Just as Ren thought, the fire was enough to raise a lot of smoke, and the smoke brought back all the teams that were all out hunting. All Ren did after that was kill every last one of them, and all the while, the chief was still knocked out, he would die in his sleep later on.
[Clear condition met. Dungeon cleared, calculating rewards]
The message appeared for both of them as they waited amidst the burning village and bodies.
[Rewards for clearing the dungeon]
-Large Battle Axe
-2 Health potions
-2 Stamina potions
-2 Force recovery potions
[You are the first to clear the dungeon! You have earned extra rewards]
-4 stat points
-1 skill point
[You completed the hidden objective, kill all the Orcs. You have earned extra rewards]
-4 stat points
-1 skill point
-1 skill scroll
. . .
Ren was a little pained that he didn't get the solo clear reward, but it couldn't be helped, so he forgot about it for the time being.
'I was thinking I wouldn't get the skill scroll which is a hidden reward since it didn't appear amongst the normal rewards, but it then appeared here.'
After a little more, a portal appeared for them and they exited the dungeon. Linda also benefitted a lot from tagging along, and had actually risen to level 5 and also got a skill scroll, 'I guess the main cast never disappoint, huh?'
Since they had finished what they came to do, Ren saw no reason to follow through the forest route as he was no longer in any hurry, so he and Linda found their way out of the forest and took normal transportation some distance off. Ren could have used this when going initially, but the route of the trains in the academy grounds was rather round about than anything, which meant it would be faster when returning than when going.
When getting down of the train, they ran into a familiar face, actually, two familiar faces.
"Hey, isn't that Ren and Linda? I wonder what they are doing here so late? Come on, let's greet them!" Ray said to Ash, who was also part of the main cast for the most part. Also, they were roommates if the original story was to be followed.
"Hey! Ren, Linda!" Ray waved. Spotting the two coming towards them, Ren stopped.
"What's up? Where are you guys coming from?" Ray asked with an innocent smile plastered on his face, so friendly, 'just like a righteous main character, urgh, I feel tired already.'
Before Ren could answer though, Linda spoke, it seemed Ren was right, she had hardly changed, "do you need to know that?" She asked.
"Well, not really…" Ray even seemed a little ashamed to have asked.
After greeting them goodnight and having a very short private chat with Ren to express her gratitude, Linda made her way to the female dorm.
"You guys seemed to have come out to get some food? Are the restaurants still open this late?" Ren asked.
"No, but there's a food stand right around that side that still has some food. Do you want to get some? I haven't tasted the food from there myself, but I've heard its actually quite good." Ray said. He had dark coloured hair and brown eyes, and was of similar height to Ren.
"I'll go get some, I haven't had anything to eat yet." Ren replied.
"Huh? I though you just came back from a date?" Ash chipped in.
"Get your head out of the gutter, it was just some fighting and sparring, nothing serious." Ren responded before walking to go get some food.
'Even though he's so strong already, he doesn't relax, meanwhile…' Ray suddenly lost all the energy he had just a moment ago, well, not exactly lost, it just got transferred into something else.
A determined smirk appeared on his face as he watched Ren walk away. 'I really need to be more hardworking.' He thought to himself. Even though he spent most of his time training already, it seemed he was about to cut off more free time and dedicate it to training.
"Yo, why'd you have that look on your face? Come on, let's get going." Ash and Ray left also, it was past 10:00 pm long ago after all.
'This guy, heh. He was already going to get strong with plot armour and more bullshit, even when he didn't even train that much until like half of the story, but now that he's putting in such effort…' Ren suddenly felt that he needed to do more himself, lest these main characters get too powerful and he isn't able to oppose them in the future when the time to make the important decisions comes.
"Hey, good evening."
"Welcome, what can I get you?"
"Still got food?"
"Sure, whi-"
Ren bought his food and was ready to go to his dorm, but then, as things would happen, that was when he caught sight of an interesting figure.
'Wait, Red hair and golden eyes? Isn't that the description of the syndicate living in my dorm? Dominic? So he was here from the start?' Ren only managed to catch the details despite the other party wearing a hoody because he came under the light. Despite efforts to hide it, Ren noticed that he had been recognized, it wasn't surprising though, Dominic would have made sure to keep an eye on everyone living in that particular block after all.
Ren acted normally and just went to his block and to his room. 'He probably comes out this late to get food so he can avoid public attention as much as possible, after all, he does have a peculiar appearance. If I remember correctly, he has a twin brother who has golden hair and red eyes.' While eating Ren recalled another piece of important information of what was to happen in future.
"One of them dies during the abduction, and after some sort of awakening and union, Dominic is kind of reborn into a new man and goes on to become the future leader of the syndicate and all that, but I don't think he really had much use to the story like that, and since he was swallowed by vengeance and whatnot, he doesn't really have much value to him apart from his strength…" Let a future villain be born and wreak havoc, or take him under his wings… Ren was wondering. Well, the particular incident was still some ways off, so he didn't bother too much with it, it wasn't so important in his bucket list.
"I should probably distribute the stat points now."