The Extra's Odyssey

[Please select the difficulty level]

I tapped at the panel hovering in front of me.

Presently, I was training in the training room.

[Lvl 11 difficulty selected]

The ground in front of me opened, and a mechanical spider popped out.

"It's coming."

My body tensed up as the machine came toward me, but it didn't do anything more than that. It stopped just before getting to me.

This wasn't its attack range.

Two swords appeared behind me.

A mechanical spider moved around me.

And now, it was about to start.

One sword swished through the air like wind chimes.

The spider moved, swinging its front two legs at the sword.

Clang-!

It blocked my attack.

Without a moment's delay, it rushed at me, seemingly trying to skew me alive.

But I had already anticipated how it would move.

Thrusting my right hand out, I stabbed the sword into the robot's head.

"[Pierce]"

Krch-!

The tip of the sword punctured its head.

However, the spider quickly pulled itself together, flinging away the sword from it as if it were nothing.

Phzzt-

Another blade flew out.

With a roar, the metal monster turned into a blur as it charged at me.

I had no time to dodge.

I couldn't even tell what kind of technique it used.

My heart pounded.

I could feel the pressure building up inside my stomach.

The spider jumped and slashed at me again.

I ducked and rolled on the ground.

Breaking my roll, I constructed another sword beneath it.

"[Pierce]"

The spider fell back on the sword. The sword tore through its belly and came out of its back.

This time, the spider couldn't move immediately.

I ran toward it. I had to defeat it while it was not yet moving.

I thrust my blade down on it with all my might.

"Gah!"

The sword pierced through it.

I had hit it right between the eyes.

With another swing, I beheaded the machine.

Thud-!

The spider fell to the ground. But I didn't let my guard down.

It was only after the message appeared did I relax.

[Training completed]

[User Rating: A]

[Leaderboard - Can only be accessed in highest difficulty]

The sword in my hand disappeared, and I ended the training.

I jumped from a C rating to an A in less than 4 months. The growth rate was impressive, but I didn't feel satisfied.

Unknowingly, I had been depending on my art too much.

It wasn't a bad thing, per se. However, I wasn't making most of my abilities.

Without the weapons, constantly blocking and hindering the enemy, I was an easy target.

Picking the towel, I wiped the sweat.

I was leaving to eat something.

This was what I had been doing since I came back: Eat, sleep, train, rinse and repeat.

Honestly, the feeling of sleeping had become too weird after staying awake for 10 years straight. It was now more difficult to sleep than not to.

Opening a bottle, I drank the energy drink.

"Pwah.."

The spear constellation inside my soul had become a problem. I couldn't use it while training because of surveillance.

What's more, was that constructing that spear was going to take me at least a half minute.

Due to the spear constellation being created by using all of my previous constellations, I had to build my stash from the beginning.

The good thing was that I had no lack of weapons to create constellations. The sentries at the tournament had been generous and given me everything they had on themselves.

Besides, with my high proficiency now I could create at least 2 constellations in one day, compared to before when I constructed 1 constellation after more than a week.

I was waiting to build a good stash of constellations before going inside the Dungeon of Trials.

Placing the worries at the back of my head, I opened the door.

The door opened with a swish and what greeted me was a familiar face.

Both of us looked at each other for a moment and I moved my arm to close the door.

"Wait"

But before I could shut him out, Leon stepped inside.

"Long time no see~"

I changed my temperament as fast as a father leaving to buy milk.

Leon stared at me, unamused.

Before I could make a joke, he cut me off.

"What were you doing for the past week?

"Training"

'Why is asking that? Isn't that too early?'

Leon was staring at my face as if trying to spot lies.

He had dark circles underneath his eyes and looked like he hadn't slept in days.

I was amazed at how much he'd been overworked to look this tired in a span of a few days. This was the result with his physique. If it was a normal person, they'd be dead from exhaustion.

As I thought, working for the government wasn't fun.

"You look like you are going to die from exhaustion. Remember to declare me as your will's successor before that."

'Did I get caught? No, if I did, it wouldn't have been Leon who came to meet me.'

My thoughts and mouth worked simultaneously.

Leon suddenly slumped on the ground.

"You aren't hurt."

I titled my head.

"What are you talking about?"

"I..I had a dream. I can't remember what it was, but I feel that it wasn't good. For some reason, I feel like I met you at the end of the dream."

My smile froze.

"…You met me?"

Gulp-

'Did he have the same dream?'

[Synchronization]

Suddenly, the name of the skill started making more sense.

'It isn't possible, right? It makes no sense why he would also have that dream.'

I was about to question Leon when I noticed him intensely staring at my face.

"Is there something on my face?"

I wiped my hand to clean my face, but he didn't move his eyes even after that.

"What are you looking at?"

"Your earrings… where did you get them?"