No Hard Feelings

"Haaa..haa.ha…" Leywin was panting as he held his blood-covered sword with both hands, staring at the last monster he killed.

"Twenty-seven… I. I did it." Leywin sighed, then he clenched his fist and smiled.

"Oh, where am I?" Leywin asked no one in particular.

The only surroundings looked like the other areas in the cave but there was a pool of crimson blood at the edge of the tunnel path. You would think the cave would reek of blood but it smelled good, it smelt like a freshly baked pie. It seemed that the pool of blood was the cause of the tantalizing smell.

Leywin resisted the smell and looked around to find the two other students that came with him.

The two other students were at the entrance of the tunnel. They both had ugly expressions on their faces. They lost to a no-ability brat. What made it worse was that they were trained and groomed by the branch of the Metal Clan they were from, and still lost to a kid with no backing.

Leywin walked up to them, "you guys are really strong, what are your names?"

"I'm Paul, he's Peter, " Paul said. Although he was not happy about losing, he was taught to respect the strong, and Leywin has proved his strength.

The main reason Leywin was so strong was that other kids his age mainly focused on training and controlling their ability, while Leywin focused on his proficiency with his sword. When it came to strictly combat efficiency, Leywin outclassed them.

"I'm Leywin," Leywin said, reaching out for a handshake.

Paul shook his hand and wanted to say something but was interrupted by slow claps.

"You guys did great but unfortunately you all have to die, " a familiar voice said with a sigh.

The three students took their fighting stance.

"Who's there?" Peter asked. His focus was completely on the area where the voice came from.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A figure slowly walked out of the shadows.

"Professor Sam?" Leywin was confused. Why was Professor Sam here? What did he mean by you all have to die?

Professor Sam sighed again, "I was paid to get rid of you, Leywin. The other two will die because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Leywin's heart skipped a beat. Why would anyone want to kill him? He could understand if someone wanted to beat him up but killing him is taking things too far.

As if knowing what Leywin was thinking, Professor Sam answered "You have attracted too much attention to yourself. For someone without an ability, to be as strong as you are is rare. This means that your potential is very high. When you gain an ability and choose a Class, you will always be among the top in your rank."

"Isn't that good?" Leywin asked.

"Yes, it's great. People get greed, and so do organizations." Sam calmly explained.

"For the past twenty years, the Ice Clan has pulled the strongest student without an ability to their side. The other organizations can not let the Ice Clan pull you to their side, especially the Lightning Clan." Sam said.

"..." Leywin didn't know how to respond to that. He knew he would have most likely joined the Ice Clan because they offered the best benefits, but he didn't know that the organizations and Clans had been observing him so intently.

"I don't care what reasons you have, you are not going to get away with this. Our Clan will come after you if you kill us." Peter yelled.

"Haha! You overestimate your importance to the Metal Clan." Sam laughed. " I will throw you guys into that pool of blood over there and say your death was an accident and because of your carelessness."

The students glanced at the pool again but they did not understand what was so dangerous about it.

"That pool is very dangerous. So far no one has figured out what the pool is or what it does, but everyone who entered the pool died in there. It was almost as if the pool trapped them in there." Sam answered the question in the minds of the students.

The students immediately took a couple steps away from the pool.

Little did they know, Sam was bluffing. This cave has not been explored yet so anything they find in the cave is a first for all the professors and students. However, Sam was a D rank Swordsman, his instincts screamed for him to stay away from the pool.

"Why would you do this?" Leywin asked. He knew there was no way to survive if Professor Sam was determined to kill them. He was barely in the F rank while Professor Sam was a D rank Swordsman, which was like the difference between a drop of water and a lake. He didn't want to die.

"There's no hard feelings, there are only benefits." Sam sighed. " I have to thank you guys for making this easier than I thought it would be. There were many other areas you could have gone to in this cave, but you chose the area with the pool. I can't thank you enough."

He seemed to not want to kill them but had no choice or maybe he was just too lazy to kill them.

"Peter, Paul, we need to work together if we want to survive," Leywin said. Although he was whispering, he knew that Professor Sam could still hear them, he was a D rank expert after all. But Leywin did not care at this moment.

However, Sam acted before the trio could formulate a plan. One thing Sam has learned from his years as a ranker was not to underestimate any of his opponents.

He grabbed both Leywin and Paul by the throat and kicked Peter toward the pool. The whole chain of events took less than two seconds. The boys couldn't understand what just happened.

A second ago they were getting ready to fight, the next second they couldn't move.

Sam ignored the boys' screams and attempts to struggle, he nonchalantly walked to the pool and tossed Leywin and Paul into it. Then he walked over to Peter who was unconscious from the kick and kicked him into the pool. He then dusted off his hands as if he just finished doing his chores.

Sam waited fifteen minutes to make sure no unexpected events happened before he returned to the main group to tell his side of the story. Given that there was only his side of the story and no other side of the story, people would be more inclined to believe him.