“This will be it for today’s lesson,” the history professor’s voice resonated through the classroom once again, signaling the end of yet another class. A collective sigh of relief rippled through the students, signaling the end of their academic obligations for the week.
“You don’t have any assignments for this week. Have fun on the weekend,” he announced before making his exit, leaving the classroom in a state of jubilation. As the door closed behind him, a chorus of enthusiastic exclamations erupted from the students.
“Woo-hoo! No assignments!”
“Finally, a break!”
“I can’t believe we lucked out this week!”
The atmosphere in the room shifted from one of concentration to one of elation. Desks were pushed back, and the rustling of backpacks being packed signaled the beginning of the weekend exodus. Smiles and laughter replaced furrowed brows and focused expressions.
“So, who’s up for some relaxation this weekend?” one student suggested with a grin.
“Count me in! I need to recharge after all this studying,” another chimed in.
“I heard there’s a movie night in the common room on Saturday. Let’s go!”
The energy in the room was infectious as plans were made, invitations were extended, and excitement filled the air. The prospect of a weekend without looming assignments or looming exams was enough to lift the spirits of even the most diligent students.
In fact, since the academy’s student spectrum was people of young age, of course, they were bound to interact and socialize with each other. And knowing that most of them came from a good background, the most plausible event for the weekend would be spending money with each other.
Following that, I also started packing my things up. Since it was a weekend without any assignments and there were no club meetings for me, I was planning to go for another dungeon exploration to make some money.
Just as I was about to leave, suddenly, I saw something that I had been waiting for.
“Ethan, can I talk to you later?”
It was a girl with chestnut hair, and blue eyes approached our protagonist, who was also packing his things up slowly.
Her face looked tired, and her clothes looked slightly neglected. Her hands, filled with calluses, now had some wounds on them. Her complexion was slightly white; dark circles were under her eyes. A faint smell of potions that boosted one’s performance could be felt, and not being alone, I could see the faint traces of aftereffects stemming from an unbalanced diet.
Overall, the girl was basically showing signs of exhaustion and poverty.
“Umm….Do I know you?” Being the good-natured protagonist he is, Ethan asked the girl, looking at her with a surprised face. It was pretty normal. She was not a person Ethan had ever talked about before.
“Ah….Sorry….Please, can we talk somewhere private?” But Emily seemed rather uncomfortable to speak while some people were looking at them.
At this point, Ethan’s reputation was not still that high since he was one of the last-ranked people in the academy, even though his family was famous.
So, aside from some mischievous glances from Julia and Lucas, nobody minded what Ethan was doing.
“Umm…..” But that did not mean he was not embarrassed. After all, a girl or a boy saying such a thing to a person from the opposite gender could easily be misunderstood.
“Please, it is important.” But, looking at Emily, who even forgot to introduce herself, Ethan could no longer refuse her and nodded his head.
With her request acknowledged, she finally exhaled, her relief evident. “Thank you.”
Just like that, the two left the classroom, but I could see Lucas and Julia looking at him with a mischievous gaze.
‘It seems his fate is sealed.’
Remembering the dialogues from the game, I knew Ethan would be teased for a very long time because of this event.
‘Then, I should prepare for this as well.’
With that thought, I left the classroom and made my way towards my room.
******
When I entered my room, the first thing I did was enter the Hunter community website using my Cadet identity.
I started surfing the bulletin board for the dungeon exploration recruitments. As you all already know, this world has dungeons and guilds.
And, of course, thanks to the constant appearance of dungeons, the guilds that are managing them sometimes will have a hard time, or maybe even sometimes a dungeon won’t be affiliated with a guild and will be bought by a group or individual that wanted to expand its business into Hunter Field.
Therefore, there was a community for Hunters to search for party recruitment for dungeons. It had a similar system to Black Market, where you would be ranked according to your performance and the amount of money you made.
But, if there was one thing different, that would be the strict regulation of information. You would register with your ID card, and your skills and the type of weapon you used would be recorded.
And from there, according to that, tracking villains with supernatural abilities would be easier. Of course, the tax and other things were also there, but the most important thing was being transparent.
Aside from that, since dungeons that are discovered are always regulated by either guilds or associations, it is very hard to enter a dungeon solo.
This was the reason why I went to the Black Market and explored the dungeons there because I would prefer going solo over going with a party of Hunters. After all, there were countless people out there that is hard to control, and my skills were also not bad for going solo.
Even though I don’t have overwhelming power, I do have one thing. It is flexibility. Since I can enhance the bullets on my gun, I could put a lot stronger damage output, and the rate of attack is also high because of the gun’s characteristics.
With my [Shadowborne] trait, I could also move stealthily, which makes me very flexible at kiting and surprise attacks.
But all those things are something I want to hide as much as possible. Especially my [Shadowborne] trait and my usage of guns since I am pretty sure Kaya Hartley did see shadows moving at that time, and with the gunshot sound, if she ever learns about that, connecting dots won’t be hard.
And, if she connects the dots, she will come after my life.
The reason?
I am a danger to her. Even though I saved her daughter, her thought progress will be, ‘What if my daughter was the target? Could I save her?’
And, as per our human nature, if we encounter something we can’t fathom or understand, we just destroy it. This is how we operate, after all.
In this scenario, I will be targeted by Kaya Hartley, which, in the end, will put me in danger.
That was the sole reason why I didn’t want to explore the dungeon, but with my bow abilities right now, I should be at least in a plausible position.
In any case, after surfing around the forums and bulletin board for a while, I finally came across the notice I wanted to see.
————————— 𝐕𝐥xt.𝑐𝞸𝔪
Guild: Azure Crest
Mission: Urgent Dungeon Exploration
Objective: Clearing the dungeon and obtaining the core of the boss monster
We, the members of the Azure Crest guild, are in dire need of assistance for an urgent dungeon exploration. The recent economic downturn and unforeseen expenses have left us in a financial crisis, and failure to procure valuable artifacts could potentially lead to our downfall.
Requirements:
Archery Specialist: A skilled marksman with precision and versatility in ranged combat. The ideal candidate should be well-versed in tactical positioning and trap detection.
Healing Expert: A proficient healer capable of supporting the team with curative spells and providing vital assistance in dire situations. Knowledge of defensive magic is a plus.
We are offering a substantial reward for your services. The mission details will be disclosed upon agreement.
If you believe you possess the necessary skills and are willing to aid us in our time of need, please contact us immediately.
Contact: Guild Master Lorraine –> Contact by messaging us on the platform
Location: Azure Crest Guild Hall, Arcadia City/3. District Guild Street No 351
Deadline: Next Saturday
————————-
The moment I looked at the notice coming from there, I was surprised. Of course, in the game, the player was directly contacted by Emily. Therefore, I didn’t look at the guild notices at all.
‘I see….They wanted a healer.’
Of course, finding a healer is by no means an easy task, especially if you are short on money. This was a crucial mistake that would mostly be made by people that was new to this sector. Of course, it also might be because they were desperate, but it was what it was.
‘And the healer was a demon contractor.’
This will be a pretty common pattern in the future. The demons will see that the lack of healers is a very crucial point, and they will utilize this by impersonating healers. And this will result in a very high amount of hunter parties wiping out.
This was one of the reasons why I wanted to join this dungeon exploration. The healer they had hired for the job was a demon contractor, and this almost resulted in the party’s wipeout.
Of course, since, as a player, we were there, the party was able to deal with the bastard. But that can never be sure. With just the appearance of mine, things may change, and the butterfly effect might ensure.
Though inside, I know these are all justifications.
‘I am going to kill him.’
It was because that demon contractor was going to leave the dungeon alive and escape. Even though Ethan will be able to deal with his sabotaging, the demon contractor is crafty thanks to his ability.
‘I won’t let him escape.’
And the second reason is the dungeon does actually have a hidden stage.
Indeed, a hidden stage I had discovered while doing this side-quest. And it was not a coincidence. Since I had always paid attention to every bit of detail, I noticed that the mana around a place was different. My character was not drawing the mana as it was supposed to be, and it was proof that there was a mana disturbance there.
With this suspicion, I walked there and did some random things to see what it was, and when I used my mana just before the small boulder, I got sucked into a space portal and entered the hidden stage.
‘Then, since it is next week, then this leaves me a good amount of time to prepare.’
Since, in the end, the last missing seat was not filled by any type of people, that means they won’t refuse me either.
‘But, I will still wait and see until I am sure.’
With that thought, I closed the site and started preparing myself for another dungeon exploration.
The work was never going to end after all…..