The next day...

   I was up early and on my way to the Adventuring Guild. Yesterday, I had spent the whole day running around and doing all those quests I had accepted, plus then doing that whole ordeal with that cult of whatever.

And even then, in the end I didn't find a Lich. That was a little disappointing - since when I returned yesterday, all the quests I had completed, I cashed in for quite a reward — 255 Silver Coins and 300 Copper Coins.

However the Lich quest on it's own would have been around 165 or so Silver Coins, so I definitely missed out on a decent reward bonus.

Oh well, there's always next time.

As I approached the Guild building, I noticed how a lot of adventurers had gathered outside, with all the receptionists also being outside, standing in a line.

'Oh yeah... The Lizardman Receptionist told me last night about this. Apparently the guild is having a Dungeon Raid for all Adventurers below B-Rank in order to give them a chance to advance.'

I thought, remembering the talk last night.
I had sort of forgotten at first about this whole raiding business - mainly because I was a bit tired from all I did last night (Not physically, but mentally).

When I heard about it yesterday, I wondered whether I should join it or not - mainly because joining in, would mean that I was going to be limited to my skill [Black Magic]... Or more accurately now - [Abyss Magic].

Actually... Now that I think about it— won't me losing [Black Magic] cause trouble?

Negative.
[Abyss Magic] also permits the use of
[Black Magic] spells.

I see..
So basically, as long as I don't use something that isn't in the usual spell arsenal of the Black Magic skill, I shouldn't be discovered.

Understandable.

I approached the crowd, before quickly moving up to the Lizardman Receptionist I was familiar with.

Once he noticed me, the receptionist waved towards me, before smiling lightly.

[Lizardman Receptionist] "Hello Mr.Shin, are you here to also participate in the Adventuring Guilds dungeon raid?

"I guess I am. Though, a little overview of the rules would be nice."

[Lizardman Receptionist] "About that - those all will be announced once the Guildmaster announces the beginning of the raid. For now I suggest standing together with all the other adventurers in the crowd."

Well, it was worth a shot.
I simply nodded, before walking away from the Lizardman Receptionist, waving a slight goodbye which he returned right to me.

Once I was inside the crowd, I noticed how every adventurer here seemed like they didn't go over Rank C.
That wasn't that surprising, since the event was only permitted for Adventurers up to Rank B, but it was still a bit strange to see that one wasn't a single person here who even was a B.

Maybe they just couldn't make it?

       I stood with my back against a houses wall for a while, simply waiting with the rest of the entire crowd for the 'event' to begin.

It had already been quite a while since everyone gathered here, I'd say that an hour at best, so it was quite normal to see that the adventurers gathered were starting to grow a bit impatient.

Then, a loud cheer could be heard, followed by a round of applause. Upon lifting my head to see what's causing the commotion, I saw a sole man come out of the Guild Building, before taking a stance infront of all the receptionists.

Based on his clothes and overall appearance, I guessed that it must have been the Guildmaster I had been hearing the adventurers gossip about while waiting.

[Guildmaster Gidou] "Greetings adventurers! I am Gidou, the Guildmaster of the Ordial Adventuring Guild- and I am proud to announce the beginning of the Guilds Dungeon Raid for Lower Ranks!"

As the Guildmaster announced this, the crowd of adventurers flew into a loud cheer, all very excited for the event.

Meanwhile, I remained in the shadows, simply gazing up at the Guildmaster.

He had this... Aura to him. Could he be quite strong?

'Sages' Wisdom, I need an appraisal.'

Understood.
Commencing Appraisal on the Individual 'Gidou'..

Failure.
Appraisal blocking skill detected.

Ah shit-
Hopefully he wasn't alerted about my attempt on peaking his status..
Although the blocking was sort of expected. Just using my own intuition, his aura definitely was strong - a lot stronger than any of the adventurers in the crowd with me currently.

And even if I couldn't use my regular appraisal on him, I still had one trick that I had managed to pick up last night.

'Time to put my new skill to the test.'

I thought, before using the skill I had acquired yesterday from analysing the Gorgan Elder — The Epic skill, [Soul Appraisal].

This skill was unique, as it was impossible to block due to not being a skill that attempted to view the 'status' of another individual.

Instead, the skill allowed the holder of it to take a look at a targets 'soul' to appraise their strength.

Normally, I wouldn't dare to use it as I wouldn't be able to make sense of the strength of an individual based on their soul, however thanks to the efforts of [Sages' Wisdom], I had an easy ticket to get a full read on someones stats through using this skill.

'Sages wisdom, would you please—'

Before I could finish the command, the Guildmaster increased the volume of his voice.

[Guildmaster Gidou] "Now then! Your rank-up will be based on your performance during the raids! It will also be based on how fast you return back to town and call quits for the raid!"

That strict huh?
Well it's understandable - wouldn't want some weak ass idiots ranking up high just because they decided to slay one high ranked enemy and then immediately return.

Seems like quantity wins over quality in this case.

[Guildmaster Gidou] "You all will be split into 3 Teams! Each team will be assigned to a specific Dungeon which they can enter! Upon entry, the teams are free to split up into parties. Remember - the teams are just to assign a dungeon! The overall performance of the team, will not be counted!"

To keep out, once again, the weak ass idiots who would exploit being in a well performing team to rank high.

Smart, smart.

The Guildmaster announced a couple more things, before eventually splitting up the crowd of adventurers into the three aforementioned teams.

Team A, Team B and Team C.
I happened to be split into Team B - the middle one.

The dungeon I was going to be sent to was called 'Fire Princes Domain'. Apparently it's a low to mid tier level dungeon, with monster ranks reaching from Rank D (My rank) to Rank B (The highest rank possible in a dungeon raid).

Another thing worth mentioning is that solo raiding was permitted, and solo raiders would even be compensated a bit more than party ones, however the solo raiders would also be assigned slightly stronger monsters - most likely to deal with any overconfident idiots that think they're all mighty.

And yes, you can bet your bottom dollar, that I am going to be a solo guy.

The Guildmaster then stomped his foot.

[Guildmaster Gidou] "Now then! I shall teleport you all to your dungeons! At them, Adventuring Guild has already dispatched A Rank adventurers that will act as guards outside the dungeons! Good luck newbies!"

He announced before creating three massive magic circles below all three teams.

'Interesting- is this Magic from the Guildmaster?'

Analysis suggests that this is a high level Teleportation spell.

Teleportation? That could be useful...
But I guess I'll live without it.

Then, a moment later, all the adventurers were wisked away into a magic light, teleported away to their assigned dungeons.

...

      We appeared infront of a giant volcanos very bottom, somewhere which looked to be quite a distance away from the town.
Well, I assumed that it was - it was almost impossible to tell with the thick fog that surrounded the area around the volcano.

Analysis suggests that this Volcano dungeon is around 5 km away from the town.

Only 5?
That's surprisingly close. How the hell did I not notice it before?

Analysis suggests that the thick fog around the Volcano hides it from far distance views.

Oh.. well that makes more sense.

As I took a look around, I noticed what I assumed to be the A Rank adventurers assigned here as guards, guiding all the adventurers into the dungeon.

Without much other thought, I joined the crowd, eventually wandering inside the giant volcano.

   Inside, the adventurer crowd I was with all chatted among themselves, mainly about how they were extremely excited to find some undiscovered and ancient treasure inside the dungeon or how they were absolutely hyped to fight some strong opponents.

Y'know, classic adventurer talk.
I remained silent, simply activating my skill [Universal Detection] ahead of time - mainly to not forget to activate it when I'm finally alone.

A while later, we all reached a wide open room with many tunnels in it.
An adventurer at the very front announced how from now on, we could split up into our parties and head off deeper into the dungeon as we pleased.

Immediately, the once massive crowd split off into many, many parties that each wandered off into their own tunnels, while I remained deciding on which tunnel to take.

[A Rank Warrior] "Oh? Are you a solo guy?"

The adventurer that had announced the split up came up to me asking.

I looked at him before nodding lightly.

"Mhm, I don't really work well in a team, so I decided to go solo for this raid."

[A Rank Warrior] "I see.. well, stay safe in here. Solo raiders haven't had the smoothest history."

The adventurer stated, before patting me lightly on the shoulder and leaving back in the tunnel we all had come from.

Be careful?
Yeah, I suppose I should be careful. Even with my OP as hell stats and skills, I have no idea what this dungeon has in store for me.

After another brief while of debating, I quickly leaped up to a higher tunnel, which none of the adventuring parties had entered earlier, before swiftly entering in it, a smirk creeping onto my face.

This was it - my first ever Dungeon Raid to increase my Adventurer Rank.

I wonder, what will I find in here?