Vincent traced the winding cave path with practiced caution, periodically consulting his floating map interface until he finally reached the spot marked by an imposing red dot.
Instead of the high-tier primal he'd anticipated, his eyes fell upon a serene lake. In its center, a yellow lily flower bloomed, its petals shimmering with an ethereal pale golden light.
Standing at the water's edge, recognition slowly dawned on Vincent's face as he recalled crucial information about the mysterious bloom.
"Isn't that..." he began to murmur.
A sharp voice cut through his thoughts like a knife.
"We've hit the jackpot! That's a rare Sunspire Lily!"
Vincent turned unhurriedly, unsurprised by the newcomers. He'd been monitoring his map diligently, so their arrival hadn't caught him off guard.
Four students stood at a distance, two guys and two girls, looking as casual as if they were on a leisurely field trip rather than a dangerous expedition.
The guy who'd spoken carried himself with the unmistakable air of entitlement that came from a privileged upbringing.
His brown hair was meticulously styled, and his companions shared the same aura of unearned confidence.
"Hey there, fellow student," the brown-haired young man called out, his tone dripping with false camaraderie.
"You wouldn't mind if we claimed that Sunspire Lily, right?"
Behind him, his friends exchanged knowing smirks, already certain of the outcome.
Vincent had to suppress a wry smile. If he hadn't known the true value of the Sunspire Lily, he might have just walked away - confrontation wasn't typically his style.
But this flower, which required a full decade to reach full bloom, was no ordinary plant.
It could permanently increase both force and speed attributes by a point, boost heat resistance, and improve sun affinity. Such a prize was worth fighting for.
So instead of backing down, he let his annoyance show.
"I found it first. You've got some nerve making demands like that."
The brown-haired student's friendly facade cracked instantly. He let out a hollow laugh as if he'd heard something utterly ridiculous.
"Are you seriously refusing to hand it over?"
Vincent responded with silence, his steady gaze speaking volumes.
One of the girls stepped forward, her platinum blonde hair arranged in an elaborate braid that must have taken hours to perfect.
Her face was caked with enough makeup to paint a small mural.
"Senior Cyrus," she drawled, "let's just beat this loser down! Look at him - all alone. Probably got kicked out of his party for being too weak!"
Her voice dripped with the kind of contempt that only the truly privileged could muster.
The other girl, sporting vibrant violet hair and enough piercings to set off a metal detector, eagerly joined in.
"Yeah! Let's take him down and grab the lily. We'll make a fortune!"
Her eyes gleamed with anticipated riches.
Cyrus's eyes lit up as if he'd just had an epiphany.
"Oh man, they're right, aren't they? Your team ditched you, didn't they?"
Vincent frowned briefly before plastering on a goofy, disarming smile.
Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, he stammered, "Heh, well, Senior Cyrus... I was just trying to act tough. Of course I wouldn't actually refuse you. But maybe we could work something out? You know..."
He rubbed his hands together suggestively.
Cyrus stared for a moment before bursting into uproarious laughter.
"Wait, are you seriously trying to get me to pay you?"
Vincent nodded, maintaining his dim-witted expression.
Cyrus's laughter cut off as abruptly as it had started.
"Do you really think you're in any position to negotiate? I'll give you one last chance - get lost."
The quiet guy with black hair shifted uncomfortably. "Cyrus, maybe we should-"
"Shut it, Martin," the blonde girl snapped, her manicured nails tapping against her arm impatiently.
"This weakling needs to learn his place in the pecking order."
Vincent's face fell in apparent disappointment, but he remained silent. He simply turned and walked toward the exit, shoulders slumped in defeat.
"What a coward," the blonde sneered as he passed, her overpowering perfume almost choking in the damp cave air.
Once Vincent was out of sight, the group couldn't contain their glee any longer.
"That was almost too easy," the violet-haired girl giggled, twirling a strand around her finger.
"Did you see how fast he gave up? Absolutely pathetic!"
"Martin, go grab that lily!"
Cyrus ordered, his D-rank Combat Intuition failing spectacularly to warn him of the impending danger.
Martin jumped onto the nearest lily pad, wobbling slightly despite his E-rank Enhanced Balance talent.
"These things are way slipperier than they look!"
Meanwhile, Vincent watched silently from behind a cave wall, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
"Come on, Martin! Just one more jump!" the violet-haired girl cheered, her D-rank Sound Amplification making her voice bounce unnaturally off the cave walls.
"I know, I know! Here goes nothing!"
Martin gathered his courage and made the final leap, grinning triumphantly as he reached for the golden flower.
But before his fingers could even brush the delicate petals, a dark shape exploded from beneath the water's surface!
Cyrus could only shout a belated warning: "Look out!"
The shadow wrapped around Martin in an instant, dragging him under with frightening speed.
"Martin!"
The blonde's scream shattered her composed facade as the water churned violently, Martin's cries quickly turning to desperate gurgles.
A massive serpentine form breached the surface, its sickly green scales seeming to absorb what little light there was in the cave.
Martin was caught in its coils, his face turning an alarming shade of purple as the creature constricted.
"Oh god," the violet-haired girl whispered, her hair standing on end as her Sound Amplification picked up the creature's subsonic growls.
"That's no ordinary lake serpent."
Indeed, mutation had twisted the primal into something truly nightmarish. Bony spikes jutted from its scales at irregular intervals, and a frill of poisonous barbs crowned its neck like some grotesque royal collar.
Its eyes glowed with an unnatural yellow light as it fixed the students with a predatory stare that spoke of nothing but hunger.
Cyrus, his earlier arrogance replaced by naked terror, tried desperately to rally his team.
"Lysithea, use your Light Burst! Zephyrine, try to distract it with sound! We have to save Martin!"
Lysithea's hands shook violently as she formed a pathetically weak ball of light, barely matching the Sunspire Lily's natural glow.
"I-I can't! It's too strong!"
The serpent seemed to tire of its toy, flinging Martin aside like a rag doll. He landed hard on a lily pad, coughing up a disturbing mixture of water and blood.
"Help... please..."
Zephyrine attempted to disorient the creature with her sound abilities, but it seemed more annoyed than affected. Its tail whipped through the air with lightning speed, catching her off guard and sending her crashing into the cave wall with a sickening crunch.
"This can't be happening," Lysithea babbled, backing away on trembling legs.
"We're Tier 1 - 3 star students! We're supposed to be the elite!"
From his hidden position, Vincent observed the unfolding chaos with calculated interest, his Heaven's Eyes assessing the creature's strength.
"A Mutated Lake Serpent, another peak Tier 1 primal. But how does it compare to a normal one?" he mused quietly.
"Their talents are clearly useless against something of this caliber."
The serpent reared up to its full height, its frill expanding to reveal glistening poison glands. Cyrus scrambled backward, earlier bravado completely evaporated.
"Everyone, fall back to the tunnel! Now!"
As the group began their desperate retreat, Vincent saw his chance. Activating his Origin Movement Speed skill, he became a blur across the lily pads. The serpent, still focused on the fleeing students, didn't notice his approach.
Time seemed to slow as Vincent neared the Sunspire Lily. He could hear Cyrus shouting incoherent orders, Lysithea's hysterical sobs, and Zephyrine's pained moans. His hand closed around the flower's stem just as the primal finally sensed his presence.
Vincent's Adept-level martial techniques came into play as he narrowly avoided the serpent's lightning-fast strike.
His Basic Offensive and Defensive Martial Technique allowed him to maintain perfect balance on the precarious lily pad as he swiftly severed the flower with his Darksteel Sword, immediately securing it in his storage ring.
"You... you were waiting for this!"
Cyrus accused, his voice cracking with fear and rage.
"You knew all along!"
Vincent didn't waste breath responding. He focused entirely on escaping, using the primal's momentary distraction to make his way back to solid ground. Only when he reached safety did he turn to address the battered group.
"Unlike some, I don't rely solely on talents," he said quietly, carefully securing the Sunspire Lily.
"Observation, patience, and actual skill count for far more than star rank alone."
Lysithea, her perfectly applied makeup now streaked with tears, pointed a shaking finger at him.
"You... you used us as bait! We could have died!"
"And? What's that to me?" Vincent responded with ice in his voice.
"You were so certain of your superiority that you never even considered the danger. That's not my fault."
The serpent, recovering from its confusion, now seemed uncertain which prey to pursue. It wavered between Vincent and the larger group, its forked tongue tasting the air hungrily.
"This isn't over," Cyrus spat as he helped Zephyrine to her feet, the violet-haired girl wincing in obvious pain. "When we get back to the academy—"
"You'll what?"
Vincent interrupted, his voice still maddeningly calm.
"You think I'll let you continue this event?"
His eyes hardened to chips of ice.
"Hand over your communication device, or you can enjoy being that thing's dinner."
He gestured casually at the mutated lake serpent.
"Don't make me laugh! I'll kill y—" Cyrus's threat died in his throat as bone-chilling killing intent radiated from Vincent's eyes. His battle intuition screamed that one wrong move meant certain death.
Fear struck him to his core, rendering him speechless and thoroughly confusing his party members.
"Senior Cyrus? What are you waiting for? Get him!"
The moment those words left Lysithea's mouth, Cyrus whirled and slapped her hard across the face, his own contorted with fury.
"If you want to die so badly, don't drag me with you!"
"H-How dare you hit me?"
Ignoring her outburst completely, Cyrus quickly removed his communication device and held it out to Vincent with trembling hands.
"Here, take it. We already transferred all our primal points. Just... let us go."
Vincent silently accepted the device and activated the bail option. In an instant, Cyrus vanished, teleported back to the safety of the arena.
He simply watched as the remaining three students struggled briefly with their pride before following their leader's example, bailing out one by one.
Storing the communication device in his ring, Vincent turned his full attention to the mutated lake serpent. A relaxed smile spread across his face, excited to truly test his strength against such a formidable creature.
Back at the school's arena, Verno and Arnold's intense standoff was suddenly interrupted by the amazed gasps of the crowd watching Vincent's exploits on floating screens.
"Holy crap!"
"He actually killed a peak Tier 1 Fury Forest!"
"And he snatched that rare herb right from under Cyrus's nose!"
"Who is this guy?"