The First Practical Lesson III
I adjusted the direction of the shot straight to the heart of the little monster, and then I activated [Aim Assisting] to raise my accuracy by a bit more.
'I really want to infuse flame mana into the arrow!'
I have to hide my skill for now, however. So maybe next time?
Then I released the bowstring, the [Time Bullet] ended and the monster, unable to escape in time.
And then it was pinned straight to the stone wall behind it and died immediately.
And I still had momentum from when I jumped, so when the skill was over, I still crashed into the stone wall.
Luckily it wasn't too sharp and thorny, so I wasn't injured too seriously.
Katia and Esther come to my place to check whether the boss has died.
All the other undead monsters fell immediately to the ground without someone controlling them.
[You have finished Main Quest: Defeat the Boss at the end of the Simulated Temple.]
[Bonus Quest completed:
-You have contributed over 50% of the entire team.]
-You are the person who dealt the final blow to the Boss.]
[Acquired "Main Stats' Growth Boosting Potion (D)"x5]
The reward is also quite worthy compared to my "hardship".
The board then evaluates each member's abilities and achievements.
I accounted for a whopping 60%!
Thus, the other two must contribute about 40%.
While Katia was slightly better with 23% and Esther with 17%, it was still a disaster when they both realized that they were more talented than me.
The results surprised both of them.
However, based on her bland facial expression, Katia still thinks it's because I contributed enormously.
After all, I was the lucky person to do the last hit on the Boss.
Esther was the one who felt the most uncomfortable and asked the teacher,
"Why?! It's not fair at all! Katia and I were the people who had to do most of the work."
"We fought all the goblins and even had a fight with the boss until the last phase! Yet we only got a 40% contribution."
"That punk stole our kill so easily and got most of the contribution?"
"That's not fair at all, teacher!"
One teacher who observed us through the virtual camera said,
"Ahem, Esther cadet."
"Language."
"And the result is not unfair at all."
"According to statistics, you two only defeated exactly 30 goblins and a boss, which gets you two about 40% contribution."
"And the other cadet has killed a total of 50 goblins, an elite goblin, and a parasite boss."
"When added together, he contributed exactly 60%."
'Now they will be surprised by the data.'
"How come?!"
And yep, those two both shouted at the same time.
"That's not possible."
While Katia was murmuring, Esther was trying to get the answer.
"How and where?"
"Huh?" I was trying to be innocent.
"Where did you defeat the other 50 goblins? On the way, we have destroyed an entire barrack! And not only that, we also killed like a dozen goblins in the cave on the way to the boss!!"
"You cheater!"
Sigh.
The teacher explained that,
"Esther."
"Don't make false accusations on other cadets."
"Both of you, Katia cadet and Esther cadet, had only destroyed one barrack."
"And there are still 3 more barracks."
"Two of them were on both sides of the first barrack you all have encountered. And each one has 18 goblins."
"And another barrack, which is close to the boss that you just killed, has 14 goblins and an elite goblin."
"He destroyed all of them. Plus the elite goblin too."
Esther was in the biggest disbelief in her life, while Katia was dead silent.
"No, it's not supposed to be like that..."
The teacher sighed,
"It's not about how well your performance is in this first practical exam."
"Because all of you in class A have a good foundation already. The thing we want to test is not the talent itself."
"The lesson focused more on the team-working capability. And that's the group's biggest problem."
"At least, from what I have been observing today, you all are too bad at teamwork."
"Especially Katia cadet and Esther cadet. You two don't even want to cooperate with your member."
"But we didn't like him!"
Esther shouted on behalf of both Katia and herself, while Katia nodded weakly.
"And what is the consequence?"
"If it's not because of the cadet that you don't want to work with, your scores will be severely deducted."
"And if this is not a VR simulation, you two will die like dogs right there."
"You two haven't shown that cadet your appreciation and now you are trying to mock him?!"
"When will you behave like a real noble, huh?"
While Esther was very upset, she could only clench her fists.
And Katia looked... somewhat sadder than usual.
Before logging out, Esther stood up to talk to me.
"Next time, I won't lose to you, you ugly thing."
Sigh.
I said nothing and just left.
But that plan backfired as it made Esther even angrier.
* *
When I came out of the capsule, I couldn't see that bastard anymore.
Why is he so talented?
He could single-handedly kill over 50 goblins... and even in a short amount of time like that?
I felt a little, just a bit, guilty when he did nothing to me, and I kicked him like that.
Maybe I shouldn't do that...
When I went back to the dorm, I saw him meditating outside. I could not help but ask,
"Hey, weirdo! What are you doing?"
"..."
"Are you not going to eat something?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I don't feel like eating."
"Huh?"
"Correct."
"So... when will you eat..."
"None of your concerns."
"I'm sorry-...."
"You don't need to apologize."
"Hey, that's rude."
"Yeah, yeah. You don't like me, right?"
"Right."
"So why are you still talking to me? Don't you see you are contradicting yourself?"
I was speechless. That guy made a good point though, why am I still talking to him despite not liking him?
"Or do you have to see me suffer to feel satisfied?"
"No, I just-"
"Sigh. You don't need to apologize, nor do you need to care about me, okay?"
"Okay?" I could say nothing else but repeat after him.
"I don't give a fuck. We are strangers, nothing more, nothing less."
"..."
He stood up and left.
I was so frustrated, but I couldn't do anything... He was right.
'He didn't blame or hate me when I did bad things to him.'
'He just simply did not want to talk or interact with me.'
"Luckily, I didn't have to apologize to someone as low as him"
But somehow the pain in my heart was not mitigated.
* *
2.45 P.M.
In the afternoon I came back and made more plans because there were still a few days left before the club would open their application.
I planned to register for the two clubs and maybe more.
"I'm not sure yet."
"But I have to join Hunter club and Music club at all costs because those two were the most story-wise important clubs in the game!"
"The problem is..."
The former was totally okay, but the latter... Oh boy, do I have quite a few problems?
Specifically, my face and my voice.
"Even though I think I sing well, I have never performed in front of anyone before."
"Whatever. I have to try it!"
Because those two clubs will increase my reputation, the most and do not overlap.
'Other than that, it's P.E. time!'
Today the teacher will let the cadets play either basketball or dodgeball.
This is a easy decision for me.
I will definitely play basketball.
I went to the gymnasium of the academy.
Spiral Academy is undeniably one of the biggest academies with high-end technology and facilities.
Even the gymnasium was so big that it could hold 10 games of basketball at the same time.
They even had a scoreboard for every kind of sport.
I went to the basketball court while enjoying the exciting feeling.
Also, I saw quite a few people practicing other sports such as volleyball and football.
Of course, there was also Haruki and Ryan playing basketball 1 vs 1, but I ignored them.
I picked up the ball and pushed it down. The satisfying sound of the basketball bouncing on the ground makes my adrenaline pumping up.
I only did it once or twice, and it felt completely different.
Each time I executed it successfully, I became better.
'It must be the effect of [Super Memory].'
I started pushing the ball much harder and quicker while moving and found the feeling of getting used to it fast.
Next, I opened my legs and let the ball bounce under my legs.
'I think they called this crossover, right?'
In the past, I couldn't even do it. And now, I could catch it easily, but my movement looked quite clumsy.
This was my first time doing it in a long time. Maybe 4 or 6 years? Jesus.
Afterward, I started dribbling the ball to the basket, where there were a bunch of bullies playing around there.
Noticing me coming to the basket, one bully there ran toward me and tried to stop me.
Nevertheless, I activated "Time Bullet" and I looked closely at the ground then slid the ball under the bully's legs and caught it with my other hand.
Then I ran around him, the whole place became surprised and other bullies rushed out to my position.
The more I dribbled the ball, the faster I got used to it.
After evading 3 more defenders, I realized I was standing in front of the 3-point line.
So I tried to take a throwing position, jumped up, and activated "Time Bullet" with "Recall".
I remember a bit of the period when I was trying to learn how to throw a 3-point properly on the Internet.
I tried to replicate it while the time was going slower by 5 times.
After having aimed at the basket carefully, I released the ball.
The ball flies in a beautiful arc and rushes into the basket without touching the net or the board.
Everyone looked at me in surprise.
"He's fantastic, but he's ugly as hell."
"Damn, he's even good at basketball."
"He looked cool when he made a 3-point shot, right?"
Some people started whispering, but I paid little attention to that.
Suddenly a senior came to greet me,
"Hello, I am Eric Williams, a third-year cadet, I would like to talk to you."