I had no manly pride left at this point. The next week, I stood in front of the same door and obediently shouted that I would enter a party. Then, a translucent window appeared.

[This is the party recruitment board. Click on the one you want and enter a party.]

“Let’s see. Hunting the Orc Lord, looking for a healer. Must be above level 5. How stupid, isn’t everyone on the 5th floor level 5?”

I marveled that there were people who were stupider than me as I slowly scrolled through the window and found one that was looking for a front-line damage dealer. Because I had started playing games with my new friends, I knew what a front-line damage dealer was. They were people who attacked in melee range using close-range weapons.

The moment I clicked on that post, I felt disoriented briefly and soon found myself among nine other people.

“Welcome. You’re a front-line damage dealer, right?”

A handsome foreign-looking man began talking to me. My initial thought was that he was speaking to me in English. I was about to let him know that I couldn’t speak English before realizing that I could understand everything he was saying without any issue. 

“Y-Yes, I use a spear.”

“Oh, a spearman! Are you from the Edias continent?”

“N-No, I’m from Seoul.”

“Seoul? It’s the first time I’ve heard of it. Anyone else?”

“It’s not from the Luka continent.”

“It’s not from Pilos either.”

The people around me murmured as they shook their heads. When I glanced at them, I noticed that most of them had pale or dark skin, and had blond, red, or brown hair. They were all foreigners! As I cowered slightly, the man who spoke first approached me. He was wearing a small shield on his arm and it had a short sword attached to it. With a sigh, he reached his hand out to me.

“You must be from a smaller place. Nice to meet you. I’m the party leader, Ellos Von Kasina. Paul, Celtine, and I are from the Edias continent.”

“Gasina[1]?”

“It’s Kasina.”

I grabbed the hand of the party leader, who looked slightly disappointed. Since I had spent some time with my friends playing games, I understood what a party was. However, I would have never expected that  I would someday be in a party with people from other worlds…

“I’m Kang Shin. Nice to meet you.”

After a brief introduction with the other party members, I thought we would immediately fight the Orc Lord. I was mistaken.

“Hold on.”

The person who spoke up was a small girl from a place called the Luka continent. Next to her were three other members who came from the same continent: a woman carrying a rapier, a long-eared beauty with a quiver on her back, and a weak framed girl barely holding onto her wooden shield. The small girl had her golden blonde hair up in pigtails and she carried a wooden staff. Her whole getup paired with her short stature made her look incredibly cute. However, the way she talked wasn’t the slightest bit adorable.

“Wait, look at his clothes. Aren’t those beginner’s clothes?”

“Beginner’s clothes?”

What was wrong with my clothes? I looked down at my attire. Because I wanted to be in suitable garments that would allow me to move around freely, I always wore my training outfit to the dungeon. Even if they were ripped, I would have them restored once I got out of the dungeon.

“…You haven’t gone to the Floor Shop?”

“I did.”

Because the other side was talking informally, I did the same. The girl asked again, surprised. “They sell defensive equipment there. Why didn’t you buy any?”

“Ah.”

I did remember that the Floor Shop sold defensive equipment. However, my goal was to reach the 10th floor and buy a mana cultivation method. I couldn’t thoughtlessly spend gold before I reached that point. The same thought process applied to my weapon as well, so I continued to use the Sharp Wooden Spear that had been given to me at the beginning. Of course, at this point, it wasn’t really sharp anymore.

I explained, “I have to save money to buy a mana cultivation method.”

“What? You don’t have a mana cultivation method? Which family are you from?”

“Family? The Kang Family I guess?”

“Doesn’t that family have a mana cultivation method?”

“Nope.”

“What? Oh no, we got the wrong party member. Kick him out!”

“Mm, it’s going to be difficult if you don’t have a mana cultivation method.”

“He doesn’t have a mana cultivation method?”

The other party members began to whisper to each other. When I realized that there was something off about the situation, I talked to Ellos, who seemed to be the most understanding of the bunch.

“Does everyone else have a mana cultivation method?”

“Of course. Wait, I don’t know about the other dungeons, but it’s known to be impossible to climb to the 5th floor of the First Dungeon without a mana cultivation method. How did you get this far?”

“Oh, I raised my skill level. I mastered my mid-rank spear technique…”

“Mid-rank master!?” This time, another person in the back yelled out in surprise. He was a brown-haired man with a large shield and thick leather armor.

“Don’t lie. I’ve practiced my shield technique for 10 years and had just gotten to mid-rank level 2, but you are telling me that you mastered the mid-rank spear technique!?”

“I did…Is that weird?”

“It is! Mastering a mid-rank weapon skill without even a mana cultivation method, I don’t believe it! Don’t tell me that you have the high-rank spear technique?”

“No, I couldn’t learn it because I don’t have mana.”

“…”

All the party members fell silent. Then, Ellos spoke out. “Let’s bring him in.”

“But Ellos...”

“We’ve barely climbed to the 5th floor with the three of us working together. With the rule, [all players below the 10th floor can only be partied with people from their own continent], he must have climbed to the 5th floor on his own. If he had his own party, he wouldn’t need to enter ours. Am I right?”

“Yes.”

When I nodded, Ellos grew more confident and spoke louder.

“See. Kang Shin alone has the ability of all three of us combined. I can’t speak for the future, but at least on this 5th floor, he has more than enough qualifications to fulfill the damage dealer role. He’s a mid-rank spear technique master!”

“But look at his armor…”

“I don’t like him…”

“Kick him!”

The girl with the blonde pig-tails kept on urging the rest of them to kick me out of the party. I held back my urge to give her a dirty look, but she only got more arrogant and glared at me instead.

“Kick him!”

Ellos tried to diffuse the situation. “Miss Palludia, please calm down. We haven’t seen his skills yet.”

“We don’t need to! Look at him, he’s using a half-broken wooden spear!”

“Hmm…”

Palludia pressed on, “It’ll be too late if we take the time to evaluate his skills. I don’t know about your continent, but mine is in a fierce war against the demon race. If I lose the opportunity to get stronger for a whole week, we’ll fall behind in the war!”

“My continent is also at war with invaders. Ah, fine. Just give us some time. Mister Kang Shin, I apologize, but you’ll need to show us your power. There should be an orc further back, so show us your abilities by defeating it.”

“Sure, it’s not a hard request.”

“Hmph…”

The brat named Palludia stepped back, but still bit down on her lips in displeasure.

She snapped at me, “You’re an orc yourself…”

“I’m not an orc!”

I couldn’t help but yell back when she picked on my weak spot. When I faced her and glared, she seemed to be intimidated as she turned away.

“Hmph!”

“Hmph.”

I snorted back and then sauntered off. Because there were no orcs near the door, I had to walk for five minutes.

“Grawr, human!”

I finally found one. The orc was equipped with worn-down leather armor and a fearsome-looking glaive. After I confirmed that the others were watching me, I ran toward it. My spear spun in my hand, and I soon snapped my hand, grabbing onto it tightly. Now!

“Haap!”

I lightly dodged the orc’s glaive attack, and the spear in my hand struck out like lightning to pierce its target. The orc that had been running toward me stopped in its tracks, let out a burping sound, and began to fall with blood foaming at its mouth. As he fell, I quickly pulled back my spear to prevent it from breaking. Without anything to lean on, the orc fell with a thud.

At the beginning, I fought with monsters using my brute strength alone, blocking their attacks with the spear. But because the durability of my spear had been worn down and fell below 10, these days I was doing my best to kill the orcs in a single blow. Since I had mastered my mid-rank spear technique, it wasn’t difficult for me to do that.

“W-With just one hit…!”

“No way, did you see that? I didn’t even feel a hint of mana!”

“I did! Mana aside, that’s not even a skill!”

“Amazing…”

Ellos and the other party members seemed to be astounded by my technique. Hm, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d probably be evenly matched with my father if we were comparing spearmanship alone. Unfortunately, there was always that one person who liked to be a Debbie-downer.

“Hmph, that was just a coincidence! There’s no way he can repeat such a clean and beautiful trajectory!”

“M-Miss Palludia, even if it was a coincidence, he is undoubtedly skilled. He is more than suited to become our party member.”

“Eeek, if you can’t agree with me, I’ll just leave! It’s either my party or him! Your choice!”

“T-That’s…”

“Then I’ll just defeat another one.”

Because Ellos looked troubled, I spoke out. Ellos looked at me with tears in his eyes. Palludia, on the other hand, snorted and said, “Try it!”

“How convenient, there’s one right there.”

It was an orc archer. They were an annoying bunch that shot arrows from afar. Thankfully, they didn’t appear often. When they appeared with other orcs, I had to be prepared to receive injuries as I charged in. But now, there was only one orc archer. As someone who could even dodge bullets, dodging arrows wasn’t much of a problem for me.

“Grwarr! Orc shoot arrow!”

“Human stab orc!”

After spending a whole year alone in the dungeon, hunting monsters, I had gained a weird habit of talking back to monsters that could talk, like the orcs.

I tilted my head and dodged the orc archer’s arrow with practiced ease. I took a step forward and shot towards the orc archer. Just like before, my spear beautifully pierced through the orc archer’s neck.

“How was that?”

“Ee… Eeeek….”

Although Palludia’s eyes were flashing with anger, she clenched her fists and looked down. She had accepted her loss. I still didn’t know why she had decided not to like me at first glance, but I could think of a few possibilities myself. It really didn't mean much to me, so I decided not to care.

After all, the most important measure of a person wasn’t their outward appearance, but who they were inside! I am Kang Shin, the son of the world’s strongest spearman. I’ll show you the strength I gained by giving up my ordinary life!