Chapter 24
“Congratulations, Zephyrus-kun and Hannah-san. You’ve both met the dungeon qualification standards. From now on, you can challenge dungeons without an escort.”
“Thank you!”
After safely defeating the 〈Beginner Dungeon〉 without a scratch, we returned to the entrance, 〈Dungeon Gate: First Tier〉.
There, Phyllis-sensei gave us an evaluation of how we’d done, and we passed with flying colors.
Phyllis-sensei even told us, “It’s rare for a student to do so well. I’m impressed.” We did it.
Hannah and I high-fived, celebrating our success.
“I’m heading back to the faculty room now. What about you two? Want to come with me?”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’d like to practice in the dungeon a little longer.”
“Oh, how diligent of you. What about you, Hannah-san?”
“I’m going to stick with Zephyrus-kun, too.”
The recruitment battles were still underway, so Phyllis-sensei offered to accompany us, but I still hadn’t had my fill of real-life dungeons.
The run we’d just finished had left me unsatisfied, probably because it had been a lesson.
I wanted to tackle a dungeon however I pleased.
Phyllis-sensei accepted my answer, said, “Good luck. I’ll be rooting for you,” and headed back.
I waved goodbye to Phyllis-sensei.
Man, she was kind, open-minded, and beautiful. What a great teacher.
And she was a beautiful nineteen-year-old teacher. I’ll say it again: a beautiful nineteen-year-old teacher.
That’s the game world for you. What a great setup.
Having a teacher like her kindly teach me would surely do wonders for my studies.
I kept waving until Phyllis-sensei was out of sight. I wanted to chase after her and say we should head back together after all, but my iron self-control stopped me.
Hannah was staring at me from the side. She was only looking, but she was really, really looking. Her gaze was intense.
I turned back to Hannah with an innocent expression.
“Anyway, I’m thinking of tackling the dungeon again. Want to come, Hannah?”
“That’s why I stayed. Of course I’m coming.”
Looks like she’d already decided to come along.
Well, that worked out nicely.
Considering what we had planned for the future, I wanted to get Hannah up to LV16, too.
I definitely wanted her to learn 'Material Return,' which unlocked by leveling up 'Alchemy' and 'Synthesis.'
Right now, both Hannah’s and my Jobs were LV8.
Entry to lower-tier beginner dungeons was restricted to people who were LV10 or higher.
That meant we needed to gain two more levels in the Beginner Dungeon.
We were going to do that today.
I’m going to level up!
“I’m aiming to hit LV10 today, so we should get there after two runs.”
“Okay. I’m counting on you, Zephyrus-kun.”
“All right! Let’s start running it, then.”
Hannah and I opened the door to the Beginner Dungeon again and teleported inside.
Squish.
Squish.
I cut down another Mochikko.
Thunk.
Thunk.
Hannah bludgeoned a hornless Horn Rabbit to death.
Crack.
Swish!
Together, we snapped and sliced the Wood.
Bonk.
Bonk.
We gently bonked the Kokekko (chick).
Once again, we reached the boss room on the lowest floor.
“Yeah, it’s fun, but there’s no challenge at all.”
“Can’t be helped. This is for beginners, and the point of the dungeon is to pass the trial, right?”
“Well, that’s true. But there’s a little treat here, too.”
“?”
The second time around, the path through the dungeon had started to feel a little underwhelming.
But this boss room was something I’d been looking forward to.
“Gob!”
When I opened the door, the same Plain Goblin as before was waiting inside.
The fight was over in an instant.
“Take this, 'Brave Slash' LV1—the Skill I couldn’t use earlier!”
“Gob—!?”
My short sword was enveloped in a blue effect, and I brought it down in a slash from overhead.
BAM! The impact sent effects bursting through the space where I’d slashed.
The Goblin’s HP hit zero in an instant, and it vanished into particles of light. Anyone watching would have thought it was an incredibly cool attack.
“Whoa! That felt amazing!”
This is insane. Special moves are insane.
This is so much fun!
Where are all the other Goblins?!
Unfortunately, there was only one Goblin in the boss room. Aw, come on.
After picking up the 〈Goblin Horn〉 drop, I returned to Hannah. For some reason, she was blushing and fidgeting.
“Zephyrus-kun, what was that?!”
Looks like she’d really liked 'Brave Slash'.
You’ve got a good eye!
“That was 'Brave Slash.' It’s the 【Hero】’s unique Skill—and their special move.”
“That was so cool!”
“Yeah!”
Man, Hannah understood how cool that attack was, too!
That made me happy.
Damn, why hadn’t I shown off 'Brave Slash' in front of Phyllis-sensei earlier? I wanted to see her face light up with excitement.
Regret washed over me.
After Hannah and I finished excitedly discussing that attack, I started walking toward the main attraction.
“Was that treat you mentioned 'Brave Slash'?”
“Yeah. Well, it was my first time using it here, too. I guess I hadn’t realized what a cool Skill it was...”
“Here?”
“Never mind. That’s not what I meant by a treat. Just follow me.”
I was heading to the back of the boss room.
There was a magic circle overflowing with pale pink light.
It was just like in the game. In 〈Dan-Katsu〉, this pink magic circle was a teleportation gate.
You could step onto it to teleport back to the dungeon entrance.
By the way, I’d stepped on it during our first run, too. I’d been so moved when it took me back to the entrance.
But I didn’t need it now.
What I wanted was even farther beyond it.