The Plan Ahead (3)

*swoosh...*

The wind slapped my face as I opened the door and got out of the training room. Many of the students had left the training hall since the sun was already setting. I was going to leave too, but my eyes were drawn towards the two people who were standing at the sword section of the hall. I could hear them talking, there were only a few people and the hall was quiet.

"You are doing it wrong. How many times do I have to tell you? If you don't tilt your sword at the right angle, you won't be able to perform the best you can."

"I am trying, Miss Bell! It's not that easy!"

*Sigh...*

"Let me show you how to do it then."

The two figures were Leon and Ember. They were apparently doing a personal training session. I wasn't just assuming it was a personal training session, it was just like how the novel had described it. After recognizing Leon's potential, Ember herself offered him to be his mentor. But Leon declined the offer. Nevertheless, it wasn't a choice anyway, Ember forcefully made Leon recognize her as his mentor. It was kinda funny how things had turned out.

Ember took Leon's sword and got into stance in front of a metal training dummy.

"Watch carefully."

Without putting much power into her attack, she sliced the dummy in half with a swift motion. The angle that the sword created with the dummy on the impact point was so perfect that it sliced through the metal effortlessly. Without showing it the second time, Ember tossed the sword back to Leon.

"Try again."

Confused by the move Ember pulled off, Leon stood there, staring at the upper half of the metal dummy, which was now on the ground. He collected himself and began striking at the dummy once more.

As I watched the events of the novel folding into reality before my eyes, I was lost in my thoughts. These private lessons were of great importance to Leon's development since these lessons both made him stronger and allowed him to get close to Ember.

'Lucky bastard'

However, my thoughts were interrupted as I felt a stare on me. It was Ember's stare, unsurprisingly. I seemed like I had observed them too much. Leaving Leon alone, Ember started to approach towards me. Seeing this, I quickly pulled myself together and prepared myself.

"Did you find my lesson that interesting? You seem to be absorbed in it."

"Yes. I was really stunned by how you easily sliced the metal dummy in half. No wonder you are (A+)-rank."

Her expression suddenly turned cold.

"Hmm... I don't remember telling you my rank, Theodore. Would you mind sharing how you concluded that my rank was (A+) at the moment?"

My face distorted as I gulped down really hard.

'Fuck me...'

"If I am not mistaken, I should have seen it on the internet. In some news or maybe in the academy's official website"

After a period of silence which felt like hours, Ember once again opened her mouth as her face loosened up.

"I see... Anyway, good to see you training. You seem to be aware of the upcoming exam."

She looked back to see how Leon was doing. She pointed her finger at Leon.

"Try to get along with this kid. He is quite capable. He will most probably be one of the future pillars of humanity, maybe the strongest. That's all I can say for now."

"I will keep that in mind, Miss Bell. I will try to be nice to him."

Leon approached us slowly. He made eye contact with ember, upon which Ember dismissed him and ended the private lesson. Leon left the training hall without saying a word, completely ignoring my existence.

Following Leon, Ember left as well, without a word. I stood stupidly in the middle of the hall.

*Sigh...*

"I need to go to my dorm as soon as possible before encountering any more problems."

---------------------------------------------------

*Clomp...*

*Clomp...*

*Clomp...*

Ember was walking down the corridors, with every step echoing through the walls, heading towards her private professor room. However, her mind was completely somewhere else. Her face looked troubled.

'How could someone who is only (F-)-rank can know my rank? It should have been impossible.'

Although Theodore had told her that he knew her rank because he had seen it on the internet, it was obvious that it was a lie. Any personal information about personals working in the Light Academy is strictly kept secret by the academy itself. So, except some influential figures, no one should have the information about her rank.

'There is only two way he could have known my rank. He is either faking his real rank and frame himself as (F-)-rank or he is related to someone so much influential that he can get his hands on information from the Light Academy's archives.'

For him to be concealing his actual rank and being able to sense her own rank, he must be a very high ranking awakener. But it was obvious that wasn't the case. Otherwise, the world would know of his presence. So the latter must have been the case.

'But it was indicated in his documents that Theodore wasn't belonging to any household or related to any influential figure. In fact, he was just an orphan with no other essential details about his past.'

This made all the things much more suspicious in Ember's eyes. If what she thought was actually true, she might as well be more careful around him from now on, in case he is actually related to an influential figure.

---------------------------------------------------

I opened the door to my dorm. I was tired as hell. I threw my bag towards a corner and jumped into my bed. I wanted to sleep, I had to recharge myself as much as possible for tomorrow's dungeon expedition.

But I couldn't. For some reason, I was constantly thinking about the dream I had seen during the history class a couple of days ago. It just disturbed my inner peace whenever I reminisce about that dream. I thought I could get rid of my past experiences and relationships, but I guess I was too naive. It was almost impossible to leave them all behind, even if I had been reincarnated into a completely different world.

*Sigh...*

Those people in black, especially those gray eyes with striking resemblance to mine, were still vivid in my mind. I didn't want to accept it but I was aware those memories were not going anywhere anytime soon.

'I may need to learn to live with them in my head eventually.'

Nonetheless, I forced myself to sleep since I knew tomorrow would be long and exhausting.

---------------------------------------------------

I walked down the wide streets of the city. I was wearing a black cargo pants, with a compressed black long sleeved shirt under my long black coat with hood. I really came to like this style nowadays.

My destination was a dungeon which was (F-)-rank. The difference between the previous goblin dungeon and this dungeon was that this dungeon belonged to Black Star, not Black Salamander. I was planning to gather some (G+)-rank or even (F-)-rank cores from the demons that will spawn in the dungeon.

What awaited me in the dungeon was a snowy forest filled with mutated beasts.

I walked across the streets of the big city, and finally reached to the place mentioned. The portal could be seen from afar. Around the entrance of the portal were people dressed in formal suits, each carrying a little black star on their chest.

I reached out to my permission documents and gave it to a woman standing in front of the portal. She scanned the documents for full minute and gave it back to me.

"Can I enter the dungeon now?"

"Not yet. You will have to wait a few more minutes."

I was confused why she wouldn't let me in. I should have brought all the required documents.

"Is something wrong with the documents?"

"No. It's not that. I just need to make a phone call. Please wait a minute."

She took out her phone and called someone. After a few seconds, someone else answered the phone.

"Someone named Theodore Miller wants to participate in the snowy forest dungeon. The documents indicate that he is from the Light Academy. Do we let him into the dungeon?"

After a few minutes of silence, the hoarse voice on the other side of the phone spoke.

"Yes. Let him be. It should be fine."

*beep... beep...*

The person on the phone ended the call.

"You can enter."

I looked at the woman weirdly. Why would you call someone to get permission for me to enter the dungeon when I had all the needed documents.

'Whatever...'

I decided to not mind this and entered into the portal. My mind got dizzy and the world around me turned upside down as all the light vanished.

At the next moment, my consciousness returned and I found my self standing among immensely tall trees, all of which had no leaves due to the snowy climate of the dungeon. The sun was right in the middle of the sky, but I was sure the temperature was below zero degrees celsius.

The cold wind hit my face without any mercy. Everywhere I looked was covered in plain white snow. There was nothing alive here other than the almost dead trees. But I knew this was just a deception. There were numerous beasts lingering deep in the forest.

'Here I go!'