Chapter 8 - Offense is the best defense? (1/2)

In an unknown mansion somewhere in Outer Bank X…

”Sir, we noticed an abnormality in one of the dungeons today.” (Butler)

”Oh? And what happened?”

The butler observed the disinterested look on the man in front of him and continued. ”The E rank dungeon, [Frozen Wasteland], has suddenly gone from a risky a.s.sessment of moderate to low”

”Oh, so someone is doing my job for me while I'm busy with the C rank dungeon?”

”Yes sir...but the problem is, this change occurred in the span of 2 hours”

As soon as the butler finished these words, the eyes of the man he was talking to flashed. ”Who was it? A team or a Ranker that just appeared?”

”We don't know Sir, we're currently checking.” Butler

”Good, let me know as soon as you find out. Are the girls ready?” The man's attention quickly moved to the floor above him where he could feel some movements.

”Yes Sir”

”All newly awakened?”

”Yes Sir…”

”Good, don't bother me for the next hour.”

The butler in a clad black suit watched as the man climbed the stairs. His major worry right now was the fact that a dungeon had moved from a moderate risk level to low in a period of two hours. This required a dungeon to be cleared by a team of highly skilled hunters, or one very skilled Ranker, multiple times in those 2 hours

There was currently only one hunter in Outer Bank X who would be able to bring a specialized team to clear a dungeon at such high speeds, and he was looking at him now heading to perform some...activities

The butler bowed towards his benefactor and then turned around to find out just which new hunters had appeared in their city.

---

I was back in the central Awakened Center of Outer Bank X, currently selling the items I didn't need along with the [Core]s I didn't absorb. Before coming down here I made sure to absorb the E rank cores until I hit 70 attribute points for [Vitality] and [Strength]. I slowly adapted to the newfound power my body felt as I moved around, exhilarated at my fast progress

The remaining cores, items, and skill books were all sold and I soon had an extra $674,000 deposited in my account. This was something unbelievable unless you were a high ranking Hunter

The receptionist handling my order was shocked as the number of things I was bringing in did not match the rank on my license in any way. I had the plan to be tested and increase my rank today anyways. A jump from F to D wouldn't be too out of this world, right?

This was something I was hesitating on as it had only been 2 days since I was registered as an F rank hunter. Heads will definitely be turned my way if I jump ranks this quickly. I still didn't feel comfortable enough to parade myself as someone strong when my highest skills currently were rank D and I was just about get a rank C skill. Increasing my rank can wait for now, there's no rush

I was heading towards the [Skill Book] Shop to buy a skill I had already seen yesterday, but I couldn't buy. Rank C skill, [Arcanist's Sphere of Protection: Arcane energies protect the caster from all harm, but at a great cost]

There were very few rank C skills for sale, as the highest C rank dungeon was regularly being cleared by the only B rank hunter in Outer Bank X with his own team. Over the last few months, many of the C rank skills came from them

[Arcanist's Sphere of Protection] provided absolute defense to any attacks of the same rank thrown your way along with a high defense against skills of a higher rank, did not have any movement effect like [Safeguard], but required a large amount of energy to be kept active

My heart was about to leap out of my chest as I bought this killer skill. I've heard the proverb that offense is the best defense, but right now looking at this skill, defense was definitely the best defense. There were other spectacular C rank offensive skills on display that I wanted to buy, but they would have to wait after I dive into dungeons a few more times and raise my funds once more

The offensive skills would definitely decimate everything on sight if I were to spam them, but they won't guarantee my life. So defense first, offense later.

On Top of the defensive rank C skill, I also bought rank D [Danger Sense], which quite literally let you sense anything that might take your life a few seconds before it happened. It was an invaluable skill that also had high energy usage to be kept active all the time.

[Arcanist's Sphere of Protection] cost me $550,000, with [Danger Sense] taking away another $100 k. I gave a look at the rank C offensive skills that I couldn't yet buy and left the Awakened Center to head towards my apartment this time. I was planning on spending the night there and grab my laptop along with other essentials