The Protagonist Already Knows

[Today’s classes have been canceled; please use this free time to prepare for the upcoming First-Year Inter-Academy Try-Outs.]

Seeing the notification on my smartwatch, I couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved.

At the same time, as soon as I realized I was feeling relief, a pang of annoyance and anger overwhelmed me.

Why was I scared to face those "people" after Leon had spread those rumors?

What did those novel characters matter to me? Why should I care what my classmates thought?

Clicking my tongue, I showered and changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before glancing out the window.

I needed...to get away.

It felt suffocating being in this academy.

Recalling the notification that had popped up on my smartwatch yesterday, I grabbed my backpack and left my dorm room.

[Bid Successful]

[Ownership of Dungeon #1313: Floating Lilies (C) has been transferred to you.]

[Please click here for directions.]

After a bit of thought, I decided I wasn’t going for a traditional sword technique manual that increases the strength of your slashes, but instead, a sword technique manual more focused on the art and fluidity of footwork when wielding the sword.

My movements during battles were always slow, improvised, and rough.

Stepping out of the elevator and onto the first floor of the dorm hall, I found almost all eyes on me as I walked toward the exit.

Ignoring their hushed whispers, I exited the dorm building, only to be met with a familiar white-haired girl in the distance.

Lily’s previously dead ice-blue pupils seemed to unfreeze as they spotted me exiting the building, a condescending grin forming on her face.

Like a dog who had just found a bone, Lily halted abruptly and speed-walked toward me, her mouth already open and ice-blue eyes sparkling.

"Drinking really, Ash? I kn-"

I just glanced down at her white hair and walked away, not letting her finish her typical sarcastic comment.

It wasn’t like I needed her anymore.

The mechanical armband was all I needed, so there was not really a point in conversing with her anymore.

Clicking my tongue as I entered the crowded train station and hopped on a departing train, I glanced through the windows behind me and at the landscape of Vael City.

Even I could tell something was wrong with me.

When I had arrived back from the Dreg Dimension, I was as tranquil as one could be, wanting to relax and enjoy life in this new world.

But now here I was, denying the reality of the people around me and wanting to escape back to Earth.

And it was all because of him.

For the first time in a while, a genuine anger built up in my chest as I thought of Leon.

Why was I letting a fuck like him get on my nerves?

...

...

...

"Next stop, Station 57, Yunhee!"

Finally hearing the city I was looking for after about three hours on the train, I groaned and slowly exited the train, immediately feeling a rush of humid air hit me.

Exiting the underground train station, I stepped into Yunhee, instantly surprised by the wilderness scenery around me.

Unlike Vael City, which was full of modern buildings and inventions, Yunhee...seemed to be a city in the middle of a jungle.

The ground was soft grass instead of hard cement, and jungle trees were visible between the buildings and shops around me, stretching up to the sky.

*CHIRP*

*CHIRP*

I could hear the chirping of various birds above me as they flew throughout the city, and the vendor stands were all made of wood instead of metal.

There were no cars or anything...just crowds of people walking on foot through the relatively small city.

Clicking my smartwatch and following the navigation, I admired the natural city for a moment longer before turning around and heading into the jungle surrounding Yunhee.

The air was extremely humid, sweat dripping down my face as I trekked through the trees while keeping my ears honed.

...

...

...

Finally, after about an hour, I heard it...the faint sound of water violently pounding against rocks.

A Waterfall.

Turning off my smartwatch, I followed the sound, eventually finding myself at the edge of a massive cliff, a stream of water flowing down the cliff and into a massive lake below me.

Below the cliff, all I could see was trees for miles in every direction.

Without any hesitation, I leaped off the cliff, turning intangible a few moments later and racing downward to the ground.

However, for just a moment, I glanced forward.

There... just a few miles in front of me, a massive wall of jade-green mana cut through the forest, stretching to the right and left for as far as I could see.

The border between the human and elven territories.

Looking back downward, finding myself nearly at the ground, I suddenly turned around mid-air and flew forward, phasing right through the waterfall.

Instead of my vision going black, I found myself in a small hole in the cliff behind the waterfall.

Re-materializing on the ground, the sound of flowing water echoing through the cave, I glanced at the circular door before me and took a deep breath.

I had only recalled the name of the dungeon and not its exact location, so I was forced to bid on it to find this place.

But, in the novel, a group of elves had snuck across the border and into the human territory to clear this dungeon, receiving the sword technique manual I was looking for.

But what was the reason the elves had taken such a risk to invade the human realm for a basic C-rank dungeon?

They had learned of a secret clear condition.

While usually clearing a C-rank dungeon at my rank of F+ should be impossible, Floating Lilies had a secret clear condition.

Connect all the Lilies.

Breathing out, I placed my hands on the circular-shaped door in front of me and closed my eyes.

*WHOOSH*