Chapter 942

Traveler’s Haven didn’t feel like a school to Anton. So far, the feeling he had during his first few weeks within the organization was extremely similar to what he had experienced when he first joined the call center department of a huge corporation back on Earth.

Back on Earth, when he first joined the call center industry, Anton felt a sense of excitement and camaraderie. During orientation and the weeks of training, the training was easy and extremely enjoyable.

There was a feeling of expectation that the company would make their lives financially stable and that they could all become successful members of the community while enjoying their work. Probably because their trainers kept reiterating such things to them.

They were studying, and because of that, it felt like he was in college, but it was a college that was joyful and full of hope.

They were studying and being paid for it.

There had been twenty young people in his batch back then, and each one of them had been proud of their ID badges when they finally received them. The badges made them feel like they were part of the company.

Then the training stopped, and the work began.

After a few months, Anton’s soul was crushed.

The toxic negativity he had to confront from the moment he received his first call from a customer made him dread each day. Eventually, he found himself praying for the company to be destroyed by something dreadful, such as an earthquake, a tsunami, or a terrorist attack.

All the joyful expectations he and his batchmates had felt during their training were slowly leeched out of them by the work. They finally understood why the call center industry was considered one of the worst jobs a person could have.

After a few more weeks, Anton decided to leave before he started thinking about suicide.

He returned to working at a convenience store, and the relief he felt was so tremendous that he made a vow to himself that he would never return to the call center industry.

During his first few weeks with his Initiate Tutor, the excitement of being part of a huge organization returned. This time, however, Anton felt that the actual work would be far more exciting than the training, and he couldn’t wait to begin traversing the different dimensions.

Anton could see on the faces of his batchmates that they all felt the same way.

They all desired to become travelers.

The movies he showed them fueled those desires because, to Anton and his batchmates, the worlds and dimensions they saw in those movies were possible destinations they could reach once they became capable of traveling.

While Anton waited for Master Vernatu to assign him his rank-up mission, he spent his time practicing the Spatial Magic Meditation and his spatial spells. He also didn’t neglect his Diablo System and continued completing his daily missions.

The only disappointing part was that it was the only thing he could do with his Diablo System at the time. The Diablo II ladder season hadn’t started yet, and it would be a few more months before the next one began.

He had a feeling that before the next ladder season started, his Diablo System would provide him with an update that would give him enough strength to finally breach the Invincible Rank.

Of course, that was merely wishful thinking.

In truth, Anton felt that the stats he earned from each ladder season were what would eventually allow him to advance his wizardry rank. However, at the current rate at which he progressed during each ladder season, his calculations told him that it would probably take another three or four ladder seasons before he accumulated enough stats to reach the Invincible Rank.

Even if that were the case, Anton would only be around twenty-four or twenty-five years old by then. Reaching the Invincible Rank in wizardry at such an age would still be considered unprecedented.

Anton didn’t care too much about his wizardry rank, though, because Master Vernatu had already told him that his current Supreme Rank was enough to allow him to advance to the Adept Traveler rank, which would eventually let him travel to different dimensions.

Because he wasn’t too busy while waiting for Master Vernatu to assign him his rank-up mission, he joined his batchmates in watching movies. By that point, they had started watching an episode of a television series every day.

After they had finished watching The Lord of the Rings, they started watching a television series. Since Anton wanted to continue inspiring his batchmates, he let them watch one of his favorite television series, and he didn’t mind rewatching it with them.

He chose Star Trek: The Next Generation as their first series.

They all watched the television series to unwind from the stress of their studies during the day. Thankfully, each episode was less than an hour long, so watching an episode didn’t take much of their time.

Sometimes, they even watched more than one episode at a time.

This time, Anton, Maura, and the rest of their batch decided not to spread the word that they were watching a television series. Their batch was the only group in the room they were using when they first started watching.

However, word still spread, and the number of people watching with them gradually increased.

Thankfully, the number of people who wanted to watch the series never grew to the point where they had to transfer to another, much larger venue.

Anton enjoyed spending time with the others.

After watching the television show, they would talk about the things they wanted to see once they were able to traverse the multiverse. They usually held these conversations over food and drinks, and their discussions varied greatly, ranging from the absurd to the serious and from the shallow to what they considered intellectual.

About another week passed before Lemuel told him that Master Vernatu wanted to check his progress.

Anton met up with his teacher in his office.

They talked for about an hour before Master Vernatu brought him to a testing room to assess his progress with spatial spellcasting.

Master Vernatu smiled at Anton’s proficiency with the spatial spells.

The next thing Anton’s teacher tested was his combat ability, but that didn’t last long.

After a few minutes of Anton casting his Diablo II offensive spells, Master Vernatu told him that he was satisfied with Anton’s ability to defend himself. He then instructed him to learn from Lemuel what mission he needed to complete for his rank-up.

Anton was delighted that it was finally time for him to undertake the mission.

He met Lemuel in one of the tower’s training rooms, where his Initiate Tutor informed him of the mission’s details.

His mission was to gather mithril stones laced with spatial energy.

They were located on another continent, deep within a wilderness filled with monsters.

“Normally, this mission would be considered one of the most difficult missions a Novice Traveler could receive, but I’ve read your profile and tested your combat abilities. I’m quite sure you won’t find it difficult to complete this mission,” Lemuel told him.

Lemuel informed him that his ability to delve past the sixtieth level of a high-level dungeon, as well as his participation in the wizard’s battle against the Undead Coalition, meant that he had enough experience and firepower to complete the mission with ease.

The mission was on the continent of Huoxi, deep within the wilderness of Xinati.

Lemuel gave him the coordinates of the wilderness. Using the Gate spell with those coordinates would bring Anton to a location just outside the wilderness.

Anton’s Initiate teacher also handed him several other sets of coordinates that he could use with his Gate spell.

One was the coordinate of the wilderness where his mission was located.

The second led to one of the halls the tower used for Gate purposes, while the others were designated safe locations in Remuth.