[4 April 2023, 09.00 AM]

[F-Rank Dungeon]

It has been a week since I hung out with Zaiden. The days passed with nothing noteworthy happening.

I just attended the class at the Academy as usual. If something had changed, then it was the fact that Zaiden and the other heroines often ate together with me in the cafeteria.

Mirana was still avoiding me a little bit, but the other girls were talking to me normally. They also said that they were not Zaiden’s girlfriends themselves, to make me feel better about hanging out with them.

They were asking to hang out again today as it was Saturday and the Academy was off, but I refused because I wanted to train in the dungeon. It seemed that Ao also refused them, because I watched her refuse Zaiden’s offer.

I was now in the F-Rank Dungeon that I visited a week ago. With Arash Bow in my hand, I killed the goblins with no problem.

“Hap!” Letting go of the Mana Bowstring, the Mana Arrow flew straight at a fast speed.

Swoosh–!

It pierced the head of the goblin cleanly and killed it in an instant. However, the mana arrow didn’t stop. It flew past the goblin’s head and hit the dungeon’s wall, creating a small hole in it before disappearing.

“Kieek!”

“That made it 50… My efficiency in killing goblins has increased.”

I had visited this dungeon for a week straight now. It was time for me to leave.

Within an hour, I managed to kill 50 goblins. I was now confident enough to take on a stronger monster and took the artifact from that place._-.

Not only that, I needed to train my swordsmanship too. The sword that I bought stayed in my bag without the chance of being used because I was too focused on my archery.

“I need to head to that training facility,” I muttered as I walked out of the dungeon with my loot inside my magic bag.

***

I changed my clothes back to the Academy Uniform. Walking as Rai on the street was troublesome.

In the last week, guild executives stopped me a few times when I was walking back from the Dungeon. I was able to lose them a few times by changing back to my uniform in the back alleys. However, I was annoyed after being stopped a few times by the guild executives. Now, I was only dressed as Rai when I went to the dungeon.

The training facility that I was about to visit this time was a bit special. It taught Swordsmanship to Awakener or Non-Awakener equally.

Usually, a training facility only trains either Awakener or Non-Awakener. Only this training facility taught both.

It was called ‘Waterflow Training Facility.’

The name sounded like something from a novel, but the training facility was a real deal. The trainer was a retired S-Rank Awakener named Smith Anderson. He was famous enough that he was called ‘Sword Saint’ when he was an active Awakener fifty years ago. Now that he was old, he wanted to find a successor to whom he could pass his technique.

No one knew his real identity, though. That was why the training facility was devoid of people. In the setting, only Ao and Zaiden were trained by Smith, and ultimately, they inherited Smith’s technique and became strong.

After walking for a while, I arrived in front of the Waterflow Training Facility. The training facility was located near the Academy, so the uniform was perfect for visiting it. Not only that, visiting in Rai’s clothes would create some trouble if I somehow met Ao or Zaiden in that place.

From the outside, the training facility looked old and unattended. It was small, and there was only a sign ‘Waterflow’ above its door. No one would think that the former Sword Saint was teaching people in this shabby place.

“Let’s enter it, shall we~” Muttering in a low voice, I opened the door of the training facility. Because no one greeted me when I opened the door, I decided to shout loudly. “Hello! Is there anyone here?”

As soon as I shouted, a voice belonging to an old man howled from inside.

“Hey! Look who is at the entrance! If it’s the newspaper guy, tell him to fuck off!”

He sounded a bit pissed. Then a familiar voice replied to the man. It belonged to a certain girl I knew well.

“Yes, teacher. I will look at who comes here and politely send him off if he tries to sell something.”

“Good!”

‘So she’s here, huh.’

That voice belonged to Ao. As I had expected, she had already undergone training in this place.

A few seconds later, she came from inside the training facility. She wore clothes that looked like a hakama from Japan.

“I’m sorry! But we don’t need newspapers!” She shouted at me without even looking at me.

“Oh, I am not selling newspapers. My acquaintance told me about this place, and I want to join this training facility to learn about swordsmanship. However, I must say something before that… It’s a surprise seeing you here, Ao.” My mouth curved into a playful smile.

With a fast movement, Ao turned to me and asked curiously. “Vincent?”

She didn’t expect to meet me in this place. Confusion was written on her face. “Why are you here? No, more importantly, you said you want to join? Do you know what kind of place this is?”

“Yeah, I know. As I said, I found this place from my acquaintance when I asked him about the best training facility in Los Angeles. He answered that this place was the best, so I visited. Well, I was about to leave when I saw this place’s condition, but it seems that he told me the truth.”

“Why did you think that he’s telling the truth that this place is the best training facility?” Asked Ao suspiciously.

Of course, she would be suspicious. I mentioned that I was about to leave but changed my mind midway and decided to believe ‘my acquaintance’ who actually didn’t exist at all. Well, he did exist, but he didn’t tell me anything. If Smith asked who my acquaintance was, I would answer him that the Artifact Dealer introduced me to this place.

Dealing with Park Injun would come later, but I doubt he would mind if I used his name for something this trivial.

“I decided to trust him because I saw you. There is no way you will train in this place if this place is not the best.”

“That doesn’t answer the question. Also, what makes sure that I only use the best training facility? There is a chance that I can only afford this place because I am too poor, you know?” Ao smiled playfully as she crossed her arms.

It seemed like she was trying to test me.

“Hahahaha. There is no way that’s true.” I laughed at her attempt. There was no way she was poor.

As the daughter of Thomas Evan, she lived surrounded by luxuries. A person like that trying to use wealth as an excuse?

If that was her best excuse, then I had a card to play.

“Well, even if you only attend this training facility because you are too poor to pay for a better one, then I came to the right place. You see, as an orphan, I have no money to spend on attending a good training facility.”

“Ah!” Ao exclaimed in realization. “I’m sorry.” She then apologized while looking sad.

“Don’t be sorry. So, umm.” I purposely paused my sentence and looked at her seriously. “Can I join this training facility? If there is a fee to join, I will pay for it.”

Because she knew that I was serious about joining this training facility, she became confused about how to answer me.

I knew that she wanted to let me join this training facility from her expression. However, she was only a trainee here; she had no power to accept me in this training facility.

She looked at me awkwardly. “Umm, you see, about that…”

A deafening voice came from inside and interrupted her when she was about to answer me.

“Oi, Ao! What takes you so long, huh?! It’s just a goddamn newspaper guy. Just kick him away if he’s annoying!”

Accompanying the voice, an old man appeared from inside the building. He was wearing the same clothes as Ao and brought a wooden sword in his hand. He was Smith Anderson, the guy who bore the title Sword Saint.

He looked at Ao with an irritated expression before looking at me. “Huh, who is that? Is he not a newspaper guy?”

“Master!” Ao looked at the old man and shouted. For some reason, she had a smile on her face. “He’s Vincent, my friend from the Academy. He said that he wants to join this training facility.” She explained to Smith hastily.

“Huh, he wants to join this training facility?” He approached me with steady steps that didn’t belong to an old man and narrowed his eyes.

This was his way of observing someone. If he deemed that I was not talented enough to be his disciple, then he would refuse me without caring where I came from.

Ao looked at me worriedly because she was afraid that Smith would refuse me. She was someone who cared for her friend, and I was her friend; she introduced me as such to Smith.

I gulped out of nervousness. Although I knew that I was talented with the sword because I had A-Rank Swordsmanship Talent, I couldn’t help but be nervous in front of someone like Smith. He was so strong that even big guilds such as Sacred Relic tried their best not to offend him.

“Hmm…” He muttered in a low voice as he stroked his bearded chin. “You… Who told you about this place?”

His first question was who told me about this place. Did that mean he had acknowledged my Talent?

I answered him with the name that I had prepared before. “An old man who called himself Artifact Dealer told me to visit this place. He said that this place will allow me to get stronger and is the best training place in Los Angeles.”

Smith took a step back, then he said, “That guy, eh? So he told you to come to this place?”

“Yes.” I answered him with a nod.

It was as expected from him. He knew of Park Injun’s existence even though he was retired.

“Fine! I will take you as my second disciple. Come to this place if you are free. I will train you how to wield a sword.”

Hearing his answer, my lips curled into a big smile.

“Yes!” I shouted happily.

This was the best. I had gotten myself the best teacher in swordsmanship.

With this, I would be able to grow faster. Not to mention, Smith said that I was his second disciple. Zaiden had yet to train under Smith. That meant…

‘I will have the chance to master swordsmanship and match Zaiden’s level in the future.’

Ao smiled behind Smith.

Smith patted my shoulder and grinned. “Now, because you are already here, let’s not waste any time and start your training.”

“Yes!”