"So let me get this straight, you're telling me that the Warrior who went in the Dungeon before the Zeke Party was really an F-Rank!?"
"Dude, would I ever lie about something like that?"
"I don't see why you would but...are you sure you didn't see it wrong or..."
"As sure as can be. I saw it all as soon as he gave me his Warrior ID to verify it. As clear as day, Class, Blacksmith, Rank, F! His name was Raid, he didn't have a surname so no Family."
"An orphan?"
"What else? On Dungeons Entered, it read zero too so this is-"
"His first time entering a Dungeon."
"Yeah..."
"Is he nuts!? He's an F-Rank with no Family and the first Dungeon he chooses to explore is one Rank above his own. Is he hoping he'll get lucky or something?"
"No idea. It's not like we could stop him even if we wanted to. It'd be a different story if it was a D-Rank Dungeon but as long as it's either his own Rank or one Rank above then he's got the right to enter."
"Narly. These Warriors operate on a completely different method from us normal folk. Still though, not to disrespect the people that are risking their lives to protect us, I doubt he'll make it back alive."
"Yeah, you and me both. It's a shame really....mh?"
"What's going o-"
"It's the Dungeon, someone must be coming out."
"Is it the Zeke Party? They must've cleared it."
...
"No way..."
"He's still...? But how?"
"Urgh, maaan! Finally out of that heat! Is global warming not a concept in other planets? Sheesh! I'mma need a real cold bath after this, a shower maybe? Nah, standing water works best. Or maybe I'll swing by a local swimming pool or see if the hotel I'm renting a room in has one...huh?"
I saw the two guards from before staring at me as I walked out of the Dungeon Gate stretching my neck with my hand on it and it closed signalling that it had officially been cleared.
"Oh. Heyyo, guess you guys are basically out of a job now that this Dungeon's been cleared, huh? Sorry 'bout that. Well tootles!"
"Erh... S-sir please wait!!!" The guy who had previously verified my ID before I entered shouted and grabbed my shoulder as I was about to leave.
"Whoa! Dude! You scared me there a little."
"Oh uhh... S-sorry about that." He said as he calmed down. "But wait, how did I surprise you, aren't Warriors' senses incredibly sharp?"
"Oh no, yeah don't mind that. That wasn't canon, it was just for the sake of the gag."
"Uh...gag?"
"Don't worry about it. So, what can I do for ya?" I asked.
"Oh uhm, right yes...not to sound rude but did you really clear that E-Rank Dungeon?" He asked looking quite flabbergasted.
"Oh. Uh...yeah, why?" I answered.
"Uhm...well you see, last I checked, you're an F-Rank so that should be impossible, no?" He asked once more.
"Yeah, you're right about that. Even I was surprised. I mean I almost died even, but it wasn't really as hard as I thought it'd be..." I answered.
"What do you mea-"
"Wait, the Zeke Party. What about the Zeke Party!?" The other guard then chimed in.
"Zeke Party???" I played dumb. I wasn't about to just casually disclose the fact that they all died by my hand.
"You've...never heard of the Zeke Party?" The first guard asked.
"Nope." If old man-Gam saw me now, he'd be so proud of how much I've grown the lying techniques he's taught me.
***
Now listen kid, you need to learn how to lie your teeth off.
Lie my teeth off?
That's right! Lie your teeth off. Always remember. The most important skill a man can have, is his ability to lie! When you rob a bank and the cops start accusing you as a suspect - lie.
Hold on, have yo-
When your girlfriend finds out you cheated on her with her sister - lie.
You have got to be kid-
When you stea-sorry, I mean uh..."borrow" your brother's car for the day and return it without him knowing, but then he finds a scratch on it and then suspects you - lie.
Okay, why do these scenarios oddly sound like things that have specifically happened to you?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Lemme guess. Is the next scenario: When the kid you're raising finds out that you've actually done some pretty effed up stuff in your past - lie?.
Now you're get'n it!
***
Seriously, sometimes I don't get that man. How did someone like that end up being a caretaker and founder of an orphanage? I always wonder. I don't even have a brother, let alone one with a car.
"But I guess this counts: When you murder an entire party of Warriors and people start asking questions - lie."
"Well...you see, there was a party formerly known as the Zeke Party, they entered a while after you did. Did you not cross paths with them maybe?" He queried.
"Not even once."
"B-but the Dungeon has been cleared, does that mean they're trapped in there?" The second guard worried.
"No." Both the first guard and I answered in unison.
He then continued alone...
"Cleared Dungeons won't close until all alive Warriors that were inside exit it."
"So the Zeke Party is..."
"Yes, all the members of the Zeke Party have died."
"But that's impossible! That party had one C-Rank, Zeke Reinhardt, third son of the Reinhardt Family, two D-Ranks and one E-Rank. How could they die in an E-Rank Dungeon instead of clearing it with flying colours!?" The second guard queried in disbelief.
"Beats me, it's even more unbelievable since an F-Rank instead was the one who managed to clear it. Oh...n-no offence." The first guard added.
"None taken. But I have a theory..."
"A...theory?" Both guard, their faces laced with curious expressions, asked in unison.
"Yeah, what if...just hear me out...maybe, just maybe. Is it possible that the Zeke Party actually encountered the Dungeon Boss before I did and managed to weaken it? Which is why I was able to kill it and clear the Dungeon? Hhheh? I don't know... What do you guys think?" I asked as if I wanted to hear their opinions, but in truth I just fed them lies so they could feed them to other people while making them think that it was all their idea.
"So you think that the party members all died facing the Boss and weakened it in the process. That would explain why you were able to kill it despite you Rank but..." The first guard paused.
"Would the Zeke Party really die at the hands of a D-Rank monster?" The second guard inquired.
"Well, it wasn't just the D-Rank Boss." I added.
"What do you mean?" The second guard asked.
"While I was exploring the Dungeon. Its main monsters, called Werehyenas, lived in caves underground...." I explained. "Making sure to stay very far away from them, I noticed that they were always in groups of at least seventy to a hundred in numbers, and that was before I even 'accidentally' stumbled over the Boss' cave and when I did, the Boss was alone, and heavily injured now that I think about it, but at the time I was too focused on my survival to notice and ran. It chased me down and caught up to me, leaving me no choice to fight back. Fortunately, I was miraculously able to defeat it despite my Rank."
"Of course!" The first guard declared.
"It all makes sense now!" He continued. "The monsters must've ambushed and outnumbered the Zeke Party, since it was the Boss' cave then the number of Werehyenas must've been humongous. I'd estimate ten times as much as normal which is at least seventy. So the number of Werehyenas that the Zeke Party must've faced was probably seven-hundred plus, and they were still able to defeat that whole army of monsters, but it must've came at cost." He finished.
"Right. Defeating that many monsters must've really tired them out, and when it came to the Boss. All they could ever hope to do was weaken it enough for Mr Raid to then defeat it." The second guard concluded.
"Wow, you guys are geniuses. I for one would've never figured this much out of all of this." I praised insincerely, but they didn't need to know that.
"Ah shucks. You're giving us too much credit sir. All we did was just connect a few dots." The first guard said humbly while scratching the back of his head and smiling awkwardly.
"Yeah, you're the one worthy of praise for clearing the Dungeon. Even if the Boss was weakened, it's still an amazing feat!" The second guard added.
"Thanks for that. Really means a lot. Well I'll be off now. Later fellas!" I said as I entered my car.
"Yes, goodbye!"
"Safe travels!"
The both bid me farewell respectively as I drove off.
"Well, looks like that went without a hitch. With this I'm sure I won't be some suspect of a murder case so the only thing I have left to worry about now is the Reinhardt Family after they learn about Zeke's death, or more specifically, the Family Head. If the Head of the Reinhardt Family is exactly the same as his son made him out to be, I doubt he'd, that's if he loves his son, let it go as a simple 'oh, well, my son got cocky, entered a Dungeon and died as a result, no biggie' type of issue. Now I know I don't have to worry about the orphanage since old man-Gam is there but I specifically need to be on high alert. At this point, even assassination is a possibility."
I kept driving as I thought about my next move.
"Now then. Where should I go? The Warriors Association to sell some Mana Crystals? Neh, I'm in no rush, I still got a considerable amount of money in my account saved up from my two previous jobs, besides, I couldn't sell any of them anyway without arousing suspicion. 'How did an F-Rank defeat E-Rank monsters!?', they'll say. They'll probably even think I stole them. On that note though I *can* sell the Boss monster's Mana Crystal, since it's about to be known that I cleared the Dungeon by "luck", it'd make sense if I had it, right? I'll sell it after I refresh myself, it'll be ten thousand since it's D-Rank. Damn, that's a lot! Keep clearing Dungeons like this and I'll be rich!"
I drove back to the hotel and went straight to the room I was renting. The hotel provided a dry cleaning service so I was determined to take advantage of that and had all the clothes I was wearing washed then went to take a nice warm bath. I thought back to the cold bath I mentioned earlier but remembered how I didn't do well with cold water after five so I was like...
"Yeah, no way."
Anyway.
I wrapped a towel around my waist after the bath, made my way to the bedroom then sat comfortably on the bed.
"Now then, time to check out my new toys. Open Item Space."
[Report. Command accepted. Now opening Item Space...]
[Report. New items detected. Now processing new items...]
[Renewing Item Space contents...]
[Now opening Item Space....again...]
Item Space B-Rank contents:
• Hammer of Unknown Origin: A fiery and sturdy hammer that the Subject can use to craft equipment and the like... its origin is unknown, it possesses a small yet strong ego and emits an otherworldly energy signature. It's Grade cannot be measured yet due to how little information is known about it. It has completely acknowledged the user as its master.
• Great Pickaxe: A strong and sturdy pickaxe with magical properties. Its Grade is unknown due to its bizarre and foreign properties.
• Great Shovel: A strong and sturdy shovel with magical properties. Its Grade is unknown due to its bizarre and foreign properties.
• Dragon Furnace: A furnace that can produce flames powerful enough to melt down almost any metal.
595 kilograms of iron, approximately. Fifty nine bars of iron in total, each weighing 10 kilograms plus one chunk about the size of half a bar weighing about 5 kilograms.
• Everchanging Anvil: A special anvil that can change into any desired shape to be able to produce any weapon.
• Various planks of wood.
• Various fabrics: Leather, cotton, silk etc...
• Twelve Whistling Daggers: Twelve strong sharp daggers made of Poison Steel, each in the Last Stage Intermediate-Grade. While they cannot be used by the Subject in battle, they can however be used as material to craft a new weapon/s.
• Trispirit Staff: A great and powerful magic staff that enhances one's Mana output, the three gemstones on it enhance the Wind Elemental Magic, Fire Elemental and Water Elemental Magic of those who wield it respectively. The wood the staff is made from is called, Viss Wood found in one of the countless various Great Spirit Trees of the Spirit World. The staff is in the Middle Stage Intermediate-Grade. While it cannot be used by the Subject in battle, it can however be used as material to craft a new weapon/s.
• Drakeduke Armour and Drakeduke Longsword: Incredibly sturdy knight wear and longsword set made from the scales of a B-Rank Wyvern monster. They're in the Last Stage High-Grade. While they cannot be used by the Subject in battle, they can however be used as material to craft a new weapon/s.
• 11300+ kilograms of pure Cold Iron. Chunks varying in weight and size.
• 658 E-Rank Mana Crystals and one D-Rank Mana Crystal. Can be sold for currency or used to increase Subject's Mana Capacity with the Cultivator Skill.
• First Dawn: Subject's first creation. Incredibly sharp, shiny and sturdy blade made of iron with very high Mana conductivity. Cannot be stained and cannot be used by anyone except the Subject unless the Subject allows it. The blade is in the First Stage Super-Grade.
"Wait! Hold up! Hold all the way up! Cultivator can absorb Mana Crystals!?? But it didn't say anything about that on its description though.... System, show me the Cultivator Skill contents."
[Showing the contents of the E-Rank Skill Cultivator]
• Cultivator E-Rank: Possesses a moderate level of Mana manipulation, through the use of a Dantian.
"Hmm...does Mana Crystal absorption simply just fall under the umbrella of moderate level Mana manipulation? Let's check it out.'
I activated the Cultivator Skill and conjured out one E-Rank Mana Crystal to try and absorb it. As I sat on the bed, I placed it on my palms and closed my eyes to concentrate, I regulated my breathing and focused on the Mana Crystal.
"Hoo... I can sense the Mana inside it. Now I'll use my hands and arms as a pathway to let the Mana flow through, the destination will be my newly formed Dantian. This will be my new Mana Source, it'll work better than what I used before which was my brain since not only is it linked to my consciousness and sub-consciousness which combine to make up my Astral Body, it's also linked to my Physical Body And Spiritual Body. Alrighty then, time to absorb!"
[Report. ERROR CODE DETECTED! Subject is unable to absorb the Mana Crystal.]
"Wha... What!?"
[E-Rank Skill Cultivator is still too weak to be able to absorb Mana Crystals. Cultivator must reach D-Rank in order to absorb Mana Crystals.]
"You gotta be shittin' me! How am I supposed to do that right now, seriously!? Grr! Am I gonna have to wait until I enter another Dungeon so I can level up?....hmhh....no but wait...if Cultivator is still too weak to absorb Mana Crystals because it's E-Rank, then would two E-Rank Skills do the trick? All l did before was activate Cultivator but if I activated both itand Astral Unification then...won't it make a difference? Yeah! That's it, that's what I need to do. I'll add in Bladework too to increase my Intelligence Stat which will increase my Mana manipulation efficiency."
So I did just that, Cultivator was already active so I activated Bladework and Astral Unification. I could feel energy surging within me. Then a thought crossed my mind.
"Wait, what if.... Activate Soul-Piercing Eyes. Whoa! I knew it!"
My eyes continuously shone a small green light.
Using four Skills at once took a bit of a toll since my Mana Capacity was still low but the payoff was huge.
"Now then, make sure to keep Cultivator in charge, the others just assist. Bladework will increase my Intelligence Stat, Soul-Piercing Eyes will stack up on tha by heightening my senses, most of all, my sight and Mana sensitivity then Astral Unification will synchronise all these Skills with one another. Now, absorb...using my arms as a pathway, I'll carefully gather all the Mana in this crystal to my newly formed Dantian..."
[Report. Success! The E-Rank Mana Crystal has been successfully absorbed.]
[Mana Capacity gained from the E-Rank Mana Crystal: 5.]
"Hallelujah! It worked!"
The Mana Crystal then turned to dust afterwards, that surrounded the area, illuminating the room and leaving a sweet fragrance as it disappeared. Mana generated *from* it surrounded my body and then gathered slowly on to my stomach as it permeated through. The absorption was complete.
[Report. Advancements in the Subject's overall Warrior info have been detected as a result of recent actions.]
"Hello! more rewards? Can't say no to that."
[Now calculating advancements...]
[Treasure Hunt's Sub-Skill Soul-Piercing Eyes has advanced from D-Rank to C-Rank.Cultivator Skill has advanced from E-Rank to D-Rank. Cultivator's Sub-Skill Astral Unification has advanced from E-Rank to D-Rank. Subject has also gained a new Sub-Skill for the Cultivator Skill known as Fury of Dantian.]
[Weapon Fanatic's Sub-Skill Bladework's effects on the Subject's Stats have increased. Effect on Strength has increased by 10. Effect on Speed has increased by 20. Effect on Health has increased by 100 and effect on Intelligence has increased by 300. Now redesigning the effects of the A-Rank Bladework Sub-Skill on the Subject...]
A-Rank Bladework Sub-Skill: Effects When Active
• Strength +900
• Speed +1120
• Health +960
• Intelligence +1220
[Furthermore, Mana Capacity has increased by 500+5. Strength has increased by 90. Speed has increased by 100. Health has increased by 400 and Intelligence has increased by 450.]
[Now redesigning overall Warrior info...]
Name: Raid
Surname: ???
Affiliation: Awakened Warrior
Class: Blacksmith
Skills:
• Craft D-Rank : Can craft high level equipment, weapons and amour from scratch as long as the necessary products to do so are present.
• Repair D-Rank: Can fix broken equipment, weapons and amour.
• Weapon Fanatic C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of understanding of how various weapons operate, including how to use them in battle.
•• Bladework A-Rank: Possesses an apex level of mastery with blades.
••• Sunset Slash: A very powerful slash with the power to bend nature to its will.
• Treasure Hunt B-Rank: Can expertly locate mines with products and minerals for crafting within a 1200 kilometre radius. Tip: Mines found in dungeons have the best products.
•• Soul-Piercing Eyes C-Rank: Exponentially increases sensory perception, allows one to spot a large number of weak points in their opponents and see many various hidden secrets of nature.
• Mine D-Rank: Can masterfully mine products and minerals for crafting.
• Item Space B-Rank: Massive space to store equipment, weapons, armoury, products, minerals, etc...
• Brawler C-Rank: Possesses an expert level of mastery in hand-to-hand close-quarters combat.
•• Demolition Strike: A very powerful strike that releases shockwaves of incredible force that can demolish anything of weaker strength.
• Cultivator D-Rank: Possesses a high level of Mana manipulation, through the use of a Dantian.
•• Astral Unification D-Rank: Allows one to unify various aspects of oneself through breathing for the purpose of increasing sensory perception, Mana manipulation efficiency and overall amount of Mana.
•• Fury of Dantian F-Rank: Small Dantian that acts as the Mana Source of the Subject. Can temporarily increase Subject's Mana Capacity two-fold. Significantly increases Mana manipulation efficiency. Adds 120% extra Mana Capacity when absorbing Mana Crystals.
• Resilient Regeneration D-Rank: Can heal almost all damages to the body, regenerate any body part including organs except for the heart and brain, speed of regeneration is dependent on the scale of damage and Skill Rank.
• Hypermove E-Rank: Can increase one's speed drastically through the use of electric Mana. Said Mana also acts as a shield against air resistance.
Rank: F
Level: Locked
Mana Capacity: 6415
Strength: 2690
Speed: 2813
Health: 3054
Intelligence: 3290
"Oh yeah, now we're talking!"
"I was able to absorb the Mana Crystal and even gained a new Skill made after my Dantian. Seems like from now on, I'll need to use five Skill instead of four to absorb Mana Crystals which will give me extra Mana Capacity. So tasking! But still, this is good. Now then, since I'll only be selling the D-Rank Mana Crystal. I might as well absorb all the other Mana Crystals. Still though, a little over six-hundred Mana Crystals isn't what I expected my total to be. I thought it'd be more, at least a little over seven-hundred. Now that I think about it, I don't remember collecting the Mana Crystals of the second Werehyena Extermination Quest. I was too focused on the Cold Iron at the time and forgot all about them. What a waste, there were a lot of them too, I think around ninety or so... Welp, no use fretting over it. I still got six-hundred and fifty-seven so it's not a total loss. Time to absorb."