Panic and the Scramble for Food

Chapter 6: Panic and the Scramble for Food

For food, Ryan chose mostly bread and dried sea beast meat. He could barely stomach the sweet sauce, but he had few other options, so he stocked up.

He was supposed to prepare seven days' worth. Ryan quietly doubled that amount. Even if some unforeseen disaster left them adrift on the Endless Sea, his supplies would last a while.

After that, Ryan stayed in his room and focused on practicing the Vast Sea Meditation Method.

Notice: Analysis of the second Wizard Rune in the Vast Sea Meditation Method is underway. Estimated completion time: 6 days, 3 hours.

Tiny glints flickered in his pupils. Compared with its ability to analyze all information instantly in the game from his previous life,

the Eye of Truth was much weaker here in the Wizard World.

But for a Wizard, what it could do was a fundamental improvement.

Studying Supernatural Knowledge and conducting Experimental Research both demanded enormous amounts of time and energy.

Many Wizards failed because they ran out of time before they could perfect their path.

While he practiced Meditation, Ryan let Harak forage on her own. He kept her to a strict range, though: she could not fly beyond the Wizard Ship's hundred-meter safety zone.

Several times, when Ryan shared what Harak saw, he glimpsed a dark mass beneath the water and eyes watching from below. Though Harak was a Supernatural Lifeform, she trembled instinctively.

Those Supernatural Lifeforms were stronger than she was.

Ryan noticed that this fragile balance held. Within a hundred meters of the ship, it was remarkably safe.

The Wizard Ship was probably under Wizard Tuta's protection. Even the powerful Supernatural Lifeforms in the sea did not dare approach it.

But there was less and less food to catch. The dwindling supply at the Automated Restaurant would soon make that obvious.

Ordinarily, a special trapping device beneath the Wizard Ship released Special Pheromones to lure lesser sea beasts from the ocean. From capture to processing, the entire operation was automated.

With so many terrifying sea beasts gathered around the hundred-meter perimeter, ordinary ones feared death more than the Pheromones attracted them.

Those creatures hid deep underwater. Without careful observation, no one would notice anything.

Harak's extraordinary eyesight caught every sign, and her instincts warned her too.

Still, the powerful would have to handle whatever came. As long as nothing happened to the Wizard Ship, the worst had not come.

Ryan vividly remembered the terrifying pressure Wizard Tuta had unleashed that night.

A week passed.

The Wizard Exchange Meeting could no longer continue. The food shortage was becoming obvious, and the Wizard freshmen were starting to run out of food.

Wizard Tuta remained in the Captain's Quarters and gave no response.

The Wizard freshmen did not dare go there. One who tried stepped onto the red carpet, only to collapse to his knees, trembling under overwhelming fear and pressure.

I'll die. If I take another step, I'll die!

Panic spread among the Wizard freshmen.

Then came conflict—over food.

Without Wizard Tuta's command, the automated Wizard Ship would not open its deck.

The ship stood ten to twenty meters above the rolling waters of the Endless Sea. Anyone brave enough to jump was a fool.

So what could they do when food ran short? Take it from someone else!

Comfortable days had given them a pleasant-looking veneer. When the crisis came, their true colors showed.

A door had been kicked open. Inside, the room was in shambles.

A young man with a bruised face clung to Rowena's leg, despair in his eyes. "Lord Rowena, please don't take my food. It's all I have left. Please, have mercy!"

"They already took the rest. Without this, I'll starve to death."

Hesitation crossed Rowena's face, and his hand stilled.

The young man's hope was crushed again. A large hand wrenched the white bread from his grip, and a kick struck him.

He fell among the scattered books and papers, coughing hard. It felt as though his ribs had been broken.

Even then, he pleaded between coughs. "Lord Rowena, Lord Arthur, please. Have mercy. My food..."

Rowena stared in shock at Arthur. Arthur's face held a mocking smile as he said, "A Wizard freshman with aptitude that poor is bound to be eliminated, even if he reaches the Umbral Wizard Academy."

"Food is precious now. It should go to freshmen with Top Aptitude like us."

"But—"

"Rowena, the four of us are different from the others. We have higher standing. There's only so much food, and who knows when we'll reach the Wizard Continent? Every extra portion means one less time we go hungry."

Arthur kicked the young man in the head, knocking him unconscious. "Besides," he said with a sneer, "he agreed, didn't he?"

"What are you doing? Aren't you finished yet?" Orson approached, impatience in the eyes beneath his purple bangs. His arms were loaded with bags of food.

"Almost. We've searched everyone on the first level. Those we missed probably ran downstairs to hide." Arthur handed the food to Orson.

"They ran fast. We need to hurry too. Who knows if some low-aptitude freshman will lose his mind and eat his food—or destroy it."

Arthur patted Rowena's shoulder and smiled. "Come on. The four of us are together. The other low-aptitude freshmen don't matter."

Rowena gradually fell into step and nodded. They could leave the others just enough to survive. What mattered most was that the four of them lived.

"Hey, why isn't Anna here?" Orson asked, displeased.

"Anna's a girl. We can handle this unpleasant business." Arthur smiled generously, a flash of red hair and her graceful figure rising in his mind.

He had never wanted a woman so badly. For Anna, he could afford to be generous.

Orson frowned, but when Arthur's face began to darken, he turned and headed deeper into the cabins.

Their Top Aptitude made the four of them stronger than the other Wizard freshmen, even though none had mastered their first Beginner Wizardry spell.

As particle Energy Radiation affected their bodies, their physical strength would surpass that of the low-aptitude freshmen.

Clearing the second level took far longer than the first.

The Wizard freshmen began to resist deliberately, but the three freshmen with Top Aptitude subdued them together.

Even fighting with all their strength, they could not withstand a single punch. The gap between them was plain.

A few Wizard freshmen who had spent less time at the Wizard Exchange Meeting and more time practicing Meditation gave Arthur and the others a little more trouble.

"There still isn't enough food. For the four of us, this will last a month at most," Orson said with a frown.

Rowena suddenly remembered something and blurted out, "That day, I think two Wizard freshmen collected a lot of food."

Arthur's eyes lit up. "Those two fools."

Another chapter later.