Monster Hunters

Chapter Four

Quest

Panting, Jacob ran as fast as he could, he could still feel the tremors going through the ground.

Seeing a cave nearby, he dashed into it, staying as still as possible. A few moments later, the cause of the tremors were seen; it was a pack of wolves, all Rank D. Grinding to a halt at the entrance of the cave, the Monsters stiffened, not daring to enter the cave; it was obvious they were scared of something inside the cave.

Hiding inside the cave, Jacob peered outside and seeing the behaviour of the Monsters, Jacob shivered, knowing that whatever was inside the cave was monstrous, as it could stop a pack of D-ranked Monsters from even daring to breathe loudly in front of the cave.

After a few moments, the Monsters all retreated, without even a single glance backwards.

After a tough fight, Jacob was able to defeat the Three-Clawed ground rat, and directly levelled up to Level 2.

He continued to hunt till he reached Level 5 and got a D ranked skill; the Shadow Conceal; having fulfilled the quest, he decided to rest for a while and then continued hunting again; this time hunting Rank E Monsters. After a while he reached Level 10 and got another D ranked skill; the Wind Walk. But his joy at getting another skill didn't last long; as he soon ran into an ambush of Rank D wolves; out of Mana, he couldn't use any of his skills and had to run, finally entering the cave.

After making sure that the Monsters were gone, Jacob prepared to sneak outside and head home when he got a notification

**Ding,

Detected a cadaveric aura around host, now assigning the following quest;

Quest Name: Investigate

Quest Description: Go deeper into the cave and investigate the cause of the cadaveric aura

Quest Difficulty: Ranging from D~A

Quest Reward: Getting closer to the reason behind host's parents death

Penalty for failure: None**

__________________________

Seeing the Quest, Jacob got a queer feeling. He knew that whatever was in the cave was extremely dangerous, as evidenced by the behaviour of the Monsters.

"Is there any time limits for this Quest??, Jacob asked the system

**No time limit assigned for the completion of the Quest**

Hearing that, Jacob felt relieved, he knew that if he decided to investigate the cave with his current level of strength, it would be no different from courting death. Although he was extremely curious as to why he could find some truths about the cause of his parents death here, he still restrained it, deciding to be patient, at least for now.

'I'm curious about another thing though, why should the truth about the cause of my parents death be in a cave under the jurisdiction of the White Hunters guild, which my parents worked for??'; thinking to here, Jacob knew that there was absolutely nobody he could trust.

Hurrying out of the cave, Jacob looked around and found out it was already bright outside. He quickly ran out of the Shimmering Woods and took a bus heading home.

After he got home, he took a quick shower and rearranged the house, making it seem like he stayed overnight and had been mourning the death of his parents.

An hour later, he got the visit he was expecting.

**Ding,

Presence of strong Awakeneds detected around host's vicinity,

Total number of Awakeneds: 13**

After a few moments, the bell to the front gate rang.

Pressing a button on a random surface, the front gate opened, taking a deep breath, he stepped outside.

As soon as he got outside, he was suddenly hit by a stifling pressure

**Ding,

The magical pressure of a strong B-ranked Awakened is boring down on host, relieving pressure.**

Almost immediately, Jacob felt the pressure had vanished

"That wasn't nice Kayden", a sonorous voice chastised.

Looking at the owner of the voice, Jacob was stunned for a few moments then;

**Ding, A powerful charm spell has been cast on host, nullifying spell**

Coming back to his senses, Jacob shook his head and decided to put up his guard in front of the woman.

"Hi, I'm Nikita and this is Kayden, we are from the White Hunters guild, I'm sorry for what my brother did", the woman said. Taking a closer look at them, Jacob found the similarities between Kayden and Nikita. They both had long red hair, Nikita had ocean blue eyes while Kayden had sky blue eyes. But, while Kayden looked unfriendly and dangerous, Nikita looked more cheerful and friendly.

"If you were wondering, then yes, we are twins", Nikita said, smiling.

"You can come inside", Jacob ushered them in.

"Thank you", Nikita said and gestured for Jacob to lead the way. Once they got inside, Kayden directly sat on the couch while Nikita was looking around the house. After a while, she also sat down, while Jacob sat in front of them.

"First, let me start by saying that, We at White Hunters guild are really sorry about your parents death. It came as such a huge shock to us when we heard what happened. As soon as we got the request for help from them, we immediately dispatched our fastest team of Awakeneds to come and rescue you guys, but they were too late, according to their reports, by the time they got here, you were the only one left, and you were also unconscious. We were also surprised when we received a call from the hospital that you demanded to be discharged early, are you sure you are really okay??", Nikita said.

Listening to Nikita's long speech, Jacob secretly wandered how long it took her to come up with such a touching speech. " Yeah, I'm fine, and thank you, I know your response time was fast. If my parents were still alive, I'm sure they would appreciate all your efforts too", Jacob said.

"No need to mention, your parents were really hardworking too. They had a request though", hearing that, Jacob was stumped, his parents requested for something from White Hunters guild, did they know they were going to die??

"What was it??", Jacob asked;

"They requested that if any thing were to happen to them, we should take you under our wings and grant you protection"

"But, I have no intention to work as an assistant receptionist", Jacob refused

"We know you would not want that, that is why we are giving you a better option, you can take the Awakening test and if you have the talent, you will directly join the ranks of our guild" Nikita said. Considering it, Jacob decided that it was a good option for him. Even though he had the system, the system said it's job was to help him awaken something other than magical powers. He could as well use this opportunity to get awakened.

"You can take your time to think about it"

"There's no need, I'm interested, when can I take the test??"

"Oh good, we will pick you up tomorrow, same time", Nikita said, winking at Jacob.

Shaking his head, Jacob thought in his mind; 'Femme Fatale'.

Standing up, Jacob was about to walk them out, when Kayden spoke for the first time.

"Kid, what were you doing in Shimmering Woods this morning??"