Chapter 31: A freelancer?

Chapter 31: A freelancer?Without wasting another second, I should go since I am alright. Surprisingly... my body felt lighter. The pains from days ago—the bruises, the burning exhaustion, the searing cuts—was gone. I flexed my fingers slowly, raising my arms. No pain. No trembling. "Oh, you’re finally up," she said, relief in her voice. "You’ve been unconscious for three days." "Three... days?" I echoed, rubbing my eyes. "What about classes? Did I miss anything?" "The academy called off all first-year students’ classes for this week," she replied calmly. "After what happened... it was necessary. Everyone’s recovering." I nodded slowly, thanking her, and carefully climbed out of bed. Despite recent healing,"I still feel the memory of being in that forest, even though it had already happened." I left the infirmary and made my way down the quiet stone corridors of Arcadia. The halls were unusually silent. Empty and tense. But as I stepped outside into the main courtyard, I could feel it. The gazes. From the balconies. The windows. The walkways above. Students—mostly second-years and third-years—stood watching me. Their expressions were unreadable. Some are curious. Some... impressed. And some—narrow-eyed and guarded, as if unsure whether to admire me or fear me. (They must have heard the rumors.) (They must have known what happened in Blackroot.) I walked faster, looking away from their eyes. My uniform was clung uncomfortably to my skin. It didn’t take long to reach my dormitory building. As I stepped into the quiet of my room, I exhaled sharply and sank onto my bed. "Three days," I muttered to myself. "I was out for three whole days..." "If I’d been training during that time... if I had acquired even another skill...—" I clenched my fists. (Damn, I am still weak) But then I paused. All the wounds were gone. My muscles didn’t ache. It was like my body had quietly crossed a threshold while I slept. "...Did I go through some sort of growth after that battle?" I talked to myself. "I’ve wasted time." I stood up and walked to the mirror, staring at my reflection. I didn’t have time to waste. Even a single minute... is precious. I have to grow stronger— to prepare for everything. What I remembered from the novel could vanish in the next battle. I had to act while I still had fragments of knowledge from the novel. I had to extract more from the novel—secrets, skills, advantages. But first... I needed money. Backup elixirs, healing tonics, mana potions—without them, I wouldn’t last another real battle. But how? Then I remembered something from the novel’s early Chapters—details most readers overlooked. The Guild System! It functioned outside the academy, meant for adventurers and combat specialists. So the Guild handles fieldwork: beast-hunting contracts, body part collection of beast, bounty missions, etc... While Arcadia trains heroes within its walls, it won’t hamper to the heroes and I don’t want to go to their way. Unlike them...I have no such luxury. They had talent and fame. I had only my will—and a few spoilers from the novel. I needed to get stronger, faster. And the Guild was my best shortcut. Without wasting time, I grabbed my cloak. I didn’t want to walk around letting everyone know that I was one of the first-year students who survived the assassins. I needed to stay hidden—both now and in the future. I stepped through the teleportation terminal and headed to the city’s east district—the Mercenary Market. The market square was surrounded by stone buildings, and the air was filled with strong smells—like herbs, elixirs and metal. I walked straight to the large notice board outside the Adventurer’s Guild Hall. Dozens of papers were pinned to the board—requests for collecting beast parts, mana crystals, tracking monsters, even escort missions. Then I saw one. A request stamped with a silver batch. URGENT – HUNTER SUPPORT NEEDED Target: Savage-Rank Beast. Reward: 170 gold coins. Role: Support/Collection Duration: One Day Guild Contact: Varn, rank C. (A Savage-ranked beast, One tier above Feral.) Far stronger, faster, more deadly. Normally, I would have passed it without a second thought—but the reward... I tore the notice from the board and contacted them on a call then headed where the guild was located. The guild receptionist, a red-haired woman, glanced up. "Here for a job?" I nodded, voice low. "yes." She raised an eyebrow. "You’re a student?, because you look so young to work". I shook my head. "Freelancer. Just a helper. I’m not here to fight—only to work as a collector." She studied me for a second longer, then sighed. "Report to Varn’s group at terminal 17 within the hour." I nodded and left without another word. Back at Elysia’s Home! Elysia sat quietly by the window while a gentle breeze moved the curtains softly. Her injuries had mostly healed, thanks to the academy infirmary’s advanced treatment methods. It had taken her a full day of rest to regain enough strength to return home. But her mind was far from peaceful. "I can still remember some parts of the future... not everything, but small pieces. Just enough to know that things are starting to change. Events aren’t happening the way they should. The timeline—the future I once knew—is beginning to shift." Her fingers tightened. "Those assassins... they weren’t supposed to appear this early. They came out of a blue moon—unexpected." "That event was meant to happen far later." Sёarch* The nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. She made an angry face. "Kael..." That name burned in her mind. "He’s hiding his strength. The rumors aren’t just rumors anymore. They say the skill he used that day—just a glimpse—was comparable to the skill used by my friend, Jin Halden, the Rank 3." She slowly exhaled. "I missed the chance to kill him. I had it—and I lost it." She changed her grace. AHH "Even if I manage to kill him in secret, the academy won’t spare me. They protect their own, and I’d be labeled a murderer, a traitor. I’d be hunted, disgraced, executed." A pause. "And even if I tell the truth—that the world Kael Ashford is the villain who destroys the future—no one would believe me. I’d sound insane. Paranoid. The heroes would rally behind him, not me." "I should not rush right now." Her eyes flickered with a mix of sorrow and calculation. "In the upcoming event... I’ll take advantage of the chaos. There will be an opportunity. I just have to be ready." "But I alone am not enough to face him. Even if I join forces with my friends Cecelia, Jin Halden, and Edwin, we still might get killed." She gasps.. "The game has changed, Kael. But so have I."