"Let me get to the point. You don't have to come to the training center starting tomorrow."
My consciousness abruptly returned to me. I felt like I was still swimming, floundering helplessly in a dark ocean without end.
My head was heavy, my mind confused.
"Cain?" The manager's voice reached me, clearly worried, but I couldn't focus on her words.
I..
I died…?
Or did I?
"Cain!?"
I felt a hand touch my shoulder, causing me to jolt awake and back away immediately.
I reached for my rifle, only to realize that I had no weapon in hand.
Fuck!
The Necromancer…
"Cain! What's happening!?"
I stopped. My surroundings finally registered in my mind. When reality finally hit me, I doubled over and heaved.
I died.
I definitely died.
I could remember everything.
The feeling of my blood burning in my veins. My body is reaching its limits and breaking down.
It had been painful. Oh, so painful. And yet, now I felt nothing.
Was it an illusion? A dream?
I quickly discarded this theory as blue screens appeared. I was about to read them when someone shook my shoulder, bringing me out of my trance.
"Come with me to the infirmary!"
I recognized this voice. It was the manager.
Yeah, I was in her office.
Why here?
Did I really go back in time?
How was it even possible?
So many questions rushed through my already hazy mind.
"I…"
The last thing I saw as my consciousness blurred was the worried eyes of my manager.
Heh—just this sight made fainting worth it.
***
"....will be alright."
"Are you sure?"
"Do not worry, Manager. It seems like he had a mild panic attack. The test results also show that his body is overworked. Outside of that, however, everything is green."
"Thank you. I'll leave now. When he wakes up, just give him these medications. It should help him regulate his stress levels. Of course, I believe a change in lifestyle would be more useful."
I listened quietly to their discussion. They should already know that I was awake. There was no way they wouldn't notice the change in my breathing pattern.
When I finally opened my eyes again, I found myself alone with the Manager. She looked tired and disheveled, quite unlike her usual calm and stoic self.
"You look like you went through a storm."
The manager adjusted her glasses. "Whose fault do you think it is?"
She gave a sigh as she sat next to me.
"Sorry. I didn't expect to faint." Bantering with her helped me calm down a little.
"You don't have to apologize for something like that." She sighed once again.
"Cain… It seems like you have been overdoing your training despite all my warnings."
"..."
"Nothing to say?"
"What can I say?" I smiled bitterly. "I know I should rest. But how can I rest when I'm so far behind? Helen and Jason are already challenging D-ranked dungeons. Meanwhile, I'm going to get fired because I produced no results."
She winced a little. "So you remember that." She gave me an apologetic look. "Cain, I have trained you for years, and I have seen all of your struggles. In combat, you are definitely a prodigy."
"I am not a prodigy." I stopped her; I didn't need to hear something I already knew.
A prodigy? Don't make me laugh. I hated that word with a passion.
I trained like mad every day, from morning until night. Studied different domains to increase the potency of my Maker class. I had even lived alone in the forest for a few months to level up my Ranger class.
I might not have been the hardest-working person in the world. I wasn't so arrogant to believe I worked harder than everyone else.
Still…
While people said that hard work always paid off, in reality, after all that hard work, I could only be compared to an F-ranked Hunter.
Of course, relatively speaking, it was still very impressive. After all, this meant that my skills and combat awareness were high enough to bridge the gap between ranks.
But this also highlighted the cold, hard reality.
In this world, stats were supreme, and there were clear limits.
The manager clamped her mouth shut. I hated the look of pity she was giving me, but at this moment, her pity was something I needed. Something I planned to use to my advantage with no remorse.
"Manager."
If I really had gone back in time…
If I had truly been given a second chance at life… What should I do?
Knowing what I did… How should I act?
"I will not fight your decision to fire me. However,…"
I could cower and hide. I could ignore him and flee.
"I need your help."
Flight or ignorance would be the wisest decisions in my current situation.
But….
I was not a wise man.
"I wish to have access to the monster library up to D- and possibly C-rank."
I was a Fool.
"Why?" The manager was looking at me like I was crazy, and I understood why. After all, information on D-rank monsters and upwards was classified. While much information was common knowledge, there were always secrets worth more than gold. That data had been collected slowly over the years, after many sacrifices.
It was definitely not an easy request.
This was why I understood her hesitation. But how could she understand me?
I was nothing more than a foolish man who had once aspired to become a Hunter, and who was now focused on revenge.
Whether my time in the dungeon had been a prophetic dream, or I really had gone back in time, did not matter.
To accomplish my goal, I needed more information. Information about how to kill something that was already dead.
Seeing her hesitate, I placed my hand on hers and gave her the best puppy dog eyes I could.
"Pretty please."
The look of disgust on her face was surely nothing but an illusion.
"One. Never do that again. That stopped working after I found you in bed with your first girlfriend."
I gave her a sheepish grin, and she facepalmed. For years, she had been more than a teacher to me. She was my caretaker, the closest thing to a mother for me.
This was why, even after she had fired me last time, I could not bring myself to hate her. After all, I knew how much she had fought for me despite my situation.
I waited in silence, knowing that anything I said now would change nothing.
In the end, after what felt like a few hot minutes, she finally nodded and gave me her badge.
"I will postpone the official decision about firing you till tomorrow. For now, a few more hours, then you can visit the library." She took out her badge and placed it in my hand. "Don't do anything crazy, okay?"
I smiled at her, giving what I thought was an angelic smile.
"I promise nothing. I am very reckless, you know."
She chuckled, most likely thinking I was joking.
I wonder what her expression would be if she knew I wanted to hunt a Necromancer.
Laughing alongside her, I glanced at the notification in the corner of my eye.
[Bloodline, Ouroboros, Awakened.]
[Unique Class: Time Sovereign, unlocked.]
Things were definitely taking an interesting turn.