Chapter 145 Into The Woodlands

We formed a group of twenty players with five members each.

My lips curved into a smirk. Five players in a group was the ideal number for me to finish them off without a problem, and proceeded to my next target.

<Host is very motivated!>

Of course, I am!

I needed those Evil Points to buy the [Evil Pocket Dimension] and the [Handsome Elixir]. And at the end of the day racked so many EXP so that no one could threaten me in this world anymore.

If strength was the only law they followed here, then so be it. It worked in my favour as long as I has the System.

I then flicked my attention to where Thomas was.

Too bad that Thomas was in another group. I made sure that he stayed in line until we reached the Woodlands. I took it that his growl from before was a confirmation . . . I hope.

I wasn't worried if they checked his stat. I bought another [Evil Ring of Deceit] and equipped it to him. Good things that this ring wasn't a onetime buy only.

"Hello!" Renj said. "Looks like I'm in charge of this group. Hope we get along."

Renj was the only senior in the group, and he immediately took the leader's position. His ATP was nearing the hundreds, and he had the Swordsman class.

"The name's Zen. I'm a fighter. Nice to meet you."

Zen had beads of red hair, and he was the type of person that was the life of any group. He was the jester in the class, someone who give life to any party.

"Uhmm . . . My name is Nina, and I'm . . . a healer."

Nina was a small girl with pink pig tails. She was delicate and shy. Easily frightened and quick to cry. She blushed and hid her face in the presence of the boys.

And to complete the group, we have that one woman in the team who was fierce and stubborn, thrived upon attention, and sulked when she did not receive it.

"My name's Feliz." She flipped her long black hair and added. "I'm a black mage, and I hope you don't get in my way. I will leave you behind if you can't hold your weight."

Nina shook in fear while Zen only grinned and placed his hands at the back of his head.

Renj ignored her, and all eyes went in my direction next.

So far, this group seemed to be made up of decent human beings. But once they looked into my stat, I knew that everything would change from there.

The stubborn lines on my face lessened, and I tried to soften my smile. "Hello, my name is Cross."

"Agh!" Zen pointed the finger at me. "You're that gil guy, right?"

Nina whipped her head at me. "Egh? Really?"

"Is it true that you're giving money to anyone who asks?" Zen inquired further.

I stifled a laugh and rubbed the back of my head. "Unfortunately, I don't have any more money to give."

Zen's happy smile curved into disappointment. "Is that so?" he sighed. "Too bad. I wanted money as well."

Feliz sneered. "You're already in this Academy for four days, yet you still can't defend yourself. What are you doing in your free time?"

Killing players. "Augh . . . I was hiding in my room to avoid those players that were chasing me."

Feliz looked at me in disgust while Nina stared at me with pity in her eyes.

"You poor thing," she said with her doe like eyes.

<Host is getting good at acting>

The trick to being smart . . . was knowing when to play dumb.

I wanted them to let their guard down around me and strike them swiftly with one blow.

Renj clapped his hand to get our attention. "Alright, enough of this. Give me all your ATP so I can plan accordingly based on your stats."

As Renj was checking our stat through the magic bracelet, I saw his brows subtly meet in one line and even heard him muttered with a sigh, "What shitty luck."

I read on his face that he didn't want to group with us, but he didn't have a choice, and his frown deepened as he gave out his command.

"Alright, based on your ATP, me and Zen will lead the front. Feliz and Nina will support us in the center, and Cross will watch our back. Any questions?"

In journeying, you would think that the front was the most dangerous position because they were the first to face the beasts. But in truth, the back was the most dangerous of all, for they were first to be attacked.

My other self set my class as Black Mage, so that wasn't the ideal position for me. He should have set it to swordsman instead.

Of course, being a senior student of this school, Renj knew that a Black Mage couldn't possibly held the line during adventuring. He should have given that role to Zen.

It was obvious that Renj was trying to kill me off. To him, my ATP must have been so low that it was better to dispose of me than drag the whole group down.

I didn't care, though. The more they acted despicable, the easier it was for me to kill them off.

<If they had been kind, would Host let them off?>

I laughed. No way.

I could see that I was already left out of the group when the others huddled together and didn't leave any space for me to get into their circle.

In their eyes, I wondered if I was already dead.

I shrugged and went to Thomas instead. Much to my amusement, Thomas was put into Amara's group.

Fate really worked in mysterious ways.

I waved at him and went to his side. His group was busy discussing about their strategy, so they didn't mind when I took Thomas away for a little chat.

In fact, they couldn't care less if I took away the silent Thomas since he wasn't contributing much to the topic they were discussing. They didn't even bat an eyelid.

At the corner of my eyes, my vision caught Amara's gaze. In that short moment of time, the arrogance on her face cracked, and she immediately looked away.

I didn't know if I was merely overthinking it . . . but I swore that there was a flash of recognition in her eyes before she looked away.

Could it be that she recognized me after all this time and just pretended that she didn't because of her fear of being ridiculed?

According to my memory, itched deeply into my other self's heart. During our grade school years, she said she didn't want to be associated with me after I confronted her about why she got together with my best friend when she promised to go out with me if I bought her that magic pencil.

But I could be wrong and was just overthinking things.

It did happen a very long time ago.

<It looked like the other Host is interested in women. First, her ex, and now this>

That idiot couldn't even get the girls, and if he did, all of them would take advantage of him.

<Host, isn't interested in women?>

I chuckled. I am, as long as they were useful to me.

"Thomas. I want you to guard Amara for me," I said to my loyal ghoul when we were meters apart from the others.

After all, if she's dead, how will I finish that quest?

Thomas briefly shot Amara a glance and nodded.

"And make sure that if you eat flesh, you'll eat flesh where you're alone, and no one sees you, okay? We want to kill as many players as possible, and not scare them away and blow our cover."

Thomas nodded in understanding, and my smile widened.

It was time to earn those points.

Eventually, we went onwards to the Woodlands.

Outside of Town, gently sloping and declining hills covering the lands in uneven specks and varying heights dominated our view.

Just meters away from that was a vast woodland before the mountains, which was home to many beasts and animals.

Before reaching these mountains, everyone had to pass the vast forest first.

"Alright, here's the deal," said Renj and struck his sword on the ground. "We're only going to cover half this forest. Don't even think of venturing deeper. Always stay close together and don't panic when we encounter beasts.

"There's five of us and only one beast. Just remember our formation. And if we do actually encounter packs of enemies, then we run away and avoid them. We will only take on one or two beats in the area and nothing more. Don't try to wander around or leave the group. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Whatever."

They sure are optimistic.

"If you understand, then let's go!"

( . . . continuation on NOTES)