A Villain's POV
Chapter 36: Flame Rune

Chapter 36: Flame Rune

After a while, Raze started hearing the sound of flowing water. He was happy because it was getting late, and the real survival was about to start. He would need to be near the stream to survive.

So far, the whole survival thing had been a really boring ordeal of traveling and killing some beasts. Well, this was simply a ploy from the academy as well.

In the story, they let all the students think that their survival was easier than it truly was, allowing only some fights in the daytime. But when the night came, hell was let loose.

Raze still recalled how students were traumatized from the survival. The experience that they all faced was forever sketched in their minds.

Raze knew all this, but he had no real idea what to do when it started, aside from surviving as best as he could. There was no plan. He didn’t really know what to expect aside from the fact that the real survival would start very soon.

Raze kept walking, and finally, the stream was in view. Raze ran up to the stream, fell to his knees beside it, and started scooping out water with his hands to drink.

He had refused to use the water that he was given by the academy. He needed that for extreme emergencies.

After getting his fill of water, Raze turned to Joel, who had also drunk the water.

"You have earth magic, right? Make us a dome or something to sleep in. We can’t stay outside. If we do, we will die here," Raze said.

Joel raised a brow. He looked at Raze with confusion. "How will we die if one of us is going to keep watch?" Joel asked.

"I only said that because I didn’t want you panicking. The truth is, there is no sleep at night. This is when the survival really starts," Raze said.

"What are you saying? What do you mean this is when the survival starts? We have already been surviving, fighting against the beasts that we have seen.

We faced a near-death situation when that monkey attacked us. Is that not survival already?" Joel asked, his eyes looking at Raze, begging him to respond with, "Yes, that’s survival."

"No, Joel, what we saw today was a joke. It can’t be considered survival. Have you forgotten? This is the test to see who will qualify for the elites. Of course, they’ll push us to our breaking point.

I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you freaking out on me because of this," Raze explained.

Joel’s eyes trembled in fear. He pulled out his card. "I’m not staying anymore. I’m not doing this. Today, I have already died twice. I don’t want that.

I’m sorry, but this is too much for me. And you don’t seem like you want to protect me at all. You allow me to face so many near-death situations and show no remorse about it," Joel said.

"Alright, go ahead," Raze said without a single emotion on his face. Joel was shocked by this. He thought Raze would at least try to make him stop and stay.

Raze saw the confused look on Joel’s face and laughed at it. "Did you really think that I would care if you wanted to go? That simply means less work for me. Do you know how much trouble I would be in tonight trying to even slightly babysit your sorry ass?

Normally, I would have ordered you to stay, but I think you are better off going. That’s best for the both of us," Raze said.

"Why are you so happy for me to go? You can’t keep your promise, right? You can’t make me be among the ten," Joel said.

"Oh, you have this wrong, Joel. I can make you be among the ten. Now, let me tell you what’s happening to the hundreds of students at this moment.

Most of them have come to the realization that staying at the outskirts was a bad idea. They have exhausted their water and their food, and now the panic is really setting in.

The sun is starting to set, and finding what they need will become a hundred times harder at night. Most of them are in very difficult situations right now, not sure of what they should do to get out of it.

But here you are, near a stream, and in my strip is food that we can eat. You have made more progress than ninety percent of the students, and you didn’t have to do anything but follow me.

So, for certain, I can make you win this, but I’ll not be babysitting anyone," Raze said. He looked away but then looked at Joel again.

"You know what? Matter of fact, you aren’t going anywhere. Put that card back into your strip, or you will regret it," Raze said and pointed his hand at Joel.

Joel knew what that meant. Raze was ready to attack him if he didn’t comply. He swallowed his saliva and slowly started returning his card.

"You think you’ll just threaten me whenever you want? Stupid," Raze said, watching Joel until he put the card into his strip.

"Good. We have less than three hours before it’s fully night. We have to make something to eat," Raze said. He looked around. "Gather wood," he said.

Joel did what he said, and the both of them gathered as much wood as they could as fast as possible. They made it into a small fire setup, and now it came to the real issue—lighting it.

None of them were flame mages, so it was going to be hard. Raze didn’t have time for this, so he immediately went through the system shop for 50SP. But it only cost that much if he provided the materials.

Without the materials, he had to pay 100SP. Raze didn’t want to spend that much on a one-use Rune, but they didn’t have a choice right now. He took a deep breath and paid for it.