An [E] Rank Dungeon?

Mike ordered some coffee.

"What Dungeons did you clear?" Luke asked him.

"The ones with the Skeletons and the one with the Horned Hares. You?"

'The ones with the Horned Hares... It's a pretty easy one but on the opposite side of the city.' Luke thought.

"The Skeleton one and The Forest Of Goblins."

"Alone?" Mike asked.

"Yep."

"The Goblin Dungeon is a ballsy choice when alone. Anyways, let's search for a good one." Mike said.

He called out his Inventory and selected an Item he had stored.

A tablet appeared between his hands.

It was the newest model and looked very good.

'He's pretty rich, huh? I guess I should have noticed.' Luke thought as he looked at Mike's expensive yet discreet clothes.

"So..." Mike muttered.

A map of the city appeared on the screen.

He put the tablet on the table.

Different spots were circled in blue, others in purple.

Luke recognized two of them.

"The ones circled in blue are Dungeons, right?"

"Yep. The blue circled areas are the locations of all the [F] Rank Dungeons near the city. The purple ones are the [E] Rank Dungeons."

Luke chuckled weakly.

"Yeah, cause at our levels [E] Rank Dungeons are an option." He said sarcastically.

"Sure they are! I've beaten a Red Orc before, that's an [E+] Rank Monster! It was the first monster I ever defeated by the way."

"Oh yeah, you do have that Elite Newbie Title too." Luke remembered.

"Do you have it? Why did you say 'too'?" Mike asked.

"Umm, I guess I had it. It merged with another Title. Now I get 5 Unused Stat Points per level up."

"WHAT? WHAT KIND OF SCAM IS THIS?" Mike shouted.

"I can tell you how to get it... Although it's too late for you now..."

"HOW DID YOU GET IT?"

"Well, you need the Overachiever Title. And you get that Title by S-clearing your first Dungeon. So... Too late for you, sorry?"

Mike massaged his forehead with his right hand.

"I knew A-clearing the Skeleton Dungeon wasn't enough..."

"I got a [B] Rank on that one even though I defeated more than 4 times the number requested. In The Forest Of Goblins though, I got lucky and found a Hobgoblin which is what got my Clear Rank up from [A] to [S].

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So that Hobgoblin got you the Elite Newbie Title? That's a pretty productive Dungeon Raid..."

"Oh, no. I got that one before. It was from a dragon, so..."

"Wait, wait. You can't just say dragon and continue talking."

"It was a Weakened Inferior Fire Dragon. A [D-] Rank Monster. I defeated it... somehow?"

Mike laughed out loud.

Luke explained how he got on the Fifth Floor of the Abyssal Dungeon and he described his fight with the dragon rapidly.

He left out all details about his Unique Skill, the Water Blessed Sword and how he dipped his hands inside the lava again and again in a desperate attempt to develop a Skill.

After that, the two young Hunters agreed to team up.

'I guess he's trustworthy. He sounds like he is anyways.' Luke thought.

They discussed which Dungeon they should clear together.

"Argh. I would rather clear this one alone." Luke objected.

"Yeah, it sounds like a pretty easy one to clear. How about this one?"

"It would be easier to choose an [E] Rank Dungeons honestly." Luke said sarcastically.

Mike stopped looking at the map and stared at Luke.

The latter raised his hands as if to stop Mike.

"I was kidding. We can't-"

Luke was interrupted.

"No, think about it. We can choose an easy [E] Rank Dungeon, we have a bunch of information on them. We clear [F] Rank Dungeons with a [B] Clear or better. And that's us separately. Plus, the rewards are soo much better. If we're teaming up, might as well choose a Dungeon we can't clear separately."

'I guess he has a point. By clearing [E] Rank Dungeons we can be rewarded with Items too, not just Gold Coins and Experience Points...' Luke silently thought.

"It's only 7.30 am, we can prepare for it. I have about 900 Gold Coins saved up and a bunch of Items to sell." Mike added.

"I guess I do have enough to prepare for..." Luke whispered.

"SO IT'S DECIDED!" Mike shouted.

As a response, Luke chuckled.

"Alright! First, let's decide which Dungeon we'll clear. There's the one full of Orcs here... Hobgoblins not too far from it... Wolves... Spiders..."

"How about this one?" Luke asked while pointing to one of the circled areas.

"Do you know which one it is?"

"Yep."

"Then you know how hard a Dungeon it is to clear too. How come? You didn't even want to enter [E] Rank Dungeons two minutes ago."

"Just... Curious about it." Luke answered.

Mike started looking for information about that particular Dungeon.

Thirty minutes later, they left the cafe.

"I guess it should be possible. With me having beaten a Red Orc and you a goddamn dragon." Mike said.

"We'll be taking the subway, right?"

...

One hour later, the two new Hunters stood in front of a big hole in the ground.

"That must be the tunnel that leads to the Dungeon."

The two entered the tunnel.

After walking for a bit,

[Welcome to: The Lonely Ones' Pit[E].]

'Let's hope this goes well...' Luke thought.