Graham confessed.

"I love you, Rhea Everlight."

"Or, should I say..."

"I love you, Dear Teacher."

Hearing his heartfelt confession, Rhea's eyes widened.

"W-wh...? W-w-what...? What...?"

With a flushed face and a rapidly beating heart, she got stuck uttering that single word like a broken record.

Her mind couldn't form a proper thought and her emotions were in absolute chaos.

[ Hahahahaha... Master.! You really are a bad boy.~ ]

"Beth? Why do you say that?"

[ Just look at what you've done to your beautiful teacher... ]

[ She's frozen like a deer caught in headlights. ]

"Yeah ! I think I might've short-circuted her pretty little brain, hahahaha..."

[ But I must say, Master, you have great taste in women. Her flustered expression is absolutely adorable 😘 ]

"I know, right...?"

***

"Whaaaaaaaaaat....?"

After her brain somewhat caught up with the situation, a scream escaped Rhea's lips, echoing over the surrounding walls.

Taking a deep breath, she controlled her voice and began lecturing him in a strict tone.

"Listen here, Galen. I'm your teacher."

"And you're not supposed to go around confessing to your teacher like that."

"Not to mention, I'm much older than you."

"It's totally wrong."

If it was the Galen from before, he might have been fooled by her angry expression and stopped chasing after her.

But unfortunately, the one standing before Rhea was an old monster, who has lived for millions of years.

As if that wasn't enough, Galen is also equipped with a cheat-like ability that could see through her emotions at a single glance. (Eye of the Forgotten God)

From what he could see, Rhea's heart is currently filled with desire, longing, confusion, embarrassment, and a truck load of expectations.

Her anger was just a mask, to hide all those chaotic emotions.

So Galen decided to push her more.

Taking a swift step forward, he suddenly closed the distance.

Then, hooking his right index finger under her chin, he raised her head to meet his eyes.

Locking his light golden eyes with her deep amethyst eyes, Galen spoke with conviction,

"So what if you were my teacher? That relationship ended years ago."

"And so what if you are my senior? With the advent of mana we can live for hundreds, or even thousands of years. At that point, a few meagre years would be like a drop in the bucket."

"I don't care about what others would say or think about us. In fact, after this apocalypse, no one will have time or energy to care about us in the first place."

Finally, with possessive eyes swirling like blackholes, Galen declared,

"I want you, Rhea."

" I want your body. I want your heart. I want your love. I want your everything."

"And I also want you to stay by my side for the rest of eternity. "

"But don't worry. I'll never force you."

"I'll just try my best to make you fall in love with me."

Hearing his heartfelt confession, Rhea felt an unfamiliar feeling coursing through her heart.

But it wasn't a bad feeling.

Actually, the feeling was so sweet, that Rhea almost wanted to drown herself in it.

Having said everything he had wanted to say, and seeing her emotions developing in the right direction, Galen decided to stop here.

After patting her head twice, he finally distanced himself.

And Rhea... She just stood there in silence, with a blank look in her eyes, not knowing what to say.

Clapping his hands to grab her attention, Galen said to her,

"Alright, Rhea."

"You can take your time thinking about it before giving me an answer, since we have all the time in the world ahead of us."

"But before that, let's go ahead and take care of this gate first."

"You don't want such a thing breathing down on the necks of your students all the time, do you?"

The sudden mention of her students, immediately brought her back from her thoughts, and she made up her mind to focus on the present, for now.

{ A/N : Rhea decided to leave her feelings for her future self to sort out. }

"Of course not. But is it even possible to close the gates in the first place?~"

"You don't have to worry about that. As long as we kill all the monsters inside, I have a way to make the gate disappear forever."

"That's great news. Then what are we waiting for? Let's go inside already.~"

Forgetting all about her earlier embarrassment, Rhea held his hand and practically dragged him inside the gate.

Galen wore a faint smile on his face and let himself get dragged, without offering the slightest resistance.

Like that, both of them crossed the threshold hand in hand, and eventually entered through the dimensional gate.

After entering, the open playground from school faded from their eyes, and they were met with something like an abandoned cave, fully covered in cobwebs.

Only, the webs were thousands of times longer and thicker than normal.

"It should be the habitat of those nasty spiders." Rhea commented aloud after looking around.

"Seems like it." Galen agreed.

With no visible light source around, the cave was naturally dark, giving off an eerie vibe.

But with their improved stats, Galen and Rhea were barely able to see in the darkness.

"Before we start our hunting, let's just do one more thing."

"Like what?~" Rhea asked curiously.

"You've already reached level 10, right?"

"Yes. I'm still somewhat shocked about the sudden surge in strength, that came with those levels.~"

"So it's about time we started our class promotion quests."

"Class promotion?~"

"It's what we have to do, to continue leveling up after level 10. Now, if you mentally call for your 'status', a system window will appear explaining all your basic details."

Even though a bit doubtful, Rhea still complied and called out in her mind.

'Status..?'

The next moment, something flashed into existence in front of her eyes – a holographic screen, coloured in light blue and showing her current status.

"Wow ! It really appeared.~" Exclaiming in wonder, she reached out her hand, trying to touch it. But it passed right through the screen.

"Can you see it too?~" She asked him.

"Nah."

"Even though it seems like it's right in front of your eyes, the system screen is actually projected straight into your brain. So besides yourself, no one else can see it."

"I see. That's pretty convenient.~"

"Yeah. It really helps in protecting your privacy."

"You can go through the other details later. For now, try to focus on the tab showing your class."

"Okay.~"

Rhea did just that, and a series system prompt appeared before her eyes.

[ You don't have any class at the moment. ]

[ Choose one of the basic classes to start your first class promotion quest.

1) Knight

2) Archer

3) Assassin

4) Mage

5) Bard

6) Priest

7) Thief

8) Merchant

9) Blacksmith

10) Craftsman

11) Alchemist

12) Tailor

13) Cook

14) Architect

15) ...

16) ... ]

The list was still going on, but Rhea had already made her choice.

[ You have chosen the basic class – Assassin ]

[ Please complete the following to obtain your chosen class...

1) Kill 10 common grade monsters by using sneak attacks.

Progress – 0 / 10 ]

— —

Hi guys.

It's me once again.

Rhea had already chosen her class. So now it's our MC's turn.

Can anyone guess what his class might be about?

And no, it's not one of those basic classes.