All the students and the two professors were sitting in the middle of an open ground within the abandoned village, gathered in a circle around a small campfire.
Someone had luckily brought a lighter for smoking, which turned out useful for starting the fire. Otherwise, they'd have been rubbing sticks together like cavemen.
Kass sat on the green grass beside Professor Sheila, who was healing an injured student using the Archetype she had gained.
He watched the pale blue glow wrapping around her staff, eyes fixed, mesmerized by its beauty.
Aether. The pale blue energy that allowed them to perform magical feats.
If his guess was right, then the reddish-black energy he saw earlier should be Vitium — the reason the boundary between the Spirit Realm and Earth had collapsed.
Kass thought back to the Archetypes everyone had been talking about.
Among the 34 of them, each person had received one of the six basic Archetypes: Fighter, Warden, Rogue, Ranger, Mage, and Cleric.
He didn't really know how they were assigned, maybe it was random, but every Archetype granted two Gifts: one active, one passive.
By now, he had a rough idea of what each one could do since everyone was eager to share theirs.
He turned his attention inward and checked the details of his own Gifts.
— ✦ —
[ Aether Arc ]
[ Description: Condenses Aether along the sword and releases it as a swift crescent arc, cleaving through obstacles with concentrated energy. Its range and power depend on the amount and purity of Aether infused. ]
— — —
[ Basic Sword Instinct ]
[ Description: Grants you an innate sense for swordsmanship, allowing you to grasp and refine techniques instinctively through battle and experience until you achieve a basic foundation in swordsmanship. ]
— ✦ —
Both of them were basic. Everyone had gained similar gifts matching their Archetype — like Sheila, who received the Cleric Archetype and a healing ability.
Kass preferred his passive gift more. He'd never even held a sword properly before, yet now, when he thought about it, his body moved on instinct.
He knew how to hold it, how to swing, how to slash, it all felt natural.
It was surprisingly handy.
As he was mulling over it, a voice rose, breaking the silence around the campfire.
"I know nobody wants to talk about it, but we need to decide what to do within the hour," said Jason, a black-haired guy with an athletic build.
He was Mr. Popular, liked by both the professors and the students, and also the male class representative.
Everyone knew what he was talking about. There were two impostors, or rather, Shinobi (assassins), among them.
They had to find and either kill or vote them out to clear the scenario, but nobody knew anyone's role.
In one hour, the first vote would begin, and they needed to decide who to target.
They weren't naive enough to think this scenario was just some kind of twisted game. Maybe a few still did… but they'd learn the hard way soon enough.
"I propose the two Shinobi come clean and let us vote them out," one of the boys who played Ranger suggested, fiddling with his bow. "The rule only punishes whoever gets the highest votes. Maybe you get a slap on the wrist and we all go home."
Everyone stared at him like he'd grown another head.
"N-No… I mean, what else can we do?!" Liam stammered. "Isn't that the best plan to end the scenario?"
"Dude, just shut up. Go sleep in one of the huts. We'll call you when the vote starts," Rai snapped. He'd had enough of Liam's nonsense.
Kass just shook his head. Liam was the class fool, there was one like him in every group.
No one had any good options. It was impossible to expect everyone to tell the truth about their roles.
Each role came with a duty, one ability, and at least one restriction.
Kass thought back to the role he'd earned. It was called Kosho – princess attendant.
His current job was to protect and serve the princess. His ability let him, after forming a blood-bond with her, swap positions with the princess.
The restriction was brutal: if the person Kosho protected died, the Kosho died too.
He grimaced. The "princess" had to be one of the Shogun's heirs, a prime target for the Shinobi.
So his task was clear: find the princess, form the blood-bond, and make sure she didn't die until the others were taken care of.
Just wonderful.
"I think we should all vote for ourselves or abstain from voting in the first round," Jason suggested. "The rules clearly state that the punishment will be nullified if the highest vote count has two or more people."
Unlike Liam's earlier dumb idea, this one was actually worth considering.
"I agree," Professor Sheila, sitting beside Kass, raised her hand. "I think it's the best choice for now."
Jason smiled. "Yeah. We'll figure out what to do next after this vote. We've got six hours before the next round anyway."
Everyone agreed. It seemed like the safest option.
But Kass had his doubts. What if the Shinobis decided to vote for someone else?
He was pretty sure they didn't know each other — just like everyone else here. So even if they tried something, there'd still be at least two people with the highest votes.
He lay back on the grass, checking the timer in his mind, about an hour left before the first vote.
It had been nearly 5 hours since they arrived in the forest. They'd already found a small stream near the village, though no one dared to test if the water was drinkable.
And since they were engineering students, none of them actually knew how poisoned water looked. Maybe the Clerics could purify it if it was bad?
They still had snacks in their bags, enough to last a few days at least.
As Kass was mulling over all this nonsense, Sheila lay down beside him on the grass.
"Sigh... I feel so weak," she murmured under her breath.
"You probably used too much Aether for your gift," Kass said, glancing her way.
She turned to him, surprised. "How do you know that?"
She was genuinely curious. From her observation, some students were adapting better, like Rai, whose Aether Missiles floated around him like glowing orbs.
Impressive to some, but in Kass's opinion, the guy was just a show-off burning through his Aether like an idiot.
Kass shrugged. "Well, you'd know this kind of stuff if you read webnovels or watched anime."
"Oh… I didn't know those cartoons actually shared that kind of information," she said, confusion clear on her face.
Kass's lips twitched. Cartoons? Did she just call anime cartoons?
"Your beauty's wasted on you, miss," he muttered, turning away and closing his eyes.
He immediately lost all interest in trying to score points with her.
Even if she was their professor, she was only 26, with a stunning figure and graceful curves, probably a DD cup, and long blonde hair. She was the kind of woman half the guys here dreamed about.
"Ah... what do you mean, Kass?" Sheila asked, raising a brow.
"Nothing," Kass replied, not bothering to open his eyes. "Let's just rest until the vote starts."
The moon cast its pale light over the group as fog thickened around the forest encircling the village.
Many chose to take a short nap before the first round of votes began. But none noticed the countless yellow, greedy eyes watching them from within the mist.