They had a couple days to prepare for Mizuki's job. Viviana was grateful for this; for one, there was a lot to prepare. For another, she wanted to practice her skill combination.

  First, Landsknecht celebrated their first big contract with the noodle restaurant. It wasn’t anything out of the norm, but it felt like a celebration. There was energy in the air, mostly due to Bena, but even Lucian and Thomas were excited enough that Viviana could tell. It was a little strange. The last time they were so exuberant in the restaurant was right after orientation, when they were all blissfully unaware of their financial situation.

  Now, they were celebrating their sudden windfall.

  Viviana wasn’t one to count her eggs before they hatched. Things could go wrong. They always did.

  When Bena, Thomas, and Lucian decided to buy some drinks, Viviana declined. She had the mission on her mind. Talking to the rest of the team about shows she never watched and experiences she never had, being stuck in the Adler-Stern manor her entire life, wasn’t something she wanted to do.

  Viviana left early, deciding to do her shopping early. Landsknecht had created a list of tasks to prepare for the mission. Shopping was one of the things Viviana needed to do. Although Landsknecht wasn’t rolling in the money (yet), they had saved up a decent amount from their days of running around and killing people.

  [Collective Academy Funds Account]

  [$240.00]

  She bought a couple pieces of blue grass to use as bandages. She skipped out on the more expensive inverted tree bark. They took these items for granted during orientation, but they were incredibly valuable, especially after the proctors opened terrarium four to the academy public. For one, the guilds cut down as many trees and harvested as much grass as possible. For another, the proctors released the monsters from the terrarium four hidden dungeon, drastically changing the ecology.

  She couldn’t help but eye up the pricier items– stuff that Landsknecht couldn’t afford, even after their windfall. Magnetic sword accelerator– three thousand credits. Can’t increase the damage your attacks deal, but makes your sword faster. Partial power armors. Extremely expensive, won’t stop attacks, but makes your movement twice as smooth.

  The Adler-Stern logo was branded on some of these pieces, causing Viviana to reminisce about a time she would rather not remember.

  She gathered her items and deposited them at home base (the meeting room) to split among her group. She then reported the spendings to Thomas, who was now officially serving as the group’s accountant. Bena and Lucian were busy scouting the general dungeon area, hoping to get a read on where Mizuki was going to send them. The terrarium, and thus the dungeon, was massive, so they could not scout the entire area, even with Bena’s skills. Even then, it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

  Thomas was busy sorting out different jobs they had lined up, delegating time in the best way he could. They had promises to do minor jobs for other people, and everything had to be shifted around.

  So, Viviana decided to head out to practice her skills. It didn’t take her long to reach terrarium one.

  Academy transportation was quite difficult. The guilds had private vehicles, advanced armors, boosters and grapples and all sorts of movement technology. The average unaffiliated either didn’t stay unaffiliated for long, or simply walked. Viviana was one of those walkers.

  Eventually she made it to one of terrarium one’s many entrances, passing through a mana barrier and into a frozen hellscape. She walked for a while longer, finding a spot that she frequented regularly. There wasn’t much there save for the howling of the wind. A perfect spot to practice.

  She activated her mana, placing a lightning sigil on the side of her leg. Then she activated [dash] and [lightning trap] simultaneously, placing as little mana as she could into the trap, and pouring as much mana as she could into the dash.

  She shot forward on her next step, tripping and falling into the snowy landscape. The powdery snow made it hurt much less than the rickety floors of Landsknecht’s base. It was a good idea to come here.

  She kept practicing, trying until her mind hurt from the repetitive strain. Viviana had levelled up nothing but MIN since coming to academy for this reason only– to increase her amount of usable mana for her skills. More skill usage meant more practice with them, and the ability to spam them more.

  Viviana tried again. She fell again. I don’t understand what’s so different about this.

  She thought back to when Selenne taught her about [dash]. [Dash] was a way to enhance your next movement. That’s what Selenne said. If Viviana was moving with far more power, but less control, then using [lightning trap] on herself was empowering her movement somehow. Small shocks can stimulate muscle movements. Maybe that’s what I’m doing?

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  She tried again and again until she felt it click in her mind on her latest attempt. A five meter [dash] with little to no telegraph, save for the slow application of the lightning sigil. The system rewarded her efforts.

  [You have gained a skill evolution.]

  [Dash → Flash Step]

  It felt good. Her first skill evolution. She had Bena and (reluctantly) Selenne to thank. I knew I should have taken [dash]. Viviana felt something stir in her chest. Am I pleased with my progress? She quickly checked her status.

  [Welcome, Viviana Adler-Stern.]

  [Soulbound Lightning]

  [Level 2]

  [Experience: 45/200]

  [Unallocated points: 0]

  [VIG=2; MIN=4; END=2; STR=2; DEX=3; WIL=1]

  [Equipped Skills]

  [Lightning Trap] [Flash Step]

  [Available Skills]

  She pressed on her new skill, opening up a window that explained its intricacies.

  [Flash Step - affinity - Rare]

  [You are able to place a weakened lightning sigil on your legs. Activating the sigil causes a large burst of movespeed. Low mana consumption. DEX and WIL scaling.]

  That was absurd. She quickly used the skill– placing a sigil and then activating it. She could feel it sap her mana, but much less than she did before.

  A five meter dash, but using less mana than a [lightning trap] and [dash] combination. A complete improvement to the way I was doing it before.

  There were downsides, though. It couldn’t be used as instantly as [dash]. It required setup for a large payoff. No, the ability is in two parts– the sigil, and then the detonation. I can just permanently keep a sigil on me.

  The only real downside was that the enemy would be able to tell if Viviana could [flash step] or not. No sigil meant no [flash step].

  They wouldn’t be able to detect it physically– I can control the sigil to appear under my clothes, and the glow isn’t bright enough to be detected through the fabric. Only those with sharp mana detection or scout skills would be able to tell.

  Viviana decided that she was satisfied with her progress. She evolved a skill directly from Common to Rare, completely jumping the Uncommon rank. She decided to head back home.

  It was time. Preparations were complete.

  Earlier Mizuki sent the details. Bena and Lucian had scouted out enough of the dungeon that they could make a preliminary route to the starting location that Mizuki detailed. The path was a strange, underground winding path that dodged guild owned territories, crossed a monster den, and then suddenly stopped.

  “There are no official maps, like on the academy app, that show anything beyond this. The guilds have monopolized the information, so it makes sense that Mizuki has a route,” Lucian explained. “So, after this point, we’ll have to trust in Mizuki’s intel. They’re a couple gaps in his directions, though, so we’ll have to improvise.”

  There were no other questions. This was the third time Lucian had gone over the plan. By now the entire Landsknecht had committed it to memory. It was time to go.

  A ten hour operation. Most of it is just walking.

  “I will take the front,” Viviana said. “Lucian will take the rear. Thomas will stay in the middle with Bena, watching her flanks. Bena will flare her scout skill every two minutes to conserve mana. We head to the point. Then, we’re adapting to the situation. We don’t know what awaits. We loot up. We head out immediately, retracing the same path. Lucian and Bena have scouted alternate paths from this point forward, but once we enter the loot room, we’re on our own.”

  Bena nodded. “Let’s make some money!”

  Her enthusiasm was infectious. Viviana found herself wanting to smile, so she did. It wasn’t much of a smile and more like a pained grimace. She wasn’t used to the expression.

  Lucian was more open with his smile. “Thomas, you got the bag?”

  “Yes,” Thomas said. “We’ve got ten bucks left in our account, but I bought a bag of holding. We can carry all the organs in here.”

  Viviana blinked, pulling out her phone.

  [Collective Academy Funds Account]

  [$9.71]

  Not exactly ten bucks, but close enough. We really are all in with this plan, huh?

  “Ten bucks,” Lucian said. “This is the poorest we’ve been since the start of the academy.”

  “Well, as soon as we’re done, we’ll be rich!” Bena said.

  Viviana nodded. The plan was fool proof. Even Thomas had the ghost of confidence haunting him. Besides, even if something goes wrong, what's the worst that can happen? We die?

  Well, the proctors don’t frequent this part of the dungeon, so we’re on our own to extract ourselves should we perish. But it should be fine, right?

  “Let’s do this!” Bena exclaimed, throwing the front door open. It fell off the hinges.