At two in the afternoon, Ran has arrived at the village of Cawilan. It’s a village that’s near the town of Tubod located in the east, and was a 20 minutes travel away from San Isidro village.
In the past, Tubod town had 10 villages under their jurisdiction. But as of now, only 4 of them are active and the rest only has a few households. In the North was the village of Timamana, the neighbour of his village. Cawilan in the east, San Pablo in the west, and Del Rosario in the south.
These four villages are blessed as they have many permanent dungeons under them. Due to that, they didn’t suffer the same fate as those 6 inactive villages.
“That must be them.” Ran mumbled when he saw a group of people gathered near the dungeon.
There are six of them specifically, with four of them talking with each other, one that’s sitting at the side with eyes closed, and another one that’s looking around cautiously with a shy face.
As he walked towards their direction, one of the four people that’s having a conversation noticed him and went to his direction.
“Are you Ran Datu?” the man asked.
“Ah yes, that’s me and you are?” Ran replied and asked back, scrutinizing the man before him. From the shield he’s holding and shining armor, he must be a hunter that focuses on defense. It compliment his big build but looking at his appearance, he appear to be around his age.
“I’m Arnel, an E rank hunter, the one who message you about today’s raid.” Arnel smiled amicably and shook hands with him. He then turned towards his companion and introduced them. “This is Shiena, Kenneth, and Rodel. They are also an E rank hunter just like me.”
“Hi.”
“Hello.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Shiena and the others greeted warmly. Ran also greeted them back, he could tell that they are good people.
“Enough with the useless introduction. We should go now and enter the dungeon as soon as possible.” The person that was sitting in the corner with his eyes closed earlier stood up and berated.
“Tsk.” Arnel clicked his tongue and whispered to Ran. “That’s our leader Ronnel, he’s already 40 years old yet still doesn’t have any girlfriend. That’s why he’s always in a bad mood.”
Ran nodded his head in understanding. Then, their group started their preparation before heading towards the dungeon entrance. But by the time they arrived, the Hunter Association staff was having a headache with another group.
After some inquiry, they found out that the dungeon suddenly had some anomaly. Before, it was measured as an E rank dungeon but it suddenly rose one rank. Now, the staff from the Hunter Association won’t allow the group to enter since they only have 1 D rank, 4 E rank, and one porter.
Based on the law, D rank dungeon could only be raided with one C rank accompanying the group or equivalent. Moreover, the group must be composed of 10 or more people.
“How about our group band to form one group? I’m sure we could raid this dungeon and stop a dungeon break from happening.” Ronnel suggested to the Hunter Association staff. There’s no way he’ll leave this place without making it inside the dungeon or it would be considered a wasted day for him.
“This… It still won’t be possible. Even if there’s two D rank in your party, it would still be…” the Hunter Association staff didn’t finish his sentence and could only gulp his saliva hard. He could feel the group before him staring with eyes filled with killing intent.
Stolen story; please report.
“Don’t worry, nothing will go wrong. Besides, we won’t hold you accountable.” Ronnel then turned to the other group. “What do you think? Should we go in now?”
“Sure. That would be great. I’m Daniel.”
“I’m Ronnel.”
The two group leaders shook hands in agreement. As for the Hunter Association staff, there’s nothing he can do and could only watch them enter the dungeon one by one.
“Will everything be alright? I heard that D rank dungeon are different from E rank one.” Shiena couldn’t help but ask with a solemn expression on her face. She wasn’t sure about this since it’s her first time entering a D rank dungeon.
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I will protect you even if it means my death.” Arnel assured with a determined face. As a hunter with the highest defense in their party, it’s only natural for him to protect everyone in need.
Ding!
[Congratulations to host for your first visit in a fragmented world; Orc Village. Please do take care!]
At the same time as a system window popped up in front of him, Ran could tell that he was transported to another place. The environment was different from before, there are towering trees and many plants. It was as though he was transported in a forest.
“Everyone, don’t let your guard down. There might be monsters hiding nearby.” Daniel warned before taking out his weapon. The others also did the same and cautiously scanned their surroundings.
Rustle~
Suddenly, a rustling sound was heard from the bushes nearby as the leaves shook gently. Everyone quickly focused their gaze on it, with their weapons prepared. But the next moment, they were stunned when they saw that it was a slime.
It was not what they are expecting, after all this was a D rank dungeon and not an F rank one. Since among all monsters that’s known to every humans, slime were the weakest to all creatures. And they are all normally found in F rank dungeons.
“Seems like we’re just being too overly cautious.”
“It’s better than acting nonchalantly. Remember, we still don’t know what kind of monsters lived in this place. We should investigate further.” Ronnel stated before turning to one of his companion. “Go and scout the area.”
Daniel also did the same, he didn’t want all work to be done by the other party alone. Even though they agreed to form as one group, they still can’t trust the other party fully.
‘Looks like they are not interested in the slime.’ Ran thought before walking towards where the slime was.
“Where are you going? You shouldn’t stray away from our group for your safety.” Arnel asked and reminded when he saw Ran walking away.
“Ah. I just want to take a look at that slime. Can I have it?” Ran replied scratching his head.
“Stay here, I’ll take it for you.” Arnel then went towards the slime and took it. Although they were regarded as monsters by many, slimes where actually not harmful in any way.
Rather, they are helpful monsters that provides excellent materials for research. Their essence were also useful for many beautification products and also in creating various potions. That’s why they are hunted in F rank dungeon by low rank hunters.
“Here. It’s a good monster to become a pet. Unfortunately, no one knows what it eats and dies easily.” Arnel explained as he handed the slime.
Ran smiled thankfully but didn’t say anything. He didn’t plan on bringing the slime outside to become a pet, rather to experiment it if he could replicate it with his current magical power.
‘Replicate!’
With a chant in his head, a system window immediately popped up in front of his eyes.
[100 magic power has been deducted!]
[Replication time in progress! Estimated time to finish: 10 minutes.]
Ran become overjoyed when he saw the system window. Replicating a slime only cost 100 magical power and the replication time was only 10 minutes. But thinking about the slimes capability as a weak monster without any fighting ability, he found the cost and duration quite understandable.
A while later, the replication was finally finished. Ran immediately took out the card from his inventory and checked the information.
Name: None
Specie: Slime
Rank: F
Skill: Acidic Fluid
Potential Stat: 3/100
The same with the long swords before, a drawing of the slime was visible on the left side and on the right were its information. Ran then put down the slime in his hand and watched it moved away.
While he was doing that, the person sent by Ronnel and Daniel came back at the same time. Both their faces were dark, and fear were visible in their eyes.
“What’s the matter? What have you found out?” Ronnel couldn’t help but asked.
Kenneth glanced at their leader with lifeless eyes and replied, “We shouldn’t have come here. This place will probably be our grave!”
“He’s right. Not only were this place like a cube where there are boundaries that we can’t cross, there’s also a village of orcs not far away from here. I just took a simple peek at their numbers but I was found out by their chieftain. Now, a group of orcs are coming here to hunt me down.” the other person that also went to investigate shared. His body could be seen trembling slightly and his face has turned pale.
“What?! How many of them are coming?” Ronnel asked with a deep frown on his face.
“Chwiiek! Humans. I could finally eat humans!”