Blood Assimilation

"…"

Randy read through the first few choices of occupation given by the challenger's system, and he suddenly felt a slight headache before frowning and thinking to himself in puzzlement.

'Why are there so many occupations? What should I pick with this many occupations? In the first place, do I have to pick among all these occupations? After all, I already have a class, which is most likely similar to occupation in this world, so there's no need for me to pick anything, but…' Randy pondered to himself without deciding right away. 

Randy thought of what the benefit would be to have an occupation in this world. From what he had discovered so far, these occupations were similar to the classes given to the awakened in his world. 

However, unlike the awakened humans in his world, the humans in this world do not possess any awakened abilities in the beginning. At most, they only had individual potentials, which would later become a factor to consider when selecting their occupation. 

In that sense, occupation was truly different from class in the way that anyone could get the occupation that suited them and would enable them to learn skills, which would help them to level up in the dungeon to increase their strength. Meanwhile, the classes in his world were related to their awakened abilities. 

For example, a magical warrior class only meant that the ability one awakened was better suited to become a magical warrior as being a magical warrior itself was not an ability that had been awakened but attained through one's effort in practice. 

But the same cannot be said in this world as one could simply get an occupation that they desire or are suited for them even if they did not have any awakened ability. All they needed was the potential. For example, physical attributes like strength and non-physical attributes like intelligence and magic limit. 

In Acruxia, as long as one had immense potential in their attributes, they would be eligible for the occupation that best fitted them. 

And right now, Randy was given a choice to pick among these many occupations, and although it looks attractive, considering how many occupations are displayed in front of him, it did not mean that he needed to pick any of them. 

After all, he was originally not from this world, but he could not simply ignore this matter, and that was why he was left in a mild conundrum regarding this situation. 

Before, Randy did not mind picking any occupation to fit into this world, but the situation has changed when he acquired those skills from the blonde man's blood assimilation.

'Should I ignore it, or should I just pick any occupation among all these? But what should I pick? A magician? A warrior or a swordsman? More importantly, what is this astral magician occupation? This one seemed different from the rest… Blood Magician is self-explanatory, not to mention, it is very tempting considering it has something to do with blood manipulation, and the remaining occupations are also self-explanatory, so I don't particularly need an explanation regarding those. However, the term astral…. This is my first time hearing about this term as an occupation path, which makes me want to pick it out of curiosity, but I can't be too careless…' 

Randy deeply thought about his choices, but he still could not make up his mind, and thus, he decided to demand an opinion from a different source.

"Challenger's system, do I truly have to pick among these occupations? Also, is it necessary to decide on one's occupation when one becomes a challenger?" Randy asked.

[The user does not have to pick an occupation right away, but it is required to have an occupation in order to learn the necessary skills regarding the selected skills]

"I see… Then I could choose to not have any occupation if I truly do not want to, right?" Randy asked further. 

[That is the case. However, it would be hard to learn any skills without any occupation as a path]

'Skills?' 

Randy read this word and then recalled how many skills he had obtained currently even without an occupation, and he concluded that as of the moment he did not need any skills whatsoever if he could simply assimilate with the blood of others to awaken their skills as his own.

"Alright, I understand. For now, I don't plan on picking any occupation. But who knows, I might change my mind in the future. Anyway, it's time to leave this dungeon. I've been here for a few days now. If I did not listen to Zophia's advice at the time, I wouldn't have been able to stay in this place for that long without food and water." Randy said to himself. 

At this moment, he was standing in front of a glass-like portal that seemed to be leading to the outside. This was the portal that brought him inside the dungeon and also connected to the mirror-gate outside. 

Randy walked forward and was about to touch the portal before stopping and looking down at the ring on the index finger on his right hand. 

'How do I take things out of this thing… Maybe I should insert my mana into it… It's not working…? Then I should try out with my mental energy… Oh, it worked! Now, let's see my loot— I mean, my reward.'

Randy suddenly stopped in front of the portal gate leading outside and then proceeded to scour through the rewards that he received, seemingly searching for something.

"Ah, found it!"

At this moment, out of the black ring on Randy's index finger, came a black silhouette that fell on his palm. 

"Oh, this is good stuff. I thought it was going to be uncomfortable to wear, but that does not seem to be the case…"

Randy observed the item in his hand in admiration. 

This item was one of the rewards that he received a while ago.

Shadow Beast Leather Armor!

On one hand, Randy wanted to try on his newly acquired armor and on the other hand, he just wanted to prepare himself in case it was dark outside, and some wild animal decides to prey on him without warning. After all, the location of the dungeon of beasts was not that far away from the nearby forest. 

"But still, this design… I don't think people in this world wear these types of armor, though. This thing looks like a long coat, completely unlike the leather armors that I have seen ever since I arrived in Alpheotus city. Well, whatever, maybe it's because it is a rewarded item from the dungeon." Randy concluded and immediately put on the long black coat with a long sleeve.

The moment he put this armor on, he suddenly felt like his body had fallen into an abyss with all the darkness shrouding his body. However, he could also feel a sense of security with this armor on.

"Not bad. Worth it being called a legendary-rank treasure." Randy commended as he felt the darkness covering his body. 

'There should be a description for items like this, but I'll check it later when I get to the city. I need to return quickly. Besides, I don't even know what time it is, or what day it is right now.' Randy thought to himself, and he walked through the portal gate.

Fwoosh!

He disappeared from the dungeon and appeared outside through the mirror-like door out on the field. 

"I finally came out, but it is already dark outside. What day is it? Doesn't matter, I just have to return to the city and submit the furs and fangs to get my official dungeon hunter card. Good thing there was no deadline for the completion of this mission." Randy said as he looked around for a moment as if sensing something.

"Hm?"

Randy casually glance in the forest behind for a few moments and then calmly took out the map that he received from Zophia and proceeded to look through it for a brief moment before suddenly departing from his location towards the direction of the city.

As walked for about a few minutes, about a few meters away from the dungeon's entrance, a silent figure suddenly appeared behind him, as they aimed for his back with clear ill intentions. 

'A Sneak attack?!'

Upon noticing this, Randy quickly reacted by maneuvering his body skillfully, disappearing from the path of the enemy's attack as if he had become one with the wind itself.

Whoosh!

The next moment, he appeared behind the figure.

Wind Sailing Skill!

"Who the hell are you? Why did you try to attack just now?" Randy sternly demanded with a scowled expression. 

When the other party noticed that they had missed their target even with their flawless attack just now, they were momentarily surprised. 

They slowly turned to face the young man behind them and then doubtfully spoke: "You… You actually managed to dodge my attack at the last moment?"

"I asked who the hell you are and why did you attack me just now?! Do I know you?!" Randy felt annoyed by this person who appeared to be a man based on their voice and appearance. 

"Hahahaha! I'm speechless. To think a weakling like you could avoid my sneak attack. You either have some good intuition, or it might simply be pure coincidence. Well, it does not matter anymore. Since my first attack did not seem to work on you, then I just have to kill you slowly without actually killing you, and then your body would be mine afterward." 

Randy frowned when he heard the other party's words, and upon observing them for a little bit, he noticed that something was very strange about their appearance, and with that, he instantly took out his sword from his storage bracelet.