Gram Savage?

Lillian clutched both sides of her head—staring down at the sand with a tense expression.

"Are you telling me... that damned Pod is broken!?" She yelled at the screen.

"Oh great! Now I'm stuck in a darn machine filled with monsters at minimum D-rank. Argh... oh well..." Although she was annoyed and, quite frankly, slightly anxious about the sudden malfunction, she was confident she could survive long enough.

"And what is this system trying to tell me? "Lady Luck rewards those brave enough to entertain her fantasies?" Is it trying to tell me to aim for first place instead of being a coward?"

Lillian then thought about what she had said. It indeed made sense. Just like the phrase, "The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward." This system must be promising her a... promising reward.

"... Heh, then I can't dawdle any longer then!"

Cradling her spoils, she magically made them disappear with the thought "Store". From what she remembered, this little info wasn't told to the contestant, leading them to believe that they had to carry it around on their person or rely on an element capable of holding it.

"To think those two didn't figure it out." She gave a smug look. If they had known this little trick, they might have actually beaten her.

"... Meh... I would still win..."

Pushing herself off the floor, she took a look down at her clothes and frowned—they had completely blackened from the burns. It was a miracle it wasn't completely destroyed by it.

"Now then..." Raising her hand towards the forest—she pointed, "Onwards!"

That was when she noticed something off about her hand. It was the one missing fingers.

The stumps had been healed and covered with flesh.

"A standard health potion... at least they don't give out the minor one." She chuckled to herself before sprinting towards the forest.

"Since I don't have to kill any more monsters, there is no point to linger here any longer..."

***

"Huff... huff... huff." Lillian leaned against the side of a tree—exhausted. "I... hate running..." She groaned.

She stared into the dark, thick forest, and an ominous feeling permeated throughout.

"... It looks quite spooky in real life..." She gulped and wandered in—cautiously checking her every direction.

Particularly on the blinking blue triangle off in the distance—she was definitely going to avoid her at all costs.

"What are the chances both of them are going to be in here?" She thought back to Millis and the Second Prince. What would be the chances of her just randomly stumbling on them?

SNAP!

"AH!" She shrieked as she heard the sound of a twig snapping behind her.

Twisting her head around, she found a tall man standing at 6ft4 with long brown hair that simulated a lion's mane, a muscular body with scars decorating it. Over their shoulders was the fur of what seemed to be a bear.

He looked rugged and will—a typical savage.

"Looks like me caught myself a little rabbit." He grinned wildly as he wielded a massive battle axe over his shoulder.

"... Ah..."

Lillian stared up, wide-eyed at who it was. 'I met this caveman already!?'

The man before her was Gram Savage. He was a man raised in the wilderness before being taken in by a noble family and offered to partake in the exam in exchange for assisting them in the future.

Lillian mainly remembered him for his loud and brutal personality when dealing with things; not only that, but he was very dumb, in her opinion. In every playthrough, she avoided any sort of interaction as much as possible.

THUD! THUD!

Gram's stomps shook Lillian out of her stupor. Focusing back on reality, she saw Gram plant his feet into the ground before tightly gripping the handle of his battle axe.

In a fluid motion, he swung his mighty axe horizontally.

SWISH! CLANG!

Lillian held up her sword and defended against the strike, but the force behind it left her flying back, tumbling before quickly getting back to her feet.

Her hands shook from the heavy blow. The vibrations from their clash still ring in her hands.

As confident as Lillian may be against such a foe like Gram, who took down bears with his bare hands, she wasn't too confident about winning.