Chapter 5: On-The-Job

Kane silently followed the group and he did just as he was told. He stayed in their midst while they fought off monsters and he made sure that every information was noted on his tablet. Midway, he already tried predicting what type of monsters would appear based on the data that he collected.

“What do you think is the level of the boss monster in this area, Kane?” Daniel asked as they walked towards a cave.

“Based on the probability, it could be a Level A monster since most of the subclass monsters here were level C and B. I think it would be an ogre.”

“Woah! Did your tablet have a calculation of probabilities?” Aidan asked with his eyes wide open as he peeked at his tablet.”

“No. I calculated the probability myself.”

“Woah!” The two looked at him with amazement evident in their eyes. “Are you a genius?”

“O-M-G!” Angel looked at him with wide eyes. “Actually, I’ve been thinking that you looked familiar and now I know why. Aren’t you Francis Kane Vasquez, the heir to the North Zone?”

“No.” Kane looked away. He didn’t like hearing something like that ever since that day his brothers forsook him.

“Is that so?” Angel sounded apologetic when she realized that Kane didn’t want to talk about it.

Toby stopped walking so the four of them stopped as well. They fell silent as they looked around, searching for a trace of the boss monster.

Kane typed all of his observations inside the cave. He could see his fingers trembling at the thought of a Level A monster running amok in that small cave. Would they be really all right?

While typing, Kane heard the sound of a club scratching the wall. He looked ahead and saw a three-meter ogre walking towards them.

“Man, that was a huge monster,” Aidan mumbled with an awkward smirk.

Kane took a picture of the monster and Daniel peeked on the tablet to know whether his calculations were right.

“But I think Kane here is also a monster. He was right when he said that the boss monster would be a level A Ogre!” Daniel exclaimed.

“How did you know that it would be an ogre?” Aidan asked as he took his stance. The ogre was coming closer to them and its steps were getting faster.

“Because you fought level C goblins and level B orcs.” Kane took a few steps back as the four hunters moved forward.

“Aidan, distract it in front then Daniel would attack from behind. I’ll support the both of you,” Toby ordered before he turned to face Angel. “Be ready, Gel. I want you to be on the alert for an area heal as soon as one of the two comes near.”

The three nodded their heads and started their attacks. Kane never thought that he would get to experience watching skilled hunters fight with level A monsters right in front of his eyes. It was terrifying, yet mesmerizing.

The clashing of their weapons on the monster’s tough skin, the after images of their fast movement that he could barely follow, the groans of pains coming from the monster, and the voices of the team leader giving them orders as they worked with each other—it was a sight to behold.

When he was younger, he used to dream of being a hunter like them. Because he had no difficulties in learning something, monster hunting became his goal. But that was until last year.

When almost a year passed after his sixteenth birthday and he was still not awakened, he started feeling anxious. He finally lost all hope when he was manually awakened and realized that he only had a passive ability.

They said that God was fair, so maybe that was just how it was supposed to be. He was gifted with a genius mind that could learn a lot of things easily, but he was deprived of the ability to grow physically strong. It was either brains or brawns and he got the brains instead of brawns.

He couldn’t take away his eyes from the hunters clashing with the ogre. Even from afar, he could tell that the three were overpowering the monster.

“I guess they don’t need me for this mission.” Angel sighed as she watched her teammates fight.

He just looked at her for a while before his eyes went back to the three. He knew that she was having a useless worry since he could see that the fight wasn’t as easy as they made it look. Her abilities would definitely be needed later, once the fight has ended.

His eyes grew wide when he watched the three used their final moves.

“Thousand spear strike!”

Kane couldn’t help but be amazed when he couldn’t even follow Aidan’s hand movements. The afterimages of his hand looked like a hundred hands moving simultaneously.

“Heavy muscle blow!”

Though it looked like a normal slash with a sword, Kane saw the wind being cut and the ogre’s hand that was used to block the sword was cut swiftly unto his chest.

“Roaring Fire!”

Kane saw a blazing red fire coming out of Toby’s hand and it devoured the ogre to prevent it from regenerating. Though he wanted to record what he saw, he didn’t want to take his eyes off the monster that was slowly being turned to ashes.

That was the strength of a Level A hunter. The terrifying monster that stood three meters tall was reduced to ashes in a span of fifteen minutes. They didn’t even take an hour to defeat a level A boss monster and it only took an hour for them to clear an A-ranked dungeon. They were totally amazing.

“Area heal!”

Though he wasn’t injured, Kane could feel that he was revitalized after the glow around them faded. Even the ability of a level A healer was amazing. Just how potent was her healing ability that the wounds of the three just disappeared as if it was never there?

After they were healed, the three went further into the cave and they found the chest that the ogre was protecting. Dungeon clearing wasn’t all about the monster cores and other parts of a monster that could be used in making weapons. All boss monsters have a chest that they were protecting. Once the dungeon was cleared, the black portal would turn into blue and they would have to wait for a few hours for it to turn black again.

The monsters didn’t regenerate and the chest wouldn’t have the same items again. There had been theories that once the monsters in the area were exterminated, another set of monsters would reside in it.

The biggest mystery was that they didn’t know where the monsters came from and how the dungeons were connected to each other.

“Kane, come over here and take your pick.” Daniel pulled him towards the chest and held his shoulders as he showed the artifacts to him.

“I’m just a scout,” Kane mumbled and stepped back. How could he dare take something that he didn’t earn?

“So what? You are a part of the team,” Toby mumbled as he looked intently at the artifacts. He took a bracelet from the chest and handed it to Kane. “This would suit you.”

Kane looked at him with a confused expression before he hesitantly took the bracelet.

“Toby had a good eye for artifacts,” Aidan said as he wiggled his brows.

“Your ability has a cooldown of 15 minutes right? That bracelet would lessen the cooldown time by 5.”

Though Kane’s expression remained blank, deep inside he was surprised. How could they give him such a precious artifact? He held the artifact and was about to give it back but Toby stopped him before he could even say anything.

“We wouldn’t have any use for that. The gem on Aiden’s spear, Angel’s earrings, Daniel’s anklet, and my watch were all artifacts that could reduce the cooldown of our abilities. You don’t have to feel shy and just take that.”

Kane nodded his head and followed them silently as they walked out of the dungeon.

His first job passed without any hitch and he was exhausted as soon as he was home. He dropped his body on the bed and without even noticing, he fell into a deep slumber.