Chapter 8. Could This Be?
"I guess I have to hunt in a party..."
It was a situation where he couldn't beat the guilds' bidding competition alone, and it was difficult to receive the Association's approval either.
Shindae had no choice but to consider party hunting.
'Let's only try party hunting until the moment I get used to combat instincts and raise my stats enough.'
Even though his stats were over 100, Shindae knew well that his combat experience against monsters was still lacking. Rather, he decided to use this opportunity to fill in his shortcomings.
"Let's see, a suitable party...."
Shindae was looking for a party that would accept him, even though he was F-rank on the outside.
Among the parties he had been looking through on Hunter Job, he had finally found one suitable for him.
[Beginners are welcome too.... It's a 2-star dungeon we barely won the bid for, and if we can't enter by tomorrow, we'll have to cough up a penalty fee... If you just deposit the 100,000 won entrance fee, you can join immediately.]
Shindae found a party that seemed unable to enter due to a missing member.
When he contacted them, the party leader accepted Shindae into the party without much thought.
"Should I start looking at equipment too?"
What Shindae was currently using was a training knife he had brought from home.
Since it was no different from an ordinary kitchen knife, Shindae was browsing Hunter Market.
'I have about 5 million won in spare funds...'
Day wages and consolation money from the Osiris Guild.
After deducting his studio apartment's monthly rent and living expenses, his spare funds were about 5 million won.
'Equipment really is expensive.....'
Shindae clicked his tongue as he looked at equipment that cost over 10 million won at minimum.
In the end, he had no choice but to settle for buying a longsword that cost 3 million won made by a nameless blacksmith.
"Armor is... *sigh* I'll just have to tough it out with my body..."
Shindae, who thought armor was too much, sighed and threw his phone onto the bed.
***
The next day, Shindae came to the area near Nonhyeon Station wearing the longsword at his waist.
He was able to easily meet Lee Dohun, who was called the party leader.
"Um, Mr. Dohun?"
Lee Dohun was equipped with Fullmate armor and even had a greatsword on his back.
He looked at Shindae, who had come with only a longsword at his waist, with disbelieving eyes.
"Huh... could your Awakening rank be?"
Since there were many Awakened among rankers who didn't wear armor due to high Agility, when Lee Dohun asked, Shindae merely shrugged his shoulders.
"It's F-rank."
"F-rank!"
"No... Mr. Dohun, don't tell me you didn't check beforehand who this person was?"
A woman who looked like a priestess behind him approached Lee Dohun.
"No... Ms. Hyeyun... that's..."
"Do you think it makes sense for an F-rank to enter a 2-star dungeon?"
Currently, their Awakening ranks were C-rank and level 25.
Even so, the reason they couldn't enter a 2-star dungeon was because they couldn't meet the minimum required three people.
"Haa... I don't know, Mr. Dohun, you handle it."
The woman named Jo Hyeyun frowned and sighed.
Lee Dohun, who had been worrying about what to do, eventually let out a sigh.
'If not today, I'd have to pay the penalty fee too....'
It was a situation where he had to pay a penalty fee if he didn't enter the dungeon anymore.
Between the desire to safely abandon the dungeon run and the desire to enter the dungeon and earn money, Lee Dohun had eventually chosen the latter.
"Um... Mr. Shindae, you know we can't guarantee your life if you enter the dungeon, right?"
"I'm well aware."
"Then we'll enter the dungeon for now. And if a dangerous situation arises, no one will say anything, so run to the back, got it?"
Lee Dohun put on a kind-looking smile.
Shindae looked at him and nodded.
***
Shindae had entered the dungeon.
He looked at the dungeon with slightly surprised eyes at its size; despite being a 2-star dungeon the size of a single building, it looked like an entire village.
'I heard it was a slime dungeon...'
To be exact, it was the [Blue Slime] dungeon.
Shindae and his party were wandering through a ruin-like village.
The first thing they discovered was five blue slimes gathered together.
"Ms. Hyeyun, buff please."
Lee Dohun drew his greatsword and glared at the monsters.
Shortly after, when Hyeyun cast a buff on Shindae and Lee Dohun, Shindae could feel that the strength in his hand had increased slightly.
[You have received the Whisper of Vitality buff.]
[Strength increases by 5.]
At the same time the buff was received, the slimes reacted to mana and began charging toward Shindae and the party at high speed.
"Mr. Shindae, fall back if it's dangerous!"
Lee Dohun swung his greatsword at the two slimes approaching from the front and shouted.
Shindae thrust his sword at the slime approaching in front of him.
'The core is definitely here....'
He had butchered slimes in the dungeon when he followed Collection Team 2.
Believing that the blue slime in front of him wouldn't be much different, Shindae thrust his sword into the area where the core was located.
When Shindae's sword struck the core area, the blue slime let out a bizarre scream and thrashed.
Due to the high vitality characteristic of slimes, it didn't collapse right away, but when he struck down at it with his sword, he saw it fall.
'As expected, the difference between 3-star and 2-star is huge...'
Shindae recalled the baby sea lion from before.
He was able to easily deal with the other two blue slimes approaching him as well.
"This longsword is more to my liking than I thought?"
Shindae had worried that using a longsword for the first time would be awkward, but after swinging it a few times, he could put on a satisfied smile.
"Um... Mr. Shindae?"
"I-is he really F-rank?"
After the hunt ended, Lee Dohun and Jo Hyeyun stared blankly at Shindae, who was butchering the blue slimes as if familiar with it and collecting magic stones.
They looked at Shindae, who had taken down three blue slimes in an instant, with disbelieving eyes.
"Is your level 20?"
Thinking that it might be 20, the maximum level for F-rank, Lee Dohun asked, and Shindae scoffed.
"It's level 12."
Shindae's level had risen from the hunt just now.
He had invested all his stats into mana.
"L... level 12? Really?!"
"Isn't his weapon... isn't his weapon really good?"
It was a reasonable suspicion because sometimes wealthy Awakened came wielding hero-grade or legendary-grade weapons.
However, Shindae's longsword was merely a sturdy iron sword made by a nameless blacksmith.
'Its attack power is only 50 too...'
The only good point was that its durability was slightly higher than other iron swords.
Though they were looking at Shindae with surprised expressions, he merely scoffed and collected a few pieces of blue slime meat and magic stones.
"What should we do with the slime cores?"
When 2 slime cores were collected from the 5 slimes, Lee Dohun and Jo Hyeyun's expressions brightened.
"We're lucky from the start. We're talking about an item that costs 300,000 won each."
Shindae put the magic stones and slime cores into the bag Lee Dohun had brought.
Seeing them smile at the thought of having easily earned money after doubting him, Shindae scoffed.
'I wonder what stat this will raise....'
Shindae wanted to quickly eat the meat secretly from them.
***
"Huh.. huh, what's going on this time?"
[Mana has increased by 2.]
[Recovery increases by 50% for one day.]
Under the excuse of going to the bathroom after the hunt ended, Shindae tried eating the blue slime meat.
The fishy taste in his mouth lasted only a moment before he saw the message that appeared in front of his eyes and made a dumbfounded expression.
'Recovery increases by 50%?'
Shindae felt that his right hand, which had been occasionally sore since visiting the hospital, was now painless as if washed in water.
He unwrapped the bandage on his right hand and scoffed.
"I found some pretty interesting meat, didn't I?"
Just like the Burning Seedling that had given an attribute, this time it was a blue slime that increased recovery.
He decided to collect a few more from this hunt and approached the party.
"Then shall we continue?"
***
"Don't the monsters seem to have gotten stronger?"
Lee Dohun frowned suspiciously while shaking off the slime mucus stuck to his greatsword.
'Gotten stronger?'
They had just caught 15 slimes.
Shindae, who couldn't feel much of a difference unlike at the beginning, had no choice but to look at Lee Dohun as he caught his breath.
"Isn't it because your stamina has dropped?"
"Is that so? That's strange... These guys were going down in two hits before..."
Lee Dohun stroked his chin and pondered at Jo Hyeyun's rebuke.
Shindae looked at the two and thought that Lee Dohun's stamina had dropped, just as Jo Hyeyun had said.
"Slime cores came out this time too."
"Wow, as expected of Shindae oppa! Amazing!"
"How many came out this time?"
Shindae awkwardly looked at Jo Hyeyun, who had started calling him oppa at some point.
He handed the 4 slime cores that came from the 15 blue slimes they had just caught to Lee Dohun.
"That's 10 slime cores.... *sigh*... We've already made 2 million won."
Lee Dohun had merely prayed to avoid only paying the penalty fee since they could only enter for one day.
He was in a good mood thanks to the unexpected profit.
"By the way, I think I can already see the end?"
The dungeon wasn't very large since it was a 2-star dungeon.
Lee Dohun and Jo Hyeyun, who had already discovered the boss room, looked at Shindae with regretful eyes.
"Um... Mr. Shindae, have you decided where you'll be hunting next?"
Shindae noticed the underlying intention in Lee Dohun's words, who subtly wanted to stay with him, and merely scoffed.
"Well... I haven't decided yet."
Color began to return to Lee Dohun's face at Shindae's words.
Just as the thought that he might be able to keep hunting with Shindae if things went well was entering his head.
"Then Mr. Shindae, with us, keep..........."
[Kieeeeeek!!!!!!]
Before Lee Dohun could even finish speaking, a bizarre scream was heard from the boss room.
Not only that, but at the sight of the boss room opening on its own, the party couldn't help but open their eyes wide.
'I-it opened on its own?!'
There was only one situation where a boss room opened on its own.
"Goodness... the dungeon is going berserk?"
"But this is only a 2-star dungeon?!"
It was the dungeon rampage phenomenon where a dungeon's rank suddenly rose.
Shindae was bewildered by the aura he felt from the boss room.
While bewildered, Shindae suddenly realized that saliva was gradually pooling in his mouth.
'Huh, wait, could this be?'
[Gluttony has discovered meat it desires.]
[You will receive x2 rewards upon consumption.]