10

Mike was in his car and thought that there was no reason for him to buy new equipment. So he searched on his phone for equipment, and to his surprise there were a lot more publications than he anticipated "Here is one for 1200.00, it comes with a full set of equipment and a sword" When he kept reading the publication, he saw that they were being sold by family members of dead awakeners. He didn't mind that the equipment had been used, but it was difficult to ignore the possibility that his family could be doing the same if he wasn't careful. It was sad and morbid to think he would most likely be wearing the equipment of a dead person, but after seeing the prices of the new equipment, he decided to do it anyway.

he had searched for a while longer looking for equipment that would fit him after finding an acceptable post he had set off immediately. He sends a message to the poster, and a young woman with black hair, in black morning clothes, and a taller athletic build walked out with a full black garbage bag. When Mike walks up to her, he notices he knows her, she was an old classmate of his. "Hey Mollie, it's me Mike from high school, I didn't know you were the one selling the equipment", Mollie was about the same height as Mike but at this moment she looked smaller, when she looked at him, she could see the glossy reddish hue in their eyes. "hey mike, so you're the one buying my dad's things… listen, my mother got a little crazy and threw this stuff around the house a little earlier, it might not be in the best condition right now" mike understood that they were going through difficult times and still took the bag and took a quick look at the equipment that had torn pockets and some scuff marks. "I can't bring this stuff back inside so if you want just give me $500.00 instead of the full price, since if you don't buy it ill just have to throw it away" Mike was surprised since he knew that there didn't look to be too much damage and he only needed it to fit in with the rest of the awakeners. "don't worry it still looks usable" he takes out $1000.00 and hands it to her "it should still be worth at least this much" Mike knew that they were most likely trying to pay for the funeral and felt bad about only paying so little, but he notices a little relief in her eyes and felt slightly better, he then stuffed the equipment back in the bag. "So you awakened?" Mike just nodded "Please be careful, it's dangerous in the dungeon, as you can see" Mike got curious "What happened?... If you don't want to talk about it I understand" Mollie seemed sad "It's ok, we were in a D-rank dungeon, when we found a treasure chest our greed got the better of us and my dad opened it... Turns out, it was a mimic" Mike didn't know she was also awakened but at that moment all he could say was "I'm sorry for your loss, I must have been difficult to see it happen" Mollie took a deep sigh attempting to push back tear "yea well, hope you have better luck, I have to get back but if you awakened maybe ill see you around sometime" she doesn't wait for a reply and just heads inside quickly, mike picks up the bag and and gets into his car.

"Servant Jenkins Leveled up."

Mike goes back to his apartment and tries to sew the pockets back onto the vest that had been torn, but the needle bent because the monster leather was too tough to sew with normal needles. Mike decided just to continue tearing the pockets off completely since the thread seemed normal. although it wasn't pretty, the equipment seemed to work, so he tried it on.

Status

Level 12

Exp: 38%

Health: 126/126

Mana: 116/116

Strength: 2.2 (+3)

Stamina: 2.3 (+4)

Dexterity: 1.9 (+2)

Intuition: 2.5

Magic: 5.8

Unassigned points: 27 points

As he looked at the stats, he was underwhelmed, compared to the equipment at Lily's guild. This was weak, but that was fine it only needed to make him fit in with the rest of the awakened at the dungeon entrances. Mike then spent the rest of the day planning where he was going to go.

Mike found out on the internet that dungeons C-rank and above were mostly controlled by the guilds, there were some that the association controlled unfortunately they were either not very profitable because of the monsters that appeared or they had long queues to enter them. although depending on the dungeon, multiple parties could enter them. The association limited the entrance to be able to maintain control inside the dungeon with a select association force of awakened to prevent fighting inside the dungeons. dungeons D-rank and bellow were all controlled by the association with minimal security, although there existed a similar protection detail, they did not have a high presence in the dungeons until required or if there was an ongoing investigation. To prevent problems entering dungeons in parties of 5 was recommended but there was no specific rule against entering alone.

the information he was looking for was locations on E-rank dungeons, which he found 3 in the Las Vegas area at the moment. the dungeons were not constant. Once the dungeon boss was defeated, the portal would no longer accept entry to awakened, and when the last awakened exited, it would start closing. this is why an association app was made to help awakened stay informed on dungeon locations. in the app, there is also a party finder tool for solo awakened that didn't already have a party or parties that were missing members. in if Mike found a party that would enter tomorrow, since this was his first time, he didn't want to go in alone. the description of the party stated that they were searching for a party member to go to a D-rank dungeon, but they were entering an E-rank dungeon to test out the member first. this was perfect for him, getting to test out E-rank before he jumped into C-rank was what he wanted. so he messaged them and agreed to meet up in the morning at the dungeon location before entering. The party already had a spot in the queue, so entering wouldn't be an issue.

the next day a Monday at 6 am Mike met up with the party it was composed of 4 party members; starting with the leader, Erin the tank, a blond-haired tanned light skinned guy with stubble on his chin, that carried a heavy-looking shield and a sword who boasted about his crowd control using his taunt skill, he wore thick leather armor with protective plates over arms, chest, back and legs instead of only light leather like mike had. the other melee combat awakened was Billie, she had tanned skin color with curly and wild hair, her eyes were as dark as her hair, her athletic and muscular body was hidden by her armor, and she was a swordswoman that was outgoing and wore thick leather which let here move around but looked like it gave her plenty of protection. the other two wore open robes over their normal clothes their names were Amy and Tiana and held onto staves, Amy had pale skin with red hair and freckles while Tiana had dark chestnut-colored skin with cornrows that were covered by the hood on the robes, from what mike was told Tiana had a fire spell and amy had a weakening spell and a poison skill.

"hey mike, I'm Erin and this is the team, we understand from your profile that you will be fighting with a sword but primarily it'll be your familiar that helps out, is that correct?" Mike smiles and calls out for Rocky and he comes running over "Thats right, Rocky here looks cute but he does pretty good against monsters" Billie sees the dog and immediately starts petting him "Oh my god, I have a husky mix too, her name is Trixie, I never thought about taming her to come fight with me though" she was a little doubtful about rocky being much use in a fight. "yea, with us it just sort of happened and he seems to enjoy it, so it works out. he also has a skill that will aggro, just in case monsters get by you, we can take them" This seemed to bother Erin a bit "Please don't use that skill, sometimes it can be difficult enough maintaining monsters' attention but when competing with another taunt skill it can get pretty hard." to make this made sense so he agreed. Amy looked excited and urged everyone to get into the dungeon quickly "Come on guys I have a party to get to tonight but I have to go shopping later, so let's go, chop chop guys" Billie looks at Mike and waves her off "didn't worry about her, she's always like that but I have to admit with her skills the raid go a lot faster" everyone follows Erin into the dungeon.