Rewards

With his gaze concentrated on the shining blue light, Ray slowly moved forward, his steps careful and cautious as though he was walking towards something fragile.

Splat!

Ray stabbed his hand into the flesh and pulled out what appeared to be a blue gem-like object, and a faint smile appeared on his face. "Found you."

The blue gemstone in his hand shone even more brightly as he gripped it tighter, and the tracking watch on his wrist began vibrating repeatedly.

"Blue Lazbazite mineral enough to upgrade sublevel to 10." An automated voice echoed in his ears, and Ray's eyes sparkled in response. He then increased his grip exponentially, as though he was trying to squish the whole gemstone, and the Blue Lazbazite mineral in his hands suddenly exploded.

Whoosh!

The gemstone had turned into a bright white light that enveloped the entire cave for a split second before returning to normal, and suddenly, Ray felt a surge of energy in his body. His eyes turned blue for a few seconds before returning to normal, and he finally felt as though a huge pressure had been lifted from his body.

"Notification: Absorption of Blue Lazbazite mineral successful. Notification: Upgradation of host body to sublevel 10 successful." The sound of notifications echoed through the earpiece in his ears, and Ray let out a joy of laughter as he sat down on the ground.

"Well, I guess I did what would've taken me 4 days in a normal dungeon in a single day." Ray let out a sigh of relief before leaning his back against the wall. This was another reason as to why he chose the Obsidian Hunter Guild, which were known in the future for only grabbing the most promising dungeons. Even though they were only starting out and were facing various restrictions right now, their philosophy was the same in the future and in the past.

This was the difference between a normal D-rank dungeon and a private funded D-rank dungeon. The standards were different even though the general rank awarded by the government remained the same.

But of course, it was only bad luck that Ray encountered the dungeon boss as his first monster. A normal expedition in such a dungeon would begin with the hunter taking down multiple low level monsters before finally taking on the boss of the dungeon at the very end of the expedition. Although skipping the first few steps and directly taking on the dungeon boss sounds like the better choice, it's actually the opposite, as the D-rank dungeon expeditions are mostly investments made by the government and the private companies to produce skilled and powerful hunters. In short, the dungeons upto the rank of B are basically training and testing grounds to produce and identify the best of the best.

And the best way to upgrade to a higher rank is by fighting more and more monsters, which is why a normal hunting expedition is better than the 'straight to the boss' expedition that Ray got. But nevertheless, the result was still better than the result that any D-rank government dungeon would've gotten him, so he was content with the expedition for now.

Click!

Ray tapped his finger on his tracking wristwatch, and it showed his remaining mana health.

[ Be careful! 25% mana energy remaining in your body. ]

The automated voice echoed in his ears, and Ray scratched his forehead, thinking for a few seconds before turning around and walking back the way he came from. He knew that he most probably could take on a few more low level monsters, but he wanted to be careful and cautious this time around as he didn't have too much experience in this dungeon. At least, not like the government based dungeons that he had memorized to the maximum limit in his previous two lives.

This was a dungeon that he was entering for the very first time, and he was also a D-rank, which meant that he didn't have the luxury to take too many risks without having sufficient information.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

He stopped walking after a few seconds, as his wristwatch vibrated, and he turned his attention towards the cave wall on his right.

WHAM!

The veins in his hands suddenly popped out and became clearly visible as his entire arm expanded in size. Ray then shifted his gaze towards the spot that he had focused on just a second ago before stabbing his hand through the wall.

BAM!

Ray's hand had surprisingly pierced through the rocks within the cave wall, and after a few seconds of focusing, he pulled out his arm with his hands gripping tightly on a large red rock. It was not translucent as the blue gemstone that he had taken out from within the flesh of the higher troll, but it was also not like any other rocks.

"Well, isn't this convenient…" Ray murmured under his breath as he stared at the red stone in his hand, looking at it with an amused expression on his face before throwing it into his backpack and continuing his journey back to the entrance of the dungeon.

Ray stretched out his hand as he reached the metal doorway, pressing his finger onto the scanner until the scan was complete and the doors opened with a loud noise.

BZZZZZZ!

The loud noise of the portal which was continuously rotating and morphing reverberated throughout the cave walls, echoing multiple times, and Ray squinted his eyes, annoyed by the ear piercing sounds.

He then started to slowly walk towards the portal, covering his eyes with his hands as his vision became dark once again.

Whoosh!

"..... Welcome back sir." The calm and soothing voice of Maria was the first thing that Ray heard after he entered the portal, and he opened his eyes to find that he was back in the Dungeon Entrance Building.

"Did you enjoy the expedition, sir?" Maria asked with a curious expression on her face, as though she was eager to know more, and Ray nodded his head with a faint smile. "I did. I'd like to come here again next time."

"I'm glad to hear that, sir…" Maria spoke in a cheerful tone as she heard his response, and she brought him to the final briefing room, where Ray handed over the red rock to her.

"Here you go." Ray said as he placed the red rock on the counter. "One Ranelite. How much would I get for it?"

"That's a large one." Maria leaned forward and examined the rock as she replied. She was wearing glasses which had a blue frame and a black button on its left side, which she pressed lightly.

"It seems that luck is on your side today, Mr. Park.." Maria spoke with joy and Ray raised one of his eyebrows. "I'd beg to differ, but go on."

"The Ranelite that you brought in has a 28% concentration of Abrotide. That's about 2.6 kilograms of Abrotide that you've brought in, Mr. Park." Maria said with a smile.

"What's the price for Abrotide today?" Ray started pulling out his smartphone as he asked, but Maria stopped him and pointed at the counter desk where the Ranelite rock was placed, which was actually a large screen, and a popup appeared right next to the rock that showed the current pricing for Ranelite.

"Well, isn't that convenient?" Ray let out a snicker, and Maria replied, "That'll get you about 3000 coins, Mr. Park. Would you like to have that transferred to your hunter license card?"

The Obsidian hunter license card that Ray had was different from the normal licenses, as it also acted as a payment card, useful for making purchases, and Ray nodded his head. "Alright. Transfer it."

".... And done." Maria said as she handed him the bill with a smile, and as Ray grabbed it from her hand, his gaze shifted to the digital clock that was hung on the wall behind her, which read 6 o' clock.

"Is that clock accurate?" Ray asked all of a sudden, and Maria looked at the clock before nodding her head. "It is. Are you late for something, Mr. Park?"

"No. But I might be if I don't run now." Ray turned around immediately as he spoke and began jogging towards the entrance of the building, and Maria's loud voice echoed from behind him. "Have a nice day, Mr. Park! Do come again!"

-----------------------

Ray could see a girl wearing a yellow sundress standing a few feet away from the cafe he went to. As he crossed the road, he could see that she had a pouting expression on her face, and a short chuckle escaped his lips.

"You're late." The girl, Alyssa, said while acting as though she was pouting, and Ray looked at his watch before replying, "You're right. I am."

"You're going to have to make up for it." Alyssa continued acting as though she was angry, and Ray took a step forward, looking into her eyes as he asked, "And what do you propose I should do?"

Alyssa turned her gaze away from Ray with a blush and thought for a few seconds. "Well…" A bright smile replaced the pouty expression on her face as she said, "... You know how to ride a motorcycle?"