'  Wake up to reality!  Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. The longer you live, the more you realize that the only things that truly exist in this world are merely pain, suffering, and futility.'

Suddenly remembering these words said by one of my favourite anime character, and a legend that I used to watch as a kid, my eyes turned cold and my facial expressions went back to the usual apathetic one.

I've never really liked this world.

There were some things that must be done regardless of the circumstances.

I must stop crying because it was sinful to become weak for me as I have a mother that I have to look after and goals that I have to fulfil.

I would never admit defeat and will always strive to achieve victory, no matter the odds.

However, for now I needed rest more than anything, I was tired after my awakening and all the things I went through today, it really did took quite a toll on me.

Lying down to sleep, I decided to take a one month break from everything and just train my body as much as possible in this upcoming month, it doesn't matter if I have a trash talent and super-power, I must use everything I have to its utmost limit.

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        *******

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" Wrong "

Reality struck me once more, as no matter how hard I worked, nothing changed with my body, no matter how hard I tried. It felt as though a chain had been tied around me that I couldn't break free from.

For 27 days! I worked hard day and night, but nothing seemed to help.

I couldn't go on like this any longer; it was time for me to return to my job as a porter.

After awakening, atleast it would be much easier for me to work as a porter this time. 

I quickly connected to the Slayers official website and searched for a party in need of a porter.

Searching didn't took much of my time as the site was filled with thousands of requests and all I had to do was filter them to my requirements and select one that seemed genuine and had good ratings.

There were all kinds of scams going on where people would tempt you to join their team with a bait of high payout, and later kill you in the wilderness, loot everything from you and sell your body to the organ traffickers.

The government put up the rating system after many such cases were reported. So, I quickly selected a party with good ratings, contacted them on phone, and ask for the information about the raid.

It was a raid on the city's east side, a little deeper than I usually go, but it was still within my acceptable range now that I was awakened and had far fewer chances of dying.

I agreed to meet them at the east boundary gate in one hour because the payout was good.

Quickly changing my clothes and checking all the hunting tools, food, water, emergency kits, and so on in my storage ring, I headed out for the east boundary gate.

As I approached the gates, I noticed the banner of the party I was going to join. I approached them and introduced myself to the team's captain, who stood around 6 feet 7 inches tall and was a muscular swordsman.

We waited for a couple of minutes as the remaining members also arrived. 

There were 5 members in the party other than me. 2 male swordsman, 1 female mage, 1 female healer and 1 male scout. 

Introducing each other, checking all the necessary gears and items we left the gate and entered the wilderness. 

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******

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It's been three days since we entered the wilderness; normally, we'd have finished our mission and be on our way back at this point, but something interesting happened while we were killing monsters.

It was about a few hours ago that we were killing our last group of monsters for this raid, they were

 [ chimera snakes ] - large snake like monsters with head of a goat, we killed almost everyone of them, when suddenly! one monster that was more agile than others managed to escape and the captain decided to chase after it.

We followed the captain and also pursued the [chimera snake].

After chasing it for a few minutes deep into the wilderness. we finally came across the entrance of a cave that appeared to be the nesting place of the [chimera snakes] 

But there was something different about this cave; it was emitting a large amount of wild mana, and the most amazing thing was that the wild mana was only surrounding the cave and not spreading into the atmosphere.

" HAHAHAHA, We hit the Jackpot this time "  The captain shouted as he sensed the wild mana. 

" What happened captain ? " The other swordsman who was a newbie asked. 

He had no idea, but I had heard and read about similar situations.

It was without a doubt the birth of a natural treasure.

A natural treasure could be anything born from nature, such as a fruit, a piece of wood, or even a simple rock, but what they all had in common was that they all possessed heaven-defying abilities that were unique to them.

The most recently discovered natural treasure, for example, was a piece of wood that was later forged into a sword, and that sword was now the world's third most powerful sword.

It was a new experience for me because I had recently awakened and began using mana, and even after years of working as a porter, it was the first time I came across a natural treasure.

Everything was new to me, but having been a part of the Slayer community for so long, I had heard a variety of stories from various slayers.

There was also the possibility that it was a dangerous beast, but if it was a monster with such strong mana, it would have spread its mana as far as it could to mark its territory, and once we entered in it, we would have been a dead meat for sure.

However, the wild mana that was flowing so naturally only around this cave was a clear indication that a natural treasure had been born inside the cave and that we were in the right place and at the right time.

When the captain informed the rest of the team about the natural treasure, everyone became very excited.

~Fools!

They were all mistaken.

Although discovering a natural treasure was unquestionably a good thing, almost like a God-sent gift or winning the lottery, but these newbies who hadn't seen the world overlooked an important point.

' Where there is money, there is also greed.' and there's nothing more dangerous in this situation than people who's stupidity is fueled by greed.

I can already see the end result of this raid, but I can't leave now.

If I even mention a single word about leaving, then everyone here will instantly turn against me to prevent me from spreading the news, and I will be a dead meat for sure then.

When I entered the party, I signed a contract stating that I would only be paid a set amount of money, with additional pay for extra time and risk the team took.

So, basically, I had no share in the natural treasure, but I know that after seeing the treasure, these people will go after each other's throats, and I will be killed by the winner to keep everything that happened here a secret.

I was literally trapped here, and the only way out was to join the party, pretend to be ignorant, and wait for an opportunity to strike like a good hunter.

These people had no idea that I was an awakened person; I still hadn't obtained a slayers licence, and I joined the team using my old porter ID card, which showed that I was just a regular human.

' Now only time will tell who would be the real winner ' I thought as an evil glint flash passed my eyes.

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Everyone gathered, and we began to make our way inside the cave. The cave's interior was damp and sticky, with a rotten odour in the air.

I was holding a torch powered by a monster core to light our path, while everyone else was on high alert for a battle that could happen at any time.

We continue to walk for about an hour and killed 10 [ chimera snakes ], the deeper we went in the denser the mana became.

It was my first time feeling something like this, it was mind boggling and everyone was feeling ecstatic. A Normal human being shouldn't be able to feel the mana so I had to forcefully control my emotions to keep up my act.

I wasn't wasting my time here either; I was chatting with everyone and gathering information from them, such as casually asking everyone about the value of their weapons in between conversations.

Everyone thought that it was just a curious porter asking, so everyone gave an amount which gave me a pretty good overall estimation. I quickly checked my storage ring and confirmed my theory.

I already had a plan brewing in my mind to benifit the most from this situation, and maybe this could be my only chance that would finally change my life and help me achieve my dreams.