Chapter 4 - Is that a rookie...or?

An idea solidly formed in my head and took root. I knew what I had to do. I didn’t wanna cause too huge of a commotion, so even though I will have to go in a roundabout way, I can still keep on diving into dungeons today.

The plan was to head to another dungeon after leaving [Ape’s Paradise]. As much as I wanted to enter the dungeon again, I know I would easily be recognized the moment I head towards the entrance again.

I won’t repeatedly dive into dungeons with such a fast clear speed until I have some measure of confidence to be able to protect myself from most threats. The goal for now is...power close to or equivalent to Rank B.

There was a single B Rank Hunter in this city, and he was a known celebrity. The strength he showed made many people fearful, as even bullets and snipers were ineffective against someone of rank B

The city I’m in though, Outer Bank X , was only a small-sized city with a few dungeons, the highest rank being C. Other cities that are further inland have way more powerful hunters with even greater level dungeons

My next stop will be at the rank E dungeon, [Frozen Wasteland], which many hunters did not frequent. With the extremely cold characteristics, this dungeon held 20 floors, with various beasts of cold attributes appearing. It should be even easier to clear with my constant casting of [Fireball]

Before I head to the [Frozen Wasteland] though, I do want to continue testing just how many more times I can cast my sole skill at the moment, [Fireball]. From the previous 500 times, I’ve cast it 200+ times while clearing this dungeon

Wrapping my thoughts up, I moved a distance away from the green crystal and began my experimentation of whether I could endlessly cast skills or If I just had an abnormal amount of [Focus] that I could not see

Thus, a weird scene unfolded on the last floor of [Ape’s Paradise], with a man all by himself continuously casting fireballs. They exploded a few meters from him, and more followed right after

20 minutes passed.

I was still casting [Fireball] without stopping, causing my wildly beating heart to be leaning towards that insane idea. Approximately over a thousand casts in the last 20 minutes..let’s continue some more

40 minutes later, I had gone past the excitement, ran over fear, got over the whole ridiculous idea...and taken it as a fact. This was something out of my wildest dreams, and I did not even understand how it could be possible

In the last hour, I had cast an F rank skill, [Fireball], over 3000 times...not even someone of Rank A, or the highest known ranking Hunter, Steel Mikhail, would be able to do something like this. This both scared me and gave me a wild hope to someday stand up not far from them

Over the span of the time, the balls of fire that came out gradually became more condensed, and their explosions more pronounced as well as traveling much faster. In the last 10 minutes, instead of usually casting 1 fireball every second, 2 rushed out per second

They were apparently becoming smaller, faster, and more explosive as I continued to cast them. This should be my proficiency rising at a stupid crazy rate because of how many times I am casting the skill. My current panel looked like this

[Noah][Occupation: Hunter]

[Vitality: 10]

[Focus: - ]

[Strength: 10]

[Skill(s): (Fireball-59)]

The proficiency for the skill [Fireball] had amazingly risen all the way to 59, a crazy figure to wrap my head around. As far as I knew, there were very few people who had their proficiency higher than 30, as Hunters continuously improved themselves and got higher ranking skills with the passing of time

An F Rank Hunter using [Fireball] as their first skill would move on to using an E ranking skill as soon as they gained the funds to buy one. No one spent that much time using one of the lowest ranking skills for an extended period of time

Looking at the high proficiency, it made me excited about what would happen if I continue to cast and raise it even more. The power of the [Fireball] skill should currently surpass any other skills of the next rank in the damage and speed that it flies at, it’s most likely nearing rank D in its offensive ability

I was itching to continue my test of endless casting but brought myself to stop and move on to the plans on my agenda.

I moved towards the still glowing green crystal in the middle of the room and placed my hand on it, which instantly teleported me outside the monolith. I appeared not too far from the entrance, with a few people glancing my way with surprised expressions

"Did his entire team wipe, or do we have a ranker here?" Hunter F

"Hah! A Ranker? Have you ever seen them dressed like that with a flimsy backpack on them? My apologies kid, I hope they weren’t your closest friends!" Hunter G

A few people noticed the abnormalities as someone finished the dungeon and was transported out alone. My current attire really did not match anyone of Rank C or higher, as many people quickly noticed

Most of the people that were there an hour and a half ago when I went in the dungeon were either gone or not paying attention, as the surrounding compound of the dungeon was a fairly large space

I ignored the pitying gazes of Hunters who thought the rest of my team was gone and headed towards the gate. Funny enough, I was becoming more and more used of ignoring other people’s gazes as this day went on

Outside the gate, there were a few stalls and people rushing about. I went towards another section where there were a few cars lined up and planned to use the Hunter Ride system

There were many people making their living driving hunters from dungeons to the Awakened Center or to their lodging. It was a very dangerous job as you can always have an unstable customer, but this time they’re superpowered people who could either blow you up or snap your neck with a twist of their hands

One man quickly came up to me with a smiling expression and asked if I needed a ride. I nodded and quickly got on the parked Dodge Charger in front of me, our destination, the [Frozen Wasteland]

In the 25 minute trip towards the next dungeon, I kept on thinking of any things that I missed and went over my plans for the next few days.

Time quickly passed and we neared another huge monolith, this one with a slight tinge of orange. Many hunters did not like clearing this dungeon because of the extreme cold, resulting in mandatory clean up by the government routinely

I would take my time in this dungeon though, as there were significantly fewer hunters, and even a single run would probably net me more than double the money I made in [Ape’s Paradise]

I paid the high fare and got out of the car, flashing my hunter license to the guards at the door, who didn’t bother with me after giving me a second look and shaking their heads

Hey, I promise you I’m not just a hunter on a suicide mission alright?

I look around the enclosure of this dungeon and head towards the entrance. There wasn’t even a team on standby to be entering. With a few hunters cl.u.s.tered on some stalls and shops selling food and equipment

Nothing held me back as I quickly went to the entrance and placed my hand on one of the square doors, which quickly transported me to the first floor of the rank E dungeon, [Frozen Wasteland]

I was quickly besieged by the cold that drove many hunters away, and quickly cast 2 fireballs that did not fly away from me this time but circled around me. Doing this usually required Hunters to continuously provide more energy, but nothing like that could be felt from me

As soon as I commanded the fireballs to circle a few feet away from me, the cold was majorly offset and nowhere near where it was before

There wasn’t a pause to be given though, as I soon heard the growling of animals that quickly showed themselves. Clear white wolves were rushing towards me, their glistening white teeth flashing menacingly in the white wasteland

There wasn’t a single hint of fear in me though, as I moved forward confidently. Condensed [Fireball]s were quickly rushing from me at high speeds, exploding on the wolves’ bodies and blowing masses of meat away

The group was quickly taken care of in the first volley of fireballs, and all that was left for me was to pick up the [Core] that dropped

I looked forward to the misty cold path in front of me as I rushed down this 20 Floor dungeon that would be the beginning of my journey.