AFK System: Level Up By Doing Nothing!

Chapter 5: Who Did It?

The rustling of leaves blown by the forest wind sounded incredibly loud in Sarah's ears. She remained frozen, sitting on the grass that was now damp with the splattered blood of monsters. Her mind was blank. The sight before her, four Mist Wolves that had been the most terrifying predators just moments ago, now reduced to nothing but piles of unidentifiable, mangled flesh, felt like a scene from an extreme nightmare.

Beside her, Budi was still shaking violently. The chubby youth tried to cover his mouth with both hands, struggling to suppress his vomit from the pungent scent of blood piercing his nose.

"S-Sarah..." Budi finally managed to find his voice, though it was hoarse. "W-what just happened? Did you see anything? Something like... you know, high-tier magic or something?"

Sarah swallowed hard with great difficulty. She looked toward where Austin was lying. The youth still had his eyes closed, his breathing remaining deep and steady. It was as if the burst of energy that had obliterated the wolf pack was nothing more than an insignificant breeze to him.

"I... I didn't see anyone," Sarah answered hesitantly. "They just suddenly exploded. There was no incantation, no magical flare from any mage. Just... a vibration."

Budi stared at Austin, his eyes bulging. "Don't tell me it was Austin's doing? But look at him! He didn't even move! He's just a piece of trash with Mana Deficiency Syndrome! How could someone like him possibly do that?"

Sarah fell silent. He was right. Logically, it was impossible. Austin was merely a support faction student who didn't even possess mana in his body. However, her combat instincts, honed since childhood, told her something was not right here. The explosion had originated from a one-meter radius around Austin. It couldn't be a coincidence.

Right then, Austin began to show signs of waking up. He shifted his arms, let out a very loud yawn, and slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the forest canopy covered in fog, then rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, as if he had just awakened from a very brief afternoon nap in his own room.

"Ah... is it evening already?" Austin muttered. He turned toward Sarah and Budi, who were still staring at him blankly. "What's wrong with you guys? Why are you looking at me like you've seen a ghost?"

Sarah quickly stood up, her eyes locked onto Austin, searching for any hidden clues behind the youth's lazy expression. "Austin... You didn't wake up back then?"

"Wake up?" Austin looked confused. He scanned his surroundings, and his eyes widened when he saw the pile of flesh and blood staining the oak tree trunk he had been leaning against. "Oh my god! What on earth is this? It reeks!"

He immediately stood up, jumping backward to avoid the bloodstains on the grass. His face showed a very natural expression of disgust.

"You guys killed this many monsters here? Why didn't you tell me? This smell of blood completely ruined my sleep," Austin complained as he picked up his broom lying on the ground.

Sarah held her breath. 'Is he faking it?' Sarah thought. 'Or does he really not know anything?'

"Austin, a pack of wolves attacked us earlier. They... they exploded right in front of you," Sarah said, trying to provoke a reaction from him.

Austin scratched his head, staring at Sarah with an incredibly convincing, innocent look. "Exploded? Seriously? Maybe a high-tier knight passed by and saved us with some secret magic, right? He's amazing, doing that without making a single sound while I was asleep."

"A high-tier knight?" Budi chimed in disbelievingly. "But there's no one here besides the three of us!"

"Maybe he's an assassin or a knight who's an expert at hiding," Austin shrugged indifferently. "Whatever, the important thing is they're dead, right? Let's get out of here. I'm hungry, and the smell of this place is giving me a headache."

Austin walked ahead of them, sweeping the forest path as if nothing had happened. He moved with complete ease, even humming a little tune every now and then.

Sarah and Budi exchanged glances. They felt utterly crazy. Austin didn't look like someone hiding immense power, but the fact that the explosion occurred exactly when the wolves attacked him could not be denied.

"He must have been saved by someone," Budi whispered to Sarah as they began to follow Austin from behind. "Maybe another genius student is secretly watching over us."

"Maybe," Sarah answered softly. Although she didn't fully believe it, she chose to hold onto that theory. It made far more sense to believe in a "Hidden Knight" than to believe that the youth who couldn't even stand up straight on the selection stage earlier was capable of vaporizing monsters without expending a single inch of mana.

Meanwhile, two kilometers away from that location, on a rocky hill covered in thin mist, a girl stood gracefully on the highest branch of a tree. She wore a spotless white robe with a gleaming silver trim. Her long hair cascaded beautifully, and the aura she radiated was so powerful that the surrounding leaves didn't dare to move.

She was Selena Vance, the S-Rank Valkyrie.

Selena was on a special surveillance mission to ensure the smooth execution of the trial for the new students. However, her focus had been disrupted for a while now. She had sensed an anomaly.

A few minutes ago, she felt a massive, extremely dense, and incredibly pure spike of energy, something she was entirely unfamiliar with, despite having fought high-level monsters many times. The burst was unlike any elemental mana magic she had ever studied at the academy.

Selena narrowed her eyes sharply toward the location of Austin’s group. She could sense the residual energy still fluctuating faintly over there.

"What was that aura?" Selena whispered to herself.

She deployed her high-level perception skills, attempting to scan the location. She saw two support faction students walking in fear, and ahead of them... was a youth with messy hair, walking casually while carrying a broom.

Selena was stunned. *Austin Carter?*

She knew who that youth was. He was the malnourished trash who had fainted during the selection. However, her instincts screamed loudly. The strange aura she had felt earlier originated from the exact direction where that boy was located.

"Impossible," Selena murmured as she leaped down from the tree branch, landing lightly without making the slightest sound.

She began to pace rapidly toward the direction of Austin's group. She had to confirm what had actually transpired. If there was someone, with that much power hiding in the Mist Forest, it was a threat that had to be dealt with immediately before any more casualties occurred.

Behind the fog, Selena didn't realize that, in a way, she was approaching the greatest secret ever kept within The World Tree Tower. And right ahead of her, Austin had just stopped walking because he found a wild apple tree with fruits that looked incredibly tempting.

"Ah, lunch!" Austin exclaimed happily, completely unaware that behind the trees, the S-Rank Valkyrie was already watching his every move with hawk-like, suspicious eyes.