While other students hurriedly retrieved their weakness items, Jiang was utterly relaxed.
“Are you participating in the auction tomorrow, Jiang?”
“They said to hold out as long as you can.”
“Ugh, this is disadvantageous.”
“What’s disadvantageous?”
“The Uninhabited Island Auction includes an additional personal item for each participant on top of the existing auction items.”
In short, it means that the number of days they have to endure until the last auction item increases.
Hearing that, Jiang understood why Oknodie encouraged teams of two and turned a blind eye to eliminations.
“Is there something you want to buy on the last day?”
“Yeah. Normally, there would still be time, but the professor made a hasty decision, and now the island is like this…”
Mana dispersed in real-time, and the icy pillars that were starting to weaken melted away, while the metal structures began to loosen and fall piece by piece due to the waves.
In an uninhabited island, no matter how strong a survival ability an assassin has, it’s tough to hold out long.
Chit-chat-chit-chat
Chit-chat
The sea monsters with snapping claws started inching toward the island, cautiously testing the waters, now that the uninhabited island’s predator, the Blue Metal Mouse, had vanished.
By tomorrow morning at the latest, or possibly tonight, they’d have to compete with monsters to survive.
‘What a pain, but I’ll endure.’
Jiang took on the challenge on the seventh day.
Through the night, crabs that had crawled onto the island inevitably targeted Jiang, but she already knew how to ward off the significantly larger Giant King Crab.
Rooar!
Even the Giant King Crab took a step back from the startled cry that the little crabs couldn’t withstand.
‘Interesting. Who would’ve thought I’d use the skills I learned from Oknodie like this? I thought I’d never put them to use in my life.’
The methods she learned in the Night-time Activities for Adventurers lecture on how to sleep well without being ambushed and not get swept away by the waves at night all worked perfectly.
It’s truly amazing to experience firsthand the saying that you don’t know something until you’ve been through it.
As time passed, at noon on the seventh day, familiar Giant King Crabs began to crawl up from somewhere in the depths.
Rooar!
Rooar!
With Oknodie waving two arms like an octopus and shouting vigorously, the Giant King Crabs clustered around the auction area.
They seemed ready to pounce as soon as someone stepped outside.
“I’ll now unveil the seventh item of the Uninhabited Island Auction. Today’s item is Thief Catching.”
The item on offer was a Mana Board.
It’s a sophisticated type of high-grade parchment or instrument used for special operations or functions, similar to an advanced version of the old mana scrolls.
Its efficacy and range of effects are much stronger and broader than regular scrolls.
“The starting bid is 250,000 points. The auction will rise by 250,000. Is there anyone who wishes to participate?”
Jiang asked bluntly.
“Oknodie, are you going to buy that?”
“Well~ There’s no particular reason to buy it, right? I already know the location of the teen thief.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. Professor Bronze mentioned that Jiang’s master is the ‘Life Thief,’ right? I also know that the Life Thief is hiding in the Empire’s underground waterways!”
Could it be the knowledge of the foundation?
The reason they are well aware of powerful figures and important individuals across the continent must be wisdom implanted by the foundation.
Jiang thought she was lucky.
She had a decent idea about the usage of the Thief Catching Mana Board.
By writing down the name of the thief she seeks on the Mana Board, the exact location would appear or be recorded.
It could be used to find one of the teen thieves but could also come in handy later to find Jiang, the disciple of the Life Thief.
In any scenario, it was a big weak point for Jiang.
“The auction item Thief Catching for Day 7 has been awarded to participant Jiang at a price of 250,000 boarding points.”
Jiang untied the protective scarf she wore around her neck and wrapped it around the Mana Board.
The scarf, left by her master to protect the girl’s delicate vital areas, also serves to protect that much precious item, perfectly carrying on her master’s legacy.
“Are you going back?”
“I’ve bought something, so yeah.”
“Go ahead and play first!”
What kind of weakness item would Oknodie get? It would surely be something pathetic.
With a light heart, Jiang boarded the boat heading to the cruise ship.
The Giant King Crabs circled the ship reluctantly, only to scatter in shock when an Electric Shock spell spread across the surface.
‘How many days will I have to wait?’
Spending time on the cruise ship without Oknodie would be incredibly boring.
Now that points had lost their meaning, maybe she’d just hide out somewhere deserted and pass the time.
Hugging the Mana Board to her chest, Jiang returned to the cruise ship and quickly felt something was off.
“No! If the coolant freezes, the machinery room will break down. Please just hold off on the freezing magic!”
“If you don’t want the machine to be damaged and pay repair costs, cooperate with the rebellion willingly.”
“Is this really okay? Isn’t opposing the foundation much more dangerous?”
“Idiot. Our role is to protect the machinery room, not to stop the rebellion. If the facilities break down, we’ll be stuck with debt for life.”
Students were threatening crew members with magic, while other crew members were surrendering in tears.
“I’m not like you cowards. What could a first-year student at the academy possibly do to show the terror of a foundation crew member…?”
The courageously stepping out crew member was kicked and rolled across the hallway faster than they could run away.
When a female student, now face exposed after shedding her robe, came into view, the crew members were even more rattled.
“That distinctive orange hair must belong to Warrior Ishtar, right!?”
An arrogant warrior Ishtar, who only she knew about.
For some reason, she was helping to suppress the rebellious crew members.
Her tidy appearance twisted into a deeply contorted expression as she directed her psychic abilities.
As her gaze shifted from fellow students to crew members, it felt extraordinarily reassuring.
Could this really be the same warrior who had made fellow students tremble in fear just recently?
Why were these foundation crew members being beaten like that, despite receiving scholarships from the foundation?
In the midst of an exciting scene, Jiang realized.
Waiting for Oknodie to return wouldn’t be as boring as she thought.
—
The foundation executive, Apostle of Anrage, began to suspect she was dreaming.
Rather than blocking the students charging in like a pack of wolves, the crew members were actually helping from afar.
By the time the crew members, who had been steadily decreasing in numbers, realized they had been swayed to the enemy side, it was too late.
━━━
Jezel (Class 981)
First-year student at the Academy, aspiring Adventurer
Current Merchant
Buyer of auction item Information on Supplies of the Revolutionary Army.
━━━
Having disguised herself as an ordinary student, her true identity was an applicant working with one of the Three Great Evils, the revolutionary army.
But despite still being a first-year, once she seized command, she began flipping the situation at a frightening pace.
For reasons unknown, the Eastern Swordsman was raiding every supply spot where they were hiding, causing the foundation crew members to increasingly desert their posts.
“Let go.”
“I can’t. If you go out now, both the helmsman room and captain’s chamber will be overrun!”
“If you don’t let go, I’ll eat your hands.”
The chief navigator, pale with fear, released the hand that had been holding the Apostle of Anrage.
The Apostle of Anrage contained multiple personalities in one body.
The peace advocate, Posep’s personality had been dominating the surface for days now, but he too began to sense the emergence of the next personality.
“You have no idea what you’re up against. The flesh-eater’s personality is weak against those who show no fear. Infuriating, but I have no choice but to yield to the next personality.”
Gustav permitted the shift in personality.
The previously furious energy cooled down astonishingly.
His disheveled hair returned to normal, and his awkward gait and unrefined senses sharpened like a single blade.
“Excuse me, which personality has awakened?”
“Warrior Candidate Kay.”
The chief navigator thought:
Oknodie’s friends are really unlucky.
They have drawn an exceptional personality among the Apostle of Anrage.
“Mapping.”
At the command, the chief navigator was startled and quickly operated the Mana Board.
The mana coordinates linked to the boarding card floated onto the helmsman’s dashboard.
“Classification.”
Under Kay’s direction, among many coordinates, the most necessary students’ coordinates appeared.
“Link.”
“Connected.”
Information was transmitted to the Apostle of Anrage through the mana chip planted in his head.
At this, Kay’s field of vision lit up with students’ location information, almost as if a mini-map had appeared.
The one guarding the cruise ship.
The apostle, shackled by the foundation’s debt.
The fallen military command body being forced to fulfill its目的 and optimized defense mini-map ability definitely proved useful.
“…Are you really human?”
Avoiding the watchers’ eyes, Kay swiftly burst into the control room.
Upon witnessing his sword splitting the ice wall reinforced by Irene with a single strike, Sing realized he had encountered an opponent that he absolutely could not defeat.
His plans to share the external issues with the warrior or Irene until Oknodie returned, while idly passing the time to train, were now nullified.
“Choose. Veiljee, or surrender.”
“…I will surrender.”
He thought.
Everything would work out once Oknodie arrives.
It was a dreadful miscalculation.
Oknodie was such a wild card that three days had passed on the chaotic uninhabited island without his return.
And the Kay emerging as the new main personality of the Apostle of Anrage was far more dangerous than anticipated.
“What are you planning to do with us as hostages?”
“I might exchange crew members and hostages with them.”
“I’m worth twenty crew members.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m fucking strong. You might get three if you’re lucky.”
“Haha. You’re funny. Please take off 50% of Kay’s price because he snores at night.”
“Why are you telling him that! You’re the one who trembles in fear in front of a deer and got gored to the skies!”
Amid the relaxed conversation among the students who had been ambushed since Sing’s arrival, Kay replied coldly.
“Don’t worry. Each of you holds only a one-person value. That value won’t be diminished because you snore or fail to catch your prey.”
“Wow. That’s impressive… I think I’ve just developed a crush.”
“Does this mean the foundation believes that everyone, despite their flaws and differences in strength, is equal as one entity?”
Kay shook his head.
“No. You are all sacrificial offerings to extract my soul bound to this cursed cruise ship.”
“?”
“I’m planning to collect a group of students equal to the number of souls bound to the Apostle of Anrage and sacrifice them to exchange souls and escape.”
“??”
“My body belongs to the finest swordsman, and it doesn’t matter how worthless the other bodies are.”
“……”
