LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 3: Collecting team
After selling the essence stones and the mana crystals he got as his loot, he had recouped the losses of buying his spear. Being a hunter was certainly lucrative. Sung Jin Woo and Tae jumped into another dungeon the very next day. They just couldn't wait for another raid. Jin Woo because he needed the money and Tae because he wanted more power. The raiding group was different this time, two C rank hunters, three D rank(counting himself) and four E rank(counting Sung Jin Woo). The two C rankers were a tank and a healer, whilst the two extra D rankers were magicians and the E rankers were warriors. A C rank Tanker-healer duo could be running D rank dungeons -with a few D rankers of course- but it was a training effort. The tanker was experienced, whilst the healer was a total newbie. E rank dungeons were easy training grounds for C or B rank hunters. Normally, they would come with a guild but sometimes, the smaller guilds didn't have the manpower to spare to train up a new recruit in an E rank dungeon, they had to run higher rank dungeons to stay afloat, so they would just put together a raid party. In fact, most smaller guilds wouldn't raid dungeons on their own, instead forming open raid parties, due to not having enough manpower to constantly fill the ten member requirement of stronger dungeons on their own.
They walked into the gate and there, they saw a large, crypt like structure, with skeletons patrolling the halls, A skeleton dungeon, eh?
This turned out to be a total waste of his time though… the skeletons counted as dead for longer than his skill allowed him to copy, so, as he shot them with fire bolts, he gained nothing. The gate wasn't that profitable either, with only the boss -a zombie- having an essence stone and only limited mana stones in the dungeon. Luckily, the C rankers didn't want any of the spoils, it was only training after all and so, the rest of them got to distribute their wealth evenly, with the d rankers getting a bit more than the e rankers.
"I didn't know you were a magician type", Sung Jin Woo said as they walked out of the gate, "with your spear, I had taken you for a warrior type"
"I have many skills", he said cryptically
"Oh, you are one of the lucky ones with multiple skills, are you? I would've thought you were c rank, the amount of spells you were able to sling", Sung Jin Woo contemplated, "I wish I had magic, I could stay in the back and not get as hurt during the raids. Maybe, if I had spells, I would be a D rank too"
"Yeah, they said I was on the verge between d and c rank"
"Unlucky", Jin Woo looked at him sympathetically. A C rank hunter could be recruited by one of the bigger guilds. Being in a big guild meant safer raids and better pay. Of course, D ranks weren't as bad as E ranks, that much he knew from personal experience, no one wanted an E rank in their guild.
"Say, why don't we go out and eat, my treat", Sun Tae offered.
"Sure", Sung Jin Woo accepted after a short deliberation, he could use a full belly after an unsuccessful raid. He barely got a hundred thousand won out of that raid.
They went to eat some sushi and got to chatting about their lives. Sung Jin Woo talked about how his father disappeared all those years ago and his family now relying on him to provide for them. Sun Tae returned with his story, both parents dying in a dungeon break, leaving him all alone in the world, no siblings, no cousins, not even grandparents. After they finished eating, Sung Jin Woo thanked him for the meal and they split paths.
Back home, he searched for a new raid, this time though, he didn't look for a raid as the main assault team, which would land him with only e or d rank dungeons but as a collection team. They handled the corpses of the fallen monsters, an easy way to get some quick cash and even more to gain some more skills. He quickly found listings for collection and miner teams. It was a good way for lower ranked hunters to make money. Miners were paid marginally more but it wasn't about the cash, it was about the corpses, so, he applied to join a collection team with the hunters guild for an A rank dungeon. He salivated at the thought of A rank monsters. Hopefully, it wouldn't be undead monsters this time. As he had learned, he couldn't copy undead's abilities or skills.
Sung Jin Woo messaged him that evening, asking if he wanted to run another raid the next day, though he declined, saying he wanted to rest a bit. Which was true, the a rank raid was the day after tomorrow, so he wanted to be in tip top shape for it. The danger should be gone by the time he entered but it was never bad to be prepared.
So, the next day, he rested, playing videogames and reading novels, just lazing around.
The day of the raid, he got up bright and early for a shower and looked himself in the mirror… had he always been this cut? No, he used to have a little belly but now, he had the beginnings of abs. And this was just after having raided a single e rank dungeon, imagine what he could look like after today. Physique increased just about everything about his body except his senses, he got stronger, more durable, faster, all with a single touch of a corpse. He rode the train up to the gate, where he was welcomed by the collecting team, "Are you Sun Tae, D rank?"
"That's right", he nodded at the burly man in front of him, according to his id card, he was a c rank hunter named Lee Rye, head of the collecting team. He had long, grey hair and looked about 50 or 60.
"Here is your ID for this job"
'Sun Tae
D rank
Collecting team
Hunters guild hireling'
Soon, the strike force arrived, led by Cha Hae In, with her iconic handkerchief over her nose. Hunters smelled horrible to her, all except Sung Jin Woo… that got him thinking, he had a system too… would that mean he smelled good too or was that a thing because he was the shadow monarch? He had to test it… if he smelled good, maybe he could get her as his love interest, after all, Jin Woo was quite cold to her. Sure, he grew to love her but he had plenty of other love interests.
Confidently, he walked over to Cha Hae In and bowed, "Noona Cha Hae In, I wanted to say, it is an honor to be in the same raid as you"
"Huh- sorry I don't give out autographs", she dismissed him.
"I didn't want an autograph, it is just that it isn't often you meet an S rank hunter", he smiled brightly, what an honor indeed. How powerful her corpse would make him- wait, what? Why was he thinking like that? Strange…
She was about to turn around, when she sniffed and looked pleasantly surprised, "are you really a hunter?"
So his system did indeed give him the same pleasant scent as Sung Jin Woo… good, "Yes, Noona, D rank, on the verge of C rank"
She looked at him for a good few seconds, before she turned away and walked over to the strike team.
"What are you doing? Talking to an S rank hunter just like that?! She could've killed you without ever raising her sword!", Lee Rye scolded him, "You are lucky that she is a kind person, don't ever do something like that again, you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it", he brushed him off. He would get the S rank hunter to fall for him, he had a year to become as powerful as possible- no, that isn't quite right… the ten year mark since the emergence of gates and hunters was in two months, as he had researched and the double dungeon incident happened some time in that year, so he had anywhere from two to 13 months to grow stronger before the main story began. After this raid, he should be as strong as a C, close to B rank hunter. His absorption wasn't perfect, it only absorbed up to a tenth of the raw power of Physique, Senses or mana, whilst the skills were copied one to one, so, he needed ten B rank physiques to reach the same strength, durability and speed as a B rank hunter. If he was lucky, he would get to copy from fifteen corpses. Most of the monsters in a A rank dungeon were B rank, with some A ranks and the boss always being an A rank. It took two hours for the strike team to return from the gate and the two supporting teams to enter the gate. The gate's inside looked like a fortress of stone and wood, with mana crystals jutting out of the ground.
Lee Rye directed the team to cut up various monsters. The first he got to was an Orc spearman, a B rank monster.
[Subject is able to be extracted, choose one:
Physique: B rank
Senses: B rank
Mana: C rank
Spearmanship: B rank
Warcry: B rank]
As tempting as it was to take the physique or senses, he instead took the spearmanship, he could only go so far on raw power alone, so, he needed skills and as his main weapon would be the spear, he chose the orc's skill with the weapon. He also sneakily pocketed the weapon in his inventory. The orc's spear was of fine quality, way better than the spear he had been carrying. After dismantling the orc(with great effort, since even with his guild given equipment, the orc's hide was tough), he took on another monster, an Orc Werewolf, an A rank monster.
[Subject is able to be extracted, choose one:
Physique: A rank
Senses: A rank
Mana: C rank
Grow claws: C rank
Warcry: B rank
Strong jaw: C rank]
This time he chose the physique, immediately, he felt a jump in power, he had broken through to the C rank in terms of physique, whilst his senses and mana were still at peak d rank, that changed though, as he handled an orc magician(B rank) and an orc scout(b rank), from which he absorbed mana and senses respectively, pushing the two stats into C rank. From the next two magician orcs, he copied their chain lightning(B rank) and Fireball(c rank) spells. With his now C rank physique, he was able to dismantle the corpses much faster, thus giving him more opportunities to copy. He raised his physique, senses and mana all to high-mid C rank and even snagged a C rank healing spell, as well as warcry, which allowed him to buff his allies' physique for a minute, with a three minute cooldown, useful but not game changing.
After many hours of work, he was done. The Strike team beat the boss -a high orc- and left for the day. He didn't get a chance to copy any of the high orc's skills or abilities but that was fine, he had grown quite strong in just these five hours but he was exhausted by the end of it, all sweaty and grime covered, so, he hopped in the shower in his apartment and fell asleep. He wouldn't be able to do this every day, once a week at most, his muscles needed time to heal after all. Though that was a payoff he appreciated. A week worth of E or D rank dungeons would gain him way less than one A rank raid every week, though he still needed battle experience, so he might just run a few D rank or E rank dungeons in his resting time. He had the power of a C rank now, with this strength, he could do a run or two and still get his proper rest.