Chapter 105 Tearfall I



I stood firmly with two swords in my hand. Retro was in my right hand. Meanwhile, a 5 million Cred <D> ranked sword was in my left hand. It was not an artifact item so it was pretty cheap.

Well, I wouldn't say it was cheap if I never made a fortune by working together with Chrysalis and Nova Guild, as well as abusing my 24-hour luck blessing.

"Fuu…"

Low-ranked monsters such as goblins and kobolds scattered on the ground behind me, lifeless.

A pool of blood was created as a result of those monster corpses.

Sheathing my swords on their scabbards around my waist, I flexed my finger and stretched my body. The sound of cracking bones filled the air, making my ears twitch satisfactorily as I heard them.

"Hoh. I thought you were just an ordinary businessman, Crow."

Appearing behind me was James.

In case you're forgetting who is James. He is the Chrysalis Guild's shadow, a <S> rank unregistered Enhanced. Most of the guild's shadow is an unregistered Enhanced as they need to hide themselves from the public. If they are to register, there will be a significant change to the hero rankings.

James's current appearance was different from back then when he was disguised as a butler who took the role of a rab lat for the goldfish powder mixed with sugar.

He looked more like a 'shadow' of a guild now, with his dark, sleek attire and an air of mystery surrounding him. His sharp eyes glinted with both curiosity and admiration as he observed me.

I turned around, facing James with a faint smile.

"Well, Raven, I believe there's more to people than meets the eye. After all, appearances can be deceiving."

Raven was what he told me to call him. And I did so because if I called him James, his real name, he might slice my throat at any moment to silence me.

That wouldn't break his loyalty to Neychta for killing me. Because Neychta herself had said in the novel if there was someone who knew his real identity, kill them on the spot whether they were allies or not, and it applied to civilians too.

I shrugged nonchalantly as he gave me a slight acknowledging nod.

"Survival in this world demands adaptability. The same principles apply whether it's negotiating deals or facing off against monsters. You have to be quick on your feet, make split-second decisions, and utilize every advantage you can get."

James—no, Raven. He finally smirked, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Well said. The guild is lucky to have you as an ally."

Smirking at his statement, I turned around and walked away, continuing my journey to get the Phoenix's Feather for the Tearfall.

That's right, in search of Phoenix's Feather, I was currently inside a <B+> ranked dungeon with extreme terrains such as mountains and valleys.

The rift dungeon environment was typically a cave-like or labyrinth. But, for <B> rank dungeon and above, the dungeon had manifested its own habitat and terrain. The environments were varied for each dungeon. You could be spawned in the middle of the ocean, the outskirt of the ancient temple, and so on depending on the dungeon's boss.

The dungeon I entered was wyverns dungeon.

The Chrysalis guild couldn't find a dungeon with Phoenix as its boss, so Neychta gave me this dungeon instead, along with Raven as a support in my search for ingredients.

Though, I demanded Raven he would not help me unless I was in danger.

Fortunately, the starting point of this dungeon was on the outskirt so I didn't encounter a wyvern yet.

Even though this was a wyvern dungeon, it didn't mean that every small mob inhabited here was also a wyvern. Wyvern was the boss dungeon, and any other small monsters were the mob dungeon.

So far, my journey was sailing smoothly, only fighting against low-ranked monsters.

But, I felt like it wouldn't be long until I fight a young wyvern.

I took a path of the forest to avoid being seen by the wyvern flying in the sky. There were three of them. I didn't want to risk myself being exposed and getting assaulted by three wyverns at the same time.

In the first place, my goal wasn't to kill the dungeon boss or fight wyverns but to look for Phoenix. If I couldn't find it after exploring the dungeon area, I would just return to Earth using Return Stone.

The path before me seemed to grow narrower, the air thick with a sense of foreboding.

Raven occasionally revealed his presence to me, ensuring me that he was there even though I couldn't locate him with my eyes. He was ready to jump at any time if danger was to befall me.

Kiek—!

A group of goblins ahead blocked my path, bravely snarling their fangs at me.

My hands were around the grip of my sword, ready to pull them if the goblins lunged at me altogether.

"You wanna try me, bud?"

Kiek—!

"Come!"

I yelled, provoking them.

The goblins ran toward me with their crude weapons raised. Their formation was a mess. Undisciplined, as if they were competing in a sprint Olympic instead of working together to take down their enemies.

I let loose the hand gripping the sword, Retro, in my right hand. As I did that, I could feel her disappointment coursing through me.

'Sorry, Reina. I don't think it's worth it to use you for this mobs.'

As soon as I said that, the disappointment turned into a sense of pride and happiness.

Unsheathing the sword on my left waist, I sliced the first goblin that aggressively jumped at me.

Splurt—!

The sound of flesh being sliced by a sharp blade rang beautifully in my ears.

Dodging the two goblins' combined yet uncoordinated attack from the above, I sent them to hell with a quick slash of my sword. 

Another blood sprung out from their wound, painting the grass and plant around with red color.

Kiek—!

The last goblin tried to ambush me from behind. But, I deftly stepped to the side and grabbed its bald, big green head, shoving it to the ground, and finished it with a stab in its head.

The goblin's body twitched once before going completely still, a life extinguished by my blade.

My sword was stained by the crimson color of my enemies' blood.

Sheathing my sword, I continued ahead while checking on my status screen.

[Name: Ian Crow (♂)

Age: 25

Race: Human

► [Stats]

Strength: E

Agility: E+

Intelligence: C

Stamina: E+

Magic: E

Charisma: B

Luck: E+

► [Talents]

[Dual Wielding Lv.3] (▼ Expand)

[Swordsmanship Lv.3] (▼ Expand)

[Mana Control Lv.2] (▼ Expand)

► [Skills]

[Clairvoyance Lv.3] (▼ Expand)

[Lie Detection] (▼ Expand)

"Oh?"

It was my first time checking my status while transforming into Ian Crow and never expected that the profile on my status screen would show his name instead of mine.

Other than that, everything but Charisma was still the same as my original stats.

"This is interesting."

Yes, it was interesting. No wonder Jin could live his life with four identities without any of his identities getting caught.

This could be very useful to progress with the plan.