Closing his eyes to accept his fate, Gray stood there powerless while waiting for death to come, .only for him not to feel any pain for some time, and he decided to open his eyes a little and take a peek only for him to see the middle age man standing in front of him without a hand while there was a big sword mark on his neck.

Gray just stood there in shock while looking at the freak opposite him.

Belong the middle age man head fell from his body and a fountain of blood began spray out while bathing Gray who was standing close in blood.

" You're welcome" was the next word he heard. Turning to the side, Gray saw Ray sitting not too far with an orb in his hand.

" You did this" asked Gray while looking at Ray.

" Yeah, after you to ignore that I even exist, all I could do was wait for the both of you to exhausted yourselves before coming back to existence" replied Ray with a smile on his face.

" Anyways now that we have the orb, I think our job here is done" said Ray while getting up from the ground.

Sighing in relief Gray fell on the fall and mumbled before falling asleep.

" Just let me rest for a while before going we head back to the guild".

Ray just looked at Gray while he falls asleep. Later on Ellis cane over to join Ray after regaining his strength.

" Who could have thought that things will get to the stage where everyone is left with little energy to head back to the guild" said Ellis in anger.

" All that doesn't matter as long as we now have the orb in our possession" replied Ray before tossing it to Ellis.

Catching the orb, he began to observe it before throwing back to Ray.

" Don't know what kind of orb it is, and I guess the owner that jenny spoke of previously don't know either" said Ellis before sitting on the ground.

The remaining hunter were busy cultivating to replenish their depleted energy while Ellis and Ray just sat where they were in silence with no one to start a conversation and after sometime Ellis asked Ray while looking at the dead body before them.

" Now that you are now in foundation realm which hunter squad do you plan on join"

" I don't know and to tell you the truth, I don't plan on joining any squad if we are not going together" replied Ray with a smile on his face.

Ellis felt touch by Ray words but still asked.

" It does not matter if you are in and am not, as long as we'll be able to take on quest that are only available for one-star hunter then am fine"

" But am not, we are in this together so that worry after we leave this place and get some good sleep we'll be heading back to the swampy lake to get the treasure the snake tribe are protecting. May we might find something that could be useful to your advancement" replied Ray.

" There we go again, heading into another battle after managing to come out of one in one piece, you are already planning to take me to another. Please I beg you I don't want to go back to that place again" said Ellis in fear of how Ray always drag him to a dangerous place.

" You complain too much Ellis, why can't you just for once act like a man" Ray begins to yell at Ellis.

" Hey guys, we are about to split the loot are you coming" asked a hunter that was calling the others to gather.

Ellis stood up and went to join them.

"Might as well join them even if what they will be distributing will not add to my cultivation" thought Ray before getting up and walk to the group.

After sharing the loot among themselves and with Gray who was finally done to recovery some of his strength, the group went back to the guild to report. On their way to the guild, Gray asked Ray.

" Hey kid now that you are already in the foundation realm, I believe you are more than qualified to becoming a one-star hunter and joining a guild won't be a problem".

Ray just kept quiet all along and only nod his head to Gray word and seeing this, Gray smiles before saying.

" So what do you of about joining the Raging Dawn squad when you are promoted to a one-star hunter"

" I will have to think about it but am not actually planning of joining any squad for the now" replied Ray while walking forward.

" If you ever think of going to the squad do look for me said Gray with a friendly smile in his face.

After walking for some time they were able to arrive at the guild by night fall, and before they could get to the entrance of the guild, they were suddenly greeted by the appearance of four men clad in light blue armor with the symbol of a moon crest on their chest. Gray was enraged when he saw the men that were in their was as they were their rival the moon breeze squad.

" And what do you think you are doing" asked Gray while looking at the men in blue armor coldly.

" Nothing much, we were just on our way to take on a quest before we bump into your group" replied the leader of the team before leading his men out and before Gray group could walk inside, the leader turned backed and said to the group with a smile on his face.

" That reminds me, I thought the team that went for the C Rank quest were up to ten while am I only seeing seven if you now".

" Guess the rumors about the Raging Dawn squad losing a member when they went on a quest are true" added a member of the moon breeze squad.