Porter

In the southeastern direction outside the city, a group of five adventurers travelled across the forest with the goal of entering the deeper areas.

A lean figure dressed in a simple Asian-esque robe and light armor spoke languidly. "Say, Dalt. Do you think this mission is any good?"

The burly man in heavy armor leading the group turned around and answered.

"The pay is good, isn't it? We need some money at the moment after all."

Hearing that, the others seemed to agree, but some slight skepticism still remained. Alia, the only woman of the group asked. "But don't you think something is fishy about this? The pay is too good for a simple investigation. I think Kark is into something."

Dalt did not seemed offended for being doubted. He understood that it was only normal for an adventurer to remain skeptical, so he explained, "Well, it's not like I have not taken that into consideration. And I think that the Guild won't lie to us about this. Since they allowed Baron-classes to participate in this mission, they definitely think that cultivators of our level would be able to handle it. Plus, everything seems appropriate aside from the unusual high reward."

He paused for a moment and glanced at the white-haired porter that they had hired earlier this morning and continued, "Besides, I even got us a porter. If things go south, we can get out of danger's way much faster."

Kark and Alia followed his sight and scrutinized the young man.

"Are you sure this kid is any good?"

Akt's lips twitched hearing this but stayed silent. No one dared to doubt him back on Earth, but he knew that he was actually a small fry in this world at the moment. Dalt, on the other hand, was unperturbed.

"Of course, I tested him earlier. At the very least, his speed is in the Knight-class. Considering his body build, he's probably an agility type. I did not sense any mana in him, so he's probably at the High or Peak stage of Body Tempering realm. Quite impressive if I have to say so myself. Not many can skip from Trainee-class to Low Knight-class. And considering the amount we paid for his service, I think we got our money's worth."

Kark's eyebrows raised in amusement and commented. "Oh-hoh! That's actually impressive. What do you think, Alia?"

"Well, at least, we know now that he won't get left behind." A chuckle left the woman's lips.

Akt smiled stiffly as he listened. He was still unfamiliar with the terminologies and the power ranking system that the trio used in their conversation. It was like this because he spent his first days in this world hunting for cores and cooped up in his room to cultivate for weeks right after.

Still, while unfamiliar, he could still understand some concepts and infer something from their chit-chat. First was that they identified the realm he was currently in, the Body Tempering realm, as the Trainee-class. Following this line of thought, the third step of the beginning stage, Center Opening, could then be identified as the Knight-class. Therefore, if the power rankings were based on the peerage system, the fourth step, Meridian Opening, and fifth step, Mana Circulation, could be determined as Baron-class and Viscount-class respectively. As for the other rankings above Viscount-class, he had yet to know.

Of course, everything that he inferred only applied to normal circumstances. As Dalt said, while not many, there existed talents who had capabilities to skip classes. This was one of the reasons why Akt could take on beast hunting missions of Low Knight-class level during his hunt for cores. The Guild only took into account the over-all combat prowess of an adventurer and not the cultivation stage. The other reason was that Body Tempering stage cultivators did not exude the presence of mana as they had yet to obtain a body strong enough to withstand such energy. Hence, that was why the Guild staff members had assumed that Akt was a Body Tempering stage cultivator when he was not due to his naturally strong body. While they would normally allow cultivators to skip classes, they would not be that irresponsible to hand over such missions to non-cultivators after all.

What the trio did not know was that as a non-cultivator, Akt managed to slay Low Knight-class wild beasts. Now that he had already broken through to the Body Tempering realm, he could only be stronger than Low Knight-class level. If they knew, they probably would not dare underestimate his prowess even if he was weaker at the moment.

The only reason that he let himself be a porter was that he knew that he was lacking experience in the ways of this world. The only way for him to learn the know how's was by interacting with other people who already knew the ropes. However, teaming up with those in the same realm as him would be pointless as most cultivators on the same level as him were also amateurs. Thus, he decided that it would be better to team up with those groups who had higher cultivation base even if he had to work as a porter.

"Seniors, may I ask what this mission we're currently taking on is all about?" Akt hurriedly asked to divert the attention.

Fortunately, these people were not dense, so they went along with it and explained.

"You see, quite a few of the wild beasts around the deeper parts of the forest seem to be under something strange."

"Strange?"

Alia continued, "Yep. Strange. The wild beasts appeared to be going out of control, or so how the rumors say."

"So, that's what." Akt nodded.

"While it is not weird for beasts to go feral at times," Kark explained. "Imagine if tens, or even hundreds, of wild beasts went berserk in one go. What do you think would happen?"

A stampede.

"Plus, even if its not going to be a stampede. Something else might also happen. The Guild probably does not want to take chances." Dalt added.

Akt's eyebrows furrowed. He knew the implication of this matter. While things may not seem bad with all the experts stationed at the city. It would still produce some casualties nonetheless. And most of the victims would probably be the weaker adventurers hunting in the outer areas of the forest. It might sound cold and heartless but adventurers dying on duty were not the city's responsibility. Thus, the Guild decided to launch numerous investigation quests for the capable adventurers.

As they discussed among themselves, the leaves above their heads rustled. Everyone turned their eyes on the direction of the sound and held their weapons tightly.

"Who's there!" Dalt shouted.

An exasperated voice echoed. "Damn it, captain. Did you actually forget that you have a scout on your team?"

Atop a tree branch stood a figure covered in black clothing. Presumably, the thief or the assassin of the party if this was a video game. Akt remembered that he disappeared halfway through the journey.

'So, he went ahead and scouted, huh...' He thought in wonder.

Surprisingly, the adventurers in this world functioned similarly to how a video game set-up worked. The party had a scout, a front liner, a damage dealer, a back liner, and a support. In this case, the front liner would be Dalt; the damage dealer would be Kark; And the back liner with a bow would be Alia. In this set-up, Akt acted as the support, or it would be more apt to call his role a carrier.

Dalt could only chuckle. "My bad... We were just talking about the wild beasts, so I thought one might be around when you came."

At the side, Kark and Alia snickered, but Akt knew that those two were even more battle-ready than Dalt was when the leaves rustled.

'Is this team going to be okay?' Akt looked at them with a dubious expression on his face.