlier. It was impressive. The way you revealed your intelligence stat and then talked about all that big brain stuff was amazing."
"Tell me the truth; you didn't grasp a thing of what I was explaining, right?"
"...Ha, got me there! But I trust that what you said must be correct. I heard they even dispatched a recon team to verify your theory about a mall or shopping district nearby."
My eyebrows wrinkled in a frown when I heard him. After a brief pause, I asked:
"Why are you always with me? You know my reputation is not what one could call ideal to be friends with, right?"
"Your reputation is improving a lot, especially after today."
"Beside the point."
"Do you not like having me around?"
"Beside the point," I shook my head. "Why do you hang out with me?"
"Because we are best friends," Kent replied matter-of-factly.
"Okay, why are we friends?"
I saw Kent's forehead contorted for a moment before a troubled expression formed on his face. After a short pause, he answered:
"I'll tell you when we'll become best friends."
"But I thought you said we are best friends right now?"
"When we'll become best bro friends."
"What the fuck–"
Before I could ask him what that phrase even meant, a young short, framed blue haired dwarf barged into the room.
"What's up?" I asked, noticing the look of urgency on the dwarf's face.
"Nero has called for you!" the dwarf replied in a hushed tone. "We have made contact with the enemy team."
My lips curled into a smirk as I heard the words I wanted to hear from the dwarf's mouth. Everything was going according to my plan.