Ray became hopeless. He wanted to log off and stay away from everyone, especially when even his own fate wasn't giving him a chance to change.
"Not that I can log off now," he thought.
They were already here, and even if he left the team right now, they wouldn't wait for him. Because of this, he might not only lose his chance to level up, he even might not get another team who would want to team up with a guy having a skill like his.
"Once we are inside, we have to survive for 24 hours," Dustin began to explain, outlining his strategy.
"We need supporters in the middle, so Fiona, Aaliyah, and Rohan will stay there."
Then he looked at Hana and Alex. "You two will be at the front with me. While you take charge of the attack, I'll focus on defense."
In the end, he looked at Ray and offered him a smile. "Ray, can you take care of the rear? Though we might not need your help, you can at least do this, in case anything happens, right?"
Others were surprised at first when Dustin asked Ray to take care of the rear alone, but they soon understood his actual meaning: just stay at the back and don't do anything; we'll handle everything.
Ray wasn't the type of guy who would ignore such provocations or someone who would want to avoid problems when he wasn't the one at the fault but today, he was different.
Even Hana noticed his behaviour and was worried for him. Ray was the type of guy who would speak for himself or even tease others, just for fun.
However, today he was totally heartbroken. Ray was disappointed on himself and his fate, which was looking down on him.
He just nodded and soon they all decided to enter the portal.
The portal was big, more than 10 ft, and as wide as it was high. They headed straight for the gate, then received a notification pop-up.
[First mini-game: The group survival]
[survive in a group of minimum seven for 24 hours]
[Reward: x amount]
[Register your team]
There was a panel in front of the portal, where they have to fill the name, their game Id and had to choose the team leader.
Everything was already sorted out so it only took them 5 minutes to fill their info and soon they were ready to enter.
Dustin [Leader]
Fiona
Aaliyah
Alex
Hana
Rohan
Ray
[Enter]
After sorting everything out, they entered the portal one after another, with Ray being the last.
When he entered the portal, the same feeling he'd had when he first wore the headset returned. He felt he wasn't in control of his body, which was now drifting in an endless space.
However, the feeling didn't last long before he saw a big, dark cave like structure around them, like the size of a football stadium.
It wasn't totally dark, as there was a bright moon light shining, which was enough to see in the dark.
"This is too big; do we have to stay here for 24 hours? What about food or other things?" Aaliyah complained, looking at the size of the cave.
Dustin then turned to them and spoke, "Listen" He pointed at the virtual digital clock above their head which was showing timer in backwards.
Which mean they have only 9 minutes and something seconds before the mini-game starts.
"We roughly have ten minutes to prepare and as we have discussed, we'll make the formation in that way. Then another thing is add up information about this mini-game."
Other nodded, they had read about it in the forum from those who had cleared the first mini-game and posted it in online, but they still had made it vague so they weren't fully clear about it.
Ray was the only one among them, who had ignored all of it and right now he wasn't even interested in it as his focus was on the notification he was getting from the system.
[You have entered the Ruin of dead]
[You have unlocked Pocket Dimension]
Another than your personal inventory, you can keep your picked items in pocket dimension. There are no limits on how much item you can store in the pocket dimension. Alive or dead, anything can be stored.
This made him change his expression for first time. It wasn't joyful because he unlocked something he wasn't expecting but this pocket dimension felt like a mocking move from the system who gave him a unlimited place to store his picked-up trash.
Then a thought crossed his mind, "Hana...Hana!" he called her. Hana who was focused on Dustin's explanation, suddenly looked at Ray, "Hnn... what Ray? Did something happened?"
"No," Ray whispered, "Did you receive any new notification from the system after coming here?" He decided to be vague about his question.
Hana with perplexed look nodded, "Yes, it was bunch of welcoming message, about ruin of dead. What happened? Did you received something special?" she asked with raised eyes.
Ray felt he should tell her about pocket dimension, because she was someone who has always treated him with warm smile but he still decided not to.
"No, just asking." He ended the conversation and finally decided to look at what Dustin was blabbering about.
"My brother who has recently joined the Wild Hammer Guild, he gave me some extra tip about the first mini-game. He says, that as long as we are well prepared, then our chances are higher to clear the mini-game in our first attempt."
"He even promised me that, once we reach level 10, then he'll help all of us to join the best guild, now as we have discussed, make the formation."
All of them became excited about the Guild but didn't had time to discuss about it so, they decided to ask him about it after they cleared their first mini-game.
Soon they make the formation. Luckily the first mini game was the easiest and all they have to fight the enemy which is going to come from the front.
Ray didn't even have to move as he was already at the rear. Then after that, Dustin spoke, "There will be three waves and each wave will only increase their numbers."
Then he moved to the front and used his skill, 'Gear Craft,' to make small traps. However, he didn't make more than five and returned to the formation.
After that, he used his skill to cast temporary defense on his clothes, then Fiona's and the others'. But when it was Ray's turn, Dustin spoke apologetically, "Sorry, Ray, but my mana has reached close to zero, and you're at the rear, so you might not need this."
Hana wanted to speak on Ray's behalf, but she stopped, seeing Ray decline it himself. "I don't think it's necessary anyway."
Dustin was surprised; this was the first time Ray had spoken since they met. But he didn't reply.
Instead, he focused on the remaining time, then explained the defensive spell he had cast on their clothes.
"The spell is temporary and might lose its effect after a few hits, so make sure you take note of that in your mind."
[First wave begins in 10...9....8....7....]
[Survive or Die]