The next day, everything started very smoothly. Ji-soo messaged me about the teaching location and provided some information about the dungeon we were entering so I could prepare.
The destination was close, so I ran for an hour instead of taking a taxi to save money.
As soon as I reached the dungeon entrance, I was shocked by the number of people waiting there. I noticed Ji-soo talking to the dungeon guard with a lot of expression on his face, so I walked toward him.
"Hello, Mr. Kim. What's going on?" I asked.
Ji-soo noticed me, turned away from the guard, and said, "Well, you wanted to teach, so I found what you were looking for: nine students with enough ability to follow your instructions... that was not easy."
"This is much more than I had anticipated," I said with a genuine smile.
"I guess you misunderstood me a little. I've been in this industry for 30 years, and if it weren't for my age, I would be working in the association." He also replied with a genuine smile.
The guard, who was waiting for us to finish our greeting, came forward and said, "Hello, Mr. Ethan Hoarder. I was going to explain the tutoring job, but I believe you already know what to expect. The only thing is that there is a problem with—"
"Oh, I know about the ban, and I assure you it isn't because of a crime."
"Don't worry about that, since I can see the reason for your ban, and it's not significant. It's true that problems caused by monsters are on the receiver, but since this is a tutoring session, you need to sign an escort contract that makes you responsible for today's session."
"I know about it; let me check."
I took a look at the papers, and it was a bit tougher than expected. There were many little clauses that could only be seen by a professional, and although I wasn't one in that matter, I knew I could handle them with ease.
After we went through the time-consuming procedure, I was left alone with the "students" I was going to teach. Kim Ji-soo left the area after a brief talk with the guard to run his own errands.
"Alright, may I have everyone's attention?" I said in a loud and clear voice.
Those in the vicinity heeded my voice and turned toward me. Each was wearing very new equipment, and their expressions mirrored their self-proclaimed confidence... just like any other new awakener.
Although this was my first time as a trainer, I had strong experience with newbies, especially the ignorant ones, so from my perspective, this was going to be easy.
I continued, "We are going to head toward the E-rank dungeon, filled with stone lizards, which are considered perfect for starters. We will enter the dungeon after I explain the strategies... but before that, does anyone have any questions?"
After my simple speech, a single guy who seemed very fond of himself raised his hand and asked, "What is your rank?"
This was a question I expected to hear but prepared no answer for, so in the heat of the moment, I replied, "That's not how you should evaluate me. What do you trust the most? A powerful newbie like you? The true question is, how many dungeons have you experienced?"
"Then how many?" he asked bluntly and arrogantly.
"Let's see... 42 E-rank, 5 D-rank, 20 C-rank, and three B-rank, with some extras here and there."
I only mentioned dungeons with monsters since, as a porter, I could enter a dungeon after it got cleaned, just for the corpses... so the actual numbers were higher.
After I said that, I could feel the shift of respect in most of their gazes, but some were unconvinced by my words... including the guy who asked.
I pushed it aside, knowing it wouldn't affect the session, and started explaining various information to the newbies. They were listening to my explanation very intently, which was expected from students prepared by Mr. Kim Ji-soo.
After a while of explanation and mentioning various dangers that one might encounter in the dungeon, we started heading to the dungeon with a lot of ambition... most of it from those behind me.
The dungeon wasn't any different from any generic dungeon... or so it seemed.
[ Dungeon Mission
= ————— =
> Objective: Defeat the Boss Monster.
• Time Limit: None. ]
The window in front of me stated the objective, but no time limit was assigned to it. We call these dungeons "Limitless," since as long as they have a sustained mana resource, the monsters will spawn.
And the only reason someone like me, who was banned from entering a dungeon, was allowed was because of the surveillance cameras all around the dungeon. Unlike a normal dungeon, limitless dungeons were prohibited from being cleaned, so installing cameras inside was not unexpected.
By just looking around, I could see countless hidden cameras, each monitoring us as we moved around. The cameras operated on mana particles in the dungeons, making them work without a single bit of electricity.
After everyone entered the dungeon, I looked around to ensure everything was okay. The newbies divided into three groups of three, with each group having a balanced set of classes. They were filled with a lot of confidence... which wasn't good for dungeon cleaning.
Death happened frequently in dungeons, and I saw many people whom I worked with die when they were most confident. Confidence was good, but too much confidence could lower someone's guard, and inside dungeons, the unexpected was the norm.
"Alright, we need to start cleaning this dungeon. Make sure to be on the lookout since, although I was tasked with taking care of your safety, who knows if I might do well at my job," I said with a friendly tone.
They nodded in agreement, and we started moving forward with the dungeon cleaning. The terrain of the dungeon was something to get used to, especially the maze-like structure inside, since a wrong move could result in getting lost in possibly the most dangerous location... but that shouldn't be the main concern of a dungeon cleaner's mindset.
There are about thousands of types of monsters in dungeons, and each has different characteristics and skills, and these would determine if the terrain would be an advantage or a disadvantage.
After walking for a while, we stumbled upon a big room with many monsters inside, so I said, "Okay then, first group start attacking."
"Um, sorry sir, but attacking what?" said one of the team members, as they were seeing a seemingly empty room.
I bent down and picked up a stone from the ground, and with enough force, I threw the stone in the middle of the room, making enough noise for the monsters to react. The seemingly empty room started shifting and changing as if the walls were moving around, and the lizard-like creatures with their stony buckskin began to crawl to the middle.
"Those are stone lizards. They're considered one of the weakest E-rank monsters due to their low attack damage, but they hide inside the dungeons and attack whoever passes by, and even high rankers would be at risk if not careful. Go on."
The team went ahead and started their encounter with seven stone lizards about the size of a young crocodile.
The stone lizards began their attack on the first group, and the group was showing relatively fine movement against them.
I was observing each movement of both the awakeners and the monsters to assist the situation of the fight to meddle if needed... but that wasn't the main reason.
The newbies were heavily relying on their skills and activating them at any chance, which made me feel the same way I felt while learning [Swift Slash].
I was seeing and feeling more than what anyone should by watching those skill activation. The sensation of being able to do such a thing was unexplainable... but something strange happened.
Although the situation was no different from when I acquired [Swift Slash], I could not grasp the concept that was shown in front of me. It felt like as if I knew both the question and the answer, but didn't know the process of getting that answer through the question, enabling me to replicate it.
After a few moments of try, I shifted my attention lower rank skills, and in a moment of solitude and focus, I noticed and grasped a new information, which made me acquired it.
[ Skill "Quick Dash ⌜1⌟" Acquired ]
[ Quick Dash ⌜1⌟
Rank: D-
=—————=
Increase the speed of a single movement action by 55%.
• Mana Consumption: 7 Points
• Cooldown: 10 Minutes ]
Slash-! [ Skill "Swift Slash" Activated ]
"Ugh- thanks, Mr. Hoarder," said the archer who was about to get bitten by a stone lizard.
"I'm doing my job," I said with a smile, mostly caused by my newly acquired skill.
After the encounter ended, I started explaining the problems of the first group, such as their unorganized battle formation, and then explained how they should fix them.
The session continued, and the other groups also started fighting monsters in the rooms ahead. I was observing everyone's movements for both learning their skills and processing the situation... which led me to understand something new.
As someone knowledgeable in the awakeners' world, I knew many skills that were categorized under common classes, so I knew what they were using. Some of those skills were low in rank, just like [Swift Slash], which felt too simple to replicate, but those with higher ranks felt too out of touch.
The trait [Advance Learner] was heavily relying on my own understanding ond knowledge, so unless I could grasp the concept, it wouldn't let me acquire it. This felt both fair and unfair since despite the fact that I could acquire as many skills as possible, understanding the concept of many skills, such as magical ones, was out of the question.
"Interesting," I muttered to myself as I observed the newbies' movements.
[ Skill "Focused Unsheathing ⌜1⌟" Acquired ]
[ Focused Unsheathing ⌜1⌟
Rank: E+
=—————=
Increase the weapons blade speed by 10% upon Unsheathing.
• Active Duration: 0.1 Second
• Mana Consumption: 1 Point
• Cooldown: 5 minutes ]
It was working for me, and it felt great to learn new skills of any class, but deep down, I knew this wasn't enough. I simply lacked the knowledge to comprehend more complex skills, and low-rank skills were something that each class had a lot of.
"Alright everyone, this session is over since we killed all monsters within the dungeon. I hope you all learned great things and are ready for tomorrow's program," I said with a broad smile.
I could see the disappointment on their faces after I said my line. I guessed that disappointment might be caused by my lack of focus on my explanations since I was mostly focused on skill learning... but it didn't matter anymore.