Jack woke up to the sound of a campfire burning. He heard the cries of nocturnal animals bouncing off of the trees in the forest. He heard the faint wind blowing chill air to the leaves, making them rustle slightly.

The boy slowly opened his eyes. He sat up and stretch as he yawned.

"Good morning, master," he greeted his teacher.

"It's still midnight, kid," Rimuru answered back.

Right. Midnight. What had he been doing earlier to cause him to wake up at such a hour? And then it hit him.

"Teacher! There's a--" he was interrupted.

"Girl who tricked you into falling into a dungeon?" completed Rimuru.

He nodded, stunned by how his teacher already knew.

"Y-Yeah... What happened after I...?" he asked.

"Well, it turned out the girl wasn't really human. Just some demon disguised as one. I found you unconscious next to the mound. Now, my question is, just how exactly did you fall for it?" his teacher asked.

Jack went stiff. He remembered how. He remembered getting pulled into the forest and then kicked from the behind into the hole.

"Eh, well, s-she lead me into the forest?" he answered sheepishly.

He saw his master twitch her eye and heard her, "And you followed her, just like that?"

He nodded, albeit very sheepishly.

Smack!

"Ow!" he shouted as he grabbed his head.

His teacher pulled her bokken back. What the heck? He didn't even sense any vibrations before he was hit! He trembled as he reaffirmed how frightening his teacher was.

"So, what did you learn from all of this?" asked his teacher, suddenly.

"Huh?" was his answer as he tilted his head in confusion.

Rimuru repeated, "What did you learn from your mistake?"

"Uhh... Girls are scary?" he answered without much confidence.

Smack!

"Ow... Don't get distracted by petty things," he answered.

"Go on," and she let him continue.

He finished with, "and think twice before doing stupid things."

"That's all?" questioned his teacher further.

He tried hard to remember what else before realizing, "Oh! And don't forget to bring my bokken everywhere!"

His teacher nodded and said, "Good. It seems you've learned your lesson."

He then saw his teacher going for the campfire. There was a steel pot above it. His teacher waved at him to come over. When he did, he could smell stew coming from the pot. He saw his teacher hold a wooden bowl (once again, how?!) and poured the stew into it before giving it to him the bowl.

"Now eat up. You haven't had dinner," his kind teacher answered with a smile.

He offered a smile of his own and thanked, "Thank you, teacher."

The two sat facing the campfire as Jack ate his stew. While eating, he couldn't help but think about the two skills he'd learned earlier. It was crazy to think that he'd gained two skills in just one day.

He reviewed both skills. The first, he already knew well enough, but the second was hard to comprehend. All he understood was that it allowed him to do what the rabbit did, only he now realized he needed momentum to do it first.

The way the skill worked was that it allowed him to change his momentum while he had no footing once without any consequences. That meant if he were to fall from a big height, he could change his momentum to fly up with the same force he had when going down. Unlike [Shadowfoot] he couldn't overuse the skill to allow him to shift momentum twice.

He still couldn't figure out why he knew the [Sonic Replicator] much more than [Kinetic Shifter] . Maybe it was because he thought of how to use the first skill before he gained it? That made sense. He never really understood about [Shadowfoot] himself until he was forced to use it to its fullest potential.

He finished his meal. Before he could even say anything about his new powers, his teacher spoke.

"You've gotten much stronger so suddenly, huh?" as always, his teacher knew before he even told her anything.

He just nodded with a big smile. Yes, with this, he was one step closer to being able to protect his loved ones from any form of danger. Just like Orlea and Johnson.

"Tomorrow, we'll test your new skills. After that, I'm going to teach you unarmed combat," his teacher told him as she grabbed his empty bowl from him.

"But why? Won't I bring my weapon anywhere I go from now on?" he asked, confused.

To which, his teacher explained, "You never know when you won't be able to use your weapon. You might forget like earlier today. Or you might go to some places that don't allow you to hold your weapons. It's better to be ready for it than not."

He nodded at her reasoning before answering, "All right, teach."

He was excited to learn what techniques his teacher would teach him tomorrow.

"Now go to sleep. We've got a lot to do tomorrow. Don't want you getting tired already in the morning," his teacher ordered, to which he nodded before he went and laid down on his bed.

His dreams that night were about caves, forests, rabbits, and evil girls. He shuddered.

Rimuru sighed as he cleaned his cooking utensils with some water magic. He needed to find a place to settle down soon. Travelling was fun, but it wasn't his goal; if it were, then he would've gone on some other planet or universe. He needed a place for him and Jack to stay so that the boy could grow up not alone.

He knew what it was like to grow up switching places all the time. When he was still a human child, his family used to move very often. Because of their indecisiveness, it made it hard for him to form bonds with other people. He'd rather not do the same to his student.

(Shorter chapter today. Hope you don't mind. I've got something else planned for next arc)

(Thank you for sticking through the entire Dungeon Speedrun arc!)