Chapter 76: Anywhere

Ethan was already on the east grounds when Ava showed up.

She walked towards him at a confident stride, smiling brightly when her eyes met his.

Ethan turned when he noticed her presence. She was late. Not late enough that they could no longer do anything, but late enough that he had already ran two full command sessions on the cyclops.

Matter of fact, he was actually considering leaving...

"Shaw," she called, "you’re early."

"I’m not early," he said, "you’re late."

She stopped, and tapped her chin. "Really? Huh... well, I would have been earlier, but we had a dungeon to clear. Didn’t expect it to run through the time we were supposed to meet up."

Ethan opened his mouth. The word dungeon making him curious. "Where?"

Ava’s eyes flicked towards him, mildly surprised he asked. "Around the edge of town," she said, "it appeared in the middle of the road. No one could move and by the time we arrived, dungeon mana fluctuations were already doing a number on the place." She stretched. "We cleared it tough. Nothing too serious, and of course, nobody got hurt."

He frowned. "Why is there a dungeon all the wayout there?"

"Why wouldn’t there be?" She stepped close and eyed him like he just asked something stupid. "The ones you’ve been going into for evaluations and system nonsense aren’t the only kind that exist. Active mapped out dungeons are just the ones people have already cleared and regulated. A dungeon can spawn anywhere. Anytime. Street, forest, heck, even in your room. Even the academy isn’t really safe. It just looks safe cause we have like thirty awakened stuffed into one lecture hall everyday."

The words hit him so hard, he immediately rethinked what he thought he knew about this academy.

He looked past her and towards the campus floor. The fact that a dungeon could open at any moment made him feel really uncomfortable...

"Right here" she continued, "it’s already happened twice. Both were cleared fast, but that doesn’t mean a third won’t pop up in the PE court while Coach is yelling about laps." She tilted her head. "You thought dungeons were destination exclusive? They’re more like weather. Bad weather that can rip you apart if you fumble just once."

She explained a little more while they had a short channeling lesson. She explained on how to know freshly spawned beasts from their smell, how disastrous a dungeon could be if it wasn’t cleared in time, and how third-years are mostly deployed because liscened MCA hunters are almost never available.

Ethan listened to everything and subtly gritted his teeth. He hated how useful she was.

Keeping Ava had proven how much he needed someone who had actual combat experience. She knew how things went around here, which was priceless info for a transmigrator like him who got brutally rejected in his last life...

"You’re staring," Ava said, then grinned. "Do you finally see how pretty I am?"

Ethan flicnched. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even realize it himself. Sure, he had to admit, she was pretty. Her yellow eyes were the most eye catching of her features. Pair that with her blond hair, she was—

Oi focus dammit!

"I’m updating priorities." he replied as he cleared his throat.

"Flattering." She smiled, then her face straightened again. "Speaking of priorities, the notification for the tournament dropped yesterday. Did you see?"

He nodded.

"Will you be participating?"

"It’s mandatory so I don’t really have a choice..."

She hummed. "It’s mandatory and public," she said, "don’t worry though. You’ll only fight other first years. The academy won’t pitch you against an SSS ranked monster." She laughed. "But prepare yourself for people who are the same rank as you but hit harder than they’re supposed to. Prepare for people ranked lower than you, but have gathered enough firepower to make sure a direct confrontation with them ends ugly. First-years love the word Rank. This tournament is about to change that."

"You’ve got a scary toy box," she continued, "that’s a good start. And they’re pretty strong too. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be enough to stop you from getting your ass handed to you."

"I’m still waiting for rules though. Not sure how limited using my undead is going to be."

"The rules are just them saying ’don’t die’ in a five page pdf." She shrugged "When they land though, read between the lines. Then assume someone stronger than you see on paper is coming to make you see stars..."

Ethan nodded once. She did have a point.

Ava stood up, and an excitement smile formed on her face. When Ethan saw it, he instantly got uncomfortable.

"Alright," she said. "Enough prophecy. You’ve improved since the last lesson, which means you’re dangerous enough to actually get something done."

He eyed her. "Meaning?"

"Meaning it’s time to put it to use." Her smile widended.

"I want a brief sparring match. No time limit, just you and I throwing punches till one of us can’t take it anymore..."

We’ll go under normal training rules. You do whatever you’re able to do, and I’ll use enough lightning to make sure you stay on the safer side of ’burnt to a crisp. If you’re going to spend a month preparing for ridiculously strong people, you might as well find out what ’strong’ feels like while you’re still able to walk and probably do something about it."

Ethan looked at the open lane, then at the excited third-year standing in front of him...

Was she serious right now? There was probably no version of this interaction ended with him retaining the ability to walk.

Ethan blinked. "Are you serious right now?"

She perked up, and Ethan could’ve sworn he saw an arc of lightning moving over her head. "Come on, let’s do it. I really want to do it. It’ll be fun."

’It will end with me having several dislocated bones in my body!’ he thought in an outrage. But before he could say something she spoke again:

"Don’t worry though. I’ll go easy on you."