The administrative clerk stared at me incredulously. I shrugged and nodded.

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"Yeah, I am. I want to take this mission."

The clerk sighed and shook her head as she read through the mission details on her tablet, and compared it against my record. She then looked up and fixed me with a stern stare. "This is your first time taking a mission, correct?"

"Yeah." I nodded, wondering what the holdup was. I had deliberately selected the lowest-ranked combat mission available, but it seemed that the school administrative clerk was still dissatisfied with my application.

Well, it was only natural. Even the lowest-ranked combat missions were extremely dangerous. Unlike controlled environments such as arenas, where an active boundary field kept the duelists alive no matter what sort of serious injuries they sustained, we had no luxury in the real world. There were many cases of students overextending themselves and getting killed in the battlefield, especially those reckless and complacent students who thought monster hunting was a game.

Consequently, the type of combat missions available to us were highly restricted. I didn't choose the lowest ranked one solely because I wanted to, but also, quite frankly, I wasn't allowed to take any other combat missions. Students were very limited as to what kind of combat missions they can apply for, especially those who were taking them for the very first time.

However, as mages who were being trained to fight monsters, the academy couldn't possibly bar us from taking combat missions. We needed to get experience from somewhere. To minimize deaths and casualties, the magic academies tended to leave only the lowest-ranked combat missions open to us. After all, there was no shortage of monsters. Often an Emergence event would open up somewhere and unload a bunch of monsters. Many of them were weak enough for amateur mages to deal with on their own, as the professional or graduated mages would have their hands full fighting the stronger types of monsters.

That was why I thought I wouldn't have any problem having my request accepted.

"Uh, is there a problem? I mean, this is an E-rank mission, right?"

Fortunately, even the lowest-ranked combat missions provided a tremendous amount of prestige points and rewards – more than enough to get us the entire level, plus some cash on the side. Obviously I would be keeping the monetary reward for myself, since the prestige points would secure us additional funding.

Obviously, the high amount of rewards entailed the huge risk involved. If I wasn't careful, I might end up dead in the battlefield. Needless to say, that wasn't going to help anybody. Dad would get some compensation, but he definitely would prefer me alive.

The administrative clerk shook her head.

"No, there is no problem. It's just that…" she glanced at the s.p.a.ce behind me. "You're the only one?"

"Yeah."

"…against a swarm of monsters? I know they are cla.s.sed as the weakest monsters, but even so, you're going on this mission alone?"

"Yeah."

I now understood the administrative clerk's hesitation. Most amateur mages would partic.i.p.ate in parties. There was strength in numbers, and in case anything happened to me or I got injured, I would have allies who could cover for me and pull me out of combat before I died. Not only that, a team working together would cover for the individuals' weaknesses and synergize to amplify their strengths beyond the sum of the members' power. By several times.

For an amateur like me, who was partic.i.p.ating in a combat mission for the very first time, going at this alone was the height of recklessness. Perhaps, if I was more experienced, and had already accomplished several combat missions, it would be normal for me to be confident on taking a mission like this on my own.

However…

"…well, I couldn't find any appropriate party members."

That was true, at least. None of the first year students were allowed to partic.i.p.ate in combat missions, or I would already have done so last year. And they weren't ready yet, in any case, not with only a couple of weeks' worth of training. The only person who could partic.i.p.ate in this mission, theoretically, was Dong Fang Yue Chu, but for obvious reasons I couldn't rely on him. He wasn't the combat type.

"I'm a summoner anyway, so I'll summon my own party members."

The look on the clerk's face told me that the reason wouldn't fly. She sighed and consulted her holographic screen again.

"I'll a.s.sign you to a party." She paused as she scrolled down the touchable holographic screen with her fingers. Then she nodded when she found what she was looking for, and stopped there. "There is another party who wants to take this mission. I'll group you together. Give me a second, I'll email you their details and contact information."

"Yes, ma'am."

I glanced at my smartphone, which then projected a holographic screen to display the recently received email. Skimming through the names, I thought I recognized them. They were all from the Black Roses Society. Two girls, one named Lavender Ling and the other Daisy Dallas. Two guys, Bei Pan Zhe, and Dan Xiao Gui.

"…"

Just looking at the names of the two guys already gave me a bad feeling. But Ultimate Outcast Society needed the prestige points, so I had to bear with it. The monetary rewards, on the other hand, would be lessened since it would be divided equally among the group, or so I thought, until the clerk pa.s.sed me a device.

"This is your mission logging device." She gestured toward my gla.s.ses. "Attach it to your gla.s.ses and it'll record the mission so that it will automatically submit a report."

"Understood." I placed the device on my gla.s.ses, and it immediately melted, turning into countless nan.o.bots that sank into the frame of my gla.s.ses and reconstructed it. Immediately, a head's up display materialized on my lenses, along with a myriad of sensors, optical enhancement features and other functions.

Wow…as I said modern technology was literally magic to someone like me, who originated from the twenty-first century.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet." The clerk waved me away dismissively. "Go meet your new party." She consulted her screen. "They should be here any moment now."

As it turned out, I had to wait about fifteen minutes before they showed up. None of them seemed pleased to see me, but academy rules stipulated that they couldn't just kick me out without a valid reason. And "not liking him" was not a valid excuse to expel me from their party. Normally I would just find an excuse and quit, but I really needed the prestige points, so I decided to patiently bear with them.

"Isn't that the guy…the one President Alicia likes?"

"I don't understand why she likes him…he looks like a total loser."

"Well…he did team-kill both the Crowley Academy's representatives and the Iron Fist Society within a week…"

"The first one was a fluke, and the Iron Fist Society are a bunch of weaklings. But I've seen him fight. He should be useful."

The girls, in particular, seemed to hate me with a pa.s.sion. Evidently they were upset about Alicia Violet paying some attention to me. As I said, there were quite a few unpleasant rumors floating around regarding Alicia's relations.h.i.+p with me, most of them completely untrue. That didn't stop the girls from hating me because of it.

The guys seemed more amicable, especially since they witnessed my match against two teams, where I went solo and still team-killed them both. Dan Xiao Gui extended a hand to me. I shook it politely.

"You know what the mission is, right?" Bei Pan Zhe asked, taking command. I nodded, but he went on to explain anyway. "We've been asked to rescue a group of refugees from a pack of monsters north of Jing Tian City. They are refugees from Bi Nan Village, but an Emergence event occurred right outside their village, and now they are fleeing and seeking shelter from our city."

Evidently he was the leader, especially from the way the others kept quiet and listened to him. I wisely did the same and watched as he drew a deep breath.

"And since there are children among the refugees, we have been asked to minimize any danger that would result from our rescue. I am aware that this is a combat mission, but the request stipulates that we avoid the pack of monsters as much as possible."

I nodded silently. That was one of the reasons why I picked this mission. Without a party of my own, and being forced to go solo, I had thought it best to partic.i.p.ate in a "combat" mission where the conditions were to avoid combat with monsters as much as possible. If the mission had required me to hunt down all the monsters, I would most likely have refrained from applying for it.

"Unfortunately, the pack of monsters are roaming around the route between Bi Nan Village and Jing Tian City, and their numbers are enormous. So we have no way of avoiding them, unless…"

He trailed off, and exchanged a few glances with his group. Especially the girls, who looked at him meaningfully. I caught the exchange, but I didn't understand the meaning behind it. Rather, I was more focused on the mission at hand.

"You need someone to cause a diversion," I guessed uncertainly. "So while half of the group distracts the monsters, the other half will lead the refugees to safety."

"No, not half." Bei Pan Zhe leaned closer. "Only you."

"…huh? Only me? To do what?" my mind churned as I tried to digest what I had just heard. "To cause the diversion?"

"That's right." Bei Pan Zhe glanced at the two girls, who were smiling for some reason. "I need you to act as bait to lure the monsters away…I mean, to cause a diversion, as you said. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Hey, wait a second." Dan Xiao Gui raised a hand. "You're asking Richard to lure the monsters away on his own?"

"Against a number of monsters from a pack of that size, we'll need everybody we can get to protect and escort the refugees. We're already stretched pretty thin, and we can't afford to provide more support, not unless we want to weaken our defense." Bei Pan Zhe raised an eyebrow. "Unless you're volunteering to be part of the diversion alongside Student Richard?"

"Uh…no…" True to his name, Dan Xiao Gui turned pale and shook his head fearfully. "I'm not good with monsters."

Then why was he partic.i.p.ating in this mission? I glanced at him, but he refused to meet my gaze.

"How many monsters are there, exactly? The mission packet didn't state the exact number, but do you have an idea?" My question was valid. Bei Pan Zhe seemed to be talking as if he already had a rough estimation in mind.

"It's…quite large."

I rolled my eyes at his flimsy attempt at evading my question. "Do you have a rough estimate?"

"A…about…"

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Lavender cut in suddenly. She glared at me. "Your job is to lure them away. We'll come back you up once we've safely escorted the refugees to Jing Tian City."

"Really?"

"We are? Oh yeah! Of course we are!" Bei Pan Zhe forced out a laugh. I stared at him intently, worried by his reaction.

"We're wasting time here," Daisy added. "Every second we dawdle around, the refugees will be in greater danger. Let's go."

"You're right. If there are no other questions, we leave immediately." Bei Pan Zhe turned away and led the way.

I actually had a whole list of burning questions in my mind, but it appeared that I wouldn't be getting the answers, not from these guys anyway.