Teacher for a week(end)(corrected)

The days passed one after the other and Zoe and Mark used all the time they had to train.

Zoe had become more skilled in the use of her magics, developing new ones thanks to Mark's constant sparring and ideas. Instead, Mark took advantage of the free time he had to increase his mastery with his aura. It was still difficult for him to channel it into magic circuits, but at the very least, he could fuse the aura into several parts of his body at once without any problems.

"...haaaa."

"Did you wake up in a crooked moon again?"

Finishing his training, he turned to Zoe who had just woken up from the ground. As he had promised, he had stopped carrying her to the inn when she went mind down, leaving her to sleep on the floor, and though he had tried to convince her to handle herself better, it was to no avail. But what he found most interesting was the fact that every time she woke up, she was more and more down.

"Nothing like that, just... haaaa, forget it."

Still getting up with the effects of the mind down, Zoe went to sit under the shade of a tree releasing another sigh. The reason why she was under the weather, was that no matter how tired she got, the door connecting her to her dreams wasn't fully formed and this was already the fifth day she hadn't seen anything.

'Was my assumptions wrong from the start? That these dreams are purely random? Haaaa... I can't go on like this.'

Although it was true that she wanted to know about her past, it didn't mean she wanted to give up what she had now. A family who loved her, friends she could count on, she was no longer alone, but if she continued this obsessive search for who she was, maybe she would reach the purpose she wanted, but would there still be someone by her side?

For her to know her past was a way to move forward, not get stuck where she was.

"Here."

"!"

Perhaps having become accustomed to reacting quickly by fighting Mark, she involuntarily stretched out her hands, picking up a type of fruit growing on the 18th floor.

"Thank you."

At Zoe's thanks, Mark simply nodded his head, sitting down against the trunk of a tree and eating the fruit in his hand.

Zoe did the same and when she took a bite, the sweet juice immediately filled her mouth, slightly improving her mood. Continuing to eat, Zoe glanced at Mark, who chewed in silence, noticing how there were a few drops of sweat running down his forehead and his skin flushed from the exercise.

"Were you working out?" -Zoe asked.

"...Wouldn't it be rather creepy if I kept looking at you while you passed out?" -He asked ironically.

"...Do you also talk like this to members of your Familia?"

"Usually even worse." -Said Mark with a shrug.

"..."

If there was one thing Zoe had realized about Mark these days, that although he had charming facial features, his tongue was extremely poisonous.

"Anyway, what are you planning to do today? As you know this is the last day, so I wouldn't advise another sparring session."

"I think the same, how about exploring the next floor? We can use the opportunity to earn some money and at the same time I can stay trained." -Proposed Zoe.

"Sounds good."

When they finished eating, they saw if they had everything they needed and then headed for the entrance leading to the 19th floor, which was not far from where they were.

"Have you ever been to the 19th floor?" -Mark asked as they descended the stairs.

"In person never, but I know that the Large Tree Labyrinth is one of the most resourceful areas of the dungeon. It is said that there are thousands of plants still undiscovered, while some of those that have been found are still unknown what kind of effects they can give. Many alchemists are continuously studying these plants, creating more and more potions, including effects..."

Once she got going, Zoe continued to talk about her views and opinions on plants, potions, and alchemists. Watching how excitedly she spoke about these topics Mark had no reason to stop her, firstly because the topic was interesting and secondly he found it much more fulfilling to see her full of energy rather than depressed.

"...And then-"

"Zoe we're here."

Realizing that she had been talking the whole way down, Zoe blushed slightly from embarrassment but was immediately swept away by the scenery.

The haze caused by the humidity in the area diminished visibility, but even so, it was impossible to hide the huge expanse of giant trees and various rocky paths that intertwined, it felt like being inside a giant tree.

"This is amazing, I had only seen drawings, but I didn't think it looked like this." -Said Zoe fascinated.

After the initial surprise, they descended to the lower area where the trees were growing. The area was quite dark due to the tree canopy blocking the light and the rough terrain didn't help to move around, so Zoe didn't let her guard down.

'shash!'

Looking at the direction the hisses were coming from, a group of three lizardmen, with crude weapons, were quickly approaching them.

Zoe remained calm as she pointed her spear at the three monsters and cast her magic. Three blades of wind, which had now become much faster and sharper, rushed at the monsters decapitating them immediately.

Once she had confirmation that they were dead, she turned towards Mark but was confused by the fact that he was looking over.

"From here on, the monsters become adept at exploiting their surroundings."

As soon as he said that, it took him less than a second to unsheathe his sword and throw it towards the tree canopy.

'Kasha!'

Shortly after the hiss of pain, the lizardman who was hiding on the branch was knocked off its feet by the sword thrown by Mark. Approaching the monster still impaled by the weapon, he put it out of its misery by killing it.

"I didn't think monsters had such intelligence." -Zoe said in contemplation as she learned something new, but she wanted to ask him something else.

"Mark, I wanted to ask you, in this area, which level 2 monsters have the highest level of magic power?"

This was the reason she had suggested to Mark that she wanted to visit the 19th floor, she wanted to use the opportunity to absorb 4 magic stones to increase his magic stats as much as possible before the War Game.

"Quite a specific question, but I would say the Firebirds and Vouivres, but give up the latter, only a few species have been found, while for the Firebirds.... it seems it won't be so difficult to find them."

A half laugh came out of Mark as he watched the scarlet bird the size of a condor fly just above them, ready to attack them.

The monster shot a column of fire at them, so they quickly separated as soon as they saw it, dodging the flames.

"Wind slash."

The wind blade thrown by Zoe flew swiftly towards the monster, who dodged nimbly by gliding to the side. Other blades were thrown at it, but it still managed to dodge them with extreme precision by changing position in the air each time.

'Being a bird, it seems to be able to read air currents.' -Thought Mark, and it seemed that Zoe also came to the same conclusion.

"Lightning lance."

Perhaps the monster wasn't expecting such a quick change of magic, ending up being struck by the spear that electrocuted it.

"Let us continue."

Nodding to Mark, Zoe took the stone from the monster and pretended to put it in her bag, and when her hand was hidden, she activated her ability and absorbed the stone.

Their hunt continued for several hours, in which Mark would mostly stay behind to watch so that there would be no unforeseen events that Zoe couldn't handle, while the latter continued to kill monsters one after another, managing to absorb the necessary stones as well, she also couldn't resist the temptation to collect as many plants as possible.

"Haaaa, I'm exhausted." -Leaning to the ground, a tired sigh came out of Zoe.

After hours of hunting, her stamina had started to run out, but the thing that made her most satisfied was that even though she didn't know how much her magic had increased, she felt she could still cast a large number of spells without any problems, a huge increase from before.

"I understand that you're tired, but it's not safe to rest here. Try to hold out so we can return to the 18th floor again, it was time to prepare for the ascent anyway." -Mark said, extending his hand towards her.

Zoe grabbed Mark's hand, who helped her up, but even after a few seconds, Mark noticed how Zoe still hadn't let go, and when their faces met, he could see Zoe's eyes dilated with shock.

--Pov Zoe---

The moment I grasped his hand, I became aware of a factor I had completely ignored. If there was one thing that linked the events of the door's appearance in my dreams, it was none other than Mark. Whenever I had direct interaction with him, the door would appear either complete or incomplete, without exception.

The more I thought about it, the greater my convictions became. If I thought about it carefully the first theory I had thought of had many flaws, but this time I was 100% sure, Mark had to have some connection to me.

"Zoe the hand."

Through it all, I didn't notice that I was still shaking Mark's hand and when he pointed it out I quickly released it in agitation.

"Zoe, are you feeling alright? You don't look so good."

I didn't know what kind of expression I was making, but I could tell from his tone that it wasn't the best, but I wanted to make sure of one thing before I could think of anything else.

"Mark, have you and I ever met before?"

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(Author: These chapters were relatively peaceful, but between the war game and the confrontation with the evilus there will be many more action scenes).