With two D-rank hunters and the prodigy F-rank Kwon Moon, who used his flames to wreak havoc amongst the minions, the boss fight had ended with only a few injuries here and there.
It did take twenty minutes to kill the boss and all the minions, but once that was over, the gate to exit appeared, and the body of the boss vanished, leaving behind an item and their monster core.
In Jaesang picked it up.
It was an F-rank ring that boosted the wielder's speed.
Items like this were extremely valuable and were typically where a third of the money made during a raid would come from.
In Jaesang looked at his party and said, "We all have the same idea, right?"
Everyone nodded their head except for Kwon Moon, who seemed a bit confused about what was going on.
"Here."
The ring was tossed over to Kwon Moon, who caught it with an eyebrow raised.
"Why did you give it to me?"
"Consider it a gift from all of us. Congratulations on becoming a hunter and finishing your first raid."
"...Are you sure? This… this is worth a lot."
"We're sure."
"Yep. Don't stress about it, kid."
"Just make sure to pay us back by hunting with us a few more times."
"I'm jealous, but I agree with Jaesang's decision. Don't refuse it."
All of them began speaking over each other, patting him on the back, running their hand through his hair.
He was the second-tallest member in the party, and yet, in that moment, he felt like he was a little child being doted on by their aunties and uncles.
"...Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll make sure to return the favor," he said as he bowed to them all.
"Hahaha. Okay. Come on. Let's dig out the cores in those minions and get out of here. Let's go get some food and drinks. Beer, anyone?"
"Hell yeah! Chop chop everyone! I'm dying for a drink."
"Yes!"
"Got it."
"Kwon Moon," said Seon Tae, "you coming with us? Actually. Scratch that. I'm not asking. You're coming with us. We have to celebrate a successful raid. Especially for you. A first-timer."
"Hahaha. Okay. I'll come."
"Great. Then let's get a move on and finish collecting the cores."
* * *
"You're having a wonderful time over there," sighed Fletcher Green as he watched what was going on with Kwon Moon through their shared vision.
Fletcher had just finished clearing the seventh floor, but the difficulty had reached a point where he couldn't easily deal with the monsters anymore.
When he cleared the fifth, the condition for beating the floor was finding a scroll that had to be ripped.
It was simple.
What he didn't expect was that when he cleared the floor, he also got experience points, raising it from ten to slightly over twelve.
"Interesting. So I also get EXP if I clear a floor that doesn't require just clearing out the monsters," was what he had said then.
The sixth and seventh floors also had the same conditions as the fifth, except the sixth had two scrolls and the seventh had three scrolls, one of which was guarded by a ton of monsters.
He was only able to clear the seventh without losing a limb by luring out the monsters, running away, hiding, and lowering their numbers a little at a time.
Now, after all of that, his EXP was at 25.67%.
"Rather than heading to the next floor, it seems like I should farm the fifth floor until I reach level two."
And that was what he did for the next day. Killing all the monsters raised his EXP by about 2.5 percent, and ripping the scroll gave him another 2 percent.
That meant each clearing of the fifth floor would give him around 4.5 percent.
"I had to farm this floor seventeen times, but finally. I've leveled up."
The number [1] had finally changed to a [2].
[You have leveled up!]
Immediately, he could feel his body getting stronger in a way that seemed it was tailored to the three talents that he had chosen for this avatar.
Fundamentally, the three talents themselves remained the same. His body was just more tailored for them now in terms of his desire for blood, the sharpness of his blade, the way his muscles worked in harmony, the speed of his legs, etc.
That in itself was already a great reward for leveling up. He could probably deal with the seventh floor with ease compared to the first time that he cleared it.
However, there was also something else that he was given.
[Choose two options to create one lore to explore. Be careful of which you choose as your ego will develop based on your choices.]
[Weapon Master] [Fire Immunity] [Thirst for Blood]
[Glass Cannon] [Slow Recovery] [Blind]
It wasn't only his talents that were listed, but so were his weaknesses.
What did any of this mean?
"Lore? Choose two. Is it smarter to pick two strengths? One strength and one weakness? Both weaknesses?"
There was barely any explanation about what he was doing. He didn't even know what to pick, as the implications of the selections were unknown.
"I'll just pick two randomly then."
Leaving it up to fate, he assigned each option a number and rolled a stone he had picked up from the ground that he had shaved with his sword into a die.
"[Thirst for Blood] and [Blind]. That's what fate has chosen."
Selecting those two options, he was given the chance to undo the selection or to confirm it. Without hesitation, as fate had already given him the answer, he confirmed it.
[Your two options have been confirmed. Your first lore will now be created. Lore exploration in 3… 2… 1…]
[You are now entering your first lore, [The Blind Demon]. Enjoy.]
* * *
Fletcher Green was the fifth-born of House Green, a noble Count family. There weren't particularly any expectations for him to become anybody and make a name for himself. As he wasn't the firstborn son, he wasn't the heir.
And even if he was eyeing the seat, three other siblings were next in line before him.
He wasn't thirsty for blood, nor did he desire the seat, so he didn't bother to join the internal fight going on in his family.
Instead, he was more focused on spending time with his mother, helping her grow the flowers in the garden, trim the bushes, and, whenever she had enough strength to walk, accompany her on her walks around the garden.
Her mother wasn't a noble like the other wives of the Count.
She was the only commoner who had the "honor" of giving birth to the Count's child.
She was the one that the Count loved the most, and the other wives knew this, so when Fletcher was only two, his mother was poisoned, which left her sickly and constantly on the verge of death.
If it wasn't for the medicine and extensive care by the doctors the Count had assigned to her, she would've been dead long ago.
Now eight years old, Fletcher had returned from the academy and was about to show his mother his test papers when what he saw nearly killed him with heartbreak.
In his mother's bedroom, lying on the bed was his mother.
In his mother's chest was a dagger that had plunged deep inside, penetrating through the heart.
He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream and hug his mother's corpse, but he caught a glimpse of a figure escaping through the window.
Without hesitation, he jumped down from the second floor and landed on the ground, ignoring the pain of the plummet.
Chasing after the figure, he thought he had caught up to the masked man when five more figures appeared behind the tree where the man stood.
"Why did you kill my mother?" he asked.
"What kind of foolish question is that? Young master, you are a potential heir, and your mother is who the Count loves the most. You're smart enough to put two and two together. Are you not?"
"Why? Why?! We had no intentions of fighting for the title. I don't give a damn about being the Count. We just minded our business. No threat to anyone."
"I agree with you, Young Master. But orders are orders."
"Now, give us your neck."
"You may be the son of a commoner, but the Count's blood still courses through you. If you had just trained a little more instead of wasting your time plucking flowers like a little girl, you could've protected your mother. What a waste of potential. Your father is one of the strongest men in the kingdom and yet—"
"Enough. Just kill the boy."
"Got it."
The boy had never wielded a weapon before. The only reason he had a dagger on him was that his mother's personal bodyguard had told him to keep it on him at all times.
Speaking of which, where was he? Where was that damn bodyguard meant to protect his mother?
Did he betray her? Did he betray them?
Was that why he wasn't there to protect his mother?
Despite it being his first time wielding a weapon, he swung recklessly like an animal, and yet, he was dealing damage to the enemy in front of him.
Of course, he was also bleeding. More than his enemy.
"I'll take you down! I'll take one of you bastards to Hell with me!"
Just as he was about to plunge his dagger into the stomach of the enemy in front of him, another masked man grabbed him on the neck behind him and picked him up.
The dagger was smacked out of his hand.
"You couldn't deal with a kid who doesn't even know how to hold a blade?"
"Sorry. He was tougher than I thought."
"We're going to have to train you some more when we get back."
Fletcher was struggling to get out. He was squirming around, but the grip on his neck was tight, and he was starting to run out of oxygen.
Just as he was about to die from a sword that was being thrust in the direction of his heart, the sword was deflected, and the grip on his neck was released.
Collapsing to the ground, he rolled around and got up.
It was his mother's personal bodyguard.
"I'm sorry for being late, Master Fletcher."