Blood Assimilation

At first, when the guard saw Randy approach the city gate, he displayed a scowled expression and thought that he was a poor person who wanted to enter the city. 

The guard had assumed this simply because of the clothes he was currently wearing— the grey t-shirt with the V-neck and a pair of brown pants that he received from the village. 

However, when Randy gave the guard the golden card with the number 1 written on the corners indicating its monetary value, the guard smiled with an amiable expression, seemingly pleased with the uprightness of Randy.

Afterward, the guard gestured to the city gate not far way behind him before saying to him: "Of course. You can head in now. Welcome to the City of Alpheotus!"

Hearing the other party's enthusiastic words and the change in their attitude compared to before, Randy proceeded to ignore their behavior altogether and only nodded slightly before walking through the huge main city gate that was about 10 meters tall, if not more, and then walked straight into the bustling city.

When Randy entered the city, he was surprised not by the number of humans walking about busy and doing their own things, but instead, he was surprised by this world's civilization— the buildings of this city. 

Although it was not comparable to his world's buildings, it was still a decent construction overall based on his observation alone.  That was if one considered that this was not a technological world and a magical world instead. 

To give further explanation, that would be that all the buildings in this city seemed to be made out of bricks instead of other materials, albeit the construction method is still mundane. 

Furthermore, the structures of the buildings seemed to be meticulously designed with solid foundations to ensure stability, and the layered bricks were also structured to be impervious to the downpour of rain. 

Thus, the look of these buildings was highly desirable to Randy right now.

The reason why Randy marveled at these buildings was not because of this observation, but because when he came to this world, he had lived in the village's hut that was built from wood, so he naturally surmised that this world's civilization was lacking in technology. 

But it turned out he was indisputably wrong about his assumptions, especially when he saw the well-constructed buildings in front of him.

Although he would love to appreciate these buildings, there were more pressing matters which he had to attend to right now. 

Most importantly, he needed to find the organization where he could register to become a dungeon hunter, and it was getting dark outside right now. 

When he left the village, the sun was not fully up, but now the sun was setting, indicating that it was about to be nighttime soon. 

Ignoring the matter of him being hungry for a while now since he had been walking for a few hours straight after departing in the morning from the village, what matters the most right now was that he needed to find the organization's building and register before they end up closing down their doors.

After all, he did not know how this world works fully despite learning as much as he could from the old man during the week that he stayed in the village. However, the old man was not a hunter or a fighter for that matter thus he did not know how these things work.

Randy recalled what he heard from the old man before leaving, and he immediately narrowed his gaze and looked up to search for something.

'Now, where is the tallest building around here…? Oh, there it is. I think that tall and magnificent-looking building should be the one. After all, it has a spire design, and it was also tall just like the old man had described.'

Randy walked around the city as he quickly noticed a building that matched what the old man had described to him as the tallest building in the entire Alpheotus city. The old man told him that the building would be distinguishable right after entering the city.

And sure enough, just like the old man had said, there was indeed a very tall building in the city, and he did not even need to waste time to search for it, thus it saved him a lot of time.

In the distance, Randy saw a group of young men and women adorning metallic and non-metallic armors with scratches on them as they walked about with their weapons either on their sides or held within their hands. They seem to be heading in a certain direction, most likely to purchase weapons or hunting items. 

After all, this Alpheotus city was the land of dungeon hunters. 

The people who hunt in the dungeon are often called 'challengers' due to the setup of this world's dungeons, which enabled one to get stronger in both energy accumulation and physical strengthening right after successfully challenging them. 

Though, there seems to be a downside to their strength acquisition, as explained by the old man. 

However, Randy did not understand what the old man meant by his vague explanation at the time.

And besides, the old man was not knowledgeable about it enough to explain it in-depth, he only knew the common knowledge regarding the matter. And so, Randy planned on confirming what he meant right after becoming a dungeon hunter.

After walking past the group of people standing next to street vendors and others who were entering some shops, most likely to purchase equipment or supplements for their hunts, he made his way to his destination.

After navigating his way toward the tall building, he soon reached the entrance of the building. 

He proceeded to look up to see the characters written in bold font on the signboard on top of the entrance gate— Dungeon Exploration Occupation Society. 

After observing the words on the signboard for a moment to confirm that it was indeed the right location, he walked inside the building. 

And almost right away, everyone quickly stopped whatever they were doing and looked his way when he entered the building before immediately losing interest in him shortly after when they noticed his appearance that was not eye-catching.

'Good thing that they seem to be very reasonable people. I thought there would be some drama because I did not follow a certain etiquette like announcing myself before entering or something along those lines.' Randy thought in relief when he noticed that everyone immediately ignored him.

At this point, people were standing next to a bulletin board on the wall with different illustrations posted on them. 

Some people were also walking into the building at this moment, and others were living with stern expressions on their faces. 

Everyone seemed serious about their job when Randy observed them closely.

At this time, Randy quickly made his way towards an empty reception area after ignoring everyone in the building, who were busy doing their own things.

When the receptionist saw the approaching young man, she immediately put on a welcoming smile, and when the young man was standing in front of her counter, she opened her mouth to speak. 

"Hello. Welcome to the Dungeon Exploration Occupation Society, Alpheotus Branch. My name is Zophia, a receptionist. It appears that this is your first time here. How may I help you today?" The receptionist called Zophia smiled afterward.

"Ah, I want to become a dungeon hunter.." Randy replied.