"Ladies and gentlemen. It's time for the hunting competition."
Luvi sat silently in the waiting area, looking over the venue as well as the dungeon portions again and again.
The time has arrived for his own competition and time for him to experience hell. And with the amount of people that were after him, Luvi might even lose his life at the moments mistake.
But Luvi chose to believe in his protectors as well as FIX. He believe that they won't end up disappointing him.
For if they did, then.
Well nothing.
He would be dead and the world would have no defenses against the enemies that were eyeing their planet.
Though, their regret would only exist for a moment before their death.
Which would be some sort of a divine comedy.
But that was all for later. The current plan remained unchanged since the day Idhant joined him.
"Tw..two places. The Fungus would bro in.." Idhant explained the area where the fungus might be put there by the organizers. Even how to tackle the whole event.
But Luvi remained distracted, caring little for the preparation.
He has played his cards, now it's time to see if his plan works or not.
'I will be a superhero.'
*****
Luckily or unluckily, Luvi scheduled at the very last minute of the whole event. Where in truth, there was only him alone. As he was the odd one out of the batches comprising six teams.
Which, to those that were aware of some internal details, understood why this was done this way.
But to others, it just went to show that Luvi was not that important or even seeded contenter. He was an afterthought and hence was slotted at the very last with least amount of public attention given to him.
And they have seen the pictures on the board. There was no heroic flair in Luvi's portrait. He even looked closer to a villain with his partner looking more like a bullying victim.
The power dynamic in that team was too noticeable and many just started to hate or mock Luvi due to his look.
But would they watch his match?
No way.
That match was slotted around 11pm at night, and there were much better students before him. Why would they bother to wait and watch his hunt anyways?
It was for this reason, barely anyone ever gave much thought to Luvi beside his appearance on the hunting board.
"I look like a villain there."
Some students in the waiting room turned to look at Luvi after noticing his presence at the end of the chart.
Murmuring and making their own stories in the head.
And if it was the usual day, Luvi would have responded with a vulgar tone towards these gossipers. But now was not the time.
"Batch one, get ready."
With the announcement of those words, twelve students left for the hunt.
Making the gossiping and worrying fill the faces of many students in the room. Though, at this point, a particular student who also seemed to be eyeing others, approached Luvi and Idhant.
"Brothers, I wonder if you wanna learn about a special secret."
"I don't… Just move on." Luvi said, not intending to humor this man.
But the young student didn't listen and continued. "Are you sure?... I have a way to stop the mushroom cow from healing."
Hearing these words, Idhant on the side gawked, knowing full well where this conversation was going.
"Oh, do you?" Luvi too, finally chose to humor this man, intrigued where this was all going.
'He thinks of us as someone desperate and weak… hence easy to earn money from.'
"Yes… but I am ready to tell that to you… at a certain price." The young man said with a friendly smile.
"Man… I don't have much money. So I can't give much."
"No worries, I just need 1k dollars. Just send it to my account and I will tell you the method."
Hearing these words, the face of Idhant on the side twisted a bit more. Making him wonder whether he sold this information to Luvi too easily.
Though Luvi didn't say much for a while, struggling a bit.
"Don't think so much. I can see, you are the only one who can use this information properly. So I came to you… but if you can't make up your mind. I can just go and sell it to someone else."
"No… No. Money is not the problem." Luvi said, with a soft voice. Before a creepy smile formed up on his lips as he asked. "Its… its just that… I wonder how much of a pushover you treat me as?"
The weak act of Luvi disappeared in an instant, much to the surprise of the young man. Before, he has seen how introverted and weak Luvi was under the gossip of others around him. Telling him enough about the kind of individual Luvi was.
Mentally weak and easy to be pushed around.
But from that single tone alone, the young man understood that he might have made a mistake.
"If you don't want to buy it, no worries. I will just go." The man tried to leave Luvi's space, but there were already some students who turned to look at them, wondering why Luvi would shout so loudly.
And finally, when the attention was completely at its peak. Luvi shouted.
"Fellow brothers and sisters in the hunt. This sir just wants to tell us about the method to crack this competition using a red colored fungus by the name of Redforun. You can look it up, its pretty useful when dealing with a mushroom cow."
"You…" The man was baffled and looked around, in worry. "You already knew?"
He asked, horrified, and the same was true for Idhant, who was confused why would Luvi announce such a vital piece of information to everyone in the room.
But Luvi ignored both of them and with a kind face.
"I believe, using this counter would be cheating and I wish to compete with everyone on even playing grounds."
"Hence I bought that information from this fellow and Now I share it with everyone else. Make whatever you want of it."
"WH…When did you even buy it?..." The young man belonged to a small academy and never intended to win or try his hand at competition to begin with.
He just planned to use his knowledge to earn some pocket change by forcing some gullible students to buy it from him at a high price.
Sadly, it was for this reason, he was ignorant of Luvi. A man famous in two academies and all for the wrong reasons.
As for the other participants that were ignorant of Luvi's true nature, they suddenly felt a bout of shame. They never would have expected that a man who looked like that would actually do something so kind. Even using his money to buy helpful information and then spreading it among others as a gesture of goodwill and good sportsmanship.
"Why did the organizers even use a photo like that in his title, he doesn't seem like someone bad."
"If he really was a bully, would he choose to come to this competition with someone like his partner? He probably has no one else."
"Both of them are probably out"
On the other hand, with a low voice, Luvi kindly asked the young man to buzz off.
"You.."
"Don't you me, there are already a few invigilators eyeing you in the room. It's better to leave now, than regret it later." There were not only participants in the waiting room, but invigilators to manage them, as well as a canteen as well.
And with no choice left, the man was forced to give up the matter and leave. Though, he would never forget Luvi's face, ever in his life.
On the other hand, Idhant, who was still confused over Luvi's actions, asked.
"Wh..WHy would you do this?... Th..this just made..made it harder for us..?"
Now with everyone knowing about that method, there would obviously be many in the room who would attempt something like thi. But Luvi just smiled and looked at Idhant deeply as he said.
"Let me tell you a secret Idhant." Getting closer, Luvi whisphere with a mischievous grin, which was unlike his usual self that Idhant was used to seeing.
"Wh..at secret…??.. Yo.. you just..ruined out win..ning chances."But Idhant was still not in the right mind, he was worried and confused over why would Luvi announce their only advantage to others in the room.
"Well, are you really not curious, Idhant?" Luvi turned to look around the room with a mischievous smile, with some other students reciprocating his kind gesture with a smile on their own. Though some faces did turn ugly, looking at his smiling face.
"Wha…what do you mean?"
"Well, you should be curious, Idhant. For this secret is your secret." At those words, Idhant, albeit confused, suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body.
"Ah, I see. You might stutter a lot. But you are a smart young man."
"And before you panic, you shouldn't. Not until we are in the arena. Otherwise, not only will you be sent to jail, I will make sure your sister dies." Even with a kind smiling face, the tone that Luvi took at this moment, chilled Idhant's spine.
Hearing those words, Idhant suddenly put his hand on his chest, horrified as he looked at Luvi. He wanted to scream and run away, but he didn't dare. Under the oppressive gaze of Luvi, he didn't dare to move.
"Is everything alright?" Though, the state of Idhant was still noticed by others and some invigilators came forward to help them. But Luvi just said. "Please, don't worry. My friend is just worried about the competition."
Seeing the gazes of the invigilators, Idhant was forced to nod his head. Knowing full well what Luvi meant.
"I…I will be fine."
Taking the bottle on his side, Idhant drank some while calming his breathing. And when the invigilators noticed that Idhant was really fine, they left.
But this simple episode was still noticed by some other participants, who wondered why would someone join the tournament if they had such a weak will.
Unaware that what Idhant was experiencing was a life ending threat and it would not just be him alone who would be implicated due to this.
His innocent sister would also lose her life because of him.
"Good, remember your training and your goal… money. Focus on that and act normally. Act like you were meant to be."
"And if I am satisfied with your work, I might just give you 10 extra dollars for your services."
That pitiful and fearful face of Idhant reminded Luvi of old days. Which made him look forward to the faces of those that wish to deal with him a lot more.
As for Idhant?
He doesn't care if he has a sad backstory or sad circumstance. Being poor doesn't give one the right to do bad things, just like what Idhant planned to do by selling Luvi out to his would-be killers.
Yes, Idhant was never working with the school level threat who just wanted to take revenge out of honor or pride. He worked for real adults, who wished to kill him.
As for whether Idhant knew?
Well, he was being paid 50k in cash, so there was a high chance, with his bright brain, he would be aware of what these people intended to do with him.
Hence, Luvi didn't intend to show much mercy towards Idhant. Let this become a learning lesson for him.
Let it become the day he most regrets in his life.