The trip back to the stash was a breeze.
Mostly because Kaizen wasn't dragging five hundred pounds of metal through the snow anymore. He was light. He was mobile. He was a man with an empty inventory slot and a dream.
He reached the marked pine tree. The snowbank was undisturbed.
"Open Sesame," Kaizen whispered, tapping the silver ring on his finger.
He channeled a tiny bit of mana.
Whoosh.
It wasn't a sparkle; it was a vacuum. The massive, clanking bundles of golden chalices and blood-stained armor were sucked into the ring like spaghetti into a hungry mouth.
One second, they were there. The next, gone.
Kaizen checked the ring's interface in his mind.
[ Vault Status: 12% Full ]
"Inventory management," Kaizen sighed, wiping a snowflake from his nose. "The greatest magic of all time."
He sucked up his heavy thermal suit next, leaving him in his track suit. He could have wore it down, up until the base, but… meh… he decided against it. He was cold, but he was light.
He sat down on a protruding root to catch his breath. His stomach rumbled.
"Lunch break."
He pulled out the plastic bag Helga had given him. There was half a sandwich left and a bit of the hard-boiled egg. He cracked open the warped water bottle.
Steam.
The coffee was still hot.
"Helga," Kaizen whispered reverently, taking a sip that warmed his entire chest. "You are a thermal dynamics wizard. I'm naming my firstborn after you."
That was a lie.
He sat there in the freezing wilderness, eating cold ham and drinking hot coffee. It was the best meal he had ever tasted. Free food just hit different. It tasted like victory. It tasted like saved crowns.
He finished the last bite and stood up to leave, the ring sucking his back pack too.
CRUNCH.
A sound echoed from the treeline. It wasn't the wind. It was the sound of bone breaking.
Kaizen froze.
He slowly turned his head.
About fifty meters down the slope, the snow exploded.
A Snow Deer—a majestic creature with antlers made of crystal—burst out of the bushes. It was running for its life.
Right behind it was a blur of white and blue fur.
[ Ice Leopard ][ Rank: C ]
It was massive. Muscle coiled under thick fur, fangs like icicles, eyes burning with predatory hunger.
"Nope."
He didn't try to fight. He didn't try to be a hero. He didn't even check his stats.
He scrambled up the nearest pine tree.
He hugged the trunk, burying his face in the needles, trying to make himself look like a large, unappetizing pinecone.
'Please don't look up. Please don't smell the coffee.'
Below him, the drama played out.
The deer was fast. It zigzagged, kicking up snow, trying to use its agility to escape. It was brave. It was going solo against the beast.
But the leopard didn't just run. It hunted.
It herded the deer. It cut off the angles. It drove the prey toward a patch of deep, soft drift.
The deer stumbled.
ROAR.
The leopard pounced. It wasn't a contest, rather it was an execution.
Kaizen watched from the branch, his heart hammering against the bark.
The deer kicked once, then went still. The leopard dragged it away, leaving a streak of red on the white canvas.
"Brutal."
He looked at the empty spot where the deer had died.
"That deer thought it could outrun the predator. It thought if it was fast enough, brave enough, it could survive alone."
Kaizen shook his head.
"Stupid deer."
He leaned back against the trunk, waiting for the leopard's aura to fade completely.
"I'm not going to be that deer," Kaizen decided. "I'm not going to try and outrun the leopards of this academy."
He thought of Lance Wind. He thought of Cedric. Klaus and Leo. He thought of the terrifying monsters in the upper years.
"Being brave gets you eaten. Going solo gets you cornered."
He looked at his hands.
"Better to be the deer that hides in the middle of the herd. Better to stand behind the Mammoth that can stomp the leopard flat."
"Stay low," Kaizen whispered his mantra. "Live long. Let the Main Characters fight the bosses while I loot the chest in the background."
He waited another ten minutes, just to be safe. Then, he slid down the tree, dusted off the pine needles, and walked back to the road.
The bus arrived on time.
Kaizen hopped on, tapping his ring against the metal railing.
"Back to the store."