Sun Tae balanced his new spear in hand as he waited for the other raiders to arrive. Truth be told, it wasn't a normal spear, it was a naginata, a spear with a blade instead of a normal spear point, like Whitebeard's weapon but it worked with the spearmanship skill, so he called it a spear. The blade was black with a red edge, edgy as fuck. He swung it around as he waited, holding perfect form whilst he swung it, slashing at the air.
"Are you really just a D rank?", Sung Jin Woo asked, amazed. He had been a hunter for what? A few weeks and yet he was so proficient with the spear, as if he had used it for years. It had been two weeks since he entered the raid as collection team. He would've joined in again but decided to instead strengthen his friendship with Sung Jin Woo instead. Having a solid base was important when it came to building a friendship and since he didn't know how long he had until the double dungeon, he took every opportunity to grow closer.
The raid itself was nothing to write home about, though he had to restrict his skill massively as to not arouse suspicion, intentionally missing attacks he could've hit and tripping over himself like the newbie he was supposed to be. From the goblins that were there, he got such little power that it was almost not worth it to copy but he did anyways, power was power, no matter how little.
After the raid, Tae was invited to the Sung family apartment, which he didn't say no to. The apartment was small but cozy. Jinha was sitting on the couch, watching the news, "Welcome home"
"Jinha, this is Sun Tae, he is a friend of mine, a fellow hunter", Jin Woo introduced him. His sister looked up from the tv and smiled, "Didn't know you like boys"
"I- what?", Jin Woo short circuited.
"Well, bringing someone to meet the family? Sounds like a boyfriend to me", she smirked, she was clearly playing with him
"I- no, we are just friends!", Jin Woo insisted.
With a relaxed smile, Tae joined in, teasing Jin Woo, "How can you say that, darling, does our bond mean nothing to you?"
"Not you too!"
"Hahahahahaha", they both laughed.
"Good to meet you brother in law", Jinah teased, "So, you are a hunter, like my brother… Wait- let me guess… you are a- warrior type, right? You have the build for it"
"I am a man of many talents", he said mysteriously.
They ate dinner together and then, he left. Back at home, he booked his next raid, collection team for the white tiger guild the next day.
In another part of Seoul Cha Hae In was looking through the files she had collected on Sun Tae. Awakened not even a month ago but already having participated in quite a few E and D rank dungeons, D rank strength, only child, orphan, previously worked in a morgue, "What makes you different? Why do you smell so nice?", she sat down on her bed and mused, "And D rank? His strength was that of a C rank, most certainly according to the reports from the other raiders… is he a false ranker? Would explain a lot but no one is that good at masking their mana so soon after their awakening… who are you, Sun Tae, what secrets do you hide?"
The next day, Sun Tae was at the next gate, another A rank, handling corpses. This time, it was an elemental gate, so golems, sprites, undynes and the lot. Their corpses were easier to dissect than the orcs' so he got through many more. By the end of the day, he had a few more spells(earth lance, water sphere, Metal chains etc.) and had reached low B rank in Physique and mana, with his sense still hanging at high c rank. He also got a few skills from fallen hunters, vital strike, power boost and Blink, a short ranged(2 meter) teleportation with a five second cooldown, a good trick to have if you ever needed it.
"You are doing it like as if you did it for your entire life", one of the other collection team staff said, "I wish I had that sort of talent for disassembling monsters"
"What can I say, hard work pays off", he shrugged, "I prefer fighting though… this is just for the money"
"Really? Most of those who join the collection team are cowards- no offence but only cowards or the weak choose the collection team over being a raider", one of the miners said, moving closer.
"Guilty as charged"
"What can I say, this pays better than D rank dungeons"
Later, Sun Tae was walking across a busy road, when there was a *boom*, which shook the street. Immediately, he picked his spear from his inventory and rushed towards the location which the boom had come from. He arrived there together with some other hunters. The street was full of corpses, with golems walking out of a gate, a breach… The hunters who had gathered charged at the golems, fighting them with their swords and hammers. Most of the hunters there were D rank, with two C rank hunters among them and him, the wildcard. The hunters were quickly on the defensive, as the golem's were powerful, C rank monsters. Instead of charging in, like the rest of them, Sun Tae closed his eyes and gestured with his hands, speaking an incantation, Lightning danced between his fingers as he aimed at one of the golems. With a resounding *crack*, his chain lightning, a b rank spell shot at the first golem, destroying it before jumping to the next target. He did that a few more times before through the gate came a huge golem, as big as a small house,a B rank monster. His lightning was ineffective but luckily, a stronger hunter soon arrived, an A rank hunter, wearing big, silver armor and swinging a hammer. He was not with any guild but worked with the hunter's association instead. When the gate closed, the hunters still there were interviewed to give an account of what happened.
"A D rank hunter unleashing a chain lightning spell?", the A rank hunter asked as the hunters gave their statements, "A false ranker? No, a false ranker wouldn't have shown off like that… maybe the evaluation machine made an error? We have to get you re-evaluated, just to make sure"
They traveled to the hunter's association and he placed his palm on the machine.
The result came back: B rank.