The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1277: No Time to Spare

Three days passed without much of a fuss.

At least, those would’ve been the words a handful of unusual people would’ve to say.

Unfortunately for them, that would’ve simply been one big, fat lie.

Several cases in point.

For starters, one unfortunate blonde eventually had to sit down and face the music.

As much as Ollie would’ve preferred to continue improving his control naturally, it seemed they might need to resort to additional methods, including using a higher level of the Manual of Spiritual Enhancement.

And unfortunately, there was a very real possibility that it was going to hurt.

Naturally, that wasn’t exactly the most ideal solution.

There were several reasons for that, with the most obvious being Ollie’s lingering trauma from almost dying the first time he’d used even the basic version of that damned Manual!

But considering their current situation, it was ultimately the solution the Elders ended up suggesting.

See, Ollie’s control had technically improved tremendously.

He could now maintain that closed circuit he’d practically cried over trying to achieve for considerably longer periods, and thanks to the dungeon space’s time dilation, those three days outside gave them far more time to work on their respective concerns.

Unfortunately, wasn’t quite good enough.

At best, Ollie could maintain the closed circuit for roughly three-quarters of a day before his control inevitably began to slip. Worse, sleeping made the problem significantly more difficult at his current level.

It wasn’t that maintaining control while unconscious was impossible. Ollie simply hadn’t learned how to do it yet.

Unlike his brother Luca, who’d been forced from an extremely young age to develop the instinct to protect himself with spiritual energy, Ollie had never needed to develop, much less hone, that level of instinctive control as someone who’d always intended to become a mechanic instead of a frontline soldier.

So after learning that their upcoming Academy activity might involve sharing accommodations with a large number of people, that particular weakness had suddenly become much more concerning.

After all, they couldn’t exactly expect him to stay awake for seven straight days, could they?

And nobody thought it would be wise to risk waking up to an accidentally electrified sleeping area.

Thus, the higher-level Manual.

And boy, did that hurt before it got better!

It wasn’t quite comparable to the agony Ollie had experienced when he’d broken through to A-rank, but it was definitely painful enough that by the time he finished, the blonde felt as though he’d run an entire marathon three times over on the same stubby, already-wobbly legs.

Naturally, he did the only sensible thing afterward.

He slept it off.

Practically telling everyone to just wake him up when it was time for the damned orientation.

__

Regrettably, the poor blonde wasn’t the only one who’d had a surprisingly busy few days.

There was also his good brother.

More specifically, the source of that hellion of an Advanced Manual in the first place!

Yes.

Luca hadn’t exactly been free the few days leading up to their eventual return to school either.

At one point, the golden-eyed cadet had even jolted awake in the middle of the night after D-29 casually reminded him of one extremely important matter.

They hadn’t sent any sort of thanks or acknowledgment to the source of all those wonderful bounties!

"!"

How could they have forgotten?!

Considering he’d been worried enough to nearly run toward the Bridge in his pajamas before Xavier stopped him from doing something quite so alarming, it definitely didn’t take Luca long to decide that they needed to vend another round of products as soon as possible.

After all, only a few days might’ve passed outside, but considerably more time had already gone by inside the dungeon space.

Wouldn’t that mean an extremely long time had passed for whoever was waiting on the other side too?

More importantly, if they didn’t do it now, when else would they have the chance?

And what if their patrons misunderstood the delay?!

What if they thought Luca and the others were horribly ungrateful after receiving so many wonderful things and decided never to send another bounty their way?!

The mere possibility was horrifying!

Sadly, no matter how dire the situation seemed in the mind of one extremely concerned vendor, it didn’t change the fact that they really didn’t have much time to spare.

They might not have needed to worry about all the homework and assignments most of the other cadets in their year were probably scrambling to finish before the upcoming activity, but their own schedules were hardly empty.

There was still the rather important matter of completing the mechas for the added security of the other Mylor siblings, along with several other things that required their attention.

In the end, Luca had no choice but to settle for offering items they already regularly sold through their Star Mall Online store, along with several treats normally served at the daycare.

The golden-eyed cadet still felt terribly guilty about it.

After receiving such generous rewards, he’d genuinely wanted to prepare something far more special to show his appreciation toward their newest source of livelihood.

Fortunately, everyone was quick to reassure him that he had absolutely nothing to feel embarrassed or guilty about. They could swear on their ancestors that even the products Luca considered ordinary were still revolutionary by everyone else’s standards, not to mention absolutely phenomenal in taste.

Completely unbeknownst to the concerned vendor, however, the people waiting beside their own gates were already far too delighted with everything they’d bought so far to even consider complaining!

__

See, there were still two bounties that hadn’t been completed at all.

That meant two entirely separate groups had yet to hear anything from their mysterious vendor and still had absolutely no idea what had happened on the other side.

So one could only imagine the chaos when, without any warning whatsoever, another market day suddenly arrived.

Especially for those who’d been eagerly waiting for even the slightest sign that their mysterious vendor might finally return.

And this particular market day came with several new discoveries.

Most notably?

Those strange sliced, crispy treats that released an incredibly aromatic smell the moment their unusual bags were popped open.

Safe to say, everyone was kept extremely busy.

Especially after discovering that those mysterious red fruits they’d been studying could apparently be transformed into those thinly sliced goodies!

Even more astonishingly, once sealed inside those strange bags, the treats could last for a remarkably long time. A great discovery for instances when they couldn’t expect the leader with access to the dungeon inventory to always be around.

But perhaps the most reassuring discovery had nothing to do with the food itself.

The vendor had returned.

After such a long absence, they’d finally come back.

Which meant that even if another considerable stretch of time passed before the next market day, at least the patrons now knew there was a good chance their mysterious vendor would eventually return again.

As for Luca?

Well, things might’ve been extremely busy, but that didn’t mean the resident money-grubber hadn’t found several reasons to celebrate!

The first came immediately after they managed to completely sell out everything they’d offered during that round.

[CONGRATULATIONS! SKILL UPGRADE REQUIREMENTS MET!]

[UNLOCK VENDING LEVEL 3?]

[YES] [NO]

"!"

That alone would’ve been enough to make Luca extremely happy because more vending slots ultimately meant more opportunity to gain CP.

But somehow, an even more wonderful prompt followed.

Or rather, it was something whose requirements they’d technically already met but had only now finally managed to activate and properly use.

[CONGRATULATIONS! SKILL ACTIVATION REQUIREMENTS MET!]

[UNLOCK OVERCHARGE LEVEL 2?]

[YES] [NO]

Fifteen percent.

To most people, perhaps a fifteen-percent overcharge wouldn’t have seemed like something worth getting overly emotional about.

But to Luca Kyros, who might as well have added somewhere to his name?

It was practically enough to bring tears to his eyes!

That was fifteen percent more Corruption Points for the exact same amount of products!

Even the little system had added extra poppers while congratulating both its host and itself, apparently celebrating the fact that all those sacrifices were finally paying off and it might actually get to remain a manager for considerably longer!

D-29 aside, with how much they tended to sell whenever the Vending skill became available, Luca could already imagine just how enormous that extra fifteen percent might become over time.

The thought alone delighted the golden-eyed cadet enough that he even started reconsidering the timing of their upcoming field trip.

Because if the cooldown ended while they were away, couldn’t he simply use the opportunity to sell another round?

It wasn’t as though vending required him to remain inside the Dungeon Space the entire time!

Surely he could squeeze it in somewhere.

Unfortunately for the newly inspired little businessman, his mother had already been encouraging him to spend a little more time participating in actual student-related activities.

And considering how unusually excited Luca had been about this particular one, even he couldn’t really bring himself to argue.

After all, Corruption Points were wonderful.

But apparently, so was finally getting the chance to act like an ordinary student every now and then.