"Okay?" I muttered, stealing glances at the shelves around me as I moved through the aisles. It had been an hour since I got here, and not a single person had shown up. I'd been stealing things in peace for the last thirty minutes, and that was honestly more unsettling than reassuring. I had a mission to complete, and I needed points, so where was everybody?
Pum.
"AHHH!"
I rolled out of the way into a more sheltered spot, cursing under my breath.
[Be careful what you wish for.]
I looked down at my leg and felt the pain hit me all at once. An arrow, shot clean through my kneecap. I was crippled. I scanned the area quickly and spotted a bandage on one of the shelves ahead, but it was too far to reach safely.
But why hadn't whoever shot me come to finish the job?
[You really are something else. The whole place is full of students looking to score points, just like you said, but nobody wants to step out in the open either. To them, you're probably walking around so casually because you have the power to back it up.]
"Fuck," I muttered, then grabbed the arrow shaft and bit down hard on my lip.
"MMMMMMMM." A stifled scream pushed through my clenched teeth as I yanked it out, and blood started pouring immediately. I grabbed my lighter and tore the sleeve off my uniform without thinking twice.
This was going to hurt.
I stuffed the torn cloth into my mouth and bit down on it, then started heating the flat side of my makeshift spear with the lighter, turning it slowly to spread the heat evenly. If what the system said was true and everyone was holding their position because of me, then this was the best window I had to deal with this.
"Hah," I sighed internally, and then pressed the heated metal against the wound.
"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM."
The pain was unlike anything I'd felt before. It felt like my mind was being torn apart from the inside, and it went on longer than it should have. I panted heavily when it was over, hands shaking as I wrapped the torn cloth tightly around my leg.
[Um. You do know you have two healing potions available to you, right?]
"What?" I croaked.
[According to the instructor's briefing, once you enter the virtual world, your Graphto Watch provides two healing potions, two mana rejuvenation potions, two smoke bombs, and a weapon of your choice.]
I stared at nothing for a solid three seconds.
"AND YOU SAT THERE AND WATCHED ME GO THROUGH ALL OF THAT?!"
[I didn't know you missed that part of the briefing.]
"And I built this?" I asked, holding up my makeshift spear with what little strength I had left.
[I thought you wanted to test your survival skills.]
I took a slow breath and thought about that for a moment. The system had watched me suffer through every bit of that without saying a word, and I was supposed to believe it was just an honest oversight? That didn't add up. It didn't profit anything to make my life harder, unless that was the point, unless it was intentional, and if it was intentional, then maybe it had also been the reason I tuned out during the instructor's explanation in the first place.
[I can hear—]
"Shut up," I said quietly, keeping my expression steady. "Tell me something honestly. What are you actually here for? Why were you sent to me?"
[...]