Preparation for Shigai (1)

...

I clutched my leg in exhaustion and gasped for air. I sighed and seemed satisfied as I gazed at Vicissim's corpse.

"Huff... Huff... That was tiring. I don't want to fight something as strong as that again. But, I know this is going to be worth a lot," I said, imagining the potential coins I could receive, having a slightly weird grin on my face while laughing maniacally while sitting on its huge corpse.

"This is a jackpot! I'm so goddamn lucky..." I mumble to myself.

Meanwhile...

Back in Crescentia, Katsuro and Mika could be seen walking on the street together, heading towards Crescentia's royal castle in the distance, the huge castle that could be seen on the back, since they were of noble blood.

"Hey, Katsuro... Do you really think we can successfully clear this raid? I have a bad feeling... And I don't usually get bad feelings about raids..." Mika comments, looking at Katsuro while pouting, looking uncomfortable and serious but also trying to act cutesy.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You didn't need to invite that person from earlier, though. Also, stop trying to act cute. It doesn't fit you." Katsuro remarks, smirking as he looked at her sarcastically. In response, Mika purposefully bumps on his shoulder.

"You could've worded that nicely," She says, smirking back as she chuckled, amused by his response.

"But about recruiting that person, I don't really think he's a bad guy. He might even help us in the raid somehow... I just feel like he can help, okay? Just trust my guts." She remarks.

"Really? That's what you truly think?" Katsuro sighs, gripping between his forehead in frustration as he realized that Mika was being serious and stubborn about it.

"I think you just gave him the opportunity to sabotage our raid or something. You know everything that happens in dungeons never get revealed outside." He remarks, giving a subtle hint to Mika that it's better to not invite people you barely know in an important raid.

Silence filled the air as they walked, after a few moments, they had finally reached Mika's home, which was the smaller mansion beside Katsuro's.

"See ya on the raid next week, Mika, until then." Katsuro says while they stood before 2 diverting paths, waving a goodbye before walking to the left path.

"You too. Don't die before the raid, okay?" Mika jokingly asks, chuckling as she walked slowly towards the right path.

Slowly but surely, as Mika realizes Katsuro is out of sight, she murmurs to herself.

"But, I really do have a bad feeling about this raid... Is it really just me?" She murmurs while holding her chin, looking up the sky, thinking while walking towards her home.

"Mika," A female voice interrupts her thoughts, as she looked back in front, she sees a woman standing before the gate of her house.

"Mom! Why do you keep waiting for me, you know I could go home myself right?" She replies, her serious expression turning into a gentle smile.

"I'm your mother, I just can't help but worry when you return this late." She smiles, hugging Mika.

She melts into her embrace, enjoying talking to her mom while she opens the entrance door.

...

Hmm...

To be honest, even after killing Vicissim, I didn't level up that much. Is it because I kept killing boars every single day, and maybe I leveled up too much?

"Status Window," I muttered, looking at my status and I seemed to be unsaitsified.

[Zankoku Hanzou

Age: 16 Gender: M

Level: 54(+3) (14/1054) Race: Human

Class: All-Rounder (Adaptable)

HP: 497

MP:288

STR: 63 (-5) 

VIT: 67 (-5) 

AGI: 45 (-5) 

INT: 105 (-5) 

DEX: 48 (-5) 

LUK: 42 (-10)

Special: Anomaly's Perspective (SSS) [3] (+1), Willpower (B), Focus (B), Unlucky One (F), The Cursed (F)]

...

Yeah, no. I think I've leveled up enough.

My stats are now equivalent to a C-rank, as it was shown in the guild from earlier.

[ Adventurer Rankings; please reapply your I.D once you reach the designated level!

F: 1-10

E: 10-25

D: 25-40

C: 40-65

B: 65-80

A: 80-200

S: 200+ ]

I might be already powerful enough to deal with that Shigai Cave. First, it said I only blocked some attacks of the boss. That was when I was still level 51- goddamn it. How strong is this boss?

I thought while walking on the roads of Crescentia, heading towards my inn.

I opened the welcoming door of the inn, greeted by the warm mood of people enjoying their food on nearby wooden tables.

"Heya, do you mind if I rent my room for another week?" I ask the receptionist, holding out 7 bronze coins on my palm and placed them gently on the counter.

Just then, I heard a familiar voice in the distance. A female voice, it was somehow high-pitched, but it was familiar.

"Hey!" The voice called out on me. I looked to my left to see a person none other than Mika Hatsujin.

...What? I didn't get any act or scene change notification from the system though? Is this just purely coincidental, or did she come to this place unbeknownst to the original story's plot?

"Oh, it's you." I calmly reply, chatting with her slightly as the receptionist gave me my room key.

What kind of plot did the story go? Did it specifically say where the characters were each and every time?

Because the system did not say about any scene change...

[!]

What?

[Incoming Event: Act 1: Scene 4

Located at the Shigai Cave.]

...Nevermind, seems like the next scene will still be on the raid. How is it scene 4, though? Did the characters interact somewhere else without my knowledge?

Also, is this the new use for the Anomaly's Perspective skill? It's kind of lacking compared to the previous ones. Anyways, for the preparation...

"...Hello?" Mika's voice cut my thoughts short, realizing something important as I listened to her words once more.

!

Oh yeah, right...

...I was talking to her. I completely forgot.

"Oh, haha, forgive me. I zoned out for a little bit. Did you say something?" I reply nervously, scratching my head as I took my room key.

"Yeah, Meet me at this in on 8 o'clock, evening. We'll discuss our plans for this raid here, since it is inconspicuous here." She says, her slight, friendly smile slowly fading away as her face turns into a much more serious expression.

"...Okay." I reply, gulping as a drop of sweat slowly creeped down my face. After her affirmative nod, I slowly walk back up the inn's stairs to the right, opening my locked room door with my key and headed inside.

"Phew... 8 o'clock, huh. I wonder how many people are participating in this raid. Must be at least 10, right? It should." I sigh, chuckling as I try to guess how many people will join, acting unserious and trying to lighten up my dreaded mood.

"Hold on, did I do my quest already?" I jolted up as my eyes went wide open.

[Daily Quest: Slayer I

0/20 Monsters Slayed

Reward: 1000 XP

Failure: Penalty Zone.]

"Goddamn it. Right as I had the perfect sleeping position, something just had to disrupt it." I say in frustration, mumbling while getting ready to slay some more monsters to finish the quest.

"I wonder if the raid will go well." I remarked, not getting any active notifications from the anomaly's perspective skill for a while now.

"There's no need to dwell on it," I say before embarking myself on another quest to finish, readying my sword as I unsheathed it.

"Because, only time can tell."

I dashed towards a nearby boar on the forest and decapitated it on one go, smiling as I did.

But, for now, I'll prepare for the worst, because that's what I always do.