"First of all, we'd like to apologize for what you went through. I'm sure it was quite a harrowing experience."
"It's fine, I knew there was a degree of risk going into it, so I'm not going to blame anyone for what happened. It's not like there were any signs of it, after all, so there's no one to blame," I replied with a polite smile.
"I appreciate you saying that. Secondly, we'd like to thank you for defeating the Dungeon Boss. No one would have blamed you if you had chosen to run away instead, but thanks to you fighting the Monster, you saved three lives."
I mean, if running away was an option, I would've taken it. But that Monster wasn't just going to hang back and let me leave...well, maybe if I'd snuck off before it noticed me, I might've gotten away.
But it's a moot point, and if I'm being honest, the thought of running away never even crossed my mind.
It was the next day, the 19th of March, 2168.
After those other Hunters showed up, they helped us out of the Dungeon, rushed us back to Sanctuary Theta and got us to a high-ranked Healer, who treated our injuries.
After that, I went straight home and conked out, I was pretty exhausted.
I woke up around 1 PM in the afternoon, to see that I'd gotten a message from the Hunters Union, asking me to come answer a few questions.
I headed there around 3 PM, they first settled my reward from the Dungeon, I got a bit over three million Credits from all the Cores I gathered, about a third of that coming solely from the Dungeon Boss.
On top of that, I got an extra 150,000 Credits from the portion of the profits from the Mana Crystals that are evenly divided among all the Hunters who participated in the raid.
So, yeah, I got a good amount of dough from this raid, I can afford to be less conservative with my money now.
Anyway, after my reward was settled, a representative from the Union showed me to a room, to question me about the raid.
"Sure, don't mention it. Anyway, is it okay if we cut to the chase? I don't mean to be rude, but I'm still feeling pretty worn out, so I'd like to go back home and rest," I remarked sheepishly.
"Of course, don't worry, this shouldn't take too long."
"Thanks. By the way, did everyone else recover okay?"
"Yes, they're all fine, thanks to you."
I see, that's good.
Well, it would've been nice if Trey had been killed off, but everyone surviving reflects better on my efforts, so I guess I can't complain too much.
"Cool, glad to hear it."
"Now, then...while it is a relief that everyone survived, it's a bit hard to believe. So, I'd like to ask you about how you defeated the Dungeon Boss. We received a report from your escort, Lector Nock, detailing the unusual powers you displayed.
Which is strange, to say the least, considering that you were assessed as having J-Ranked Potential. At that level, it shouldn't be possible to defeat a High Level Monster. May I ask how exactly you pulled it off?" He asked me.
"Well, honestly, I'd say I got lucky. Right after it took down Lector, I managed to land a serious blow with a sneak attack and weakened it, with this," I explained, before quietly chanting under my breath to activate Devour.
"Wow, fascinating, I've never seen anything like that. And that ability was enough to defeat the Monster?"
"No, not on its own. I also used this," I replied, before quietly chanting, "
"Yes, based on the reports, you were quite badly injured. Do you have any other abilities? According to Lector, you developed these two abilities by experimenting with your Magic, right? Hm, since you're a Combatant-type, I suppose that would make these abilities Skills," He mused thoughtfully.
"Yeah, sure, let's go with calling them Skills, to make things more convenient. And no, I've only got these two. But I do plan on experimenting more with my Magic to see if I can use my powers in any other ways, so hopefully, I might develop some other new abilities," I lied, keeping a straight face.
"I see...based on all evidence, I suppose this would make you the very first Arcane Combatant Hunter, it was previously believed that Arcane Classes were only applicable to Mage Hunters. Now, then, lastly...would it be alright if we measure your Power Level and Potential?"
Uh...crap. What do I do? I'd like to say no, but that would definitely seem suspicious. Fuck it...
"Sure, that's fine," I replied, as he picked up a device and pointed it at me.
"Let's see here," He muttered, before adding as the device beeped, "Okay, your Potential is 106,300. Wait, hold on...after your first assessment, your Potential was documented as 87,500, that can't be right. Maybe the equipment was faulty? Let's check your current Power Level..."
"Yeah, alright, go for it," I nodded, putting on a dumbfounded look on my face.
"Huh? It's the exact same as your Potential. How strange. It's extremely rare for a Hunter to max out their Potential, even the best tend to peak at around ninety-five percent of their Full Potential," He frowned in bewilderment.
"Oh, does that mean I can't get any more powerful than I am now? That sucks," I sighed, plastering a look of disappointment on my face.
"Hm? Oh, uh...yeah, that is what that means. One more things, about the Dungeon Boss's Core...the bottom of the Core was damaged, as if a small part of it had been vaporized. How did that happen?"
"I don't know, it was just like that when I pried it out of the Monster's chest," I shrugged with a perplexed look on my face.
"I see. Alright, I think that covers everything. Sorry for the inconvenience, you may leave now."
"Alright, then. I'll be off, have a nice day," I replied as I stood up, giving him a polite bow before heading out.
Yeah, I know.
That guy definitely didn't look all that convinced, he still seems pretty suspicious of me. The same excuses aren't going to work the next time they measure me.
I'm going to need to get a lot more powerful before that happens, let's hope my passive luck boost helps me out with that.
This is pretty frustrating though, it's probably going to be a while before I get another chance to raise my stats.
Assuming the remaining Practical Training exams for the year continue to be raids, I'll only get three more while I'm at the Academy.
And considering how much things went wrong in this raid, there's a possibility that they'll change up the exam for next time, it was pretty lucky that no one died.
Well, on the bright side, I won't have to worry about money for a good while.
Hm, might be a good idea to go out and celebrate my first raid with a bit of a shopping spree.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I'll try not to go too overboard.
I suppose there's no point in getting too impatient, I should just focus on getting through this year at the Academy and earning my Hunters License.
No sense in getting too far ahead of myself this early, I've still got a long way to go...