The Innkeeper

The Kraven, the ugly beast, was tied with multiple chains holding it in place, so Lex felt no concern in pausing to read his quest update.

Quest update: Anomaly signature detected. Identified foreign species – current designation: Kraven.

Quest hint: The anomaly may be related to the non-indigenous species of Kraven.

Lex raised an eyebrow. That was a major hint, as Kraven seemed to be a big theme in this realm. Doing some research about them should not be too difficult. It was unlikely that some simple research in a library would resolve the quest, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Without stepping too close, Lex turned his attention to the Kraven, and observed it. It was a black, four-legged creature with large forelegs, but even the hind legs did not lack muscle. He wasn’t sure if this was the only skeleton, but the creature had its bones on the outside, covering its body and vitals like armor.

The head had two round eyes that glared at Lex with hunger, and a mouth that Lex assumed was once full of sharp teeth, that had now been removed. The flesh of this creature released some kind of slime that made its body perpetually look wet, though Lex was sure it served other purposes than just making it more repulsive.

Feeling exhausted from all the assessments, Lex could not be bothered to think more about it, or study its body further. Having run dangerously low on ammo for his gun, he instead drew his short sword and stabbed the creature in the base of its skull, cutting through its neck.

Yet, when he pulled the sword back out, its slime quickly covered the area of the cut, and prevented it from bleeding out. Lex was surprised, but back in the assessment center, everyone who had seen him use his gun repeatedly assumed Lex was doing it on purpose and trying to torture the beast. Like he was getting some kind of revenge. Instead of being appalled, understanding was the most common reaction of those who watched Lex’s assessment. Some even built a positive impression of Lex.

Not wasting any more time, used Qi blade, one of his two offensive techniques. This technique did not form actual blades from Qi, but was an attack that enhanced the sharpness of blades, making it easier to slice or cleave. Holding his sword in both hands, Lex sliced with all his strength, cutting right through the bone and cutting its head off. This Kraven was not nearly as strong as the one he had seen earlier, so his single attack was more than enough.

Once the head fell on the ground, Lex was teleported away, back to a familiar room. He was back in the assessment center, and the uniformed man was standing there, looking at him with a smirk.

“Well done, child,” was all he said, not at all bringing up Lex’s remarks about himself. “It will take some time for your result to come out, but in the meantime, why don’t I show you to your dorm? I’ve heard you’ve suffered some memory loss, so I’ll introduce you to the academy along the way.”

“I’m not joining any elite squads,” Lex said straight up. “I know the academy chooses the professions or skill or whatever, but if I don’t cooperate, I doubt it’ll be ‘efficient’. I won’t be a part of any black ops teams, or a part of any job that’ll take over my life. There’s no shortage of ways I can contribute to the Hum nation, but throwing away my life isn’t one of them.”

Being so direct may not have been such a good thing, because he was in need of the academy, not the other way around. But, at the same time, he was more than sure that whatever this uniformed guy was doing was not a part of how the academy’s system worked.

The man grinned at Lex, happy that the kid was finally responding to him. Of course, a large part of it was probably because he had been taking assessments back to back for days, and was extremely sleep deprived. In this state, people usually lost a lot of their inhibitions and it was difficult to focus.

“No need for concern, child. Even if you did want to be a part of the elites, it’s not something you can achieve by taking a simple assessment. You’re right though, I was getting ahead of myself earlier. Let’s just start from the beginning and wait to see what your assessment results say.”

Lex reluctantly nodded, mostly because he was sure this man wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Perfect. You can call me Vernan. I’m the Professor in charge of physical education, and hand-to-hand combat. Come on, let’s take you to your dorm before you fall asleep right here.”

Vernan brought Lex outside the assessment center where what looked like a carriage without any horses was waiting for them. Once inside, the carriage started moving and Vernan started telling Lex what his near future would look like at the academy.

For a moment, to Lex’s dull and exhausted mind, it almost seemed like the worst of it was over and things would proceed normally now. That was because Lex had no idea about his psych evaluation that Vernan had read right before greeting Lex.

A preliminary evaluation, based on his assessments, and particularly the moments where he fired up at the giant monster, as well as when he left the student to fight the Red eared Gojur when he saw it was too strong for him,stated that Lex had a strong sense of self and reacted negatively to being pressured or forced. He had basic sympathy where he would aid someone if he could, but would not do so if the target of the aid resisted or put Lex’s life in danger. He had strong survival skills and strong instincts, if somewhat unpolished still. There was a chance his loyalty could be built, but if he felt the slightest indication of coercion or threat, he would react strongly.

Such a tough mentality also explained why he was able to survive while facing the Immortal level Kraven flesh. Vernan chuckled in his mind as he watched Lex slightly lower his guard. Oh yes, he would definitely have Lex as a student.

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