I opened my eyes just in ti to see the bus pulling up to the entrance of the underground train station. The deep earthy scent of the tunnel greeted us as we stepped off the bus.
The entrance to the underground train station was guarded, five Awakened agents were stationed strategically around the area.
"Please show us your I.D.s," one of the agents commanded.
We quickly fished out our student I.D.s and presented them.
The agent examined our IDs before nodding. "If you could just sign these," he said, handing us a sleek tablet. We took turns entering our signatures, the device flashing with confirmation as each of us completed the process.
"If you could just sign these," the agent said and handed us a tablet. Then they scanned our smartwatch.
Next, the agent activated a scanner on his wrist and directed it toward our smartwatches, which beeped in compliance. "If you ever get in trouble, just call us so we can imdiately track your location," he instructed, his gaze serious. The gravity of those words sunk in; this wasn’t just a training exercise—it was a mission that could throw us into the unknown.
The agents stepped aside, granting us access as we descended into the depths of the train station. The air grew cooler and a faint hum of mana buzzed around us, a low thrum that vibrated through the very ground. Dust motes danced in the single shaft of light illuminating our path.
Soon enough, we were standing in front of the portal.
We entered one by one, and the world shifted. The mont I stepped through, the chill of the air beca colder as if we’re inside a freezer.
The rest of them shivered, rubbing their arms together, their breath fogging in the frigid air. But and Kairos, we stood there perfectly still, unfazed by the sudden drop in temperature.
Since we’re here for a light dungeon run, I might as well take it easy.
"Should we split up to gather more grounds?" I suggested.
They suddenly turned to look at us.
"Remi, aren’t you cold?" Cypher asked.
"No," I said, tilting my head.
"You’re wearing a shirt and cargo shorts," Angela pointed out. "In a freezing dungeon."
"Yes? What’s wrong with that?" I asked.
"The point is you and Caleo aren’t even shivering from the cold," Troy said, his eyebrows raised in suspicion.
"Oh, I’m just used to this kind of temperature," I lied, my gaze flicking towards the portal, hoping to distract them from my sudden coldness.
"And what about you?" Troy asked, turning to Kairos.
"Sa reason as Remillia’s," Kairos replied, his voice flat, devoid of any emotion.
"Let’s do what Remillia suggested. Split in three groups, one group contains three person," Ezekiel said.
"I’ll team up with Re—" Cypher started, but I cut him off.
"Cypher, Cairo, and Angela will be in one group," I said.
Angela’s face lit up when she heard she was being paired with Cypher.
"What are yo-" Kairos began to interject, but I interrupted him.
"Ezekiel and Troy will be paired up together in one group," I declared .
"What?" Ezekiel exclaid.
"Not fair! I want to pair up with An—" Troy protested, but I quickly silenced him.
"And I’ll be going with Jawn! Let’s et up here once we’re all done scouting the place! Bye!" I said and grabbed Jawn’s hand running away from them until I can’t see them anymore.
I needed to make sure the main characters ended up in the sa group, particularly Angela and Cypher—this was a perfect chance for their relationship to grow.
"Please don’t drag into this ss of yours," Jawn said as we stepped into a tunnel.
I shook myself from my thoughts. "What do you an, drag you into my ss?"
"For soone so smart, you can be remarkably clueless," Jawn replied with a smirk.
The path we were walking on was blanketed in snow, with glowing blue flowers illuminating our way.
"Oh? What’s this? Are you actually smiling right now?" I teased him.
His sudden silence made laugh.
"How are Gregg and Junichi doing?" I asked, curious.
"They’re doing fine, but they can’t approach you recklessly since you’re always busy and surrounded by your friends," Jawn replied.
"Yeah, they can be a bit bossy sotis—especially the heirs and heiresses," I admitted.
"What do you an sotis? They’re ALWAYS bossy. No one can recklessly approach them until you ca along," he emphasized the last part.
I chuckled. "Even with their attitude, they’re still fun to hang around."
"Putting aside friendship, don’t you feel anything towards the others? Especially one of them?" he probed.
"Anything? Others? Who are you talking about?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
"Romantic feelings?" he ventured.
I nearly choked, caught off guard.
"So you do have romantic feelings! For whom?" he pressed, a glimr of excitent in his eyes.
Rather than answering, I switched gears. "Wait a minute. You seem to be glowing, always smiling, and a bit chatty. Let guess—you already have a girlfriend do you?"
His eyes widened, and he fell abruptly silent.
"So you do have one?" I prodded, intrigued.
He was about to respond when he suddenly glanced at . "Wait, you didn’t answer my question first!"
"Your turn first," I insisted, matching his playful deanor. "Is she in our class or a different one?"
Jawn hesitated, then shrugged. "I’m not answering that."
"Oh, co on!" I whined, stopping to check our direction. "Just tell ."
Jawn smirked and slowed his pace, then said, "I’ll tell you mine if you tell which one of your "friends" you like."
I fell silent, caught off guard by his words.
"Cat got your tongue?" Jawn teased, nudging playfully.
"I don’t have the ti for relationships," I finally replied softly. Entering into one or feeling affection for soone wouldn’t really help my situation. I needed to quicken the pace of the novel to reach the ending.
Changing the subject, I quickly asked, "By the way, how are Gregg and Junichi doing? I’ve missed them."
"They’re doing fine. They wanted to talk with you, but considering you’re always surrounded by your famous heirs and heiresses’ friends, they can’t just approach you recklessly now," Jawn explained.
I chuckled and added, "Cypher and Christian co from the sa humble background. I was the only one who ca from an unknown background than the rest of them, so rest assured—Junichi and Gregg can still approach as usual."
Jawn observed my reaction carefully.
"You’re still different from the rest," he said quietly.
"How so?" I asked.
"You suddenly beca the top of our class. You outsmarted the geniuses like Cypher and Ezekiel. You changed your favorite weapon into a dagger that deals less damage. You’ve beco more confident—the only thing that hasn’t changed is that you’re still the sa warfreak, Remillia," Jawn said, a hint of admiration in his voice. He wasn’t looking at the path ahead, so I had to gently pull his collar to keep us moving forward.
"Can you at least watch where you’re going?" I said, pulling his collar again as he veered off the correct path.
Jawn chuckled and shot an arrow past , hitting a monster that was about to slash at my back. "You’ve also beco more caring towards others. Back then, you only thought of yourself,"1 he said, voice steady despite the chaos.
"What do you an I’ve changed?" I asked, pulling him back just in ti as the ground beneath his foot collapsed, leading us onto another route.
Jawn looked at , eyes glinting with sothing unspoken. "You don’t know?"
I deflected his words with a smirk. "I didn’t know you were so creepy. Have you been stalking all this ti?" I exaggerated, widening my eyes dramatically.
Jawn rolled his eyes. "Don’t be so delusional. I just like to observe everything."
I laughed at his reaction.
He then resud his story, voice more serious. "Back then, you were really super introverted. You wouldn’t talk to anyone, and if there was a group project or team, no one wanted to include you because you preferred to do everything alone. You were always ranked last. During class competitions, you’d usually be defeated, but even then, you kept training whenever you had the chance. There was one ti, I saw you fighting a bunch of students by yourself. I don’t know what started it, but you fought them all on the ground. Everyone was yelling, and when you were the last one standing—bloodied and torn—you could hear a pin drop. That was when they decided to call the dean. You were supposed to be expelled that day since the students you fought ca from influential families. But I helped you clear things up—so you only ended up doing school service for a week, while those kids got detention," Jawn explained, expertly dodging a swarm of monsters that had closed in.
I took the front, defending Jawn as he shot arrows at the approaching monsters while I fought off those nearby.
He’s pertaining to the ti when they’re still enrolled at Heroic Federation of the Ard Forces Academy
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