Becoming Invincible By Going Invisible

Taro and Yua

Outside of the kobold dungeon, a muscular man and a skinny man is standing right next to each other. The contrast in their appearance doesn’t make them the center of attention instead makes the crowd only took a glance at them before looking away. This is Boris and Jacky's combination skill that makes them becoming the chosen scout to watch around the dungeon.

“Well well, I have heard about it before but this is my first time seeing it in person. If I don’t have my detection skill, I might just pass them on the way and didn’t realize anything. Truly marvelous. What do you see Yua?”

“Give me a moment Taro. The muscular man has 《provoke》 skill while the skinny man has 《Scapegoat》 skill. The skinny man is directing the provoke skill target to somewhere else so the focus won’t stay at them for long.”

Approaching Boris and Jacky is two people that they have been waiting for. Taro is a man with a dandy look. Wearing a monocle and high hat while carrying a cane. Yua, on the other hand, is a beautiful girl, wearing a yellow kimono, and pink hair that is grabbing the attention of anyone that sees her.

“As expected of people from the headquarters. You could see through us right away. I think finding our target will be a piece of cake for you.”

“Haha. Thank you for stating the obvious. It is normal for us to come since appraisal and detect skill is so rare. We need to make sure that the target that you tell us about is the real deal or not. It is also due to your credibility within the guild that we are dispatched so quickly. Usually, others need to wait for months before we are dispatched.”

Jacky can sense the arrogance of Taro. After all, it was normal for him to be prideful for his skill. The skill 《appraisal》 and 《detect》 is a rare skill and very useful for the organization. If not for Jacky pulling moves using his connection, they won’t be dispatched even if he makes a request.

“Alright, let’s not waste any time. Is the target here yet?”

“Our target hasn’t run the dungeon today. Usually, he will come at around 11 a.m.”

“Still another hour. I guess I can wait near the entrance while practicing my skill.”

“Yua will also go with Taro to train her appraisal.”

“Okay, let’s wait in front of the dungeon entrance.”

The four of them then waited in front of the dungeon entrance without people paying attention to them. It is all due to Boris and Jacky's skill that is very convenient. They have waited for some time before being dumbfounded.

“Didn’t you say that there are barely any people around the kobold dungeon? Why there are so many people here today?”

“I don’t know. Clearly, there hasn’t been any other dungeon diver in the last five days.”

“Then what happened now?”

Taro was angry because if what they have read from the reports is true, there is no way to find the target with so many people around. His detect skill is also rendered useless due to the crowd of people detected in the dungeon entrance. They can only rely on Yua now.

“Yua, how is it?”

“Honestly looking at everyone and appraising them is tiring for Yua. My mind is very tired right now and I am out of mana already. Those who come don’t even worth mentioning. I think we have come here for nothing.”

“Darnit! If what you say was true then his power of misdirection is even greater than you two. When he was inside the dungeon, he is able to misdirect everyone's attention from the dungeon and think that it didn’t exist. Now we will have to do a broader search to find him. Truthfully his skill will be something the headquarters wants. Just imagine if he stays in our base and his misdirection is working, our base can’t be found by anyone that easily. The only problem is how we could find him again?”

Jacky is now gritting his teeth. This is clearly his big chance for a promotion so he couldn’t just let the pie that’s already on his plate taken just like that. He didn’t believe that his chances are gone.

“If that’s the case, how about we put surveillance in nearby E rank dungeon? If there’s a dungeon that hasn’t been visited by many people, I think we can try to look for our target there.”

“But what if the target isn’t showing up in E rank dungeon anymore? What if he moved to D rank or another dungeon? We can’t watch every dungeon out there.”

“But at least we need to do something. We can’t just let him go like that.”

“Let’s just write a report to the organization and let them decide on what to do.”

**

Today I am having a day off. Although it’s only been two weeks since I get involved in the dungeon business I can already feel the stress. It’s not taking a toll on my body but it’s on my mind. I feel like I have aged several years inside the dungeon. I kind of feel detached from this world already. What is normal and what is not normal, can’t be judged by myself. Killing monster is normal and killing other people has been normal too for me. Am I still normal or have I become abnormal?

Is the world still normal after the dungeon appearance? People have resumed their normal lives and adapted to dungeon life. So, what’s normal now is different from what normal before the dungeon, I think.

Taking a stroll on the street, I saw many advertisements about guilds. They are actively recruiting people to become dungeon divers and giving many benefits to them. To be honest, a private company like the guild operates better than the government. The government has its own ministry for dungeon diver and management but it wasn’t as efficient as the guild. Most of the ‘heroes’ that’s always appeared on the TV are coming from big guilds.

It must be nice being in a guild. They don’t have to buy dungeon information and they could enter guild managed dungeon freely. Not like I am unhappy about my current situation; I am just envious that some people could still have it easy even though the world has changed to be centered around the dungeon. Those people that is blessed by cheat skill and now dubbed as ‘heroes’, how easy my life will be if I become like them?

Anyway, I am thinking of going to the auction tower again. Although it was my off day, I still can’t get my head out of dungeon diving. I still lack life-saving measures and the ability to protect myself without the skills. I also want to get a 《silent step》 skill and 《Smell concealment》 if possible. Although I couldn’t get an 《appraisal》 skill as it was expensive, it might be good if I could get a 《status concealment》 instead. Or something to avoid detection. Better be safe than sorry, right?

To be honest, I don’t really like walking around since people sometimes walk into me and they didn’t even say sorry. They think they stumbled into something or hit an invisible glass. This skill that I have, I didn’t know to be happy or not about it.

Arriving at the auction tower, it is still full of people as usual. I walk to a terminal and use it to browse for wares. The silent step cost is $200,000 while the smell concealment is at $100,000. I just earned $300,000 yesterday and here I am just a day after spending almost all of it again. I didn’t hesitate much since I will go hunt and earn some money again. What’s baffling me is the speed of money circulation is getting even faster. Since dungeon divers earn a lot of money from dungeons, they spend as much as they earn or even faster.

I guess that must be the reason why crime rates have actually gone up after we move past the prologue. I even heard an attempt to rob a bank by people who can use skills. Nowadays, many police and soldiers have skills too anyway so it all returned to square one. It is just acquiring a skill, makes people seem bolder and braver to do things they wanted without caring for others' wellbeing.

Okay then, after making my purchase, the hatch beside the terminal opened again, and inside it is two books. One for silent step and the other for smell concealment. I learned it on the spot after I received them.

「Silent step (E rank, passive, max level): moving around carefully won’t make any sound. Makes it harder for people to notice your presence while you sneak around. 」

「Smell concealment (F rank, passive, max level): You are able to conceal your own body’s smell. It will be hard for normal people to smell you. Monster sensitive to smell might find it hard to smell you as your body odor is concealed. 」

Alright, it wasn’t a skill that will increase my combat ability but it makes me feel safer nevertheless. Tomorrow I have decided to go to Tokyo tower dungeon so I better go back and have a nice sleep tonight.