Chapter 120 - Looking Ahead

After her initial surprise upon seeing Aldrin already close to recovering in just a few hours, Irina had no choice but to accept that reality even if it was a bit incomprehensible. The most important thing was that he woke up fine.

She gave up on checking him and just stared at him straight, hoping to get an answer from him. "You. I heard from our Instructor. How did you even decide to fight someone like that? You're lucky you came out alive."

"Perhaps it's because I have a higher-than-normal survival instinct." Aldrin joked an answer.

Irina dismissed that with a shrug though before giving him a piece of her mind. She's at least worried about him when she saw him tattered like that. "Yeah, right. If everyone can survive a mortal wound with one's survival instinct, doctors won't be a neat profession anymore."

"I'll tell you about it but can I first ask what happened while I'm unconscious?"

Naturally, he's aware that it wouldn't be able to trick the girl. But at the moment – since she already woke up – he wanted to get a good grasp of what transpired while he was unconscious.

After sizing him up for a few seconds, Irina raised her hand in defeat and agreed to his request. She then narrated what led up to him waking up inside her tent.

Yes. Since they were all provided the same kind of temporary shelter, he failed to recognize that he's inside Irina's tent rather than his own.

Upon knowing that, he quickly apologized and even tried to get up but the girl stopped him. A while later, she began filling up the details that he missed.

According to her, the camp was woken by and alerted when explosions sprouted up nearby along with the mechanical creaking of the Metadomes.

'That place wasn't that far away from here. So, I expected that to happen. The way they announced that we should rest for the night was also part of the plan. To not let them wander outside. Aside from Carlos, most Instructors and guest Energy Refiners were in on it.' Aldrin thought as he began analyzing Irina's narration of the events.

Continuing on, Irina first thought that they were being attacked by Rift Monsters. However, it quickly died down. Following that, the voice of one of the Instructors encompassed their camp, informing them that there's no need to panic and they should continue their rest.

When the commotion died down and they went back to rest in their tents, Janet showed up inside Irina's tent, Aldrin was on her back.

Janet then informed her of his foolish endeavor, she was owed that kind of explanation at least and it's in light of her accepting to keep her mouth shut about what she just learned.

Given that Janet was aware of their close ties even with their fake relationship, she picked Irina for that and perhaps believing that he wouldn't wake up that quickly, she was reminded to utter an excuse for his sudden absence. Something like he took up an important mission as the leader of the camp.

That's fairly useless now when the Aldrin in front of him wouldn't be suspected of being mortally wounded just a few hours ago. The stab wound that she spied when she's bandaging Aldrin up had already closed and even the scar was close to disappearing.

Janet was aware of the Allcure Elixir – it's one of the reasons why she agreed to his foolish plan in the first place; although she's not quite sure how potent it was. The only thing she knew was that it could save him from certain death. Fortunately, he was stabbed and not beheaded.

"Instructor Janet didn't return again and the nearby commotion died down…"

And that's the extent of what Irina could fill him in, she fell asleep soon after Janet left and she bandaged him up. Since Janet hadn't returned yet, she couldn't tell him any update on Carlos' state, whether they caught him or not or what kind of information they managed to squeeze from him.

"I see. I understand… I guess I should thank you for taking care of me."

"You're still my boyfriend. I don't need that." Though she said that, her lips curved up. Clearly happy hearing him say that. A while later, she crossed her arms and egged him. "Now, tell me what made you decide that and what led to that point… I get that Carlos is the one responsible for the Southern District disaster but why challenge him? And what's with your monstrous recovery rate? If Instructor Janet returned and saw you well and fine, she'd also be in for a not-so-pleasant surprise!"

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After owning up to the gratitude he owed her by telling Irina details she was curious about and getting scolded by her because of how foolish it was, Aldrin escaped and returned to his tent just before the sky brightened.

He also had no choice but to wait for Janet to update him. He somehow wished to be the one to catch him by relying on the Dimensional Clones,

In the meantime, he sent his Dimensional Clones to move and look for traces of the battle as well as look for clues about the changes in this Dimension.

Apart from noticing how aggressive the Dimensional Creatures became when he observed them what's happening on his phone screen for a while, the warning IDLE Database flashed before him still couldn't be felt.

And due to that, the training camp continued on its course.

When everyone woke up and gathered again for the second day, Aldrin, as the leader, took up the supervising position again for the continued construction of their Base Camp.

While doing so, he'd occasionally leave the confines of the wall just to check if Janet or any other Instructors would show up.

However, he couldn't see any of them anymore.

That's how it should be after all. Last night was the first and last time they would be protected, in accordance to entrapping a criminal like Carlos and to letting the trainees adjust to their new environment.

As soon as the 2nd day dawned on them, the Base Building activity was now underway and they're expected to produce results three days later or they'd most likely suffer for the next part of their 20 days inside the Dimension.

'… I should start focusing on this then. She will update me if there's progress, hopefully.'

Having decided that, he dropped the matter of Carlos. It's just one man against that many, he trusted in their abilities. Although he hoped to see the aftermath with his own eyes, he's clearly unqualified for it.

What he could do for now was to get their Base Camp in order and let his Dimensional Clones investigate the changes in the Dimension while also racking up IDLE Points for him.

After returning inside, Troy and Lizette, two of the five assistants he appointed, ran up to him. The former was assigned to manage their construction supplies while the latter was assigned to supervise sentry points for their Base Camp.

"Leader, we finished building the foundations of the important facilities. However, I think we should get more materials from our surroundings and reinforce the walls."

"Leader, someone spotted a group of Green-dotted Hyenas making a beeline to our hill. Send the two combat groups to take care of them. I believe the Instructors have already stopped babying us. It's about time we pull our weight"

"Alright. Call Yasuto, Frederic and Faye. Let's do this right." Aldrin nodded at the two and named the other three assistants he appointed.

There's a lot going on around him but after recognizing his weakness, foolishness and any other negative traits of him, he could put on more hard work to fix them.

Furthermore, he couldn't be tied to only one issue. All these fellow trainees and even his Dimensional Clones were doing their own share of work, he better work on what's in front of his eyes as well.

Whatever's going to happen in the following days, Aldrin could only prepare himself for it.