Karma

Alexandre was quite surprised to see this karma notification!

First off, he hadn't previously known he could gain experience by killing a Hunter. That made him wonder exactly how the "levelling" system worked—was there some sort of energy transfer between Virus Z cells when one subject killed another? Of course, there was no way for him to answer that question just yet, but he was thinking about it more and more.

Regardless, this new information made Alexandre see Hunters in a completely new light: If a Hunter could gain power by killing his fellow Hunters, then the Black Zone, where Hunters had no accountability to anyone but themselves, was even more dangerous than he'd imagined.

Then there was this whole "karma" business. It struck Alexandre as very odd that he hadn't seen any mention of it in the academy encyclopedia, since it seemed like such an important detail.

On the other hand, if this information was kept hidden, then students wouldn't be aware of this incentive for killing each other. It was clear that the academy deeply frowned upon inter-student violence outside the fighting arena, so perhaps the karma system and its ties to murder was simply a taboo topic in the Hunter community in general.

At this point, Alexandre checked his character sheet.

╔═══════Aurora Nexus: Character═══════╕

╟─╼INFORMATION

║╰╼[Name]: Alexandre HautVille

║╰╼[True name]: Alexandre Goldberg *

║╰╼[Biology] Hunter

║╰╼[Class] Boxer

╠══════════════╡

╟─╼LEVEL

║╰╼[Levels]: 6

║╰╼[Exp]: 61/1,600

╟─╼KARMA

║╰╼[Alignment]: 0

║╰╼[Karma]: Neutral

╠══════════════╡

╟─╼STATS [TIER]: E+

║╰╼[Strength]: 1.72

║╰╼[Intelligence]: 1.15

║╰╼[Agility]: 1.75

║╰╼[Endurance]: 1.4

║╰╼[Resistance]: 1.4

║╰╼[Dexterity]: 1.35

║╰╼[Perception]: 1.3

╠══════════════╡

╟─╼SKILLS

║╰╼[Steel bones (5/5) (Lv.1)]

╟─╼PASSIVE SKILLS

║╰╼[Immortal]

║╰╼[Hunter Regeneration (Lv.1)]

╠══════════════╡

╟─╼EQUIPMENT

║╰╼[...]

╠══════════════╡

╟─╼GUILD

╟─╼[Guild]

║╰╼[Guild Funds]

╟─╼[Affiliation]: Hunter Academy (1 year)

║╰╼[Academy Points]: 100 pts

║╰╼[Grade]: 1 / 1,288

╠══════════════╡

╟─╼SUMMARY

║"You've recently learned that your actions have consequences! In the future, will you look back at this moment and wonder where it all went wrong?"

╚═══════════════╛

It seemed that the "Karma" category had been appended to the section describing his level, so Alexandre assumed that this would have some sort of influence on his progress.

However, now wasn't the time to figure that out. He was still standing in Richard's brains, after all. Now Alexandre needed to choose between running away and hoping that nobody discovered the body (and that no drones had seen the death!) or hiding the corpse and hoping Richard was simply treated as a deserter.

Deciding to be cautious, Alexandre removed his shirt, which was splattered in such a way that it was obvious that someone else's blood had sprayed him. He kept only his pants (the bullet wound in his leg hadn't bled much, thanks to his regeneration) and his gauntlets.

Then Alexandre got down on his knees and started digging a hole with his gauntleted hands. Thankfully, his great physical ability and the forest's relatively soft earth made the work very doable.

After twenty minutes of this, the hole was large enough to house a corpse. Without ceremony, Alexandre dragged his attacker's limp body into the hole. Then he threw his bloody shirt on top, burying the evidence of the deed he'd done today.

Then he moved all the dirt back into place and disguised it as best as he could with dead leaves, branches, and moss. After all was said and done, Alexandre stood alone in the forest, breathing heavily. His muscles burned, but to Alexandre, pain was nothing more than another piece of information, like a scent on the wind.

Even though he was shirtless, Alexandre needed to keep moving. He resumed his journey at once, leaving the crime scene behind him.