7: A Game.

"Lynx Vrren," he replied, focusing on starting a fire as he stacked a pile of dry sticks.

{Her healing spell is strong, her cuts are fully healed now.}

He held two sharp stones, smashing one against the other until the sparks caught the dry wood, starting a steady flame. He had already set up two sleeping bags on the dry cave floor.

Lucia sat on a flat stone nearby, staring into the dark entrance of the cave, completely lost in her thoughts.

Lynx reached into his bag, pulled out a bundle of dark spare clothes, and tossed them directly at her.

"I don't have anything fancy. But this should be enough." Lynx paused. "You can't be near others wearing that."

Lucia caught the clothes. She looked up at him, surprised by the total lack of emotion in his voice. "Thank you."

"K, I'll head out. Tell me when you're done." Lynx walked out of the cave.

As he stepped into the moonlight, he pulled out the two daggers he stole from the dead assassins. He wanted to test them, so he closed his eyes, imagined another version of himself, and fought against it. His movements were unpredictable, sharp, and steady against the imaginary enemy.

{She has combat experience, but her mental state is bad right now. I need to stabilize her before the tournament starts.}

"Y—You can come back now!" she shouted as loud as she could.

The loud shout broke Lynx's focus, making him lose his balance and trip over the gravel.

"Why is she screaming so hard? Is she scared?" he whispered, rubbing his elbow.

...

After a bit, Lynx reached into his bag, pulled out a handful of apples, and handed two of them over to her. {I don't really want to share my food.}

"How many things do you even store in that bag?" she asked, looking genuinely creeped out by his seemingly bottomless inventory, which could store sleeping bags, clothes, food, and weapons.

Lynx just looked clueless. To him, carrying more bags for different things seemed like too much work.

{I think I ate too much,} Lynx thought to himself after he finished six apples.

"The tournament begins in two days." Lynx moved his sleeping bag far away from hers. "If you wish to have revenge then we need to be qualified. We need badges, so I'm heading out in the morning to hunt. You can join if you want or leave at your own will."

Lucia nodded slowly. {He is the only one who hasn't shown any negative intent to use me. It would be dumb to leave, when he is also against them. I should get his attention first.}

Her eyes sharpened as she understood the goal. "The summoned people. I have seen them. They are dangerous. They do not fight like anything I've ever seen."

Lynx looked back at her. "Explain."

Lucia took a deep breath. "Um, like they don't use conventional ways of fighting. They have something they call 'Systems.' Some can manipulate gravity at will without incantation. One of them killed a group of cultivators just by looking at them."

Lynx processed the information quickly. {Abilities like that would easily catch the attention of many elite sects. That is exactly why the summoner bothered to bring them to this world.}

"So basically we are the test subjects and we can't fight them head on." Lynx muttered. "We ambush them when they are tired or trap them."

Lucia nodded with a serious expression, a sharp glint in her eyes as she thought to herself, {Got his attention!}

He stood up. "Get some sleep." Lynx ordered. "Tomorrow, we stop being the hunted. We start the hunt. I have some things to do outside."

{How do I put her skills to use, I hardly know what she skill has mastered, somehow I will need to make her reveal them to me.}

He walked to the cave entrance, watching the moon rise through the trees. And with that, he vanished into the dark.

Once he was gone, Lucia channeled her remaining mana to cast an invisible barrier around herself, just in case his trustworthiness was an act.

{This should do. If he is actually a reliable ally, he would want us to rely on each other anyway. At least he didn't try to dig into my background.}

...

The sun had barely broken the horizon, but Lynx was already packed and ready to hunt.

Lynx stood at the cave entrance with his daggers drawn before sliding them back into their sheaths, while Lucia stood beside him fully geared and ready to go.

"Are you ready?" Lynx asked. Lucia nodded.

Together they made their way back toward the bustling city.

Before long, Lucia's legs began to ache from the relentless walking. Noticing her lagging behind, Lynx let out a mocking laugh, pointing at her, annoying her.

"Did our pretty little princess never travel without a carriage before?"

Snapping, she drew her daggers and charged at him like a wild beast.

"Wait, no! Calm down! Help! Agh!" Lynx’s screams carried down the path. By the time she was finished, she had beaten Lynx thoroughly enough to ensure he would respect her even in his dreams.

...

"And... all done. Be more careful from now on, alright?" the local apothecary physician said, wrapping a final layer of bandages around Lynx's bruised face.

{Staying alone was better,} Lynx thought as he stepped out of the medical clinic.

After looking around the crowded streets, they spotted numerous participants already fighting one another, desperately trying to steal each other's badges. Suddenly, a strange man approached them.

He wore a dark, fully covered outfit matching the assassin aesthetic, though cut with an entirely different design.

"Are you looking for opponents?"

Lynx noticed the strange way the man talked.

"How about a wager? If you beat me, I will give you fifteen badges, more than enough to secure your entry." The man flashed open his pouch, revealing exactly fifteen shining badges, including his own.

"What's the catch?" Lynx asked, keeping his expression entirely blank. Lucia, however, looked excited and highly predictable. {This girl is going to be a headache.}

"The deal is simple. We won't fight each other directly. Instead, we play a game out in the wild zones. The wild beasts will attack us while we showcase our skills and attempt to win the game. If you can win without dying, all of these are yours."

The surrounding crowd watched them, whispering anxiously. One comment caught Lynx's attention.

"He defeated all of us combined."

It struck Lynx as bizarre.

"And what exactly is this game?" Lynx asked, his voice remaining completely unfazed.

The man smiled widely. With a sudden wave of his hand, the scenery shifted instantly. They were teleported into the depths of a dense forest, where a massive, glowing blue grid appeared across the dirt floor, stretching out like a giant board game laid over the wild terrain.

"The game is simple. We call it the Grid of Beasts." The man explained, manifesting a black and a white token of pure energy. "Direct combat between us is forbidden. Instead, we use this board. As the forest beasts rush to attack, we must defend ourselves and use our skills to eliminate them."

He pointed to the lines of the glowing grid.

"Every time you defeat a beast, you earn the right to place a piece on the board. I will take white, and you will take black. The goal is exactly like the game of 'Go', you must use your pieces to surround, trap, and capture my points. But our turns are based on who kills"

"However, there is a catch. To place a stronger piece that can lock down more territory, you must showcase your highest level skills. The more powerful and unique the skill you reveal while killing a beast, the more dominant your piece on the board becomes. If you can trap my pieces and win the game without dying to the monsters, all fifteen badges are yours."

{Killing the beasts should be an easy task, I shouldn't expose my abilities just yet.} Lucia looked at the glowing board, then at the dark forest around them. "So we are playing a board game while fighting for our lives? That sounds insane."

Lynx stared at the glowing lines on the dirt, his face remaining entirely expressionless. His eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed the man's pupils briefly flash completely white before returning to normal.

{Showcase our skills?} Lynx thought, trying to understand everything. {He keeps saying that. And that white flash in his eyes, not only that but this whole game is strange...}

Lynx gripped his daggers tightly in his hands. {This is like a stage. Maybe he wants me to unleash my best abilities so he can observe them perfectly?}

{Could be that he is also a summoned person, then he surely has one of those system skills,} Lynx deduced, staring at the man. {He might possess an ability designed to analyze, copy, or perhaps even steal from others. He was using fifteen badges as bait to fish for high-tier skills. His actual target was likely Lucia.}

A low growl carried from the shadows of the trees. The first wave of wild beasts was approaching fast.

Lynx smirked beneath his dark collar, his eyes locked onto the man. {He wants to see my skills? I will show him exactly what I can do. Let's see if his mind can even comprehend it before it shatters him.}

"I accept," Lynx said coldly, taking his guard. {Watch me turn your domain into my own.}