By the time they discovered the stolen kills, Zephyr was already long gone. He felt no remorse for stealing their kills. This was an individual competition, and he wasn't breaking any rules. If anything, one could say they were careless in guarding their kills.
The fact that it was Zeke's team— someone Zephyr considered as a friend— also didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. In fact, he was already on the prowl for any other careless team like that. The gains he made from just Zeke's team alone were more than double his total points earned all through the day.
Thirty-five points. From just one team. Added with his previous sixteen, he was now on fifty-one points! This more than made up for the entire morning's dry spell.
"I bet I'm within the top ten already... if not the top five," he muttered with a surprising calm, treading through the forest carefully, listening for any sounds of battle.
That was his main focus for now— finding groups to plunder. It seemed to be the quickest way to farm points.
.
.
.
Back at Zeke's group, they were already trudging through the forest again, away from the area of the fight, spirits down. They felt like cooks that took the time to prepare a delicious feast, only to turn their backs for a short moment and find that their carefully prepared feast had been eaten by someone else. The feeling left a very bad taste in their mouths.
Zeke was already back to his usual calm and collected expression. No one knew what was going on in his mind, but Jamie wasn't having any of it. He had a deep scowl on his face, just finishing a long string of very expletive words aimed at the guy who played them for fools.
He was especially angry at himself for letting someone steal their kills right under his nose without him ever being the wiser.
But truth be told, some part of him was curious about the individual that could pull off such a feat. He... or she must have ridiculous body control for there not to be a single sign or even sound.
'Probably someone small... someone light on their feet, a person built for espionage,' he thought, the merchant in him already starting to be calculative.
His family could use someone with such skills. Especially since the person was within his age group too. They would be tied to his family this early, and when they developed, they would be loyal... to him first, then to the family. He would make sure of it.
The fact that he wasn't even considering the idea that the person might have plans for their own future didn't cross his mind. To him, the person's fate was already set in stone. As long as he could find out who it was, the person's dreams of joining a noble house or being someone of note during their six months of practical service were all moot.
He turned to look at Zeke and could almost see the gears in his head turning. 'He must be thinking the same thing...' Jamie looked away.
'Well, we'll see who gets this guy first.' He hardened his gaze, not at all ready to back down.
"Stop!" Zeke ordered with an even tone.
Every one of them, including Jamie, stopped abruptly, eyes alert, scanning the surroundings as they tightened their formation, covering each other's backs with Zeke in the middle.
He slowly dropped the ginger-haired girl to the ground to free his hands, eyes never leaving a particular section of the surrounding woods.
"Are you gonna come out or what?" he said, with flickers of flames from the beginnings of the Fire Arrow spell already licking at the tip of his finger.
"I wasn't hiding," a soft, cold voice called out.
Slowly, the person hidden in the darkness of the forest stepped into view.
"Kathelyn," Zeke stated plainly. If he was surprised, he hid it well. His years of etiquette training as a person from a family of wannabe nobles immediately kicked in.
"Zeke." She nodded curtly with her usual expressionless face.
'She's one of the two sixteen-node awakened,' Jamie immediately recognized her. But who wouldn't anyways? They were the enigmas of their batch of recruits. Even though he had never seen them in action, the fact that they had double the node count he had made him naturally wary. He knew what he was capable of as a person, so thinking about what someone with double his talent could do made him cautious.
"What are you doing here alone? Where's Jet? I thought you guys were together?" Zeke fired off a stream of questions.
She didn't seem bothered by it, taking her time to study each of his group members' faces as she answered, "And why would you think that?"
"Jet is Jet, and Kathelyn is Kathelyn."
"Instead, I should be the one asking you, what are you doing here?" Her gaze settled on Zeke lastly.
He shifted slightly under her gaze. It was unnerving. A plain, dispassionate look that felt like it could see right through him.
He didn't like the look. It reminded him of his father.
He shrugged, brushing off the feeling. "I'm guessing the same thing you're doing— killing Skarnids for points... hopefully enough to be in the top ten spots."
She nodded, still staring at him blankly, prompting him to continue subconsciously.
"...except I have a team, while you don't." He finished, feeling irritated at his subconscious response to her. It felt to him like he was being subservient.
"A team?" The first discernible expression crossed her face. Genuine confusion.
"You mean these sheep?" She nodded at his teammates.
"..." A beat of silence passed between them as her words sunk in.
Jamie clenched his jaws subtly before bursting into raucous laughter.
"Sheep?"
"If everyone else here are sheep, I can assure you I'm no sheep. I'm a wolf. A savage, feral wolf." He stated with an intense look, staring her right in the eye before finishing off with a cheeky smile and a wink at her.
She looked at him for a bit before turning her head back to Zeke robotically, totally dismissing Jamie's talk.
"Hey! What was that look?" Jamie shouted in mock pain, holding his heart.
"Whatever it is... I've lost my interest." She waved off what Zeke was just about to say, stepping forward to continue on her way.
As she got closer to Zeke, about to pass by him, he held out an arm to block her way.
She stopped without turning to look at him.
"I don't mean to be a bother, but just now, we were robbed of our hard-earned kills by some thief. Some vermin that had to sneak away, scared to even show his face."
He turned to look at her slowly. "You wouldn't happen to have an idea as to who it might be, would you?"
He watched her side profile for any minute change in expression, but even if she knew, she gave nothing away. Her expression was still the same as always. Blank, and if anything, bored.
"No. I don't."
Zeke watched her for a few seconds after her response before dropping his arm down.
"Yeah, I figured."
"Good luck on the test, Kathelyn." He nodded, ready to leave with his team.
"Hm." Kathelyn replied curtly, going her way. She stopped just a few steps after before calling out to Zeke without turning back.
"Also, Zeke, point of correction. It isn't your kill until you kill the thing."
Zeke just stared forward with his ear slightly tilted toward her behind him.
His teammates looked between both of them, expecting some response from Zeke, but he simply picked up the ginger-haired girl and started walking.
Jamie smiled a smile that didn't reach his eyes as he watched the exchange. "See you later eh, Miss Kathelyn!" he called out laughingly.
As they turned forward to continue their own way, all traces of the smile was gone from his face, in its place was a cold, hard gaze as he pondered some things, staring at the ground.
He cast a passing glance at Zeke when he finally looked up, but Zeke appeared to be his usual self. His expression was blank, with his posture straight as he carried the ginger-haired girl with no effort, his black ponytail swaying in the wind.
A small knowing smile played at the edges of Jamie's lips before disappearing as if it was never there. He was back to his usual self again.