After ending the tutoring session, I started heading back home since it was night. Along the way, I contacted Kim Ji-soo and told him how things went, but got no reply since he wasn't online. I also ordered some affordable food since my stomach was growling from eating too many energy bars.
I reached home with no energy left in my body, to the point of not caring about any items in my bag, which wasn't much since I needed to hand over the mana stones of hunted stone lizards.
I wanted to sleep as soon as possible, but since I ordered food, I decided to turn on my computer to stall for time.
The Internet was acting the same. Many articles about insane things were mentioned in the awakener's forum, which had turned into the norm at some point... but among piles of articles, I noticed one with a very peculiar title.
"An instant dungeon break?!" I muttered to myself.
Apparently, a C-rank dungeon appeared in the middle of London, and it instantly opened up, meaning its time limit reached zero in a very short time. This was something I had never seen nor heard before, but at some point, finding these out-of-the-ordinary events went out of the question.
Ding, Ding-! The doorbell rang, and the delivery brought me the food and items I asked for, which was faster than I expected. I placed the items inside my drawer and began to devour the food since my patience was running low.
After I ate, I immediately jumped into bed, forgetting to turn the computer off and change my armor, and started sleeping soundly, as if I was finally free from all pains.
"Pant, pant!" The next day, I woke from a nightmare. I couldn't remember what I saw while sleeping, but I knew I didn't want to know.
I looked around and saw the open computer, so I stood up to turn it off... until my phone began to ring.
Buzz, Buzz- "Hey, what's up?" I answered, doing my best to mask my morning voice.
"Sorry to call so early, but could you come in earlier for today's tutoring session?" Kim Ji-soo asked, referencing today's schedule.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"Yeah, there's a scheduling mix-up with another trainer. I need you here as soon as possible. I'll text you the location."
"Okay, I will come as soon as possible."
I ended the call and started putting items in my backpack. While doing so, I also called a taxi to drop me at the location as soon as possible.
After reaching the destination, I saw Ji-soo arguing with someone who didn't seem like a newbie awakener, so I headed towards them.
"What's going on? I'm the trainer who booked this dungeon entry," I said, clearly frustrated.
"I've got the same rights, and I'm not giving up my spot. I've waited a month for this," the other trainer exclaimed.
In the middle of our conversation, a man who seemed to be the dungeon guard came with a sheet of paper in hand and started saying, "Okay sirs, it seems there's been a system error, and both of you have the authorization to enter the dungeon."
The other trainer said to the guard, "What does that mean for my session? How am I supposed to complete it now?"
"Well, you can either team up and enter together, or I'll reschedule one of you… which won't be anytime soon."
The other trainer and I looked at each other and confirmed that neither of us wanted the second option, so we started talking about what should be done. He was telling me to give him my students since he was teaching some wealthy awakener, while I wanted his student since the more kids, the more skills I could learn... at the end of the day, we agreed on teaching both.
"... so that's the plan moving forward," David, the other trainer, explained.
The newbies were in confusion, and I could understand why. The situation could get out of control if two people were to manage such a team, but I wasn't going to be so meddling.
I waited for David to do everything he wanted with the kids, and I also explained some strategies and hunting tips, but David seemed to be more knowledgeable in teaching since he had been a mentor for a long time.
After the usual explanation and dividing the trainees into teams of four, we entered the new dungeon.
[ Dungeon Mission
= ————— =
> Objective: Defeat the Boss Monster.
• Time Limit: None. ]
I looked around, and it was the usual limitless dungeon I was familiar with. By the traces left behind by previous comers, I could say with high certainty that this dungeon was a goblin dungeon.
I let David move around with the kids, and I stayed at the very back, observing any skill activation.
At first, I was a little worried since I didn't know David, but after seeing his passion for teaching, I used all of my focus on learning the newbies' skills.
I was there, grasping the knowledge based on my own understanding and basically copying them. It was the same process of questions and answers, and I needed to find the formulas in effect... until something happened.
[ Skill "Quick Dash ⌜1⌟" Activated ]
Swish-! [ Skill "Focused Unsheathing ⌜1⌟" Activated ]
"What was that?! I thought you were keeping an eye on them," I exclaimed after rescuing the tank from a goblin's attack.
"No need for concern. She knows how to handle situations like that with her skills," he replied confidently.
"How's she supposed to activate it when it's on cooldown?"
He paused for a second and asked, "How do you know that?"
It was a fair question, but I wasn't sure how I could answer it. Apparently, learning skills wasn't the only byproduct of observing others' skills since, without a doubt, I knew her skill was on cooldown.
"Don't risk it," I replied shortly to possibly shift the conversation.
I went to the very back, knowing that I wouldn't gain anything by talking to David, and proceeded with my observation, and the session moved forward.
I focused most of my attention on the tanks and swordsmen, knowing I wouldn't be able to comprehend the skills of other classes, but even with that, there were many gaps that I did not know how to fill in order to learn that skill... thankfully though, I managed to learn at least one skill.
[ Skill "Heavy Attack ⌜1⌟" Acquired ]
[ Heavy Attack ⌜1⌟
Rank: D
=—————=
Increase the weapon weight by 100% for the next attack.
• Mana Consumption: 10 Points
• Cooldown: 45 minutes ]
All in all, the session ended casually, and the kids were wearing the same disappointed expression as they had the previous day.
After finishing everything, Kim Ji-soo called me and assured me that no mix-up would happen tomorrow, and I wouldn't meet David ever again, which was reassuring from him.
I called for a taxi to come and pick me up since it was getting late at night, and I didn't want to spend a single second with my close-to-shut eyes.
"[Status Window]" I muttered quietly inside the car.
[ Ethan Hoarder
> Mp: 2/10
Race: Human
Class: Dimensional Traveler
=—————=
Traits: [Advanced Learner] ~ [Adapt]
=—————=
Skills: Heavy Attack ⌜1⌟ ~ Focused Unsheathing ⌜1⌟ ~ Quick Dash ⌜1⌟ ~ Swift Slash ⌜1⌟ ~ Dimensional Shift ⌜Max⌟ ]
As I was seeing my personal information, I cracked a smile since I was finally on par with my weakest student... although I knew this wasn't going to stay like this.
"I will be the strongest," I said to myself, while still drunk with tiredness... though I wasn't very wrong.
With my trait, as long as I had the knowledge, I could get my hands on the strongest skills.
I reached my house, but this time, instead of jumping into bed, I took a bath after a long time and cleaned my face a little. I wasn't so used to not being wounded for a long time, so it was quite funny to find myself taking care of myself.
The next day, I went back to teaching the kids, and that continued for about a week. In those weeks, I spent my time observing every skill in my students' possession and trying to grasp its core... but at the very end of the session, all I could get my hands on was a single skill.
[ Skill "Mirage Movement ⌜1⌟" Acquired ]
[ Mirage Movement ⌜1⌟
Rank: D+
=—————=
Decrease the detectability of weapon movements by 12%.
• Active Duration: 3 seconds.
• Mana Consumption: 9 Points
• Cooldown: 1 hour ]
It was a fine accomplishment, though I wasn't expecting it to be so hard to achieve.
After ending everything with each and every student, they thanked me and left the ground. I also left for my home since no one was around to do anything.
While inside the taxi, I checked my phone and saw no new messages. I then checked my bank balance to see how much I got for the end of the month, which was three days away.
As expected, I lacked sufficient funds to pay both my mother's hospital bill and the debt collector's money at the same time, so I needed to choose one... which was reserved for my mother.
"So that settles it," I muttered to myself.
After reaching my home, with a simple call, I sent the money to the hospital for the next month.
I knew not paying the debt collectors was going to be harsh for me. They were going to track me down and knock on my door with the intention of beating me to death, and I wouldn't be able to do anything.
Staying at my home was problematic since they knew my location. I couldn't also start heading to a long expedition dungeon session since I was banned for the time being. I could try and hide in a safe room, but that wouldn't be any different than going to prison, so that's out of the list... which would leave only one thing.
Ding, Ding-! The delivery brought the food and items I ordered at the perfect time. I used the additional money I had after paying the hospital and ordered some emergency items that I knew I would need for what I was going to do.
I ate the food agitatedly to subdue the growling sound of my stomach and started packing my backpack for a new fun adventure... and after packing, there was only one job left to do.
[ Skill "Dimensional Shift ⌜Max⌟" Activated ]
[ Teleporting the User to the Designated Location ]