War-Torn Wednesday

The slime bounced backward. 

"E-Eun-Ji! A bit of help here!"

"Sorry!" She ran to Do-Yun's left flank and used her skill on the larger slime. However, it didn't seem to do much damage; rather, the slime seemed annoyed, and Do-Yun and Eun-Ji retreated.

"I can only go for one more attack. I'm at 20% Mana right now. We gotta finish off the big guy here in one attack. Can we do it?" Do-Yun asked Eun-Ji.

"I think we can," Eun-Ji confirmed. "You go first. I need to test something.

Do-Yun nods "Right." He materializes a staff in his left hand. Both of my skills are off cooldown. 

"Slime Step, Aether Stride" Do-Yun activated both skills and went in for another rush, Clashing with the large slime, his wheels spinning into the dirt ground to hold his own and not lose an inch to the pushing slime. "Come on!" 

Do-Yun could feel his mana depleting, once it was gone, he had no way to activate his skills.

"Sixfold Strike! Piercing Thrust!" Eun-Ji jumped from behind Do-Yun, activating her skills in midair, thrusting her sword six times at high speed, enhanced with mana, and then a seventh, even more powerful strike pushed the slime back while doing piercing damage.

"Nice! Thanks!" Do-Yun Speeds forward. "HRAAAAA!!!" Do-Yun slashes the slime in half, down the middle, just as his mana was one point away from depleting completely. Then he ran into a nearby tree, not paying attention to his speed.

"OWWW!!!" His Admission of pain was loud enough to scare the birds that resided in this forest-like dungeon. 

"Do-Yun! It's time to divide the drops! We got Bonus drops because the slime seemed to be a higher level than us!"

"What are the drops?" Do-Yun came back, a red spot on his forehead from where he hit his head on the tree.

"Two skill books, slime gel, a slime greatsword, A helmet, a chest plate, and an enhanced slime core." Eun-Ji said, holding in her laughter.

Do-Yun picked up a skill book.

"VSH" The System WIndow gave the name of the skill book. "Slime Tactics"

"Learn," Do-Yun said, learning the skill. I'll take the helmet and slime Gel, you take the chest plate and boots?

"I can live with that" She said, still laughing at Do-Yun for his misfortune

"We should probably return. You're almost out of Mana, and I'm hungry."

"Ditto" Do-Yun agreed with her and walked back to the entrance.

"As soon as they walked out, their bodies felt heavy."

"Damn!"

"Woah there kids!" A Muscular man caught them as they came out the portal.

"Your entire Body's feeling the "Between Worlds" Effect"

"What?" Eun-Ji was confused.

"The Between Worlds Effect. Dungeons are different worlds. Time, Environment, and even Concepts are different and as a Blazer, Your body adapts when you enter the dungeon. Venturing from the dungeon back to your native world, however, leaves you with a heavy feeling, because your body hasn't learned to readjust on the fly." The Muscular man explained. "You'll get used to it if you do it more often."

"I-If we can, sir, May we know your name...?" Eun-Ji slumped on the man's other shoulder, stuttering from the shock.

"Oh, Me? I'm Ju-Won." The muscular man introduced himself while flexing.

Eun-ji giggled and Do-Yun laughed at the lighthearted display of strength before walking to the clerk.

Do-Yun drops the Obsidian spear and half of the slime gel he had racked up.

"Just these, please. This will go toward my drop contribution"

"That's 9% of beginner contribution, almost to 10. Have a good day" She said in the customer service voice.

"Do-Yun Wait up, I also have to give up some drops," Eun-Ji said, dropping slime gel, a Fast Rapier and Slime Cores"

"You're right." Do-Yun said before he turned to the Clerk "Is there a way to have items artificially made from monster parts?"

"The woman behind the desk sits for a moment and starts typing on her computer as fast as she can while mumbling something about logistics. 

"We have crafters here." She hands him a slip of printed paper with a few names of people and places, both within the Burning Heart Guild and outside the guild.

"Alright, thank you." Do-Yun takes the slip of paper. "I hope they can make me a new pair of skates or wheels...

Do-Yun retreats home along with Eun-Ji, and the journey back is silent first getting on to a bus together. The two couldn't bring themselves to speak, and there was tension between them. Even as they got off the bus together, the walk was silent but oddly peaceful. Flower Petals whisked from the ground to the air because of the winds. Spring was in full effect and the rest of the week was still devoid of plans as high school was on a temporary break from the monster break-in for repairs and reinforcement. Do-Yun walked, thinking that he and Eun-Ji didn't exactly have any plans. He began to clutch the list of names in his pocket that the receptionist had given him, then took out his phone.

"Whatcha looking at?" Eun-Ji attempted to peep at his phone.

"Nothing. It's pretty early." Do-Yun said, casually.

"You're right. It's only noon...We have time."

"Lunch?" Do-Yun asked her, no context needed, but he gave a small smile to her.

She grins "Your treat!" She stepped in front of him, leaning forward.

Do-Yun exhaled and gave a forced grin "Yeah, my treat" The world seemed to turn white, as if nothing in the universe mattered, Do-Yun thought to himself. 

"There's nothing I wouldn't give...to have times like these." He smiled to himself, Eun-Ji's laughter and the overwhelming sense of peace that passed over him. 

"If it's my treat...I want Bibimbap!"

The two detoured from the path home to find a restaurant to eat Bibimbap, and soon after, dropped Eun-Ji back home and left, deciding he still had time, he arranged the first name on his list and typed the name into his phone and began walking to his first destination.