I am Just an Average Tamer-Chapter 157 - 142 Updated

[Not the real chap, comeback later]

❖ Scene: The Silence Before the Strike

The corridor to Kai’s assigned chamber was dimly lit by flickering crystal sconces embedded into the rock. Most of the participants had retired early, nursing their bruises and egos after the brutal third trial. A sense of calm lay over the academy.

But Kai didn’t sleep.

He sat cross-legged in the center of his room, shirtless, eyes closed. His twin daggers lay at his side, polished and perfectly aligned. A faint violet glow shimmered around his skin — a subtle ward from his skill Warding Veil, ready to absorb sudden impact.

Nearby, Vex lounged atop a low shelf, tail flicking silently. The Phantom Lynx’s ears twitched.

Then —

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Soft. Deliberate. Steps, barely audible, moving through the corridor outside.

Kai’s eyes snapped open.

He didn’t move immediately. He didn’t need to.

Instead, he activated Falcon’s Sight, and his vision shifted — sharpening, adjusting, focusing through the wall’s aura-imbued rock like it was thin paper.

Two silhouettes.

One crouched near the doorway, holding what looked like a vial of sleeping powder. The other — taller, thinner — held a pair of curved throwing knives and moved with the rhythm of someone trained in silent kills.

"Two assassins," Kai thought. "Both Intermediate-Great Core. Mercenaries, not students. Sent from outside."

Which meant one thing—

A bounty.

Someone out there had decided Kai was rising too fast.

He smiled faintly.

Then vanished.

❖ Scene: Strike in the Dark

The door creaked open — slow, deliberate.

The smaller assassin crept inside first, scattering the contents of the vial into the air. A pale, silvery mist spread.

They paused.

The room was empty.

No sign of Kai.

No sign of the lynx.

"—Where—?"

A pair of glowing violet eyes opened above them.

Vex dropped from the ceiling, jaws wide, claws crackling with shadow.

The assassin had no time to scream before Vex’s Phantom Slash tore through their chest — not fatally, but enough to drop them instantly, unconscious from the poison laced in the claws.

The second intruder cursed and hurled a dagger upward—

But the air behind him shifted.

Kai emerged like a phantom from thin air, one foot already in motion. The twin dagger in his right hand glinted.

Ghost Steps.

Stealth.

Poison-laced blade.

His dagger slashed across the assassin’s thigh, right where the muscle met the bone. Paralyzing toxin surged into the limb instantly. The man staggered, dropped his second knife, and swung wildly in desperation.

Kai ducked the arc, slammed his elbow into the man’s ribs, then spun behind him—

Phantom Slash.

A shadowy afterimage of his dagger sliced across the assassin’s back, flinging him to the wall.

The mercenary crumpled, gasping, body twitching from the paralysis already spreading.

❖ Scene: Interrogation

Kai didn’t kill him.

Yet.

Instead, he kicked the man over, crouched, and pressed a senbon into the underside of his jaw — dangerously close to a nerve cluster.

"Who sent you?"

The man’s lips trembled, and even paralyzed, his eyes twitched in pain.

"I... don’t know the name... middleman—masked—left a coin with a raven sigil..."

Kai’s eyes narrowed.

Raven sigil.

He pressed harder. "Name."

"Didn’t... give one. Just said... eliminate the dark-haired kid who took down the gorilla..."

So it was related. The Saber-tooth battle had been the trigger. But who was watching that closely? A noble? Another participant’s family? Or someone higher?

"Did they say anything else?"

The man coughed. "Said... if I failed, I’d be silenced. Doesn’t matter now. I’m... already dead..."

His lips foamed.

Kai swore, yanked the man’s jaw open — but it was too late.

Poison tooth. Instant. No aura backlash. A professional suicide measure.

He stood, wiping his blade clean as Corrin suddenly burst into the doorway.

Corrin’s eyes took in the unconscious man on the ground, the bloody wall, the twitching one dead from froth.

"...I was gone for ten minutes," Corrin muttered. "Ten."

Kai raised a brow. "You went for tea."

"It was good tea, okay? Doesn’t mean you get to play midnight murder simulator without me."

He stepped over the bodies. "So. Random hitmen or new friends?"

Kai held up a silver coin etched with a raven in flight, one side stained with ash and wax.

"Middleman delivery. Bounty. Someone wants me gone."

Corrin’s smile faded slightly.

"And they’re not gonna stop at two amateurs."

"No," Kai agreed. "They won’t."

❖ Scene: Burn the Shadows

Kai disposed of the bodies quietly. The unconscious one was handed to the academy guard — Vex stayed cloaked nearby to ensure no evidence was tampered with. The dead one was burned using a small, sealed pyre outside the cliff ledge, the fire enchanted to reduce everything to ash.

He wasn’t worried about being caught.

He was worried about being watched.

As the flames curled and crackled, he stood at the edge of the stone platform, eyes fixed on the stars above.

Vex sat beside him.

"One attempt. That was the test."

He knew how these games worked. The first was always to measure your reaction. To see if you panicked. If you’d run.

"Next time, it won’t be mercenaries."

It might be someone inside.

Another participant.

A professor.

Maybe even a "friend."

Kai’s hand rested lightly on his senbon pouch.

❖ Scene: The Letter

When he returned to his room, a sealed letter waited on his table.

No signature. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The seal was wax — but this time, a lotus flower. Black, delicate, precise.

Kai’s breath slowed.

"The Abyss Queen’s mark."

He opened it.

The handwriting was flawless. Elegant cursive.

"You draw attention. That’s good. But don’t lose control. The true prey is still hidden."

"You are the blade in shadow, Kai. Let no light find you too soon."

"–S"

Kai burned the letter instantly.

His eyes were cold.

And the path ahead?

Even colder.

The next morning, a storm simmered beneath the academy’s polished surface.

Most students were unaware, but whispers had already slithered through the hallways. Rumors of blood found in one of the dorm tunnels. Talk of a student surviving an ambush by hired killers. No names were spoken.

But one name lingered on every tongue.

"The boy who tamed the saber-fanged drake. The one with shadows in his eyes."

Professor Myrren stood before the council table, hands behind his back, expression like carved granite.

"I was informed by Guard Captain Henswick. Two intruders. One dead. One unconscious, now under academy lock."

Headmistress Lyra tapped her fingers on the stone table, each click echoing through the room. "And the target?"

"Unconfirmed," Myrren said, voice tight. "But considering the attacker’s dossier, there’s little doubt. They were hired to eliminate Kai of House... well, Kai of no House, now."

Professor Ryn, the youngest among them, scoffed. "First trial, he breaks the written exam. Second, he slips through the illusion dome and takes down a beast twice his level. Third trial, he takes center stage and becomes a name."

He leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "And now someone wants him dead? That boy is a lightning rod."

Lyra’s gaze flickered.

"And lightning rods attract gods," she murmured. "We must tread carefully."

❖ Scene: Kai – Quiet Storm

Kai stood silently at the back of the training hall, his black hood pulled low, eyes dull yet burning.

Around him, students were sparring, laughing, testing beasts and exchanging techniques. The academy had resumed its rhythm.

But something was different.

"They’re watching me now," he thought. "Not with curiosity. With calculation."

Corrin leaned beside him, arms crossed, watching a pair of second-years try to command a Flame Serpent.

"So. You gonna keep pretending like last night didn’t happen?"

Kai didn’t reply.

"You’re doing that cold-emo-assassin thing again," Corrin muttered.

"Because I’m cold," Kai said. "And an assassin."

"Touché."

Corrin’s voice dropped to a murmur. "That sigil... raven on silver. I’ve seen it once. On a bounty board that no normal mercenaries could touch."

Kai’s gaze snapped to him.

Corrin looked dead serious now. "Only one group uses that sigil. The Black Feathers."

Kai frowned. "Assassins?"

Corrin nodded. "Not just assassins. Message-senders. If they come after you, it’s not to kill you. It’s to let everyone know someone wants you dead — and badly."

"So this was a warning."

Kai’s mind spun. Who sent it? Why now?

Far above the sparring grounds, tucked behind a curtain of enchanted ivy, Selene stood alone on a secluded balcony. Her white dress flowed like ink through snow. A goblet of crimson wine hung from her fingers.

She watched Kai below.

Not like a noble watches a pawn.

Like a lioness watching her cub learn to hunt.

"You survived," she whispered. "I’m pleased."

Behind her, a voice spoke — cold, oily. "You let him be targeted."

"Of course I did."

A tall man stepped into view. Pale hair, red eyes, sharp cheekbones — Lord Mirros of House Dareth. One of her political adversaries. A dangerous one.

"And if he had died?" Mirros asked, voice low.

Selene turned her gaze on him — slow, smooth, lethal. "Then he wasn’t worth the price I paid."

Mirros narrowed his eyes. "You’re toying with abyssal fire, Selene. That boy... he’s marked. Something clings to him."

"I know."

The academy was turning into a battlefield. But it wasn’t beasts or swords. It was names. Bloodlines. Secrets.

And he had to stay ahead.