Vorgath tried to hide the moment he saw the group of Dungeon Delvers walk into the cafeteria. He wanted to duck his head and disappear. But unfortunately, he had nowhere to run. The group looked at him from behind the counter. They had been laughing, but upon noticing him, all three fell silent.
"I don't believe it," one of them said, leaning his elbow on the counter. "Alex, what a coincidence."
Those bastards had beaten him up the other day. Jenny, who was looking after Vorgath that afternoon, noticed the interaction between them. "Are you friends? I didn't know Alex had adventurer friends."
A person with no future like Vorgath, with friends who had received the system's blessing and become Dungeon Delvers? It was almost absurd.
"It's not really like that," Vorgath said.
The adventurer who spoke to him chimed in. "We can say we're friends. Come on, Alex, are you ashamed of us?" He laughed and gave Vorgath a pat on the shoulder. The atmosphere grew tense. A fight could break out at any moment.
The only reason they hadn't tried anything was because they were inside a cafeteria. Otherwise, they would certainly want to beat him up again.
Vorgath began clenching his fists under the counter.
"Now they know where I'm working. Fuck. Until I get stronger, I can't protect myself from them..."
Even though he was safe inside the cafeteria, at some point, he would have to leave, and that's what worried him. The former Alex had tried to steal these adventurers' loot.
He succeeded, but then got beaten up, and they recovered their things. And even though, in theory, that situation was in the past, Vorgath was sure they would try something again.
At that moment, however, they just ordered a coffee, picked a table, drank it, and left.
"I can't believe you have adventurer friends. I want to become one, too. Did Mia tell you that?"
Everyone had access to the system, but that didn't mean they would all become adventurers. Some were so weak they didn't have high attributes, meaning they couldn't face monsters to evolve.
And even with external help, their attributes would never grow satisfactorily because their souls were too weak to evolve. The former Alex was in this group. His low-rank soul meant his initial attributes were very low, and even if he managed to gain EXP to reach level 2 or 3, he would gain very few attributes, sometimes none at all.
Mia wasn't that far gone. She was already level 4, but her soul was poor, so even if she strived to get stronger, she would always remain among the weakest adventurers. That's why she decided to study and live a normal life.
Jenny, on the other hand, had a soul that was average in power. That was why she had the hopes of becoming a Dungeon Delver in the future.
"She didn't say anything about that," Vorgath replied as he made a black coffee for the customer at table 4. "Are you sure about that? It's a dangerous profession."
"I am. I want to be free to see the world, and other worlds too. You know, they say dungeons are like worlds of their own." Jenny smiled and did a little hop just thinking about exploring those fantastical places.
"And you've never thought about being an adventurer?" Jenny made conversation.
Deep down, she knew Vorgath was too weak for it. If it were the former Alex, the dream of becoming a Dungeon Delver was simply impossible. But Vorgath knew he would make it happen.
"I plan on becoming one, too," he said. "Who knows, maybe we could explore some dungeons together."
Jenny was a friendly, but realistic, person. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Look, you and I both know that's almost impossible. Maybe it's better to earn some money and try to study something. Live a normal life."
Vorgath knew she wasn't being malicious, just telling the truth and trying to keep him from getting himself killed. He also knew that insisting he'd become an adventurer would get him nowhere, so he dropped the subject.
The afternoon continued in the same way, until a woman walked into the cafeteria. She had a different aura about her. It was as if her body was hiding an absurd amount of power! Her hair was almost white, and her eyes were amber. Tied to her waist was a book.
"A grimoire!"
She was a witch! Dungeon Delvers received random classes upon reaching level 10 and undergoing their awakening. The class was tied to the person's soul type, so some received physical classes, others magical, some for damage, some for support. Usually, these were just starting classes. To improve further, one could find class crystals within dungeons and, of course, pass a trial to acquire the new class.
Starting mages didn't use grimoires. Vorgath knew this well. So, this woman had a special class!
She sat at the table near the window and called someone over to take her order. The cafeteria was nearly empty since it was getting late, close to closing time. Not to mention the dark clouds forming in the sky.
Vorgath went to her table to take her order, holding a small notepad. "What can I get for you?" he said.
The woman studied him for a few seconds. "New here?" she said, resting her chin on her hand.
"Yeah, I started today."
"Ah, right. I'll have a latte, please, and if it's possible, a chicken sandwich."
Vorgath passed the order to Jenny. While he made the coffee, she went to prepare the sandwich. As he worked, he couldn't help but admire the woman's beauty, and her power. She took out a laptop and started looking through some files, scratching her head every now and then.
"Something's bothering her," Vorgath thought.
He delivered her order and tried to find out more. "Something wrong, miss?" he asked.
The woman accepted her order with a smile. "Nothing too serious. I'm just looking for a mule, and I can't find anyone to take the job. People these days want to start at the higher ranks, it seems."
"A mule?" Vorgath asked. He had no idea what she meant.
"You don't know? You know, those people who go into the dungeon with adventuring parties and are in charge of carrying the loot? It's a tiring and dangerous job. A lot of them want to start as official guild members, but we're not accepting anyone else right now."
Vorgath was instantly curious. It sounded like a good opportunity.
"I'll take the job, if I can balance it with my time here. I'm working the morning shift, from what I understand," he said.
The woman got excited when she heard that. "Really? What's your level?"
Embarrassed, he said, "Two..."
She was disappointed. "Ah, you have to be at least level 5 to come along, with at least 10 in each attribute, or you won't survive."
Vorgath didn't give up. "I can reach those requirements in a few days, if you can wait."
"Are you kidding! No one can improve that fast. I can tell your soul is very weak; your attributes must be incredibly low."
A normal person couldn't, but Vorgath, with his different system, knew it was possible.
"I'm serious. Can we talk about this next week? Give me seven days."
Pensive, the woman replied, "I suppose so. It's not like I'm going to find another volunteer this soon anyway."
Vorgath returned to the counter. Jenny nudged him with her elbow. "What were you two talking about?"
"Nothing, nothing," Vorgath replied.