Ch. 7 C Ranked Dungeon

After the re-examination was finished, John went to the Appraisal Center and sold his Javelin and magic stones. He was paid $18,000 for them and left to the hospital.

'At the rate that I'm making money, I can garauntee better treatment for Walter!' John thought as he desperately held back tears.

He might've become more cold-hearted due to the memories of his past life, but the love towards his family stayed the same.

If he could have, he would have cured his brother's illness himself but unfortunately, a Healer's 'Heal' couldn't cure diseases.

Hopping on his bicycle, John went to the hospital and bought some flowers from their store before taking the elevator to his little brothers room.

Walking in, John saw Walter eating pudding and watching News about how an A ranked gate destroying a small town in Japan before Knocking on the door frame.

Turning towards the noise, John could see his brother's eyes widen in happiness and a faint smile appear in his gaunt face for a fraction of a second before returning to normal.

"John, you came to visit?" His voice was monotony and had no strength in it.

Walter had become more and more haggard everytime John visit, and his heart aches every single time.

"Has everything been all right little bro?"

Walter nodded faintly at him before realizing something.

"More importantly, how are you feeling alright? You look so much different than usual" He said as he noticed that besides being slightly taller and gaining muscle, his brothers stood up straight and seemed to radiate confidence.

"Ive never felt better." smiled John.

Then he explained the situation.

".....so much better infact, that Im moving you to the VIP wing of the hospital."

"Vip?? That too expensive, I told you not to push yourself too much!"

"And I've told you, leave it to the adult to worry about costs. Your awesome brother has gone through a second awakening and has become a B-rank Hunter," John said confidently.

Unfortunately, he hadn't received his B-rank license yet, so he couldn't show it to his brother.

"That's gre-," *Cough Cough*

Walter was so happy in that moment, that he momentarily forgot about the pain and became too excited. As his brother, he was proud seeing his big brother succeed.

Patting his brothers back, John made him drinks some water.

"Thank you, John." Walter said as he tilted his head downward to hide his face.

John's second awakening to B rank was enough to convince him that the moving to the VIP wing wasnt too troublesome. Being bedbound, Walter would spend 99% of his waking time watching TV or using his phone, because of that he knew just how much a B rank Healer could make.

Like that, Walter had been moved to the VIP section of the hospital, having nurses taking care of him around the clock.

Spending a few more hours with his brother, talking about life and catching up, John eventually left and headed back home.

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Walking into his decrepit apartment with cockroaches scuttering in the wall, John thought that maybe It was time to move.

Unlike his past like, he didn't want to live in a castle or mansion but he wanted more out of life now that he could take more out of life, and for that to happen, he needed money!

Walking into his bathroom, John turned on the shower undressing. Picking up a raze blade, John started to shave his face stubble before coming to a stop.

Ever since John had awakened his past lifes memories, he never really took the time to look at himself in the mirror.

Standing infront of the mirror wasnt the scrawny 5'8 man that he remembered, but instead a shredded 5'11 man that looked like he didn't have an ounce of fat on his body.

Beside the height and muscles increase, John brown's hair and beard stubble had a tinge of grey coming through. John immediately knew that it was years worth of the most stressful memories imaginable being stuffed into his brain that started to grey his hair, but it was his eyes that shocked him.

John was suprised to see that his hazel brown eyes had turning into a light shade of black, making him have creepy, almost evil look about him. However the striking difference between before awakening and after awakening is confidence.

John now walked with the confidence of a man who faced a million enemies, and slaughtered a million enemies. If you were to compared them, most people wouldn't have assumed that the before and afters were related, let alone the same person.

Shaving off the peaches fuzz, John showered, ate a meal and got out a piece of paper

[To do!]

-Get powerful wood for Roels handle

-get whetstone ✓

-get money

-Buy actual armour

-Get transportation

-move out of shitty apartment

Looking at the list of things he had to do, John realized the one thing that he could do that would make progress on everything, Dungeon Diving!

'I should go through a few more D-rank dungeons before I try to solo a C rank. I have the strength to clear a C rank easily but if these memories taught me anything, I should always be take precautions and never be complacent!' With a plan in mind, John grabbed Roel into his hand and went to sleep

----------

"I would like to apply for another D-rank dungeon solo run," John said. Thanks to his reputation of breaking the records and being a B ranked healer, John was heavily prioritizes over the F-D ranked Hunters

Over the course of one week, he soloed 3 D-rank dungeons and as a result, his bank balance grew to $70,000.

He'd been able to amass that much money in just D-rank level dungeons due being strong enough that he could solo them, making the time it takes for the bureau to allow him to challenge another dungeon his biggest factor.

Although many C rank Hunters had the the ability to solo a D ranked Dungeons, the majority lacked the courage to do so and resorted to team play.

Unlike those hunter, John had decades of experience killing a variety of enemies and was confident that he could solo even a B ranked Dungeon, but wouldnt dare let his arrogance lead his actions.

------

Walking into KFG, a subsidiary of KFC, which stood for Kansas Forged Gear, John saw rows and rows of gear and weapons of all kind.

Walking past the dozens of swords and battle axes without even giving them a glance, John arrived as the armour section.

He saw metal armour ranging from regular steel, to mystic metals that sparkled and glowed but he had no use for heavy armour that restricted his movement and instead saught out cloth armour.

Looking at the sets of cloth armour, John was reading the descriptions of them until he found one that he liked.

[C grade cloth armour]

A long overcoat made from Drider silk and enchanted by an average enchanter.

Armour quality: Steel

-Magic Shield

-Temperature regulating

-Light source (Togglable)

The coat itself was as strong as steel, which is basically nothing to an orc, however the shield is what he was after. Pouring mana into the coat, a big blue shield would appear Infront of him, blocking incoming attacks equivalent to the mana supplied.

Meaning if he was about to be stabbed in the chest, as long as he powered his coat with mana, then it'd stop the blow.

Picking up the coat, John started walking towards the front as multiple security guards were watching him very closely.

Rounding the corner he came to a stop, as he saw a discount section. He saw a pair of daggers, a hat, earings, but what caught his eyes was a necklace.

It was a black necklace that had a cross on it but it was the fact ghat it was encased in a glass box that drew his attention.

'Holy shit, only $10,000 for a B ranked items? That's a steal!' looking at the item he soon found out why its so cheap

[Bloody prayer (B Grade)]

A religious hunter turned fanatic, killed dozens of hunters and soaked their blood into this mysterious metal cross found in a dungeon, thinking it would allow god to finally hear his prayer. {Item is cursed}

-Major Bleeding

-Blood Feeding (0/2L)

-Permanent Binding

'This necklace requires the user to feed it 2L of fresh blood everyday, If it's not feed the blood of others, It'll absorb the users blood instead? Hah, I'm a freaking healer, I can Regenerate 2L easily! This is basically an item that makes my attacks leak blood like crazy, and it's only $10,000!'

This cursed necklace was extremely useless to the point it had an incredible discount in the price, as only a healer could garauntee their safety with the cross but a healer didn't need to deal damage.

Only a combat hunter could use this necklace affectively but equipping it would be essentially dooming yourself, as they couldn't garantee that they'd be next to a healer 24/7 for the rest of their lives, not to mention how could they afford to be healed everyday when they are in their 60's and don't have an active source of income.

Picking up the glass box, John took it and his armour to the front desk.

Taking the overcoat, the old man that ran the shop scanned it, but when he saw the Necklace in the glass box he came to a stop.

"Are you sure you want to buy this? The moment you touch the necklace, it will bind you, and demand fresh blood everyday. Enough blood that'd kill you if you didn't feed it anything else."

"I understand the risk, and I'll still buy it" John said with confidence.

"Your funeral kid, you have to break the glass in order to open it. Just make sure you put it on within ten feet of a dead monster or else It'll immediately start taking your blood. Your total is $32,000, do you need anything else kid?" The old man said rather blatantly.

Taking Roel out of his cheap sheath, he lifted it up. "I want the best sheath that I can get for $35,000"

"Whatever you say kid" walking into his backroom for a minute, the old man returned with a grey sheath.

"This baby is made from treant wood and comes enchanted with [cleanse] and [oil application]. Your total is $47,500" Taking out his debt card, John paid for his items and left and returned home.

Taking of his cheap sheath, he threw it in the garbage can and placed Roel into the new one. "This sheath is perfect for you Roel! 100 years from now, when I'm dead, the oil application enchantment means that you'll never rust away like when we first met...AW, I don't want me to die either bud, but unlike sentient magical swords, I'm eventually gonna pass away of old age.....Wait what! Powerful healers can nearly live forever by healing their own bodies from old age!!.....well I'm not a powerful healer bud, I'm just B rank at best."

Putting on his overcoat and sheathing Roel, John made his way to the

Dungeon Bureau on his bike. Entering the building, people stopped and stared at John.

Over the course of a week, he had transformed from the weakest Hunter in the world, into a B ranked healer who can duel C ranked warriors and solo D ranked dungeon so fast that he broke American and International records.

With pride in his heart, John walked over to the front desk "I would like to apply for a solo C-rank Dungeon"

"The risk of soloing a C-rank dungeon is much higher than soloing a D-rank dungeon. Are you sure you'll be alright?" the clerk asked carefully. At this point, everybody knew of Johns abilities, but the clerk was still very cautious about sending anybody to solo C ranked and above dungeons.

Even if you were an A ranked Hunter, a C-ranked dungeon could become dangerous as their was a very small chance of it becoming a red gate or hidden dungeon

"There won't be a problem. Please go ahead."

"I understand, we'll contact you separately once we schedule it."

"I'm counting on you,"

leaving the bureau, John spent some time at the hospital when a couple hours later the Dungeon Bureau called to tell him about his dungeon run. It was scheduled for 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

Going home, John got all of his things in order and checked the bulletin board on the Hunter website.

When he had broken the record, there had been a lot of talk about John. There had been a lot of spectators around the dungeon as well video taping and recording him

However as time passed, with the appearance of fresh news, the interest in John slowly disappeared and was replace by "American guild, 'Balanced blade' declare war on PKing guild located in California. The story goes th....."

'I'm glad it, it's starting to fade' thought John. The only reason John made news was because somehow the worlds weakest and most pathetic hunter was actually decent. John wanted to be known for his strength and abilities, not the fact that he was surprisingly okay instead of trash.

---------

Waking up the next day, John put on his gear, put the glass box inside of his bag, and ate a big meal before a one and a half bike ride to the location.

Located in an abandoned farmhouse barn, John could see the blue tear in reality and walked over.

"Hello. Are you the Hunter, John Jackson?" The worker tasked with guarding the dungeon said.

"Yes, I am."

"It might be inconvenient for you but may I see your Hunter's license, please?"

John took out his Hunter's license and after a short check, the worker was done.

"You are authorized to enter the gate, happy hunting"

Walking into the blue portal, John felt familiar strange sensation of being teleported to some unknown location and saw that he was underground again, except instead of just the corridor like tunnels there was a large clearing that was tall enough to fit a 3 story house

Toggling the light enchantment on his coat on, John set the light drone to be ten feet infront of him. Since he was facing a C ranked Dungeon, John decided to play it safe and walk instead of his usual running.

Walking through the unground cavern, John felt the killing intent that was constantly being leaked out of the mindless monsters.

'Theres three entities around the corner, but they are moving very unusually…'

Sensing them from the darkness, John sent his drone ahead only for three flying red creatures appeared in front of John's drone, nearly hitting it.

"Imps!"

Imps were the weakest of Demon type monster, but they are by no means weak. These monsters have Spears, can fly, and shoot bolts of fire out of their mouths.

Running forward John jumped up and sliced at the imp, only for it to evade mid air thanks to its wings. Landing back down, John immediately rolled out of the way as 3 bolts of fire hit just were he landed.

Taking out the knife he used to harvest the crystal, John threw it at the imp flying closest to him. Moving right, the imp was able to dodge the knife but not Roel that John had also thrown.

The blunt tip of Roel didn't cut into the demon but it did force the monster to land, allowing John to rush in bash it's head in with his fist.

Despite these monsters being much weaker than John, they had the advantage of being able to fly and shoot magic, forcing John to use an unorthodox approach.

Picking up Roel and the Imps spear, John jumped up once again and attacked the second imp.

As the imp used its own spear to defending against John's, John let go of the spear and threw his harvesting knife at the imps wings. Crashing back to the ground with it, John was about to bash it with Roel, only to have to dodge to the side as a fireball landed and killed the imp that John had downed.

Looking up at the lone Imp, John couldn't help but smile. Sheathing Roel, John picked up the two crude spears that the imps had and cocked one back. "I apologize in advance Roel"

With that, the spear in John's hand tore through the air and was aimed straight at the imp. As the imp used his spear to defend, a second spear came in at blinding speed piercing the monster in the chest, killing it.

Taking a step forward, John expected his arms to hurt and be shaky, but they surprisingly didn't. He felt that if he did this a week ago, his body would been sore and had to have used a heal to get by.

Walking atleast away from the dead imps, John threw the glass box at the ground, shattering it and freeing the cross necklace.

Preemptively activating his healing ability, john bent down and picked up the necklace and immediately felt a connection between the two as his hand felt a stinging pain.

Looking at the necklace, John saw blood flowing out of his hand and into the amulet without even making a wound.

The rate at which the blood flowers from his body into the amulet have John a huge relief.

'Thank god it doesn't take my blood instantaneously, at this rate it would atleast take me atleast five minutes to die from bloodloss, ample enough time to use my healing ability.'

Taking a few steps forward, John felt his pain disappear and saw that the blood from the imps start levitating for a second before flying in a direct line towards his amulet. While these imps we're small, three of them had enough blood to fill the Amulets 2 liter requirement.

John instinctively felt that he could control when the amulet is allowed to feed, but if he waited too long and it ran out of blood, then it would automatically start taking blood from nearby corpses or from the user until it's completely full.

'This amulet is of no danger to me and now I've gained a bleed affect on my weapons!'

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Looking at the downed imp beneath his feet, John pulled the spear out of it as a large amounts of blood started spraying out!

'The bleed enchantment certainly works, however it really won't affect my usual fighting style. Roukels swordmanship is a fatal one that alway goes for the vitals, however when I'm facing an opponent stronger then me, this enchantment will be a saving grace!'

After testing out his enchantment, John found It was much easier killing the Imps now that he had the Spears and foreknowledge of what he was fight.

Turning off all the lights, John moved quietly and used his night vision to throw the bundle of spear he collected in quick succession, either killing them outright or forcing them to land, in which they quickly get smashed by Roel.

John cleared his thoughts and proceeded forward. He faced 12 more Imps and a few orcs unti until he reached the Boss Room.

"I'm feeling kind of uneasy since I haven't seen any Trolls, they are one of the reasons I decided to pick up the 'Bloody Prayer' amulet. The bleed affect is a perfect counter towards regeneration type monsters, and trolls are supposedly very common in C rank dungeonss."

More often then not, if a dungeon had weaker than usual mobs then the boss would be strong, and if the mobs are strong there was a good chance the boss was weaker than usual.

This knowledge concerned John as he stood infront of the boss room, felt a little nervous as the chances of this boss being a powerful troll was more than likely.

John preferred getting little experience hunting down the mob trolls before fighting a boss Troll, but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Just got to be careful." John encouraged himself and opened the doors and sent his drone in.

The light drone whizzed around the room, illuminating the entire bod room but John couldn't see anything from where he safely stood outside of the room. Due to unknown reason, boss monsters were forbidden to escape their room which allowed Hunters to get a look at their enemy before they fought.

'What the hell is going on? Where's the hell is the boss? ....It can't be invisible right?' After minutes of the drone flying around the empty room, John bit the bullet and walked in.

Just as his body cleared the doors frame, John felt every impulse in his body to dodge forward and he did so just before a staff smashed down at him!

Rolling forward John turned around and saw a troll wearing a cloak over it's naked body and carried a large wooden staff.

'Holy fuck! A fucking Troll scholar in my first C ranked dungeon, this Is insane!' Jumping backward John saw the troll lift it's staff up, and instantly a giant ball of fire flew towards him.

'This is going to be a tough fight!'