“What happened here?” Looking at his teammate lying motionless on the ground, Max began to panic.

  “Noooo!”

  Suddenly, a scream sounded a few meters away. Hearing it, Max’s heart tightened as he recognized it as one of his teammates.

  Slowly lifting the lamp, Max moved forward with heavy steps.

  “Ahhhhh!!!”

  “Oh my…!” Out of nowhere, a screaming figure appeared right in front of Max’s face, giving him a mini heart attack. His feet froze, and he stood stiff, unable to move.

  “Haha hahaha! Look at his face! I knew it was a good idea!” Just as thoughts of death raced through Max’s mind, he heard a familiar laugh.

  “Don’t tell me…” All thoughts vanished from his head as realization struck. Max instantly knew what was going on.

  “Just look at that face! I wish I had a camera. This is a moment worth remembering,” Sekou said, laughing.

  Around half an hour ago, the group had found a Silver-rank treasure chest hidden deep within the cave. It had taken a lot of effort just to pull the chest out of its hiding place. After resting for a while, they were on their way back to the exit when they noticed a tiny spark glowing in the dark.

  At first, everyone thought it was another Fire Lizard, so they turned off their lamps, waiting to ambush it. But it turned out to be their teammate, Max.

  Sekou had come up with the brilliant idea and convinced everyone to play along.

  “Max, don’t look at me like that. It was all Sekou’s idea.” Seeing Max glare at her, Keli quickly defended herself, throwing all the blame onto Sekou, as if she hadn’t enjoyed the prank at all.

  “You, Sekou…” Looking at everyone’s smiling faces, Max was on the verge of losing it but chose to remain silent.

  After another minute of laughing at Max’s expense, they finally picked up the Silver-rank treasure chest and headed toward the exit.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  “What took you so long?” Neo asked as he saw the Silver Party members emerging from the cave.

  “It took a while to get this treasure chest out,” Ramses, the leader of the Silver Party, replied, giving Sekou a look before pointing toward the Silver-rank treasure chest.

  “Everyone, let’s head back.” Seeing that there were only eight people but ten Fire Lizard carcasses, Ramses assigned two of his teammates to take care of them.

  “This kid has a pretty good gift.” Halfway through the journey, Ramses glanced at Kenji. For some reason, he felt the boy was extraordinary, but he dismissed the thought, assuming Kenji simply had an impressive Gift.

  Around half an hour later, everyone entered the city.

  “Here, and remember to come tomorrow around the same time.” After unloading the Fire Lizards, Neo handed Kenji a silver coin and reminded him.

  Unlike the others, Kenji didn’t complain much, and Neo was already considering keeping him around as part of the transportation team.

  “Sure thing.” Looking at the silver coin in his hand, Kenji felt genuinely happy. It was the largest amount he’d ever earned from a single job. Most odd jobs like transporting spoils usually paid only fifty to sixty copper coins.

  “I should be able to complete another trip.” After Neo left, Kenji pocketed the silver coin, glanced at the sky, and headed back toward the notice area.

  After asking around, Kenji found another transportation job, and upon completing it, he earned an additional forty copper coins.

  “Including today’s earnings, I now have seven silver coins. A few more, and I’ll be able to buy the materials for my first trial.” On his way back to the housing complex, Kenji went through his savings in his mind.

  Around half a month ago, Rex had demanded that Kenji start paying fifty copper coins a day for food, even though he did nearly all the chores around the complex aside from cooking.

  No one stood up for him, because Rex was their hunting party leader, a Level 2 Hunter with an E-rank Gift.

  If it wasn’t for Rex, Kenji would have long undergone the trial and obtained his first Gift.

  Returning to the housing complex, Kenji placed fifty copper coins on the living room table and headed toward his room.

  “Sigh… will this kid ever grow a spine?” Watching Kenji walk past without saying a word, Kevin couldn’t help but sigh.

  Kevin was a 58-year-old man, one of the three residents who weren’t hunters, aside from Kenji. He was also the one responsible for cooking.

  Kevin knew the only reason Kenji was pushed around so much was because of his timid nature.

  Back in his room, Kenji lay down on the bed to straighten his back, then began absorbing Ki.

  [Ki: 231]

  Hours later, Kenji looked at his increased Ki reserves and decided to stop. Absorbing Ki wasn’t physically demanding, but it certainly took a toll on the mind.

  Repeating the same process, gathering Ki to form a full cycle, then letting the Source Ki devour it, could make anyone mentally exhausted.

  After resting for a while, Kenji’s stomach started growling, so he headed toward the kitchen to get something to eat.

  “Kenji, remember to wash my clothes. They’re piled up in my room.” As Kenji was about to slip into the kitchen, one of the bullies called him out.

  Hearing the bully’s words, Kenji paused for a moment, then reluctantly headed inside the kitchen.

  “I was talking to you! How dare you ignore me!” Seeing Kenji walk into the kitchen without replying, the bully felt humiliated and decided to teach him a lesson.

  Getting up, he stormed toward the kitchen.

  “Seung, he already heard you. No need to get overexcited.” As Seung approached the kitchen, ready to beat Kenji, Rex’s voice rang out. Seung froze in his boots and slowly returned to his chair.

  Rex, aside from being the leader of their party, was the strongest person around. Even before acquiring any Gift, he could fight monsters with ease.

  Now, as a Level 2 Hunter, he was capable of killing Level 3 monsters left and right without much difficulty.

  However, Rex was short-tempered and often resorted to violence at the slightest disagreement. No one dared to disobey or argue with him, not even his fellow hunter teammates.

  After finishing his meal, Kenji washed the dishes and headed back to his room to sleep.

  As Kenji entered his room and closed the door, a shadow slowly appeared outside his room.

  __________

  Author’s Note:

  Read advance chapters on Patreon:

  patreon.com/BurningSunlvl99