How to Get Eaten by Monsters: A Guide by Harold, Part 1

 As he stared at the monsters gnawing on his body with glee in their eyes, Harold surprisingly felt nothing at it. Almost as if he was detached from everything, he only felt a little bit sad about it.

 'I wonder if this is how a god would feel. Well, probably not since whoever is up there wouldn't have died from this much.' He thought with a lack of emotion.

 'it does suck a little but this isn't my first time. The greater mystery is how I'm still conscious. I did die, right?' Harold took a look at his hands and as the faint light illuminated them, part of it passed through his body and landed on the floor.

 'There's no doubting it.' He nodded with a calm mind.

 'I've… become a ghost.'

…..

 Have you ever heard of the term, reincarnation? If not that, then perhaps, the phenomenon of being transported to another world?

 Most people would have. After anime became a huge hit worldwide, the isekai and reincarnation genre became so popular that hundreds of works featuring a similar setting emerged.

 Harold was an avid reader of such works in his past life so when he opened his eyes in the new world of Heraphus as a new born baby, he wasn't that shocked.

 Sure, he cried and pissed his pants a little but what baby doesn't do that?

 The real problem came after that. Naturally, he tried and failed to activate his cheat ability and even when he was appraised by the priest that visited the village once every year and his abilities where revealed to be average, he still held a bit of hope.

 But it all shattered when he was fourteen. In one of his numerous attempts to activate his cheat skill. He jumped into a den of monsters. Little by little, the monsters devoured him delivering an excruciating amount of pain.

 'Where is it?' Harold wondered as a lion-type monster loomed over him. It was then it finally hit him that maybe he wasn't just born with one. Maybe he wasn't chosen or blessed and was just a lucky soul who happened to retain his memories from his past life.

 'No. I don't want to die.' As the thought sprung up in his head, it started to spread and he struggled against the beasts but they just dug their fangs and claws deeper into him.

 Whether it was luck or fate, Harold didn't know but a passing elf saved his life. What happened after that was a blur but ever since that day, the world turned grey.

 Not long after that, he became an adventurer and made a living by doing odd tasks. In fact, after what had happened, the only reason why he still decided to become an adventurer was the fact that the license also functioned as a means of identification worldwide.

 That was his life for two months until he was suddenly called upon by the Adventurer's Guild. Because of the fact that the strongest party at the time, Braveheart had cleared most of the monsters existing the upper floors of Tuat, the deepest and most dangerous yet, also the most resource rich place in the world was a bit safer.

 Under normal circumstances, he would never have accepted the offer but news arrived just the night before. A mysterious plague had hit the village and his parents were among the affected. There was a cure but the price was so high that the savings in the house would not be enough to cover it.

 Regardless of how he felt about his new life, his parents were still his parents and after a brief struggle with himself, he decided to join a party that was headed towards Tuat.

 The Adventurers Guild had a special function that allowed people to team up with random people based of the data collected on them. Due to the guarantee and its safety, it was used often by people who didn't want to be a part of a permanent party yet still wanted to take on some dangerous jobs.

 Some of them had even led to some of the members forming permanent parties so it was often highly recommended for newbies which was exactly what Harold was.

 "Nice to meet you." Liam, the once designated as the party leader by the system greeted the temporary party members with a smile reticent of sunshine and warmth.

 "Nice to meet you too." Harold and three others greeted and he decided to take the chance to observe them.

 Liam, was a tanker-type as signified by the heavy shield and broadsword he wore on his back.

 Floria was a mage. And also, an elf by her pointy ears. Harold had heard that elves were good mages and archers so he was looking forward a bit to her performance.

 "Jade here. Nice to meet ya." Jade, A man with the same skin tone as Harold greeted and drew his attention.

 For some reason, people with Harold's color of skin were rare. Whenever he took a look around, the skin color always varied but dark or anything darker than brown was rare.

 He had heard there was a magical cause for it but since he never went to magic school, he didn't know.

 "A dark attribute user, huh. Nice to have you on the team." Liam greeted Jade with a nod.

 "My name is Jasmine. I'm a cleric." Jasmine, the last member said with a calm, soothing smile and Harold felt himself relax a bit.

 "My name is Harold. I'm a thief." The eyes observing him hardened a bit and Harold smiled bitterly.

 Thief sounded like a bad job title but it was not always like that. A long time ago, there was a great Thief who used his skills to wreak havoc on the world and almost brought it to ruin.

 This made the job class extremely unpopular and if it wasn't for the easier requirements to venture into the job than other jobs, no one would be willing to take it up.

 "Ah… I see, that's a nice job to have." Liam said in an attempt to right everything but it only made it worse.

 'Haah… it seems like I have no choice but to break out the skill that I developed in my past life to use against normies. I call it, Instant Socializing.' Harold's eyes glowed as he activated the skill… not. It was just a normal one not a system based one.

 "No need to sugarcoat it. I'm well aware of the demerits behind the job." Harold forced himself to grin as he spoke and Liam gave a relieved smile.

 "Sorry about that. Well, we're done with introductions so I think we should start heading out." It was a bad attempt at changing the topic but it worked as everyone nodded and they left the room.

 The Adventurer's Guild had built a temporary outpost next to Tuat which was where Harold and his party were currently at.

 As they exited their room, they saw numerous parties, both temporary and permanent, heading in the direction of the entrance to the Tuat.

 "I hate to rush but if we don't hurry up, we'll be left with nothing." Floria said and everyone nodded and walked into the dungeon.