Lucas' POV
"Hello Lucas, we will be in your care "...
Duke spoke on behalf of the duo as they conjured a professional fake smile and threw me a greeting... He was like a man speaking on behalf of himself and his woman..
"I guess the rumors that they are in a relationship could be true..." I mused inwardly... then turned to look at them for a second before I ignored them completely ..
There was no way I was gonna pretend to be on good terms with them...
The dissapointments and heartaches I had suffered at the hands of hypocrites in the past after my parents passed away had forged in me a strong disgust for people like these group members of mine...
"You...how can you be so rude?... Aren't we all team members? "... Stephanie bellowed, as she glared at me in anger... To me her pretty face looked nothing more than the face of some malicious old witch in a fairy tale...
Women like her were the end of all men, after my experience with Amanda,I just felt disgusted by ladies bearing a similar attitude..
I sighed as I sized her up and down in a demeaning manner , causing her to fume at in anger ...
Why would they not let me be...?
Alright, since they were asking for drama, I would give it to them ..
The crimson eyes of Duke landed on me as I stared at him for a while and shook my head... The look was that of someone who wanted me dead...
I feigned a yawn, then spoke casually "Look, I know you guys have ulterior motives concerning me during the practical assessment, so why are you acting like you want to be on good terms with me?... Why then are you feigning ignorance that you want to be on good terms with me.. Just stop pretending and stay away from me... can't you see I was listening to music?...
You are welcome to try and harm me when we enter the Diabolic beast zone..."
The duo stared at me as they both simultaneously exuded slight killing intent...
However I didn't feel threatened... After all ,I was much stronger than them...
Chatter ...chatter... chatter...
"Did he just talk like that to them?..."
"I know Lucas is a C ranker and all but , why does he have to make enemies out of these two..?... doesn't he know their background?... Even if he is the disciple of the Sword Blade, isn't this behaviour a bit too much?"
"Does he not know that even though he is a C ranker, some people from renowned families in the class have probably decided to sneak in hunters of higher ranks to get rid of him during the assessment...?.. After all, if he's to die in the diabolic beast zone, his death cannot be attributed to anyone .... Even the Sword Blade can do nothing about it...
"Yeah, this Lucas is too proud... He might be talented but he might really die during the assessment this time.."
This and many other demeaning comments were launched my way... However ,I had grown immune to these kind of things... so I ignored them...then turned to the wilderness survival instructor " Sir, am I allowed to engage in the assessment without group members ?"
Of course, the instructor glanced at me incredulously, then sighed "Mr Grimstone, the groups were established to make the burden of assessment more easier to handle... I have already assigned the groups, however , what you choose to do after entering the diabolic beast zone is up to you completely "...
I understood the hidden meaning behind his words... Whether or not you want to approach the assessment based on the groups I have assigned you after entering the diabic beast zone is non of my business... Even if you choose to change your group allocations and team up with others I don't care... Even if you decide to proceed with the assesment alone after entering the diabolic beast zone, I don't care.. In a way, this was the hidden meaning behind the instructor's words....
Most of my classmates stared at me as though I were some deranged nicompoop who was on recreational drugs after I asked the instructor the question ...
I ignored them and nodded at the instructor's words, after which he told us to follow him to the edge of the diabolic beast zone...
The tension in the atmosphere was palpable...
It was quite understandable that quite a number of students were nervous about entering the diabolic beast zone for the first time... There were others ,however , with influential backgrounds who had assumed a relaxed demeanor... It was a obvious that this wasn't their first time venturing into the diabolic beast zone..
As for me, there was no need to be afraid...
I was well prepared ...
I glanced at the details of my status and focused on the details of the Sword the World Will had handed over to me..
[Details of Phantom Sword
-By wielding the Phantom Sword, the owner Lucas Grimstone may decide to conjour illusionary
Creatures to temporarily cast opponents at the S rank and below into an illusion for 10 seconds ....
If the opponent is above the S rank, the illusion will last for 3 seconds ...
This feature of the Sword has a cool down effect of 3 days..
-The Phantom Sword is compatible with elemental affinity related energy...
This feature of the Phantom Sword has no cooldown effect..
-The Phantom Sword cannot be destroyed ]
The three features of the Sword, erm, the Phantom Sword as my AI decided to name it, is broken, right?.... ridiculously broken!.
If the World Will of the human world were to be here right now, I'd have kowtowed and paid homage to her for her act of generosity ...
Even though I was well informed that compared to the Gatherers, I was completely weak in the Grand Scheme of things and therefore, I could not get carried away with the strength enhancements I had received from the artifacts the World Will had given to me, and for that matter, I still had to grow stronger, these skills were really broken....
Just as I was in my thoughts, the instructor's voice traced into my ear and that of the other students..
" We are here... Wishing you the best of luck...
Remember, the key to passing the assessment,is to survive..."...
With that, the instructor stepped back , as we entered the diabolic beast zone...
Our wilderness assessment practical exams... had begun...