Max Stats in the Apocalypse

After three days, when Mayquelle, Ian, and Baron had finally prepared their equipment and themselves for the mission, they went straight to the entrance of the dungeon they were assigned to investigate.

Every dungeon has a vortex-like entrance that seems to be a portal commonly called "rifts." In these rifts, it is explained that no normal person can enter them without proper equipment. 

First, because the density of mana could rupture the skin of a normal person, only those who can enter are Awakens with the proper suit as security and for their safety.

Second, they needed to wear a proper suit to provide a track of their progress inside the dungeon. A dungeon is another dimension that has space. Thus, with suits that possess special mechanisms, they can produce a map of it and save this information for future expeditions.

Lastly, the Awakens still need to wear these suits since it is their sole way to communicate with the outside world. If damaged, they should leave the dungeon immediately for safety reasons.

There is plenty of information a person needs to learn when they enter dungeons. It is said that a dungeon could produce an unlimited number of monsters. So, expeditions are created to clear dungeons that have high-level difficulty.

A high-level difficulty could be only determined if the monsters were above C Rank. If it was not, it could have remained open for further dungeon diving and extracting materials from inside.

But, the materials that could be extracted from these open dungeons were the carcasses of monsters and their cores. Magic crystals can only be mined when the dungeon is new, as they don't appear after being extracted.

Magic crystals are materials that could be used for machines and gears that hunters use. It is a resource that has energy inside of it, but the quality differs for each one.

There are two types of classification for a magic crystal. It is for industrial and commercial use.

Industrial Use Magic crystals are for those gears that the authorities give to newly contracted hunters. To determine if this magic crystal is for this use, the quality should be less than D Grade, which is the exact energy a D-Rank Awaken has.

Meanwhile, for commercial use of a magic crystal, it should be no lower than D Grade. It is for commercial use that people use for different purposes, like MP enhancement or for their personal equipment. However, this magic crystal has unlimited capabilities that experts are still studying.

"Hey, why are there still normal hunters?" Ian asked one of the security guards of the rift as he noticed that there were plenty of people at their back.

There were people that wore different styles of dungeon-diving gear. And as they stood in front of the rift, Ian couldn't be unbothered by it, as it may be a distraction for their investigation.

"I am sorry, sir. I will inform them immediately to leave." The security guard said this and then walked away.

Ian let out a sigh, and a few seconds later, Baron asked.

"Ian, why are you being so grumpy? They won't be able to disturb us when we're inside."

Ian confronted Baron and explained his position.

"They won't be able to disturb us except the comms. If a scenario arises where we won't be able to communicate with the outside world, they will only hinder our way. And also, who knows who has an ability in that flock that can interfere with the frequency? I don't want that, not on our mission."

Baron simply shrugged his shoulders and looked at Mayquelle, who was not in a good mood at the time. She is looking in every direction as if she is worried about something.

"Hey, Mayquelle, what's the matter?" he asked.

Mayquelle grunted and faced him. "I feel something is odd."

Baron raised an eyebrow and asked once more. "What do you mean, odd?"

"I can feel something around us. It's as if a tenacious monster lurks within. Its blood is something hotter than a fire."

When Baron heard it, he was confused as to why Mayquelle's sixth sense was acting up. 

Mayquelle has a sixth sense that can detect presences, and that was her specialty when she awakened. She awakened as a mage that had an attribute of fire, which just coincidentally matched why she was hot-tempered. But, when it comes to specialties, she can detect presences, which could also indicate another talent an Awaken has.

An Awaken has two types of sources of potential. It is the awakened category, which could be a Warrior, Mage, or Priest. However, within each category lie the sub-categories, which have different attributes for each.

A Warrior can have a high-accuracy rate that Rangers have. They can also have higher strength and endurance that Tanks use. They can also have an aura that uses their magical power to enhance their attacks.

Meanwhile, a mage can have different attributes. It could be an attribute to fire, water, wind, and earth. Those four are the only common attributes, but there are other attributes that aren't just so common, like darkness and light.

Magic that has space distortion, teleportation, or other grand magic doesn't exist as there are only three classes of magic that are recorded in the world: offensive, defensive, and disturbance.

Lastly, priests can only do one thing, and that is to heal, but they aren't that common to awaken since they have a unique property of magical power that the other classification of an Awaken doesn't have.

However, those are only classifications. Those three classifications don't limit Awakens' imagination and uniqueness in using their awakened category and specialty.

Also, specialty items are the only extras that they can get. It could be extra senses, extra mental fortitude, or extra intellectual potential. Those specialties aren't actually harmful or something that affects other people. The Awaken can only have an advantage by using their specialties.

"Where does that presence come from?" Baron asked.

"I don't know... That is why I am searching."

It was a problem for Baron as well, but they didn't have much time to waste on searching for that source that bothered Mayquelle.

"Just let it be. It could be a different feeling you have. Right? It is common if you are in front of a rift.

Mayquelle just took Baron's thoughts into consideration and sighed. "It could be. Ahh... Never mind. Let's go." 

Mayquelle swayed her hands in the air and spoke to the comms, "I'm going in." Then she faced Ian and Baron. "Follow me. I will help you with vigilance, as usual."

Mayquelle nodded at Ian and Baron, who followed her into the rift. Only three of them entered, as they could work better when there were only three. And after it, they all saw a different environment.

The space inside of the dungeon was as wide as usual. It was some kind of rocky terrain where the entrance appeared in the middle of a canyon. The sky was orange, and it was actually different from the normal sky on Earth.

The sky has plenty of particles floating as if they were ashes from burnt wood. Also, there were a few red-tone streaks that gave off an aura of blood that polished the sky.

The air was kind of heavy and that also affected their suits. Their suits only looked like military combat attire, but the materials weren't made from normal fiber. Instead, they have some ground magic crystals.

"Hey, isn't this what a normal dungeon looks like?" Baron asked.

Ian remained silent and tapped Baron's shoulders. "Let's talk about it later. Let's follow Mayquelle. She's making a distance."

On normal days when they were still hunters, Mayquelle would be their guide to remain vigilant as she was the only one of the three of them that had strong senses of presence. And with this tactic, they were able to escape difficult monsters to manage.

They walked a few meters, passing through different narrows in this wide canyon, and when Mayquelle finally felt something, she gave them a signal to prepare.

"What do you think the rank of the monster?" Ian asked.

"Just a D-Rank monster."

"Hmmm... just like the reports say," Ian mumbled.

"Should we go ahead and reveal ourselves? We can fight it if it is just a D-Rank monster." Baron suggested. Ian nodded and, with this sign, Baron nodded as well.

"I will stall that monster. Please prepare for the magic, Mayquelle."

They always put practice first as B-ranked previous hunters because nothing would go wrong if they moved with coordination, but when they try to move individually, their practices are shaken by that minor error.

Even though it is significant to move independently, they, however, believe that the three of them won't be separated.