The force burst the monster from the inside out. The tear on its body raced up like a zipper, and charred chunks of monster flesh rained on the forest.
The bloody storm painted Shane from top to bottom as he landed on the ground. Shaking violently, he dropped to his knees.
His forehead met with the cold earth as he hugged his body and coughed.
[You have defeated the Giant Gloom Viper!]
[Dungeon cleared!]
[Top Contributor: Shane Ashwell]
[Rewards and monster loot will be distributed according to contribution.]
A bloody laugh escaped his lips when he saw the System declared his victory.
[Achievement Unlocked – First Raid]
The early raider gets the loot.
Reward: Skill Point +1
[Achievement Unlocked – Kill 100 Enemies]
A hundred slain a day keeps the final boss away.
Reward: Skill Point +1
[Achievement Unlocked – First Boss Kill]
The bigger they are, the more loot they drop.
Reward: Singed Giant Gloom Viper Scale x12
Giant Gloom Viper Fangs x40
Giant Gloom Viper Venom Sac x1
[Achievement Unlocked – First Celestial Boss Kill]
Curiosity killed the snake.
Reward: Skill Point +1
[Achievement Unlocked – First Solo Raid]
The System helps those who help themselves.
Reward: Skill Point +1
Shane ground his teeth as he tried to push himself up, but his right arm continued to slip.
Wincing, he looked down. His entire arm was a bloody mess after the last [Fireball] had burned everything from his fingertips to his bicep. He grimaced at the sight of the missing sleeve of his coat and shirt.
“Shit… this was a gift… you know?”
A virtual gift, but still a gift.
The achievement pop-ups were blinking in and out. Did the exit portal open? He tried to stand using his left hand. Then slipped in a puddle of his own blood. He fell. He was falling. He continued falling.
***
Shane opened his eyes to trees and dawn.
Feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, he registered the chill of the earth seeping through his clothes. Oak leaves and wet soil. A blue jay chirped somewhere above.
Shane pushed himself up.
Looking around, he saw he was in a small clearing. Through the leaves above, sunlight dappled on his face. There was no sign of the scorched earth nor the chunks of the snake’s corpse. He must have found the exit portal in his daze.
The sun was rising. He’d been unconscious for nearly a day.
An entire fucking day?
He clawed through his hair. An S-rank hunter would’ve regenerated from that backlash in less than an hour.
[Remaining HP: 50%]
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[Remaining MP: 100%]
He let out a slow breath.
Glancing at his ruined arm, he checked that the bleeding had stopped.
He’d fainted because his passive regeneration couldn’t keep up with the blood loss. And then spent the entire day unconscious, his HP painfully ticking upwards from near-zero.
Fifty percent was a pathetic recovery for a full day’s rest, but at least he wasn’t dying.
He bit at the inside of his cheek. Hoping for something good, he checked his inventory for rewards. There were several.
But the best were a dozen bone-white scales that were each bigger than his hands. Useful crafting materials from a Celestial-class boss. He didn’t get any loot from the minions, probably because his [Fireball] burned them to ashes.
He made his way towards the sound of a distant train horn. The small town near Breakneck Ridge wouldn’t have a broker for monster loot.
He needed to get back to the city to turn these into cash.
Of course, he’d also have to buy something to wear with his leftover starter money before going anywhere near Diamond District.
Shane reached the trailhead parking lot. Before people spotted him, he put his bloody coat inside his inventory. His shirt was still missing a sleeve, but that was better than walking around covered in dark blood, he supposed.
But maybe the bloody arm was more than enough to scare people.
Ignoring the looks he was getting, he walked down Main Street. A woman with a baby stroller met his eyes, went pale, and fumbled for her phone. Well, he couldn’t blame her.
Shane successfully grabbed a new coat from a shop before freezing to death. It came to his knees, covering most of his bloodied pants.
This would do for now. He was all out of his starter money, anyway.
He continued down Main Street until he reached Cold Spring station. As he stood on the platform, he looked down the train tracks that ran parallel to the Hudson River.
Listening to the rumble of the next approaching train, he tipped his head slightly to the side.
After getting the cash, he would have to find a place to stay. Usually, since player characters were all S-ranks, you could get a free place to stay by joining a guild. Not something Shane could do thanks to [Honor Mode].
His eyebrows drew closer. Getting his own place? Without an order from the government? He blinked. He felt flustered by the… less-than-ideal situation.
Was this why his friend forced him to play in [Honor Mode]? His poor imagination tried to picture what renting a place would look like.
He gave a sidelong look at the incoming train before shaking his head. His back slumped against the cold metal of a light pole.
He was too tired.
Absently, Shane let his mind drift, planning how to strengthen his build for the Cataclysm.
###
Jessica hated working as a broker. Today, some no-name guild dumped several crates full of those god-awful Gutter Ratz pelts and then tried to haggle her up two cents a unit.
She cursed under her breath at the memory.
After all, she was a former crafter. And she wasn’t going to spend shit unless it was worth it.
But these days, no wasn’t enough for those hunters who traded their brains for muscle. To distract herself, she tapped her calculator to check how much more she needed for rent.
Who knew her life would turn out this way? She used to be called a prodigy. She’d landed an apprenticeship at a crafter workshop in her twenties that catered to the Big Three Guilds. If it weren’t for that stupid commission her mentor had taken…
That single crafting failure bankrupted the atelier overnight, and everyone lost their job in a single day. They were blacklisted from major guilds, making it impossible to make a living as a crafter.
Her fingers started punching the calculator’s buttons harder. That was why she sat in this skillproof glass box today.
Unlike the fancy items shop on the first floor, the second floor up were just lines of booths like hers. Glass boxes that were enchanted to protect them from robbery. But also to spy on what sort of idiots the other brokers were dealing with that day.
The buzzer on her booth’s door chimed. Gods, she was just about to get lunch.
She put her “take it or leave it” scowl in place before opening the lock with a button under her desk.
The visitor was almost as tall as the door. Considering the small office, he had to be at least six feet, two inches. And was about to take up a lot of space.
But she didn’t see any guild insignia on his clothing.
A freelancer.
Jessica gave a clenched half-smile. Another hunter that was either too weak or stupid to find a team.
“I have a limited window before my next client. What materials are you selling? Right here, please,” she said, waving her hand over her desk.
The man sat down in front of her.
Jessica arched her back.
Oh. Wait. What? How did she miss that face walking in? Sure, she’d been too busy checking for the guild insignia, Jesus—he was handsome. The kind of face you’d expect on a marble statue of a Greek god.
His eyes, hidden for a moment beneath the ash-gray hair, found her. They were a brilliant, unsettling vermillion.
She realized she had been staring for too long. Goodness, she was thirty-four and single. This wasn’t her fault.
She’d seen hunters who thought they were hot shots walk through her door every day. How could she tear her eyes away when someone worth looking at finally entered her little glass booth?
She touched her lips as her previous scowl melted.
“Sorry, rough day,” she cooed in a huskier voice. “What can I do for you?”
He didn’t seem to notice the change in her attitude. He just took some monster loot the size of dinner plates from his inventory and placed them on the desk.
She bent her neck forward. Snake scales. White with a blue tint to them. Though they were bigger than what she normally saw, she instantly recognized them.
“Gloom Viper.” Her voice dropped. “The market’s flooded with these, hunter. The guilds clear the Freshkills Park nest every month. I can give you a twenty a scale.”
Holding up one scale, she waved it like a fan.
The man gestured with his chin toward the scale in her hand. “Appraise it.”
Jessica pressed her lips into a white slash. He probably thought because he killed it, it was special. She decided to waste her mana as the price for getting a front-row seat to his face.
At her mental command, [Material Appraisal] activated. She skimmed the System message… and her whole body froze.
[Singed Giant Gloom Viper Scale]
Rank: D
Class: Celestial
Potential Trait (Crafting): D-rank Curse Resistance (5% Probability)
A scale from a Giant Gloom Viper that was partially destroyed by fire. It seems to repel curses and ill-wishes by its very nature.
Jessica’s eyes almost bulged.
A Celestial-class. The monsters infamous for their near-unstoppable curses.
How did this guy get these scales?
He didn’t steal these, did he?
She wet her lips before looking back at the man sitting opposite her. Just from the sight of his face, the skin on her neck slightly flushed.
His appearance made perfect sense now. Those looks had to be from a rank glow.
The System permanently refined the physical features of the Awakened. Usually, the higher the rank, the more dramatic the change. Jessica was one of the few blessed enough to benefit from this transformation.
He must be a freshly awakened B-rank. He could definitely pass for an S-rank, but he wouldn’t be here if he was one.
A rookie that a major guild hadn’t snapped up yet.
And he probably had no idea what he was holding.
Oh, yes, Celestial-class monsters were famous for their scary curses, but how would a rookie know the exact value of monster loot? It was easy to think “Singed” and “D-rank” lowered its price.
With no one to guide him, every broker in the Diamond District would try to rip him off.
She just had to make sure she was the one who did it.
