Ascending Endlessly: I Copy Skills

Tsk. I let my anger take hold of me. I'd done my best to stay composed, but that acting from Hye-Rin at the end... it just caused my hatred to spill out. I couldn't repress it at that point. Even now, as I walked through the pristine streets of the capitol, I felt it coursing through my veins, thicker than my blood.

I already knew where to go. After all, I'd lived here for several years. This was humanity's final fortress, the city of Eden, and the Order of the Oracle's capitol. It was a city entirely under their control. 

Surrounding it were A and S-Rank dungeons, with some B-Rank ones scattered around as well. The city itself sat squarely on the equator in Indonesia, where the gloam's forces had been the most concentrated. Naturally, some of the most dangerous dungeons on earth were stationed here as well.

And I was heading directly for a B-Rank dungeon. As much as I was tempted to throw myself right into an A-Rank one, I couldn't afford that risk. If I wanted to save the world, my growth would have to be consistent, not immediate. If I died trying to obtain too much too quickly, then it would all be for nothing, anyway. 

So the plan was to finish B-Rank in a week. It was an incredibly ambitious goal. I'd been able to clear out D through C-Rank so rapidly solely because I could use a ridiculous amount of skills thanks to my Jokers. It allowed to fill several roles simultaneously. However, from B-Rank onward, that wouldn't necessarily be enough.

Because starting in B-Rank dungeons, boss monsters would appear. They were disturbingly strong for their rank; in fact, a B-Rank boss was essentially equivalent to a strong A-Rank monster. They were massive and frequently had hordes of enemies protecting them. It usually took a raid team to defeat one. However, I didn't possess that luxury.

While obtaining teammates before was a tenuous objective at best, here in Eden where I was surrounded by enemies, it was a complete impossibility. Even if I did manage to somehow join a team, I would constantly be at risk of being stabbed in the back. So what did I have to do? From morning until night, I would grind the B-Rank dungeon for a week. Then, at the end, I would try to fight the boss monster. Even if I failed, I would absolutely need the strength of the boss's skills to challenge an A-Rank dungeon.

The increase in the monster's strength between dungeons would be far more exponential than it was before. Even in the C-Rank dungeon, I had barely managed to make it out alive the first time due to my mana bomb, and that was while possessing a wide range of D-Rank skills. The only reason I had any confidence at all in challenging a B-Rank dungeon was the two B-Rank skills I'd obtained from the hunter I fought in Matherstown.

For most people, going into a B-Rank dungeon alone with only two skills of the same rank was absolute suicide. However, all I needed to do was use them to hold out long enough to obtain more B-Rank skills. 

The problem was the volume of monsters I would have to face. Unlike before, I couldn't wander about a B-Rank dungeon until I found a solitary monster I could fight; instead, I would be thrown into a battleground where hunters and monsters battled in an open space. I suppose it was too difficult for the Human God to contain the stronger monsters within a smaller series of secluded areas.

With that being the case, I would have to piggyback off of other hunters to a certain extent. While I couldn't explicitly join another team, many groups would be fighting side-by-side. I would have to take advantage of the involuntary cooperation that a B-Rank dungeon demanded and try to benefit from the defenses of others. 

Of course, it also meant I could try to gain some B-Rank skills from other hunters. It would be hard to get up close to them without facing some resistance, but either way, obtaining skills should be easier at B-Rank than C-Rank. Added risk, added reward.

I arrived at the station. It would take me to one of the two B-Rank dungeons outside of Eden. I'd been in both once or twice; they were quite similar, however, so I just picked the closer one on the south side of the city. When I arrived, the security and structure was much different than what I'd grown accustomed to. 

There were far more guards and a highly organized line with auditors in place ensuring everything went smoothly. This was how things worked in a city controlled entirely by The Order.

I stood in line behind several parties and waited for about ten minutes until I arrived at the checkpoint. I called forth my skill card and presented it to the guard, fumbling around in my pocket for my wallet as I did.

"Seriously? Kid, not only are you an F-Rank, but parties are required to schedule their trips to the dungeon to ensure synchronicity within it. Go do your job or move somewhere with a D-Rank dungeon."

Ah, there it is. I heard a condescending voice talking to me as a hand outstretched with my skill card, but I was busy trying to find my wallet. I pulled my black card out and flashed it at the guard.

"I imagine you'll need to see this, too,"

He gulped and took it gingerly, looking it over with wide eyes. I felt gross using it right after my encounter with Hye-Rin when I denied her help, but there was no other way for me to get where I needed to go. It was an unfortunate concession I'd have to make.

Actually, without this card, I wouldn't have even made it into a C-Rank dungeon. It was something I hadn't been able to part with for the sole reason that it allowed me access to battles which others couldn't get to. Even in my many years as a weakling, I'd clung onto hope that it would be of use to me some day. And now, that patience had paid off.

It was a V.I.P. card issued directly by The Oracle herself. A card which distinguished me as someone with the highest clearance in the world. Someone who could go anywhere he wanted without question, and few people on the planet besides me possessed one. It was stamped with the emblem of The Oracle- a symbol that nobody else in the world was allowed to make.

It wasn't just the law. Quite literally, if you made an attempt to draw the symbol, you would find the result to be different. The same went for machines. Nothing could recreate it except Hye-Rin. It was a sort of 'authority' from the Human God. This meant that if the symbol was present, it was irrefutably a product of The Oracle, and nobody, especially in Eden, would dare to defy her will.

Of course, after Project David, I wasn't treated like a V.I.P. Not at all.

"You're free to enter, sir,"

The guard handed the card back to me with shaky hands, avoiding eye contact with me. Ha, he must not know who I am, or else he would have been a lot more disdainful. It was nice that rumors of my transgressions hadn't spread completely throughout The Order. 

I patted his shoulder as I walked through, entering a high-end passenger car with four other parties of hunters. Two more followed afterwards. As the train started moving, I decided to count how many there were among us. 

In total, it seemed that forty-three hunters would be raiding the B-Rank dungeon today. The parties were quite large. Of course, this was a necessity. A lot of specific roles had to be filled at this level to ensure survival and the ability to kill monsters.

Despite the fact that a B-Rank monster had notably greater strength than the average B-Rank hunter, they did not possess the level of intelligence and capacity for teamwork that humans did. This fortunately allowed the fewer numbered hunters to eliminate enough monsters to make clearing out dungeons feasible.

I looked out the window at the miraculously beautiful planes of Eden. Here, the Gloam hadn't created a toxic atmosphere like in many other cities. Instead, as far as the eye could see, perfect green grass could be seen swaying in the soft wind. It never got too hot or cold, and the weather was always clear.

This was, of course, the work of Hye-Rin and the Human God. Soon, we arrived at our destination. There was no station or anything like that. Instead, the tracks ended and we all stepped out into the open field. 

While there was no sign of a dungeon anywhere nearby, we all were aware of its location. Where the tracks ended, a clear, reflective sphere was hovering over the ground, a stone pedestal standing beneath it. There it was- the B-Rank dungeon, 'Seven Stones'.