Tae looked at the gate, swirling blue light in the middle of the warehouse, the company who owned it didn't even move the equipment. There were forklifts and boxes all around. The raiding party was small, ten hunters all of D rank with one E rank. He couldn't believe his luck! That E rank, it was unmistakably Sung Jin Woo, he looked weak and he was, the 'worlds weakest hunter', yet in a years time, he would survive the double dungeon and would become the strongest hunter in the world, the shadow monarch. But Tae wouldn't be wasting time either. Maybe, just maybe, he could keep up with him… Tae walked over to the scrawny boy, there were no muscles under that shirt, a stark contrast to the absolute unit he would grow to be.
He approached him, spear drawn, "hello, my name's Sun Tae, D rank hunter and you are?"
"Sung Jin Woo", he responded, " E rank"
"How are you feeling? Nervous?"
"Yeah, a bit but with nine D ranks, this should be pretty easy, well, compared to some of the other raids I have been in", Jin Woo scratched the back of his head, "we have a healer too, what a relief"
"Yeah, it's my first raid, don't really know what to look out for", Tae chuckled, "any tips for a newbie?"
"If it is your first raid, you should probably stay in the back. With that spear, you would still be able to hit the monsters from further back", he pondered, "in an E rank dungeon, there shouldn't be any monsters smart enough to attack the back line"
Tae nodded silently. Going to the front would mean he'd earn more resources but he didn't need recourses, he had enough money to live for a few months, what he needed was dead bodies and there would be plenty of those even without him being in the front lines.
The raid began, the raid party entering the gate. Inside, it looked nothing like the warehouse they had just been in, it was a huge cave with just one path. One of the mages created light and they could see blood red, beady eyes staring back at them. They were small, with green skin and razor sharp teeth, "goblins", Sung Jin Woo breathed out.
"Kirriiiii!" They screeched, running at them. The tanker and the warriors stood in the front, soaking in damage, as the mages and Tae stood behind them hitting the goblins from range. Sung Jin Woo was at the front lines, as he had no range attacks. It didn't take long for Sung Jin Woo to be hurt, by a crude bone knife, wielded by one of the goblins. When the first wave was over, their healer tended to the injured, healing them with a dull, green spell. Now, it was time to test if he could get the powers of monsters or only of hunters. He kneeled down, touching one of the goblins he had stabbed.
[subject is able to be extracted, choose one:
Physique: F rank
Senses: E rank
Mana: F rank]
Okay, no skills this time, only abilities… these goblins were just too weak to have any skills, like swordsmanship. He chose a combination of physique and senses as he absorbed the power of the eight goblins they had killed. He was already feeling stronger, by far not C rank yet but definitely stronger. After the wounded were tended to, they harvested monster cores, three of the goblins had a core.
"This is a lot more fun than i imagined", Tae told Sung Jin Woo, who was standing there after having been healed, "I thought fighting for my life would be more… well, frightening? Do you know what I mean?"
"I hear that a lot from the stronger hunters… for me, it is a constant battle to survive, not nearly as fun", Sung Jin Woo muttered, looking at his blade, it had already begun cracking, despite not having used it for very long, just great, he needed a new blade… just one more thing to trouble him.
"Look on the bright side, maybe you will reawaken in the future?"
"Reawaken, he, don't make me laugh, I'm not that lucky", he chortled. It was understandable, the chance of reawakening was slim to none. He couldn't know the irony of his words.
They ventured deeper into the cave and met with another group of goblins. He once again harvested their stats and they moved on. Soon, they had only the boss to worry about. It had been another 8 waves, with a collective loot of 20 monster cores, 2 for every d rank member, 3 for the leader and 1 for their solo E rank. Not a bad haul but the gate wasn't over yet. They arrived in the throne room, where a goblin in robes sat, surrounded by a group of 20 goblins.
The battle started like the other waves but instead of running at them blindly, the boss monster raised his hands in the air and spoke a few words, summoning a bolt of fire which shot at the back liners. He shot more and more shots, slowly killing the mages in the back, when the second mage fell, he knew he needed to take out the boss, so, he ran up to it and rammed his spear right into his gut, killing him. He touched him as the others were finishing off the rest of the goblins.
[Subject is able to be extracted, choose one:
Physique: F rank
Senses: E rank
Mana: D rank
Fire bolt: D rank]
He chose the fire bolt and immediately knew how to activate that skill. Looking back, the others had almost finished off the goblins, so, he walked up to the fallen mages, one man and one woman. First the man…
[Subject is able to be extracted, choose one:
Physique: E rank
Senses: E rank
Mana: C rank
Fire bolt: E rank
Lightning bolt: E rank]
Without hesitation, he chose the mana, it was c rank after all. He felt his mana multiplied rapidly as his previously shallow mana pool was now substantially larger. Next the woman…
[Subject is able to be extracted, choose one:
Physique: E rank
Senses: D rank
Mana: D rank
Lightning bolt: E rank
Ice shard: D rank]
Hmmm… they were both D rank mage type hunters, yet they had different stats, interesting… he chose ice shard.
As the knowledge of the spell rushed into his mind, the last goblin fell. Gathering up all the cores, they had 25 crystals, they were distributed between the remaining eight members and they walked out of the gate.
"You did amazing, are you really a newbie?" Asked the raid leader, "thanks to your quick thinking, we only lost two members, do you maybe want to join our guild, the lotus guild?"
"No thank you", he shook his head and headed over to Sung Jin Woo, "Sung, do you want to exchange numbers? Maybe we can go to a few more raids together?"
"Sure"