-Choosing Teammates!-

The next day, after their tour finished, everyone returned to the hotel to retire for the day. While Mrs. Yui and the kids were sleeping, Joy, Kenshin, and Chiba were having a discussion of their own. To be more precise, it was about their upcoming trip to the nameless dungeon near Kyoto.

“Are we really going tomorrow?” Chiba asked somewhat reluctantly. She had been enjoying these few days, and wanted to do so for a few more days. It's rare for her to join in such a family vacation. Back then, she would go somewhere once in a while with her mom, but it was only once in a while. Those days, she had been under a lot of pressure from her previous guild who wanted her to become a higher-level hunter sooner. They wanted to ride in her coattails and climb the social ladder.

“Yes. Mrs. Yui and the kids are going to the Kinkauji temple tomorrow. That dungeon is about nine kilometers from that place. We are checking out of this place tomorrow morning. Until we return, Miss. Yui can take the kids and travel around. I will have Ena accompany her, just to be sure.” Kenshin made up his mind. Since their targeted dungeon wasn’t that far from Kinkakuji temple, their initial plans need to be changed.

“A requirement to enter that that dungeon was to have a party of ten hunters. We have to find seven others.” Kenshin continued as he opened his phone and showed the character bio of ten hunters. “These are a few hunters who applied to join us after we put that wanted poster last night. You guys read them carefully and chose seven.” Kenshin leaned back on the sofa, sipping a mouthful of the expensive sake he bought the other day.

“These people are all around level 80 to 100!” Chiba exclaimed in surprise. Level 100 marks a dividing line that separates everyone below from above it. Before reaching that level, a hunter of lower-level could defeat someone of higher with the help of their skills or equipment. However, such things were no longer easy once they transcend beyond 100. Each level up brings qualitative growth, both physically and magically. Such growth wasn’t something that skills and equipment could bridge.

Of course, there were exceptions, like everything else in the world. If it’s a divine skill or a skill that had leveled up to the max, such a thing was possible. Second, if the challenger’s equipment’s overall rank exceeds that of the challenged, the gap can be breached as well. However, both things weren’t that easy to accomplish. One required talent and perseverance while the other required bulk of money. Both of which weren’t easy to accomplish by ordinary hunters.

However, rarely ever did a few hunters who managed to go past level 100. The main reason for that was the lack of a powerful skill. Due to not having a powerful skill at their disposal, the hunter would hesitate challenging monsters stronger than them. This hesitation would result in their stagnation of growth. Second, due to the concept of level up, rarely ever a hunter invests his time to practice and train. Due to this, they never explored the true potential of their stats.

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After all, not everyone had a system to aid them with their growth. Had it not for the existence of Tar’el, Kenshin too would have fallen into that category. He would have ignored his potential, continuously seeking level-ups while not exploring his already sky-high stats.

“For a place like Kyoto which is a historical city, it wasn’t that strange seeing so many level 100 hunters. Besides, Kyoto has more high-level dungeons than Mito. It was a given that so many powerful hunters would appear here.” Joy smilingly resolved Chiba’s doubt. She had never gone out of the Mito and seen really large cities, how could she know these facts? To her, level 100 was an illustrious level which not everyone could reach.

“So, that’s how it is!” Blushing at her bumpkin moment, she nodded and remembered everything Joy said. Getting over it, she scanned through the bio, meticulously reading through their strength and weaknesses. She spared special attention to their character as well. For her, it was the most important requirement. These people must have good character.

After extensive reading, they eliminated three people from the list. The criteria for this elimination was, of course, their character. One was a pervert, while the other two had some bad reviews about personality on the forum page. Strength was never their basis of consideration. They were looking for someone who would not backstab them at the first sight of danger or riches.

With their teammates selected, they made a call to everyone and scheduled the meeting time to be around seven in the evening. Dungeons had their own time cycle, which was the reverse of the world outside. Seven in the evening means, inside the dungeon, it should be morning. Roaming an unknown dungeon in the morning was far more safer than doing it in the night.

…

Inside a high-profile luxurious villa, Aki looked at a middle-aged man pleadingly. “Brother, please help me this once!”

“What did you do this time?” The middle-aged man sharing a vague resemblance with Aki asked coldly. His eyes didn’t leave the tablet on his hands, as if this man wasn’t even worth his attention. Out of three children of Kamizuki Miya, a respectable hunter of the Kyoto faction, this Aki was the only one without any accomplishments.

Moreover, he was also the most pampered out of her three children. Even though he ran rampant throughout the city, since it was never extreme, everyone closed an eye to his actions. However, this negligence, in turn, gave birth to a feeling of hubris in him, which worsened as time passed.

“It’s a hunter from another province! He beat me in a restaurant filled with people and also badmouthed our family.” Aki was an expert at weaving tales. In just one sentence, he portrayed Kenshin as someone insufferable having no respect for others.

“What?” The middle-aged man glared angrily at Aki. In a moment of carelessness, he gripped the tablet hard, shattering it to pieces. A formless aura leaked from him, making Aki ooze cold sweat. The strength of his elder brother, Aki had never seen it with his own eyes, but he heard stories. “Who is this bastard that dared to stain our family’s name?” The middle-aged man’s aura rampaged around, breaking a few decorative items in the room.

“His name is Kenshin Muto, he is from Mito.” Aki had done a little research before coming to his elder brother for help. Knowing his brother, if he didn’t do a little research about his enemy, he would never help. Originally this matter wasn’t that worse for him to seek help from this elder brother of his. Usually, he would have gone to his elder sister.

Unfortunately, she had gone with his party to raid a dungeon. Reluctantly, he had to come to this elder brother of his. The good thing was, since this brother rarely ever gave attention to him, he didn’t know about his sly character. As a result, he easily believed Aki’s lies.