Thinking About the Future

"What do you mean they turned down our guild offer?!" A well dressed man yelled into the phone and a crashing noise echoed into the receiver as something expensive was destroyed.

"I told you every high ranking member needed to be recruited. I can't believe you messed this up!" More crashing noises.

"But boss this was only a mid level ranked hunter. It's not like she was in the top fifty."

"You idiot. Of course, she is hiding her real ability. She brought over one hundred rare items into the association today. Now she has moved into the association housing. Do you have any idea what I had to do to even find out who provided those materials? Useless! You are utterly useless! Why did I even make you a recruiter in the first place!"

Anri felt dissatisfied at his boss' verbal abuse. He had done exactly what he was supposed to do. His ability just did not work on this person. He tuned out of the rantings coming over the phone and sighed in his heart. Frontier was supposed to be his big break, but lately nothing he did seemed to be enough.

Normally he would just report his findings through email, but his boss had called him today to ask about a specific hunter. One that had rejected his offer and somehow resisted his ability. It was becoming more common now that hunters were diving into the dungeon.

He wondered what he could do to strengthen his skill. He pulled up the hunter search engine and typed, 'How to strengthen your skills?' The engine whirled a minute before pulling up many different forum posts on the hunter association site.

After searching through the contents he found that most skills would only increase after experience was earned in the dungeon. Anri sighed.

"Are you listening to me?! How ungrateful are you after I took you in and gave you a worthwhile job?" The ranting went on a little longer before the boss finally hung up.

Anri had only gone into the dungeon a few times, so his persuasion skill was still pretty weak. It was a strange, but convenient skill he had picked up. The same skill that earned him his place in Frontier. However, he felt like the skill was a curse lately.

The words that hunter had spoken to him rang in his ears now. Lately being a member of Frontier really wasn't worth the trouble. Sure he received a salary, but after counting all the overtime and trouble, it would be easier to go into the dungeon. His partner Fen had even left the guild.

Looking out the window he longed to enter the tower he saw off in the distance. After contemplating in his heart he penned an email, packed his desk and left the Frontier office. Even if he was leaving his guild he could still make it as a hunter. Any other guild would be better than this, even if he had to start his own.

*********

After a restful night and donning my new upgraded armor and weapons I felt ready to go back into the dungeon. There was just one thing in the back of my mind that bothered me. Could I really keep going into the dungeon by myself like this?

Further, how would I even define my fighting style? I had mostly been using knives this whole time. I did some research on gaming and different fighting types and I guess one could say I was closer to a Rogue or Thief type. I did just happened to stumble into a hidden safe zone. Should I put more training into that type of job?

My stats were way higher than my previous life, meaning I had a high luck stat. One of the only stats that you couldn't train. If I were to recruit party members I would want someone who could deal a lot of damage and defend, and another member who could provide support in some way.

Since I had experience from my previous life, I was really good at map making skills and sneaking about. I picked up my bag and decided to head down to the association's reception hall where hunters gathered to find party members. If I didn't find anyone I could just leave and try to find an easier dungeon to hop into.

It was early in the morning but the reception hall was filled to the brim with people wearing various kinds of armor. Papers were posted on the bulletin board requesting materials or party members. It felt lively and warm compared to the early days of my past life.

"Looking for a healer or support mage!"

"We split all the loot evenly!"

"We will teach you the ropes!"

Various messages were being shouted in the hall. I felt a bit overwhelmed as the many people were basically having a shouting war trying to attract party members. How does one even join a party in this mess?

I slipped into a quiet corner and observed the room. I wasn't the only one with this idea as I spotted multiple people doing the same. It seemed the more people shouted the faster the parties were made up and they gradually left the hall.

I clutched the strap of my backpack as I felt like I had missed out on finding a suitable party, but something interesting started to happen after the loud advertising groups left. All the people who were hugging the walls suddenly moved to the center of the room and a quiet discussion broke out.

Curious, I also pushed off the wall I was leaning against and entered the circle of people. I received several glances as I joined the huddle, but no one pushed me away or told me I didn't belong.

"Right, so today I am planning on hitting the dungeon in B City. I just need two people to join. Preferably a support position and mid range fighter." A person with heavy armor said. He looked like a tank because a large, heavy looking shield was hanging on his back.

If I went the rogue route I was technically a support class right? I was a little confused as different games had different classifications for that class. I could handle close combat, but I wasn't really suited to direct combat. People took turns speaking about what they needed in the huddle, but the more they spoke the more confused I became.

It felt like everyone here was speaking some kind of secret gamer language. I frowned and eventually the group dispersed. At a loss I realized that most of the people had already left.

"New to this?" A voice spoke behind me, surprising me. I whirled around quickly to find a man in leather armor, like my own, carrying a sword at his waist.

"Y-yes. I did not understand a thing that they were saying. However, the ones from earlier did not look like they knew what they were doing." I quietly answered.

"You only ever entered the dungeon alone, right?" he asked. I nodded and looked shyly to the floor. Interacting with others was still difficult in this life.

"From your weapons it looks like you are a rogue or thief in the making. Finding a party for you is probably going to be difficult. I mainly do damage output, but not defense. However, you can usually fight dungeons faster with more people. Do you want to join me?" He looked nervous as he scratched his head.