Bro, I'm not an Undead!

All the attention turned to Skullius who was unsure how to respond.

Jac gave Skullius the ol' double brow raise twice with a sly smile plastered to his face.

Skullius obviously didn't know what that meant as he had come from a humble background where everyone didn't own skin or hair, much less eyebrows so he ignored.

The young lady with the curly red tilted her head before walking up to Skullius and standing just short of a meter in front of him.

The view of her and her equipment became all the more apparent to Skullius who, frankly, hadn't had the thought of entertaining her at all.

She wore a gorgeous mix of leather and steel plate armour which looked both sturdy and fashionable.

Shiny plates with several scratches were perched on her shoulders, with similarly coloured bracers on her arms with a thicker and more savage appearance devoid of unnecessary decoration.

A sheathed sword was at her side, awaiting her next adventure which would be wrought with bloodshed.

A thick, bodice-like leather armour could be seen on her upper body along with tight, leather pants overplayed with steel plates, a pair of sturdy battle worn greaves adorning her legs.

Her crimson eyes fixed onto Skullius' own as she boldly spoke.

"Are you hesitating because of you don't think highly of our skills? If that is the case, my uncle can give an unbiased opinion," she said.

Jac nodded to Skullius who opened his mouth to speak after.

Before he could give a reply, she cut him off, answering to another unsaid hypothetical.

"Also, this isn't a Guild. It's a party. A temporary one. I can see that you aren't into joining groups given how you're waving off even more the more prominent Guilds here. I also like to ride solo. After clearing a few Clusters, we can go our separate ways. No strings attached. There's no argument you can give to dispute that this is a win-win situation."

Skullius wasn't used to facing such outspoken people. Nevertheless, this woman seemed genuine. She didn't hide her objectives and her proposal would be beneficial for Skullius.

He didn't doubt her strength as he could already tell from her blue core that she was powerful, the same being true for the two behind her.

'Blue cores are becoming very common lately. Or rather I've just been meeting a lot of strong people.'

With a sigh, the Discount Human finally relented.

"Fine. I'll join," he said.

"Good," said the young lady.

"But... I have a few conditions."

"What would those be?"

Skullius looked to Jac who was listening attentively from the side and shook his head.

"I'll mention them later. They are not anything problematic."

"Alright, then. As long as they aren't too difficult I'll agree to them. With that settled, I have to catch up with my uncle for a bit and then we'll set off. By the way, my name's Stylla. May I know your name?"

"Festos."

"Nice to meet you."

With that, Stylla walked off with her uncle while Skullius, in order to avoid needless conversation and to consciously be a jerkish sockethole who didn't qualify for any broship, turned his back and walked in the opposite direction the second he saw that the two other young men from the party were about to talk to him.

He had seen the look in their eyes. They were really happy to have his presence in the party and for him, that wasn't exactly a good thing.

Still though, the fact that Stylla thought adding him as the fourth member of the team didn't warrant any more additions to this party proved to Skullius that these guys weren't slouches.

Surely Stylla wouldn't stake their safety solely on him right? Right?!

They were all probably strong, was the more plausible statement.

As he slowly walked away, Skullius pulled up his status and looked up a development he was looking forward to besides the more significant mission of saving Red Rage by amassing Null Life Essence.

The Third Task.

Skullius had an overabundance of cumulative mana experience but he couldn't spend it efficiently.

His Discount Human didn't allow rapid levelling up because of Tasks and his Penetrator form demanded absurd amounts of experience at this point.

The same was true for Red Rage.

Besides, he only had to worry about raising the level of his Discount Human form for now.

Skullius punched in the amount of experience required, which was double that of the previous, at 2000 Exp.

A familiar notification popped up, with details he had expected. Not specifically at least.

~~~

Exp : 2000/2000

Third Task : Obtain the core of a Cluster General

~~~

"Hmmm... doesn't seem too hard. As long as its a white Cluster I guess. It doesn't specify which so it should be fine."

It seemed like he had to add this to the conditions he had for Stylla. Claiming a Cluster General's dead core.

Skullius had intended to go clearing low level Clusters alone but the Association's system limited him.

This arrangement was not too bad and as long as Stylla agreed to his conditions, UNCoddled probably wouldn't murder anyone.

Probably.

After a few minutes Stylla returned having finished speaking to Jac and registering a few requests for their party which she showed to Skullius and the rest. There were no grumbles among the others as except for one, all of the Clusters were white. A simple task.

The four exited the Association building.

Skullius followed the three as they went up to the stables which were right round the corner from the Association.

Several thick horses neighed while being tended to by a few of the local workers.

This wasn't Skullius' first time seeing horses but he was a little nervous when seeing them up close. Perhaps it was an instinct instilled by his cosmetic body which tried to give him an authentic human experience at 90% off.

A human who was uncomfortable around horses that was.

Stylla paid for the horses, the workers being very friendly to her. Skullius realised that she was probably a regular here.

The inevitable issue of concern finally showed when upon distribution of the four horses, Skullius made a confession.

"I don't know how to ride these things."

"...."

Stylla's reaction wasn't as dramatic as that of the workers or the other two in party but she was indeed surprised.

"Well. Alright then. You can ride with me. It'll be faster than giving you a crash course along the way."

Skullius smiled sheepishly at this.

Stylla returned one horse and climbed atop of her own.

She then pulled up Skullius to sit behind her to which the Discount Human unconsciously wrapped his arms around her waist.

Stylla jerked a little with a brow raised as she turned to Skullius before smirking.

"Well this is gonna be fun."