Rachel's POV
I had just met Kim Suho and his team after fighting the Djins. Although they did start asking questions but they soon calmed down as they saw the situation.
I was sitting on a fallen tree, facing the 3 of them on the opposite. After we met, seeing that I wasn't answering, Kim Suho went to check the corps that were fallen on the ground. There were Monster parts on their body clearly indicating that they were not Humans, thus I was able to avoid too much suspicion.
After that, they cleaned the bodies while also checking if the bodies had some good equipment. After they had finished, Kim Suho had began setting up a campfire at the side where there were a few fallen trees. Now I was there facing the three of them, their eyes locked on me. It was a little uncomfortable but it was not strange given how the Djins had even been able to sabotage the Exam, and why they had specifically attacked me.
"So... Rachel-sii, could you please explain the situation?" Said Kim Suho as he looked at me with a look 'You don't have to if you like'. Chae Nayun also asked the same question while Shin Jonghak just kept quiet.
"...O-ok. Well, how should I begin?" I said as I thought how I should start. After some thought, I started explaining to them how I had met them while hunting a monster and they invited me to their team. I also told them how after reaching the base, these assassins started attacking me and also the fact that the team members were acting suspicious.
"Hmm... Did you take care of all of them yourself?" There, this was the question I had wished they didn't asked me. Although I did fought them, I didn't fought all of them. That person took care of most of them, I just finished what was left. Even in the end, the ones that escaped were probably chased by him. But seeing how during our previous exam at Cube, he told me not to tell the guards anything about him, I had assumed that he didn't want himself to be known. I didn't know what the reason was, but even now, he had saved me again.
"Rachel-sii?"
It was as if he had already known that Djins would attack me, and waited for the right time. Maybe he wanted me to form a team with him for extra safety and to avoid any other chances of something bad happening? That was something I didn't know of. Back to the situation, I decided to hide it, but if I did meet him again, I would be sure to ask him if he knew something.
"Rachel-sii?"
"Huh? Ah y-yes it was me. I took care of all of them."
"Ok... do you know why they attacked you?"
"N-no" I said as I looked down feeling sad. It was probably him who sent them to kill or hurt me. But I didn't want these people to get involved in these matters. I had a feeling that they would help a little but I would still feel guilty that I couldn't do it myself. I was a princess, and if I let my weakside be shown, people would think that I wasn't worthy to be the Princess and our family would be looked down upon.
Kim Suho stared at me for a few seconds, but feeling that I was probably getting uncomfortable, he left it there.
"Ok. And also, would you like to join our team? I'm sure we could help you if something like this happened."
"Sorry, but I would like to remain alone for some time... I'm sorry if I disappointed you."
"Of course not! Well it's your choice so I have nothing to say in this. But just in case if something happened, feel free to come to us."
"I am thankful for that, but I don't want to burden you. Than, farewell."
I said as I left towards the forest. I could hear the, saying something. But I didn't care much. But then...
"See! Not all the girls are affected me your charm!", said Chae Nayun while Shin Jonghak was laughing.
"I agree" said Shin Jonghak as he continued laughing at Kim Suho for some reason.
Hmm, its true that Kim Suho's face is better than average, handsome in fact, and he has a good personality. But I don't think I would ever be attracted by something like that. I only saw him as a classmate and a person that I wished to surpass in the future. Besides, I already have someone that is special to me...
After some walking, I had reached a river from where I drank water. Unfortunately, it didn't had any fish that could be eaten. And I didn't know if the food around me was poisonous or not. Although, I did came a little prepared because Hajin-sii had given me a hint of how the exam was going to be. And fortunately, it turned out to me true. I had some extra food that I had packed in my backpack and a few bottles of clean water. But it wasn't enough to survive the whole week during the exam. I had to save as much as I could, drink river water and find as much food that I could that was eatable and not poisonous.
I decided to follow the river thinking that I might encounter some animals while doing so. And I was right. Just after a few minutes of walking, I encountered a few rabbits drinking water from the river. I quickly got down and went into the bushes. While slowly approaching, I readied my rapier. There were four of them. So my plan was to kill one of them by throwing my rapier while I catch at least two more with my hands. As soon as I was at enough distance, I stood up and throwed my rapier with enough force to not give the animal a chance to escape.
The rapier pierced one of them in the leg and got stuck. I quickly jumped at the other two and quickly caught two from the ears. I shifted my hands from their ears to their neck and exerted enough force to break them.
..
After hunting, I continued on the same way. Night was drawing near so I had to find a good place to hide and rest. There was too much risk to stay outside at night because of the monsters.
After some walking, I heard the spell of food being cooked. I started fastening me phase and soon heard the sound of Oil getting heated on fire. It confirmed that there was someone there. I slowly approached as I could hear the sound of someone whistling. As I was approaching from behind the trees, I heard a similar voice.
"It's almost cooked~"
Huh? This is Hajin-Sii's voice. I let my guard down a little at the thought as I went out of hiding and approached him Openly.
This caused some sound as Hajin-sii heard it and turned out and saw me.
"Huh? Rachel-sii...?"
Kim Hajin's POV | *A few seconds after catching the escapees*
After I had seen the description of the Gift. I sighed at just the thought of someone that strong existing that was capable of giving something like this as a 'starting gift' much less intervening in the system. Well, I would eventually find out who they were if I do what they say. As of now, they probably just want me to continue what I was doing.
Leaving that aside, I looked at the bodies of the Djins laying on the ground. 'What should I do with them for now?'. Oh right, I could just store them inside the newly acquired skill. But how do I use it? In case of [Stigma] I just had to think of what I wanted to do while injecting Magic power.
Should I try one of those? I thought as I as I started thinking of the sub-power I wanted to use on these bodies while I said,
"Store"
As soon as I said, a completely black looking sphere appeared. It was blacker than a black whole, seeming like a complete void that lacked anything. As soon as it appeared, it absorbed the bodies in an instant and disappeared again. Wow, that's some power. To absorb it seemingly faster than time could go forward, it lived up to its name.
After that, I went up on a tree and started moving from branch to branch towards my camp. I didn't want to use skills like [Long Dash] because it would consume more SP and who knew when I would need it, so I used the gift [Parkour] as I went towards my base at a fast speed.
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