Chapter 46: Solo Raid

Keane had no interest in joining some political faction simply because powerful people had started noticing him. He had come to this world without anything. He had no family here, no allegiance, and no reason to care about the existing power structure. He only wanted enough strength and freedom to decide his own life.

If politics wanted to find him, that was unfortunate, but he wasn’t going looking for it.

’Then again, what if I simply take the power for myself?’ He thought to himself. Thinking of it like that, all of a sudden, politics did seem desirable, though, he had no plans to waste his time in their games. As long as he was concerned, where power was, there was power, and there was authority.

’If I want to do any thing so grand, I need to find a way to gain skills first.’ He thought to himself. So far he didn’t have any class yet, so he was thinking of how he would get one.

Class change was supposed to activate once a player reached level 10 according to the system he designed, but it would seem that, that wouldn’t be the case, since he was yet to receive anything.

Still ocntemplating the matter, he had only taken a few steps when the man’s voice followed him.

"One more thing."

’He’s still here?’ Keane stopped but didn’t turn around.

"You’re stronger than your current rank suggests."

Keane glanced back, watching as the man smiled.

’Does he have a skill that grants silent steps?’ Keane thought to himself. Both times he had not noticed the man approach until he spoke, which certainly wasn’t normal, especially not with the heavy elegant shoes the man had on.

"You know, that makes you valuable... and dangerous." He said with a smile yet still. "Don’t forget either one."

At that, Keane just continued walking.

He didn’t know whether the man had been offering genuine advice, testing him, or trying to frighten him, he assumed it was probably some combination of all three.

What he did know however, was that the conversation had been far too carefully constructed to be casual.

’Annoying.’ He thought to himself. ’Perhaps I should really take power for myself.’

He’d only wanted a little independence. Now powerful people were already knocking on his door.

He ended up reaching the guild for something, and before he could leave the building, a Guild messenger approached him.

"Keane?"

"Yes?" He asnwred.

The man handed him a sealed envelope. "This was delivered for you."

Keane looked at the seal, and after enquiring, understood it belonged to the adventurer he’d just spoken with.

Opening it, inside was a single sheet of paper.

_+_

An Invitation

You are invited to join my team.

_+_

’So much for staying out of trouble.’ He thought to himself before folding the paper and stashing it away to never revisit it in future.

Keane stared at his Gold badge in his hand for a few seconds before putting it away.

It was more useful than impressive.

The rank meant better contracts, better access, and fewer questions from people who would otherwise wonder why an unranked adventurer was taking work above his supposed ability. That alone made the trouble of the last few days worthwhile.

Still, there was one problem... He didn’t know how strong he was.

He now had 199 in all stats, but numbers were only useful if he understood what they meant in practice. His old strength had already been absurd, and now it was roughly twice that.

’And I haven’t actually tested it properly...’ The thought remained in his mind, but for the time being, there were other things to worry about.

With the money he received for clearing the dungeon that evening, he sorted out a place to stay through Amda’s help. Almost all of the money went into living expenses, so by night, he was left with nothing.

He did see the red light district, but having no immunity to infections, he would rather be a little careful not to go that far. For a man like himself, that wasn’t something he would lack so much to visit a whore house.

That aside, there were more important things to handle, and it all centred around money.

That was why a few days later, Keane found himself standing in front of another gate.

This time, he was alone.

The gate was a midsection gate, the entrance shimmered inside its stone frame, the surface moving like dark water.

Keane checked the contract one more time, it was a standard exploration and monster-clearing work, nothing complex. He wanted something more, but seeing as he was going alone, he wasn’t allowed anything more than this.

The gate was considered safe for experienced adventurers. The strongest confirmed monster inside was around Mid-Mortal Realm, and the route had been mapped well enough that the Guild wasn’t expecting anything unusual.

That was exactly what he wanted.

Keane stepped through, and again, the familiar pressure of crossing the gate passed over him, then he entered the dungeon.

The environment was different from the Flux Gate. This one was mostly made up of broad stone corridors and large underground chambers. Faint blue crystals grew from the walls, providing enough light to see without torches. Everything looked standard and nothing out of the ordinary.

Keane took a breath, and began walking forward.

Unsurprisingly, a group of creatures appeared less than five minutes later.

They looked vaguely humanoid, with thick arms, stone-like skin, and crude weapons.

Keane stopped once he noticed them fully. He couldn’t help but wonder if all dungeon monsters all had stone-like builds.

Without hesitation or even any sound, the creatures charged at him.

Unfortunately, they were as slow as snails to him, it was almost fascinating. Save to say, he made quick work of them, even playing a bit the entire time.

The first monster swung its club and he stepped to the side and kicked it in the chest.

The impact sent it flying across the chamber, slamming against the wall and stopped moving. He had deliberately used just casual strength in the kick, yet it produced that much force.

The second approahced, as though it had no brain to see what had just happened to its companion.

Keane turned and struck it once, planting it skull first into the ground. Somehow, its skull didn’t cave in. He couldn’t even tell if they were dead, since his system only gave notifications when it felt like.

It was only then that the remaining creatures hesitated, but in the end they attacked.

’Were these supposed to be difficult?’ He thought to himself as he took care of them all.

A few seconds later, all of them were dead.

Keane looked at his hand.

’That’s definitely stronger.’ He thought to himself. Before, punching a boulder, he only felt a mild sting for a short while after, now, he didn’t even feel a thing.

’I won’t become elephant-skinned later on, right?’ He thought to himself. That would be a curse, how would his lovely time with beautiful ladies be if that was to become the case?

Not wanting to dwell on it, he continued.

The deeper he went, the stronger the monsters became... at least that was supposed to be it. For him, he barely felt the difference. All still went down with a single strike.

The weaker creatures died immediately. The stronger ones needed a little more force to his strikes to die at one strike.

It didn’t take long before he became bored, so he started moving faster.

’How much can I make if I run through ten dungeons a day?’ He thought to himself. The woes of a salary worker.

Truly, looking beyond it was the only way to go.