Legacy of Forgotten Times 133 The Mistakes

The pod slowly opened up. Linri got up while trying to make sense of what just happened. Wasn't he dead? How was he still alive then? Was it just another dream?

"Okay everyone, how was your first time in the Virtual Combat Simulation Room or VCSR for short" said Ms Snow. She was uncharacteristically excited. Linri tried to establish his connection with the Togk deities and felt relieved when it was a success. Okay, at least now he was sure that he wasn't dreaming anymore.

"Let's look at your individual assessments. All of you will be graded from 0 to 100 depending on the choices you made"

While Ms Snow was speaking Linri pieced everything together. This was the emergency response class. Yeah, this highschool actually had an emergency response class. The content of the class was that they would be thrown in a multitude of situations with life-threatening events and part of their memories would be blocked to make it seem like the events were happening for real. After all the simulation was so realistic that Linri couldn't notice a thing. Well, except for his connection with the deities being lost that is but that even make him think the situation was even direr. He wouldn't be this serious if he noticed it was just another zombie apocalypse. He ate those for breakfast! The scenarios of the simulation might range from a zombie apocalypse to getting kidnapped. They might even be given brand new identities! That certainly sounded interesting. It was a bummer that they didn't have this in the club. It would have been so popular and everyone would always want to use it. The VCSR they had in the club could only create monsters to fight and you would know it was a simulation. Definitely not as fun as this one, that was for sure.

The best part of the thing was the fact that you were not aware of it. So from your perspective, it was real and you really could die! Honestly, it was actually the best way to teach someone how to respond in those situations since you would gradually learn what works or what doesn't.

"So we will be going to analyse your final score and your mistakes. Is there any volunteers?" Almost everyone in the classroom seemed dazed. They had just died and they were having a hard time coming to terms with it. The fear was pretty much real, they could still feel as if a zombie was biting off their flesh. Linri, on the other hand, was fine since dying for him was just another Tuesday. Be it his initial transmigration or his dreams he almost always died like every day. Actually, now that he put it into words that seemed pretty psychotic. What kind of nutcase would be alright with dying every night? Maybe he should visit a psychiatrist to talk about this stuff.

"Since we have no volunteers Linri and Natsumi we will start with you two. As the Class President you should set an example for others, don't you think so too, Mr Harclaw?" Linri just rolled his eyes and walked to the stage along with Natsumi who looked out of it. She had just turned into a zombie and the feeling of it was pretty fresh in her mind.

"So Mr Harclaw what do you think your score will be?"

"I don't know 50?" He was not a humble person but this was the first time he did something like this so he didn't wanna embarrass himself by saying something high and then getting something low. 50 was a good number just right in the middle.

"Don't sell yourself short, you actually got 72 which is pretty good for your first time. Then can you tell me what were your mistakes?" Linri thought for a second before answering.

"Helping her?" he said while pointing at Natsumi who looked offended.

Ms Snow seemed interested in his answer.

"Why do you think so? After all, we paired you up so that you would learn how to work well with others but now you are saying that it was a mistake on your part to help her. Can you elaborate more on the subject matter please?"

"I can't remember where but I once read these words somewhere which can sum up my situation. You shouldn't fear godlike opponents but pig-like teammates instead" Linri said while looking at Natsumi's eyes. She looked like she just swallowed a fly.

"Oh, so you are comparing Ms Fujisaki to a 'pig'? Is that correct? Why is that?" Linri frowned. He didn't like how she just worded her question.

"Because she withheld valuable information that could have resolved our situation"

"No, I-"

"Silence Ms Fujisaki!... Mr Harclaw please go on"

"Well, first of all, she didn't tell me she was infected. At first, I only thought it was just a normal necromancer attack and everyone in the school was already dead. If I knew it was a zombie virus outbreak I would have reacted much more differently"

"So you are blaming Ms Fujisaki then. Natsumi is there anything you might want to add?" Linri could not help but feel like Ms Snow wanted to make them fall out with each other but he didn't know the reason why. Could it have anything to do with The Game event? I mean in there the students were going to fight each other to death so I guess it kinda makes sense. She was sowing the seeds of discord now so that they would feel more inclined to kill each other rather than to work together.

"Yes. Yes, there is. If I were to tell him I was infected he would have left me to die and I had no power to protect myself. I just wanted to live, is that really such a bad thing?" Natsumi was looking at him furiously.

"Mr Harclaw would you really leave her to die?"

"Yeah, I actually would but that would depend on the context in which she told me. Since I wasn't able to survive I don't know if this was the right guess or not but I think even if we were infected there should have been a way to cure ourselves" Ms Snow actually looked surprised.

"How so?"

"Well if we were to think about this as a regular virus outbreak it would mean there was a source. Since everyone in the school was infected it is safe to assume that the source is actually our own school. Meaning we were actually at ground zero. That would also explain why zombies were trying to stop us from leaving the school premises. Because if we did we would have cleared the game you might say. Anyway, if we assume that school is ground zero that might mean someone was researching the virus.

The only person capable of doing something like that is our biology teacher / School Nurse Hina. So we can also assume that she would have an antidote but maybe she wasn't able to take in time or she might even be the patient zero herself. Another possibility would be her still being alive and already working on the cure.

Anyway even if she didn't create the antidote we should have been able to create one ourselves with her data. I mean sure we definitely do not know much about biology but the A.I chip should have been able to with the right data. That is, of course, assuming there really was a cure. So if Natsumi told me she was infected we just would have made our way to the infirmary but I am not gonna lie if the infirmary was too dangerous I would just burn the whole forest down before escaping the school. So yeah, whether I helped her or not would depend on the context. I am no saint so I would definitely not have risked my life for hers but that doesn't mean I would leave her to die if I could do it without killing myself in the process"

Linri explained his thought process slowly and clearly. He actually wanted to know if he was right or not and that was the reason why he explained it in such a way.

"So you are saying your last actions were not a way to take out as many zombies with you to the grave as possible?"

"Who would do that? I was just trying to head to the infirmary. The last explosion was just a mistake. I actually couldn't throw the backpack far enough because I was too tired" Linri said with a flush. He was actually embarrassed that someone saw that. He definitely was not some meathead who would explode himself with the enemy in a dire situation. He would actually join their side instead. Fuck loyalty! As long as he stayed alive none of that matters.

"Marvelous. You actually guessed most of the plot for the scenario. So Ms Fujisaki is there anything you want to add?"

"No..." Natsumi added dejectedly. Maybe she really was wrong in her decision but he didn't have to be such a jerk about it.

"You see if you had actually told Linri about your situation maybe there was a way that you could have survived. However, from the moment you were bitten you had already given up. Let this be a lesson for you. Never give up no matter how desperate the situation might seem, there is always a way out. That is the most important quality a person might possess. But don't worry it's not like Mr Harclaw here never made any mistakes either. Let's go over them, shall we?"

"Mr Harclaw your first mistake was not 'helping' her. It was never a mistake in the first place. You were supposed to help each other. She was a healer and a buffer so she could have helped you fight against zombies easier without wasting as much prana as you did. That was your first mistake as in you didn't as for any help. The second mistake was the fact that you ignored the zombie chasing her. He was a fellow student staying next to your own room so you should have been able to recognise him but you didn't even inspect his corpse. If you had spent the time you would have noticed this fact and wouldn't have gone to the dormitory. Your third mistake was not trying to reach the school personnel with your phone. You should have stayed together with the corpse and not leave immediately afterwards. Fourthly, it was the way you treated Ms Fujisaki. Maybe if you were more kind with her she would have told you about her situation. The fact that you yelled at her at the chemistry lab certainly didn't help either. As for the fifth, it was the fact that you didn't try to stock up any food or water source. It was a smart idea to hide in the rooftop for safety but what would have happened if you needed to stay there for extended amounts of time. Next..."

Ms Snow went on to keep explaining each and every one of his mistakes. At this point Linri was sure that she was just nitpicking to ease Natsumi's heart but who knows. He certainly took a mental note of the things she said. Even if she was nitpicking he was not going to waste this opportunity to correct his mistakes.

Now that he thought about it Linri could not remember a fight he came out unscathed. He was a mage and as a mage, he was supposed to be wasting his enemy before the other person even reached him. Be it when he raided the Albion research facility or the combat simulation just now, he always let his opponents get close to him and relied on his attributes to dodge. That was not a proper way for a mage to fight.

Maybe he can ask help from the old pervert, Richard. He was a mage, right?

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A man got out of the airport and hailed for a cab. His eyes were blood red and they seemed to be hiding something deep inside.

"Where to sir?"

"Autumnfall Highschool"

Chapter end