Blinking rapidly, I woke up.
I was not dead.
How?
“Welcome back, foolish disciple.” A smooth voice rang out beside me.
My eyes focused, and I saw Akisame standing there with his hands behind his back, wearing his usual light smile.
The kind of smile that promised punishment.
My eye twitched.
“Now,” he continued pleasantly, “what have we learned?” No.
That was just my hope talking.
He did not sound pleasant.
He sounded hollow.
Like a doctor informing me that my survival had personally inconvenienced him.
— After being thoroughly lectured about how stupid I had been, I lay in silence and agreed with them.
Fuck.
I was so weak.
I hated that feeling.
I felt trapped.
At someone else’s mercy.
It was awful.
I wanted to be strong.
I gritted my teeth, and the System screen flickered in front of me.
[Achievement Gained!] You have survived your first life-and-death encounter.
Reward Available: [Cursed Box] Something you want.
or [Blessed Box] Something you need.
Oh, wonderful.
Wants versus needs.
Fuck this.
I didn’t care what I needed right now.
I wanted strength.
I chose the Cursed Box.
The System screen updated, displaying a spinning roulette of text.
It came to a sudden halt before displaying the reward.
[Reward Acquired: World Narrative Hopping Ticket] A ticket that, upon tearing, freezes time in the Host’s home world and temporarily transfers the Host to another narrative within the multiverse.
Available Destination Category: Low-Power Ceiling.
Home World Classification: High-Power Ceiling.
Huh.
That was interesting.
I would deal with this later.
I closed my eyes gently.
— Whoops.
I fell asleep.
Luckily, it was only around 6:00 p.m.
or so.
I had to get home.
Almost dying would not be worth losing my perfect attendance.
Kidding.
I was scared as fuck, but I needed to check what happened to Issei.
I vaguely felt like I knew, but I wasn’t sure.
Okay.
Time to get up.
I swung my legs off the bed, paused, and stretched as best I could.
The place that woman stabbed me still hurt.
Obviously.
But there was some kind of medicine on the wound, and it was covered with gauze.
A cool pulse came from the area, spreading through my body.
Guess I had a healing factor.
The shallow cuts were already scabbed.
Neat.
I could feel that my body was also stronger and more flexible.
I would have to look at the status screen later.
For now, I needed to find my teachers.
— Now, after the lecture earlier, I had not been expecting this from the Elder at all.
Sakaki had a grin on his face, but the Elder had a gentle smile of pride.
He met my eyes and began.
“Congratulations on surviving your first life-and-death encounter.
How do you feel?” “Awful.” I couldn’t help but grimace.
“I am weak.” The Elder chuckled and nodded.
“Well, yes.
But not quite.
Try again.” I closed my eyes, tilted my head down, and tapped my finger against my leg.
“Know when to fight and when to run.” He smiled.
“Better.” I bowed.
“Thank you for saving my life, Masters.” A hand stopped me before I could finish the motion.
“None of that,” the Elder said, patting me gently on the back.
“I welcome you as an official disciple.” I froze.
Official disciple.
Something warm and uncomfortable twisted in my chest.
Then the Elder paused, looked at me, and seemed to sigh.
“Also, if you plan to disturb the dimension, make sure to tell me first.
I have to notify someone.” …
What?
“Elder?!” He shook his head with a smile.
“Everyone has their secrets.
But you cannot disturb a dimension without drawing the attention of one who dreams between them.” My eyes widened.
Great Red had its eyes on me?
Damn it.
I forgot about the big fuck-off dragon in the Dimensional Gap.
I sighed and looked at the Elder tiredly.
“Thank you, Elder.
I’ll talk to you all about this tomorrow.
I don’t have the capacity to open that can of worms tonight.” The Elder nodded.
“Then come.
Stay in the guest room.” — The guest room was quieter than I expected.
That should have been comforting.
It was not.
Quiet gave my brain room to be annoying.
I sat on the futon with my back against the wall, one hand resting near the bandages wrapped around my shoulder.
The wound still hurt.
Not as badly as before, but enough that every small movement reminded me that a fallen angel had nearly shoved her fingers through my chest.
Fun.
I groaned as I woke up and heard a knock on the door.
“Get up brat.
I need to talk to you.” —