Chapter 77

Roars and curses erupted suddenly, followed by the clashing of blades, signaling the official start of the unofficial battle royale hosted by the Carillian Academy.

The competition was in full swing. In less than ten minutes, several participants had collapsed on the spot, overwhelmed by their dedication and exhaustion.

Those still standing grew increasingly anxious, and the match reached a stalemate.

It wasn’t that these individuals lacked intelligence or couldn’t strategize.

Before entering the dungeon, many had shared Winnie’s mindset: avoid unnecessary fights, stay out of the fray, and observe from a safe distance.

However, youth often brings impulsiveness.

Once the fighting began, their mentality shifted.

What started as a cautious approach turned into a refusal to back down, then escalated into full-blown seriousness.

Eventually, both sides abandoned restraint and unleashed their deadliest skills, showcasing the fiery spirit of their age.

Whether they won or not, they had no choice but to fight, constantly remaining in a state of battle.

Their mindset had shifted, especially for those who had been on the verge of victory, only for the wildcard to suddenly interfere, snatching away their points and putting them at risk of elimination.

Enraged, they felt as if the fish was dead, and the net was torn.

With nothing to lose, they were determined to drag the wildcard down with them.

The nature of the game had shifted dramatically.

Would there be a winner in this chaotic melee?

Perhaps, but it certainly wouldn’t be these young fighters, still chasing and clashing in the wilderness.

As the saying goes, when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman reaps the reward.

Winnie, carrying his spear, skirted the main battlefield.

Fortunately, the passionate brawl in the wilderness drew most of the attention.

Candidates arriving at the scene were instinctively drawn to the central conflict, oblivious to Winnie’s quiet departure.

The distant battlefield was a cacophony of noise and chaos.

A few candidates with the Backstab Soul Armament attempted to exploit the situation, but once they entered, they found themselves trapped, barely escaping half-crippled.

“That was close… We should hide in the town at the foot of the mountain. As long as the mountains are green, there will be firewood… Uh uh!” Before the stealth-clad wildcard could finish, a cold ice crystal spear pierced his chest.

He shuddered briefly, unable to raise a hand before his token shattered, teleporting him out of the dungeon.

Thank you for nature’s gifts.

Winnie’s token points increased to 20, and he also acquired a dropped map fragment.

Examining the map, Winnie realized the stealth-clad youth had dropped fragment number four.

Perfect. Luck was on his side, and now he had three connected fragments.

Piecing them together, Winnie formed a relatively complete map.

It revealed a vast wilderness, with a path through the surrounding woods leading to a small town.

A small town?

Next to the town on the map was a note, ‘The town is a neutral zone. Attacking others within its bounds will provoke the guards.’

Interesting.

The map not only provided location details but also highlighted unique rules for specific areas.

It was no wonder candidates with complete maps held such a significant advantage.

The wilderness on the map closely resembled the one before him.

Winnie tucked the map away and shifted his path, no longer walking through the open expanse but instead skirting the edge of the jungle bordering the wilderness.

The forest seemed teeming with monsters, some of which were exceptionally powerful.

Winnie vaguely recalled that defeating certain unique monsters in the dungeon could yield not only a substantial number of points but also rare treasures and even long-lost secret techniques.

This dungeon had been discovered by the Carillian Academy.

It was the safest among all the dungeons they had explored and the most suitable for trial competitions.

While they had mapped out most of it, they couldn’t claim to have fully unraveled its mysteries.

However, if even the academy hadn’t uncovered all its secrets, it was even less likely that the candidates would.

But this wasn’t absolute. For instance, a certain “cheating” player had stumbled upon a unique opportunity during this dungeon assessment.

Why? Because this dungeon had originally been discovered by the ancient Carillian Empire, and it contained numerous treasures from that era.

Aesphyra, the last descendant of the ancient imperial family, had a legitimate claim to her ancestors’ legacy, didn’t she?

Walking along the forest path, the surroundings were eerily quiet, and Winnie encountered no one.

As he reached the end of the forest, he spotted a small town nestled at the foot of a mountain in the distance.

Was this town part of the dungeon from the beginning, or had it been added later by the Carillian Academy?

This detail wasn’t mentioned in the original work.

In the book, the dungeon assessment was written solely from Aesphyra’s perspective, and other details were glossed over.

Winnie approached the town entrance thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing as he noticed two figures standing there.

He grew cautious. As he drew closer, the figures became more familiar.

Wait, isn’t this…?

Winnie’s eyes widened as he took in the two figures standing rigidly at the town entrance.

The reason was simple. The two men were clad in closed armor, and the style and design of their armor were strikingly familiar to Winnie, blue tasseled helmets, brass shoulder pads, chainmail visors, and plate boots.

It was his Soul Armament, [Armour Fortress]!

Except this was a non-upgraded version: the blue tassels were shorter, and there were no gold reliefs or engravings.

What was going on? Could it be that some of the candidates participating in this assessment had also chosen [Armour Fortress] as their Soul Armament, just like him?

No way.

Moreover, why were these two just standing there, motionless, as if they were on guard duty?

Winnie quickly recalled the town guards mentioned on the map.

Could these two armored figures be the town guards?

Winnie fell silent. He remembered that [Armour Fortress] had been created during the ancient Carillian Empire, and this dungeon had once belonged to the empire’s royal family, the Carillian family.

Could it be that this town was also a relic of the ancient Carillian Empire?

That would explain why the guards were wearing [Armour Fortress].

Still, this wasn’t certain.

Winnie cautiously approached the two armored figures and called out, “Could you please make some room?”

There was no response. The two figures stood like statues, leaning on their double-edged spears, as if they hadn’t heard him at all.

Winnie quickened his pace, walking between the two men, ready to summon his [Armour Fortress] at any moment.

The two armored guards didn’t even glance at him. They stared straight ahead, completely ignoring his presence.

He entered the town without incident.

Winnie was now almost certain that the two were the town guards mentioned in the map’s description.

As he passed by them, he noticed they lacked any semblance of life.

Fortunately, he had a relatively complete map.

Otherwise, upon seeing the two armored figures, he might have impulsively attacked them and ended up being pursued.

Inside the town, it was eerily quiet. No, there were some people, but Winnie wasn’t entirely sure if they were alive, much like the town guards.

After observing the wary glances exchanged by the young people in the town, Winnie realized that those who had come here for “sightseeing” were all candidates.

They seemed to understand the town’s rules to some extent.

No one took any action, but everyone remained on edge, eyeing each other with suspicion.

Seeing that attacking each other was prohibited here, as the rules stated, Winnie put away his Frost Fang, transforming it into ice crystal earrings that dangled from his earlobes.

The atmosphere in the town felt strange, likely because the town’s guards weren’t living beings, there were no local citizens, and the outsiders all seemed to have their own hidden agendas.

Winnie approached a building with a beer mug sign hanging above it.

He was surprised to find a pub in such a place.

On a whim, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The pub was empty, clearly no one was in the mood for a drink.

He walked up to the unmanned counter and noticed a sign that read, “Beer – 2 points, Juice – 1 point. Just show your token and state your order.”

A vending machine? How advanced.

This must have been a feature added by the Carillian Academy, right?

Winnie held up his token and said, “A glass of juice, please.”

“Ding Ding!” A point was deducted from his score, and a beer glass filled with juice rose from the counter, appearing right in front of him.

Fancy, huh?

Wait, you actually deducted points for this? A single glass of juice?

Winnie grabbed the juice, sat down on a chair, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt cheated.

He decided he had to drink the juice since he’d spent points on it.

Perhaps because he felt foolish for spending points on juice, the drink tasted sour and unpleasant.

But no matter how bad it tasted, he’d bought it himself. If he didn’t drink it, someone else might get it for free.

Fine, he thought, might as well take a break.

Winnie took a sip of the juice and leaned back on the bench.

It was so quiet, with no noisy pedestrians on the streets.

The security in this town was impressive. With such good security, there shouldn’t be any fights, right?

Just as he was thinking this, the tavern door creaked open in the wind.

Before Winnie could react, a gust of wind swept past him, knocking the glass of juice off the table and onto the floor.

“Tick-tock, tick-tock…” Winnie stared in silence as the juice he’d bought with his hard-earned points pooled on the floor.

Then, he slammed the table and shouted angrily.

“Who dares disturb my peace?!” Winnie’s eyes locked onto the young man who had burst into the tavern, frantically looking around as if searching for something.

“Shut up, kid! If you make another sound, I’ll kill you!” the disheveled young man threatened, his voice filled with anger.

Oh, really?

Winnie was even more incensed now.

This guy had spilled his juice and still had the nerve to act tough?

If they weren’t in a neutral zone, Winnie would have already taken action.

Wait a minute…

Winnie observed the young man more closely. He was dressed like a beggar, his clothes in tatters.

But the fabric didn’t look old or worn. In fact, it was clear that the clothes had once been expensive.

For some reason, they were now torn and dirty.

Combined with the young man’s earlier panicked words, Winnie suddenly understood.

This guy was being chased.

Tsk tsk, what a pity! How could he escape here? Is there any hope for him if they flee to this place?

But just as he was wondering whether there would be a fight in the town and how the guards would react if it happened, it unfolded right before his eyes.

Regardless, he hoped everyone would be okay.

Winnie clasped his hands together in a silent prayer.

“Hey, listen to me,” the young man threatened, “if someone comes in and asks if you saw anyone enter, just say no, got it? Otherwise, I’ll crush your head right now!”

What kind of nonsense is this? How can this guy be so arrogant?

Winnie looked the disheveled young man up and down with disdain. He was clearly a stranger.

Since Winnie had no memory of his face, he must be a minor supporting character, a mere passerby.

We’re all just background NPCs here, so why are you acting so high and mighty?

Are you proud of being chased around by another nobody?

As if you’re some big deal.

Winnie was thoroughly unimpressed.

Today, he was going to teach this guy that even among passersby, there’s a hierarchy.

In the original work, Winnie at least had a name.

How could someone like him, who’s been hunted by the protagonist, be treated like this by some nameless nobody?

He was hunted by the protagonist. What about you?

Who’s chasing you? How dare you talk to a renowned villain like that?

Thinking this, Winnie felt insulted by the young man’s arrogance and was about to flip the table in defiance.

Ding… At that moment, accompanied by calm, light footsteps, the tavern door creaked open once more.

Her inky black hair cascaded down, and her pair of noble, cold violet eyes radiated an air of supremacy, like a monarch gazing down at insignificant insects.

Winnie fell silent, quietly retracting his movement to overturn the table and slowly sitting back down in his chair.

Then, he looked at the terrified young man with newfound respect.

Sorry, buddy, forgive my shortsightedness. I take back what I said earlier. You’re actually quite impressive.

Brother, the one chasing you is actually the protagonist!?

And not just any protagonist…

Winnie carefully observed the beautiful figure standing at the door.

The black-haired girl’s face was as pale as the first frost, her skin as white as snow, and her appearance resembled a cold plum blossom blooming in the depths of winter.

No matter how beautiful others might be, in her presence, they would seem like withered trees in the dead of winter.

Her inky hair fell to where her black stockings met her thighs, like a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate ice cream served in a pair of brown loafers.

She wore a short-sleeved top with laces for ease of movement and a black skirt.

Though her attire was casual, her regal aura and noble temperament, which seemed to look down on the world, were impossible to conceal, as if everyone in the world was undoubtedly her subject.

This unique image of a cold beauty matched the portrait in his memory.

There is no mistake; she is one of the original work’s female protagonists, the Empire’s Grand Princess, Isatia Lanteville.

Moreover, she had another identity.

In the original story, she was Winnie’s fiancée, though they had never met. She had a forgotten engagement with Winnie, one that would be annulled if she ever remembered it.