Tyler and Alec's eyes t. Ian, seeing Tyler, thought, *Oh damn! That's the hunter we're looking for. His face... he looks so similar to the drawing. Well... not exactly the sa, but he fits the closest description.* Both Alec and Ian noticed Tyler's black C-rank pendant, confirming his rank and specialization as an assassin.
Tyler continued towards Serena, resting his right hand on the counter and leaning close. "What is it? Why are you calling ?" he asked.
Serena whispered urgently, "Are you serious? They're here. Can't you see them? They're Black Cloud Guild mbers. They're the ones who were looking for you before."
"Yeah, I saw that," Tyler said, seemingly unconcerned. "I actually thought you found a better quest for ."
Serena shook her head, surprised and confused by his nonchalant reaction. "You're crazy," she whispered.
The Black Cloud Guild mbers approached Serena as Tyler moved towards Rebecca, passing Ian and Alec without a word, only exchanging brief glances. He reached Rebecca, who was sleeping on the bench. "Hey," he said, gently shaking her.
Rebecca groaned, slowly opening her eyes to see Tyler. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "You're here," she said, her voice still thick with sleep. "What took you so long?"
"Oh, I was caught up with sothing in town, and... I got a few things that I needed," Tyler said. "So, are you ready to go?"
"Go where?" Rebecca asked, still groggy. "Have you already... taken a quest?"
"Yeah," Tyler replied. "But why were you asleep? Didn't you get enough sleep at the inn?"
"No," Rebecca said. "Well, I did, I just don't feel that... I regained my strength from that ti."
Tyler touched his chin thoughtfully. "Are all archers' bodies that weak?"
Rebecca stood up quickly, offended. "My body isn't weak!"
"Oh, well, alright then," Tyler said. "Let's go. I've picked up a C-rank quest for us. And as I said, I'm going to help you with your request."
Tyler started walking out of the tent. Rebecca grabbed the bow she'd been using as a pillow and slung it onto her back. Tyler saw it. "Oh, so you bought another one?"
"Yeah," Rebecca said, annoyed. "I was forced to buy another one since you left the one I had. Now I have to buy this garbage because of you."
"Hey," Tyler said, "you were just about to die back then. Why would I think of taking a bow when you were taking your last breath? You do realize I could have left you, right?"
They exited the tent. Alec approached Serena. "Hey, lady, you mind giving us a C-rank quest?"
Serena, a little startled, quickly grabbed so quest flyers and placed them on the counter.
"So what are we going to do now?" Ian asked. "We saw him; are we just going to let him get away?"
"Yeah, what? You actually want to go after him?" Alec said. "If so, you're going alone. I don't want to be next. And now that I think about it, if we take a quest right now, sothing bad might actually happen."
"What do you an?" Ian asked.
Alec looked at Serena. Their eyes t, and Alec asked, "That guy who just left, the one with the other hunter—did he take a quest just now?"
Serena nodded. "Yes, he took a quest."
Alec sighed. "Yeah, this is a bad idea."
"What are you talking about? Let's just take our own quest already," Ian said impatiently.
"Oh man, I knew you were dumb, but not to this extent," Alec said, exasperated.
"Are you calling stupid?" Ian bristled. "I know we're both guild mbers, but if you keep pushing your luck—"
"I'm not going to take a quest and go into the sa monster zone with a hunter who's probably targeting our guild mbers," Alec interrupted. "He's a C-rank who just killed Lucas, and he's also an assassin."
"So what? I'm a fighter; I can take on an assassin," Ian argued. "You know I gave Lucas a pretty hard ti during training."
Alec chuckled. "You have to be joking. A 'pretty hard ti'? Just because you lasted longer than doesn't an you gave him a pretty hard ti. You just have more durability than ."
"More durability than ?" Ian said. "You're a tank, and I'm a fighter. You're the one with more durability and stamina."
"We both know you have that skill that increases your durability more than a tank's, and the one that also increases your stamina, speed, and strength," Alec countered. "That's why you lasted longer than when we were both 'training' against him. Well, it wasn't really training; more like a beatdown."
"Well, at least I managed to land a hit," Ian retorted.
Alec sighed. "We'll always end up in an argunt with you, but I'm not going back on my word. I'm going back to report to the guild because I'm not going on this quest."
"Well, then you're going on your own," Ian said, "because I want to make so quick money first before I et you there. And also because I'm not a coward, unlike you."
Alec stopped as he was about to exit the tent. Serena, noticing the tension between them, thought, *Report? Wait, do they already know about Tyler's identity? They didn't even do anything to them. While it does make sense for them not to fight in here, but still…*
"I'm not a coward," Alec said, "I'm just smarter." He left the tent.
Ian muttered under his breath, "Smarter, smarter my ass. You're the dumbass." He turned to Serena. "What?"
"Oh, nothing," Serena said. "I'm still waiting for you to pick out a quest."
"Alright," Ian said, and began looking through the quest flyers for sothing small.
Ian spotted a D-Rank quest: bring back three hexhorn hides for six gold. He separated the flyer from the others, tapped it on the counter, and said, "This one."
"Okay," Serena said. "I just need you to sign your na here, and you have to sign that you're also in a guild."
"Alright," Ian said, signing the flyer and handing it back. He thought, *That hunter… I know he's an assassin type, but he doesn't even look that strong. I'm a fighter, and after joining the Black Cloud Guild, I leveled up a lot. I have two skills up my sleeve that could let take down Lucas even if he was a higher level. Plus, chances of running into him in the forest when he went in early are pretty low, so there's nothing to worry about.*
Watching Ian leave the tent, Serena thought, *That hunter… if he goes after Tyler, I have a feeling it's not going to end well for him.* She had confidence in Tyler's strength; she knew he'd defeated a pack of Crimson Wolves with Grone and taken down the Tri-Horn Hexhorn boss single-handedly. But she was still worried about him.
anwhile, Tyler and Rebecca were leaving the crossroads base. Tyler, still annoyed by Rebecca's ungrateful tone, said, "At least you bought the gold, right?"
"Of course I have the gold," Rebecca replied.
"Alright, I just wanted to make sure," Tyler said.
Rebecca sighed. "I wouldn't lie to you. I have no reason to do that."
"Good," Tyler said. An idea sparked in his mind. "Oh, can you give your bow?" They had entered the forest, into the monster zone.
"What do you want to do with it?" Rebecca asked.
"I just want to get a good look at it," Tyler replied, taking the bow from Rebecca. He held it as if preparing to fire.
Rebecca said, "That's not how you hold a bow."
"Oh," Tyler said. "How do I hold it?"
Rebecca took the bow, demonstrating proper form. "First, you need to find a comfortable stance. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, with your weight balanced evenly. Then, you grip the bow with your dominant hand, placing your thumb along the side of the grip and your fingers wrapped around the other side. Don't grip it too tightly; a relaxed grip is more accurate. Your non-dominant hand should hold the arrow, resting it on the arrow rest. Your index finger should be above the arrow, and your other fingers should support it from below. Bring the bow up to your shoulder, keeping your elbow slightly bent. Your posture should be upright, but not stiff. Now, aim. Keep your eye on the target, and use your whole body to aim, not just your arm. Rember to breathe deeply and relax your muscles. Now, try it."
Rebecca handed Tyler the bow. He examined the string. "This string isn't that tight, now, is it?"
"Yeah," Rebecca said. "I bought it from a cheap craftsman. They do this on purpose and sell these ones for a cheap price."
"Huh, well that's a scam," Tyler comnted.
"Tell about it," Rebecca sighed.
"Can you hand an arrow?" Tyler asked.
"What, you're planning to waste my arrows now?" Rebecca said, incredulous.
"Co on, it's just one arrow," Tyler said. "Plus, you can recycle these arrows, right? It's not like they break upon impact."
Rebecca sighed and gave Tyler an arrow. He assud the stance Rebecca had shown him, nocked the arrow, and drew back.
Rebecca watched Tyler's posture, thinking, *Whoa, I just taught him and showed him how to do it, and he already adapted, but he only saw doing it once. Is he really just an amateur at this?*
Tyler released the arrow. It flew true, embedding itself in the target tree several feet away.
"Huh," Tyler said, surprised. "I thought it would be harder."
Rebecca was astonished. "What? There's no way you just learned this from a single try. This isn't your first ti, is it?"
"Oh, this is my first ti," Tyler said, handing the bow back to Rebecca.
"Stop lying," Rebecca said. "Do you know how many tis I had to fire an arrow to actually hit my first target? And you just hit it on the first try, and saying it's not as hard as it is? This obviously wasn't your first ti."
Tyler sighed and started walking deeper into the forest, Rebecca following. "Listen," he said, "I have a skill called Weapon Mastery. It allows to adapt to using different weapons easily. Believe it or not, the daggers I use—or any weapon I use—I've never really trained with them. Well, I did *so* kind of training, but it wasn't with weapons."
Rebecca muttered, "Weapon Mastery…" Then, aloud, she said, "Right, I've been wanting to ask you a lot of questions recently."
"Go ahead and ask," Tyler said, reaching the target tree and easily retrieving the arrow, handing it back to Rebecca. She placed it back in her quiver.
"You're an assassin-type hunter, but you have skills that aren't related to that at all," Rebecca said.
"Oh, I get that a lot," Tyler replied.
"No, that's just not normal," Rebecca insisted. "That skill you used that ti—you have a skill that can make things appear and disappear out of thin air. You made a whole room out of so red iron I've never seen before appear out of nowhere. And you have so kind of regeneration skill as well."
"Yeah, I just got these abilities as I leveled up. That's just how it is," Tyler said.
"But that's just… that's not how things work," Rebecca protested. "Your abilities—I've never seen them before. There's also sothing I've been aning to ask. That ti when you sucked the poison off , how co you didn't get poisoned? I didn't even see you spit out the poison, which was stupid, by the way."
Tyler's tone was flat. "Oh, I, as I said before, am immune to all poisons. And the reason I didn't spit your blood out was, I wanted to… make myself stronger."
"What? What do you an?" Rebecca asked, bewildered.
"This ability allows to beco immune to poison once I consu it, in a way," Tyler explained. "The more poison I consu, the stronger the skill gets."
"That's a very strange skill," Rebecca said.
"A strange skill?" Tyler echoed. "Every skill in this world is strange. Your arrows ignite out of nowhere and explode, and you have so type of arrows that freeze things they hit as well."
"Yes, but everyone knows about those types of skills," Rebecca pointed out. "They're basic skills for an archery-type hunter."
"They're basic, huh?" Tyler said, a hint of amusent in his voice.
"Yeah," Rebecca said. "I know you're not supposed to reveal this to anyone, but what is your ultimate skill? Your skill that consus more mana than all your other skills."
Tyler's expression was one of slight confusion. "Ultimate skill?"
Tyler thought, *When I pull up my stats, there's no where it says "ultimate skill."* He considered the skill that increased his speed. *None of the skills I use take up my mana other than the skill I have from equipping this armor, the charge skill.*
"Why do you need to know?" Tyler asked Rebecca.
"Well, you know about my skills, so it's only fair if I know more about yours," Rebecca replied.
"My ultimate skill, I'd say, is the one that allows to increase my speed," Tyler said.
"Hmm," Rebecca mused. "A basic skill for an assassin type—that kind of makes sense."
"Yeah, that type of skill," Tyler agreed.
Rebecca was about to ask another question when a large group of hunters erged from the forest—more than ten, male and female, in various armor, all carrying the red iron bars.
Rebecca's eyes widened. "Wait, isn't that iron from that room you created yesterday?"
Tyler sighed. "Yeah, it is. Turns out it was discovered, and now they're taking it for themselves."
"So you can actually *take* these things?" Rebecca said. "Why didn't you make it disappear?"
"Look, that was about the first ti I used this skill, alright?" Tyler said. "And I didn't know I could actually do that. If I did, I would have sold this iron, and I think they took all of it."
Just as Tyler finished speaking, a hunter passed them, laughing. "Oh hey, are you going to the forest to get so of these materials? Well, you have so pretty bad luck because they're gone. We took them all!"
Tyler felt a surge of annoyance as the hunters, laden with iron bars in their leather bags, continued on their way.
"Can you make it again?" Rebecca asked.
"Yeah, I can," Tyler replied.
"Great!" Rebecca exclaid, her voice bright and cheerful, and loud. "That ans you can make it again and sell the materials. You can make a lot of money from this!"
"Yeah, I guess so," Tyler said. He paused, then said, "Have you noticed that we haven't t a monster ever since we got into this forest, and we're about to cross over?"
"Yeah," Rebecca said. "It's probably because of those many hunters. They probably killed all the monsters as they were going to get those materials. Plus, there aren't a lot of monsters on this side before we cross the river."
"Yeah, that tracks," Tyler agreed.
Rebecca stopped, gazing at the slow-moving river as they walked upstream. Tyler stopped and looked back at her. "Hey, co on, what are you waiting for?"
"How did you do it?" Rebecca asked, still looking at the river.
"What?" Tyler asked.
"You went to the river, filled up a vial, and when I drank it, it healed ," Rebecca explained. "But so far, the water in this river doesn't do that. If anything, it tastes bad."
Tyler sighed. "It's another skill I have. Now, can we go? I want to finish this request you asked to do quickly."
Rebecca started walking towards Tyler. "Another skill you have? You can make water heal people?"
"Well, in a way, yeah," Tyler said. "I can make potions using a skill of mine. And these potions allow to heal people. And right now, I'm trying to find more materials to make different kinds of potions. Well, right after I help you out, of course."
Rebecca walked alongside Tyler, resuming their journey. "You have a lot of remarkable skills," she said. "If I had these kinds of skills, I would have done a lot of things with them already."
"Well, I know what you an," Tyler replied. He thought to himself, *She doesn't even know that I ca into this world like a month ago, and I'm not planning on telling her that either. That's unnecessary information to share.*
"I don't know how you don't have a lot of gold, and how you're not in the capital right now, rich, from selling all these kinds of items. How are you not doing that? Where have you been living this whole ti?" Rebecca asked.
"You don't need to know about that," Tyler said, as they reached a narrow place where they could cross the river.
"Why? Do you co from the west or sothing?" Rebecca pressed, her curiosity piqued.
Tyler looked at her as they carefully crossed the narrow, stony path over the river. "No, you wouldn't know it if I told you."
"Try ," Rebecca challenged, crossing after him.
Tyler shook his head. "No."
Just as Rebecca was about to speak again, a system panel appeared before Tyler: `Level 7 Sli has used Skill Bash.` A sli erged from the bushes, its translucent body hurtling towards them. Tyler reacted instantly, slapping it with the back of his hand. The sli smashed into a tree, then disintegrated into shimring blue dust that vanished without a trace.
Tyler went to where the sli had been. "Oh man, no core?"
"You have fast reflexes, don't you?" Rebecca said, impressed.
"Well, I wouldn't say that," Tyler replied, looking at Rebecca. "After all, it was just a level 7 sli. Even you would have taken care of it, right?"
"Of course… I would have easily disposed of it, also," Rebecca said, though a hint of doubt lingered in her tone.
Tyler chuckled, putting his hands on his hips. "Is that a bit of doubt I hear in your voice? Seriously, it's a level 7 sli. It might have used its skill, but still."
"I said I can take it on, okay?" Rebecca insisted. "It's… so weak. I would have been able to stop it even if you hadn't."
"Well, alright," Tyler said playfully. "Okay, let's keep going. But…" He looked into the forest, then back at Rebecca. "…we're going to run in there."
"What? You want us to run?" Rebecca exclaid.
"Yeah, we're going to run straight in there," Tyler confird. "I'm not used to doing things slow."
"What do you an, that's stupid?" Rebecca protested. "We can't just go running around in the forest. How do we find monsters? It's much easier to find monsters if we look for footprints and things like that. And if we know the places in the forest they mostly live in, their territories."
"Oh, well, I don't know anything about that," Tyler said, already starting to look around the trees. "I just run around the forest until I run into a monster, and then I kill it. Easy as that."
"What?" Rebecca said, incredulous. "You actually have to be careful about where you hunt monsters in this forest. You could run into a boss monster or run into a monster territory that you're not ready to face yet."
Seemingly ignoring her, Tyler suddenly ran ten steps and leaped onto a large branch of a tall tree.
"What are you doing?" Rebecca called up, looking at Tyler in the tree.
Tyler kept climbing, saying, "I'm looking for monsters, just like you said. You said we need to look for them first, right?"
"That's not how you do it!" Rebecca shouted. "You're going to get attacked by an Elin if you keep doing that!"
Tyler reached the top of the tree and surveyed the forest. It seed endless, just like the first ti he'd climbed a tree here. *Where the hell does this forest end?* he wondered. *And are we going to be facing the sa monsters if we keep going further and further?* In the distance, he saw bluish mountains, likely due to the distance.
Focusing his gaze, Tyler felt a thrill of excitent as he spotted a place where monsters were spread out, but not too far from each other. *Those are a lot of monsters,* he thought. *I thought because there were a lot of hunters, they would have killed a lot of them.*
He counted about seven Hexhorns, a group of slis to their left (not far), so Crimson Wolves in the center, and five Pixies in the far left. He smiled. *This is perfect. Most of these creatures are actually big, and those slis… that's the biggest sli I've seen so far. I wonder if they also have a boss.*
Tyler climbed down the tree with practiced ease, jumping from branch to branch until he landed lightly on the ground.
"So what did you see up there?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh, I know where they are, and I know which way we need to go," Tyler said.
"Oh, which way?"
Tyler pointed into the forest. "That direction."
"All right, let's go," Rebecca said, walking past him. Tyler caught up.
"So, about that skill you have," Rebecca said, "it seems you can make things disappear and appear. So, do you have a place you store them? Because it would make more sense, and I've been thinking about it, because you make certain things disappear, and then you can make them appear anywhere you want. So that ans those things disappear to a certain place, right?"
Tyler looked at her, a little surprised. "Yeah, we actually figured it out."
"Oh, so am I right?" Rebecca said, a little excited.
"These things actually disappear to a place called thr inventory, and this place is a place that I put them when I make them disappear so I can use them later when I need them?"
"Oh, so where is this place located?" Rebecca asked.
"Oh, it's a bit complicated," Tyler said.
Rebecca sighed. "So it's a secret location. You don't have to tell . I'm pretty sure you've hidden a lot of stuff there."
"Yeah, you can say that," Tyler agreed. He then said, "All right, let's stop here."
"What? Why stop here?" Rebecca asked, confused.
Tyler said, "We're going to lure all the monsters to us." As he spoke, the leather armor shimred blue and vanished, replaced instantly by gleaming plate armor. The steel plates shone brightly in the sunlight.
Rebecca stared, her eyes wide. "Whoa! You can instantly *change* armors? How… what kind of skill is that?!"
Tyler cut her off. "Yeah. It's the inventory skill. Now I want you to close your eyes, alright? I have a skill that can activate a really bright light. If you don't, you might go blind."
Rebecca, rembering the intense light from her fight with Lucas, gasped. "Wait, that light… that was *you*? That blinding flash…"
"Oh, so you know about it," Tyler said, his tone flat. "Yeah. It's another skill I have."
"But that doesn't make sense!" Rebecca exclaid. "That's in no way related to any assassin-based skill! You're… "
Tyler sighed, clearly impatient. "Can you close your eyes already? I'm trying to get you to another rank here, and it's still morning. We have a long way to go."
"Alright," Rebecca said, quickly covering her eyes with her hands.
Tyler activated his Radiant Burst.
Ian walked through the forest, nearing the river. *There are no monsters around here,* he thought. *There must be more on the other side of the river. I gotta do this quick so I can go back to the guild. I hope Alec doesn't tell on . He probably will, that bastard.*
Suddenly, a bright white light flared in the distance, arcing across the sky in a wide, dazzling sweep. Ian stopped, surprised. *That light… what the hell was that just now?* he thought. *Is that so kind of monster? Or is that a hunter?*
A slow smile spread across his face. "Well," he muttered to himself, "there's one way to find out."
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