Ray grunted as he endured the hellish pain coursing through his spine. The water enchanted with Spider Bone was doing its job of cleansing and enhancing his body, thus the pain. Gradually, Ray found himself unable to hold back from letting out small grunts. He wreathed inside the tub as the purple water slowly turned red.

The faint metallic smell of blood overwhelmed the air as well as a unique kind of smell. Ray, however, was in no mood to care about that. He was still suffering in throes of pain. Thankfully, his years of experience came in handy, allowing him to endure the suffering. The pain lasted for what felt like hours. Ray came to his sense and stood up from the bathtub. He quickly took a shower to wash away the bloody smell from his body.

Feeling refreshed, Ray exited the bathroom. He put the towel on the bed and started doing stretching. He wanted to have a feel of his body to see if anything had changed. Outside the dungeon, the system menu can’t be accessed just by anyone. Only those who have “Apprisal” ability can use the system outside. Without the system, he could only use this method.

‘I feel nothing strange! Did something happen?’ Ray didn’t notice any visible change. Unfortunately, he hadn’t invested any points into intelligence and wisdom, so he wasn’t able to activate the magic. The biggest gain one would get from bathing from Spider Bone was related to magic.

Ray did all kinds of stretches until he was sweaty. Sure he felt something different, but it wasn’t anything as grandiose as mentioned on the internet. ‘Are the effects over- exaggerated?’ He did wonder about this point but shook his head, denying this thought. The price of this bone was enough to tell him that the effects weren’t an exaggeration. Since he didn’t see any changes to his physique, it should be magic that got enhanced instead.

Ray walked over to the [Wyvern’s Breath] resting next to his bed and took hold of its hilt. Holding the longer-than-average sword, he gave it a few experimental swings. He knew nothing about swords, making his swing look like a kid’s game. Ray had enough stamina and endurance to swing for a while without feeling tired. In fact, he could do this for hours on end.

There was a reason why he got himself a sword despite having a skill that creates arrows. It would have been better for him to get a two-starred bow-type item. But he didn’t do so, and it was only for one reason. He was really bad at aiming. He had tried his hand on target practicing. However, try as he might, he could never truly aim properly. At least with a sword, he could swing until he got the hang of it. Besides, he also discovered the potential of “Crystalline Poison Arrow” in melee.

Putting away the sword, Ray walked over to his bedside and picked up his phone. He quickly logged in to the official raider’s website. Linking in his ID, he quickly looked for any party looking for a porter. He didn’t have a raider’s license, hence couldn’t hunt alone.

‘Oh! Lucky!!’ He found a team looking for a porter almost instantly. Moreover, their team composition looked well-balanced. There were two fighters, a Pyromancer, a ranger, and a healer. A well-balanced team with an excellent track record. He also saw no complaints against their team from Porters.

With his decision made, he gave the team a call.

“Hello!? Am I talking to Northerners’ team captain, Mrs. Summers?” Ray called the number as given on the notice.

[Yes! I am Elaine Summers. Who is this?]

Clear voice of a woman came from the other side of the phone. Ray straightened his back when heard her.

“Hello, I am Ray Mc’Lore. A Porter. I saw your banner on the website, so I was wondering if you are still looking for a potter?”

[Ah! Yeah, we are. We have yet to chose one. Are you interested? Let me tell you we can only pay you 5k credits, nothing more.]

‘5000 credits? No wonder no one has agreed to go with them.’ Five thousand credits were just too low for an experienced porter to agree. After all, who would like to take the risk for only this much money? If anything happens to them in the expedition, five thousand would not even be enough to cover their medical bills.

“Ma’am, you do know that 5k is just too low for anyone to agree, right? I bet no one has agreed to it until now.”

[This…! We can only pay that much.]

Ray frowned when he heard her. He didn’t know why they could only fork out that much, given their party’s composition, he didn’t push his luck by asking that. Shifting on her bed, he relaxed his back against the headboard of the bed before continuing.

“Well, I will agree to be your Porter. But, I have a condition.” Ray’s eyes seemed to glow when he said this with confidence.

[We can’t give you a cut from our loots if that is what you are asking.]

“I don’t want your loots. What I want is-”

…

“You sure he is reliable, Ellie?” Lamda asked as he sipped the coffee from his cup. His blue eyes trailed on the document laid bare.

“Mhmm! I did a cross-check on his credentials. Aside from his last job, everything else looks good.” Ellie, a beautiful woman with short brown hair, replied as she browsed something on her phone. After a while, she looked up, facing the young man in his mid-twenties, “given our condition right now, we shouldn’t be choosy. It's already a blessing that someone even agreed to go with us with such low pay.”

“A blessing? He basically wants us to babysit him.” Lamda snorted.

“Mhmm! He said he has a two-starred item and even possessed a powerful ability. He won’t be that bad. Besides, this will allow us to kill the monsters and collect the materials quicker.” Ellie stifled a strained laugh. Her eyes looked lost for a second before regaining their light as she felt a hand on hers.

“We are with you, Ellie. You don’t have to shoulder this alone.” Lamda smiled reassuringly, bringing a smile on the woman’s face as well. “We will get through this.” He said, squeezing Ellie’s hands.

“I am not intruding, am I?”

Both Ellie and Lamda were startled when they heard a voice beside them. It was Ray who was waving at them, wearing a cheeky smile. “Yo!” He called out.

Both Ellie and Lamda quickly regained their composure. They coughed into their hands and suppressed their blushes. Lamda was quick to extend his right hand towards Ray, “Hello, I am Lamda. I will be our team’s Healer. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello, I am Ray Mc’Lore. I will be your team’s porter.” Ray returned the shake while smiling.

Lamda pointed his finger towards Ellie, “She is Elaine. The pyromancer of our team as well as mage support. In some cases, she is also our main damage dealer.”

Ray nodded at her.

“Please take a seat. The rest will arrive soon.” Lamda said.

Ray pulled the chair and sat down. Adopting a serious face, he asked, “which place we are going to? How dangerous it is?”

Lamda and Ellie looked into eachother’s faces turning to Ray and said, “We are going to Spider’s Nest.”