"Okay?" I muttered, stealing glances at the shelves around me, making sure no surprises were waiting.
An hour since I got here, and disturbingly, I hadn't seen a single soul.
I'd actually been stealing in peace for the last thirty minutes.
Too strange. Why hadn't anyone attacked me? Not that I was complaining, given I was nowhere near strong enough to defend myself against powerful opponents, but I still had a goddamn mission to accomplish. So just come out already, somebody.
PUM.
"AHHH!"
FUCK.
[Be careful what you wish for.]
I rolled into a more blocked-off space, heart hammering.
Shit.
I looked at my leg and cried out. An arrow jutted straight through my kneecap, the shaft still quivering.
Damn. I'm crippled.
I looked left, then right. Spotted a bandage on one of the shelves ahead, but it was too far from where I was, and moving meant exposing myself.
But why hadn't the bastard who shot me come to finish the job?
[You really are a big fool. The whole place, just as you said, is teeming with students looking to score points. But everyone also knows it's not safe to come out in plain sight. So to them, you're probably doing what you're doing because you have enough power to back it up. They think you're bait.]
"Fuck." I cursed again, then gripped the shaft of the arrow, biting down on my lip.
And then I PULLED.
"MMMMMMMMMM!" A stifled scream tore through my clenched teeth as the arrow came free, and blood began to gush. I quickly tore the sleeve of my uniform and pulled out my lighter.
"This is going to hurt." I thought as I began heating up the arrowhead. If what the system said was true, then this was the best time to treat this. Everyone would be extremely cautious now, convinced there were others waiting to score points off them.
I folded the torn cloth and stuffed it in my mouth, clamping down hard. Then I heated the arrowhead with the lighter, twirling it slowly to spread the heat evenly.
One breath. Two.
Then I pressed the hot metal to the wound.
"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
Pain.
White-hot, mind-shattering pain. It felt like my skull was being pried open with a crowbar. Every nerve in my body screamed. I felt pain more acutely than I should have, and it made me feel like I was losing my MIND.
"Hah... ha... ha... hah..." I panted, vision swimming, then wrapped the torn cloth around my leg with shaking hands.
[Um. You do know you have two healing potions at your disposal, right?]
"What?" I croaked.
[According to the instructor, once you enter the virtual world, your graph watch offers you two healing potions, two mana rejuvenation potions, two smoke bombs, and a weapon of your choice. Standard issue.]
Silence.
Then: "WHAT? AND YOU WATCHED ME GO THROUGH ALL THAT?!"
I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes, half from pain, half from sheer, impotent rage.
[Well. Sorry. I didn't know you skipped that part of the instructor's explanation.]
"And I made THIS?" I held up my pathetic makeshift spear, the bloodied arrowhead still warm.
[Well. I thought you wanted to test your survival skills.]
"Bastard."
The word came out flat. Dead.
He did this intentionally. But why? Just to see me suffer? That didn't make sense. There was no profit in making my already hellish life MORE hellish. Unless...
"Could it be that he was the one who intentionally made me miss everything the instructor said?"
[I can hear you, you know—]
"Shut up." I cut him off, staring at the bloodstained arrow in my hand. "Tell me. What are you really here for? Why were you sent to me?"
[....]