The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 14: The Reality of a Dungeon

Chapter 14: The Reality of a Dungeon

His two subordinates—who were also his friends—suddenly lowered their heads and recounted everything that had happened... it was exactly the same as what had happened to them.

"Some gave up, and others just walked out with the tokens. But now we don’t know where the entrance is."

John no longer had the strength to hurl insults. Somehow, he felt powerless.

"Do you guys have any tokens?" he asked.

"We have two." They took out their tokens and showed them to him. "When we were trying to get the last one from the group, they left because it was proving to be more difficult than we expected."

"Are you two the only ones left? How did you find each other?" Zaid asked suddenly.

Although they didn’t want to answer him, under John’s gaze—which conveyed the same question—they had no choice but to do so.

"We were relatively close to each other. We found each other because of each other’s angry shouts,"

’Uh... so you use angry shouts to communicate.’ Zaid laughed as he remembered that this was the very reason they had found John.

"W-what should we do?" Alice asked, determined to join the conversation, though she stayed behind Zaid.

"Find the other tokens," John replied immediately. "We’re missing three. Then we can figure out a way out."

"I agree," Zaid replied. "Since we’re trapped, let’s gather all the tokens and then figure out a way out."

Alice nodded.

"Anyway, we don’t want to leave without any tokens..." John’s two friends shrugged.

And suddenly, three notorious bullies, a beautiful girl, and a despised guy were walking through the vast forest, searching for tokens that seemed to be getting farther and farther away from them.

None of the five could tell if they had gone mad because of the corrupt essence in their bodies, and if that was what was preventing them from seeing the real exit. However, they were certain they were here to find those tokens, and they weren’t going to back down.

The hours passed, and soon they turned into days.

They were able to find the remaining ten missing tokens during the first three days. It was a really difficult search.

And after they finished, they started looking for the exit... over and over again.

There were so many marked trees that they often found themselves going in circles without even realizing it.

And that’s how two weeks went by.

"There’s no doubt about it," Zaid said suddenly, looking at a huge tree in front of him.

"Did you find the exit?" John, his two friends, and Alice peered out from where they were searching, full of hope.

They’d been stuck in here for two weeks; they were already stressed out from seeing nothing but trees and arguing with each other over silly things!

They wanted to get out!

Especially John, who couldn’t stand the anger and wanted to go slap all those idiots who dared to deceive him.

"No..." Zaid shook his head.

"Tsk, who cares, then." John grumbled and went back to his work.

"I’ve found something better," said Zaid.

This time, John didn’t care. He just kept working.

However, Alice came over to listen to him.

"We’re inside a dungeon. A real dungeon!" Zaid said suddenly.

Finally, John raised an eyebrow and turned to look at him. "So what? That’s nothing new! We all know that!"

"No. You’re not getting it." Zaid turned to look at him. "Don’t you notice anything strange?"

"Something strange?" John tilted his head. "The only strange thing is that I’ve managed to put up with you for two whole weeks."

"Your hunger." Zaid got straight to the point. "Have you felt hungry at all these past two weeks?"

"Well..." John suddenly froze...

Wait... Had they gone two weeks without eating? Two whole weeks, without drinking any water?

"They say that a normal human couldn’t last two weeks without water, but that an Awakened One, depending on their strength, could last up to two weeks—or even longer—without tasting a single drop of water," Zaid said. "But that doesn’t mean you don’t feel hungry or thirsty during that time."

"..."

John frowned. That was certainly true...

The other two thugs emerged from behind their trees and leaned against them. "What does that mean?" they asked.

"Haven’t I already answered that? How much attention did you pay in school?" Zaid complained about their questions, but he told them again anyway. "We’re in a dungeon—time doesn’t pass the same way in dungeons!"

"Remember why the first generation of hunters was wiped out!"

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

"One week... is one hour out there," Alice whispered suddenly, finally realizing it.

"The first hunters didn’t understand this and forced their bodies to age too soon..."

"Many, victims of the corrupt essence, succumbed to old age at a young age..."

"Others succumbed to the powerful Portal of Calamities, where it is said that time passes in such an absurd way that..."

"Shit..."

"Out there, have only two hours passed?"

Alice swallowed hard.

John’s two friends trembled.

John and Zaid were the only ones who felt an indescribable emotion.

They were opposites... but very much alike.

"We have to find the way out within the next two weeks," John whispered. "And those bastards... I’ll knock their teeth out."

Zaid stepped forward. "Speaking of which... actually, I did find the way out," he said, glancing behind the giant tree he’d been staring at. "You can’t see anything, but I’m sure it’s right here."

John, his two friends, Alice and Zaid, decided to try it at the same time.

Two weeks... they had more experience. Zaid had new talents to acquire, and he now also had a better understanding of the corrupt essence...

When they passed through the tree and the aligned roots that were there, a slight blindness overwhelmed them, along with the feeling of stepping onto a different plane...

However, that didn’t throw them off balance. They had experienced that sensation so many times over the past two weeks that they already knew what to do.

They simply planted their feet firmly, searching for solid ground, and found it in an instant. The blindness vanished at that moment, and they looked out at a familiar surroundings.

In front of them stood Robinson and 15 students sitting on the nearby tree roots and trunks.

"Oh. They’re out." The students immediately went on high alert.

But the way they came out...

"W-what the hell? Why do they look so disheveled? Damn, it looks like they spent a month in there," one of them exclaimed.

The only one who wasn’t surprised was Robinson. At a glance, he could tell that they already knew what was going on.

Zaid stepped forward and placed the tokens in his hands. "Five of us. I hope the other five aren’t for the approval of those who surrendered."

Although Robinson didn’t want to talk to this guy, he had to pass him this time. "Anyone who gave up isn’t worthy of receiving a point on this test," he declared.

Zaid nodded, satisfied.

The students stood up when they heard the conversation. Those who had given up stepped forward.

"Professor, you should know that we gave up after the time you set had passed. Not because we weren’t capable, but because we were slow."

"That’s true. Besides, they can’t pass. They didn’t pass the test."

"No." Robinson stopped them immediately. "I don’t want to have to deal with idiots, so I’ll keep this short. I’ve said that this place has everything a dungeon has, not counting the beasts. So why are you ignoring the first rule of a dungeon?"

"The world inside a dungeon is not our world. Time does not pass the same way there. Their sun is not our sun. Their stars are not our stars."

"Have you forgotten something so important? If you have, how do you expect to succeed in the world of the Hunters?"

"I’ll say this once and I won’t repeat it. One hour in real life is one week in a dungeon. There are dungeons where a single hour can be an entire month... or worse."

"You can finally check your cell phones and understand what a dungeon really is. What time is it? What time did the test start? What day is it?" Robinson laughed with a slightly mocking tone.

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