“Aaaahhh!” Kailan screamed as he felt his body shift and rip. It felt like he was falling, twisting and turning with no sense of direction.

Suddenly and without warning he hit the ground with a loud thud. His consciousness teetering on the edge of passing out. His vision blurred, but the darkness he had grown used to became bright. He tried hard to open his eyes to try and catch even a single glimpse of his surroundings.

Eventually, his eyes adjusted. And there, before him was a boy around his age, with raven black hair, pure creamy skin and piercing blue eyes. He was calling out to him, he thought. He couldn’t quite hear. As he tried to respond, his head throbbed harshly, and he passed out.

“Prince Hrafn! Prince Hrafn, what is it?” A voice in the background sounded out as it drew closer.

“Over here. There’s a… boy. A naked boy. He looks hurt. Call for some aid and we’ll take him back to the palace to the healers.” Prince Hrafn yelled out as he examined the strange boy that had appeared out of nowhere, falling from the sky.

Kailan felt like he was floating. It was calm and serene. Like he was comfortably balanced on the top of the ocean’s waves, swaying, held aloft by nothing but the buoyancy of his body. It was peaceful.

He suddenly felt a cool and refreshing touch and the smell of flowers tickled his nose. His eyes slowly opened, this time it wasn’t a raven haired boy, but several beautiful young women that were surrounding him. They were dressed in fine silks that were not too revealing but still closer to nightwear than traditional clothes. Two of them had cloths in their hands and the other a sort of cream she was rubbing on his forehead.

Kailan felt the wet cloths touch his skin, first his chest and then his right leg. He almost jerked in discomfort. He wasn’t disorientated like before, so he could feel that he was completely naked. Naturally it made him feel embarrassed.

The three girls gently held him as he tried to move.

“Relax. We’re cleaning you and tending to your injuries. You’re safe here.” The girl with the cream that smelled of honey said gently.

“Your injuries were very severe. We thought we had almost lost you there for a moment. But you’re recovering very quickly now.” She continued.

“Where…” Kailan tried to speak but he coughed shortly after his first word. His throat was parched.

“Here.” The girl spoke as she placed the bottle of cream down. Picking up a small mug, she helped Kailan to drink it. It was cool and soothing and gave Kailan a very calm and refreshing feeling. It was like magic. He coughed once again.

“Where am I? Who are you?” He eked out with great effort.

“You’re in Asgard, the realm of the Gods. And we are Læknir. You were found in the forests outside the palace, Prince Hrafan found you and commanded you be brought here to recover.” The girl explained gently.

“Gods? Læknir? I don’t understand.” Kailan stated as he felt a sharp pain run down his back when he tried to lift his body. His face twisted.

The girl smiled gently at him as she placed her hand on his chest, gently pushing him back down. A warm green glow slowly flooded out before disappearing into his body, a cool soothing feeling soon dulled the pain. Kailan looked at the girl in amazement.

She chuckled as she saw his expression. “We are healers. Rest now. All will be explained in time.”

Kailan suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness overcome him. His eyes felt heavy as they threatened to close, but he wasn’t ready. He wanted to know what was going on. He still remembered the tearing pain as he was pulled into the depths of a dark abyss. He was trapped there in endless suffering for what felt like an eternity. Now, he was here in the light and the first thing he encountered he can’t even begin to explain.

But his will wasn’t strong enough to resist the pull of sleep anymore than it could resist the forces that pulled him into that abyss. His eyes shut closed and he drifted back into serenity.

“Click, click.”

Kailan was awoken by the sound of the front door being unlocked. He had apparently fallen asleep on the couch, his mind wandering to old memories.

Rebecca walked in and was surprised to see him looking as if he just woke up. “Hey, you’re home? I thought you were going to go on a dungeon raid today?”

Kailan picked himself up to sit properly. “I did. It was at 10 this morning.”

“Oh? How did it go? Did you have any trouble? Did the Zweihänder work out for you?” Rebecca excitedly set her things down as she sat in the chair next to the couch. She proceeded to bombard Kailan with question after question.

“It went fine. No trouble at all. And the Zweihänder is an amazing weapon. Olive is a really skilled craftswoman.” Kailan chuckled at his sister. He wore an innocent and loving smile as he looked at her. His family.

“Good. Are you going to go on another raid tomorrow?” She asked curiously.

“Mmm. I suppose so. How often do you go on raids?” Kailan thought for a moment before answering. Despite his vast knowledge of the dungeons and Gaia, he still wasn’t up to date on the trends of humans. How often do Hunters normally enter dungeons, he wondered.

Rebecca’s face froze at the question. Her eyes went blank as her breathing rhythm increased. Kailan could tell there was still some trauma left over from the last dungeon she entered. She almost died there so it made sense that she would. He moved to the edge of the couch as he placed his hand on hers in comfort.

Rebecca awoke from her inner thoughts as she looked up at him.

“It’s ok. You’re fine. You’re safe here.” He spoke gently, recalling how someone once spoke to him.

Rebecca’s breathing returned to normal and she had a slight smile. For some reason those words had a soothing effect. Her heart felt light and she could breathe again.

“Thanks.” She said as she derided herself mentally. How was she so weak?

“You know, guilds also have an HR department. They are businesses afterall. When a Hunter goes through a rough experience in a dungeon, they’re required to go through a mental evaluation. Until the doctor says it’s ok, I can’t go back into a dungeon.” Rebecca explained as she once again felt helpless.

She had worked so hard to grow stronger because of how powerless and helpless she felt when Kailan was taken from them. But had she really grown at all? She couldn’t decide. She felt stronger, but she also realized that she still had a long way to go if this one experience was enough to cause her this much trouble.

“Most Hunters pace themselves and only go dungeon raiding 3 to 5 times a week. Dedicated guild Hunters will go raiding anywhere from 5 to 7 times a week. As for Bureau personnel, they are required to go raiding 7 to 10 times a week. Elias goes into dungeons 4 times a week, but he’s being forced to bump it up to 6 by the guild. I usually go raiding 5 times a week.” She explained to Kailan.

Leveling was a very slow process. It required a large amount of experience to level and humans tended not to fight against opponents that were higher level or talent rank than them, so their experience gains were minimal to begin with. Kailan understood their time tables now. The reason they grew to their current levels and why there was a large gap between the more than 200 million Hunters, it was because of their raid frequency.

If every Hunter had been dedicating their time to growing their power then the average level of the Earth right now would be much higher. He recalled how in Asgard they would generate dungeons to train in at least twice a day. Sometimes even 3 to 4 times a day. Training was rigorous but it was highly beneficial.

Kailan considered it from this world’s point of view though. To them, there wasn’t a huge urgency to level. There was no pressure point forcing them to. There was also the apathetic attitude humans normally had towards things that weren’t planned by them. They would ignore it until it became a problem. But considering everything that will happen in the future, it would be too late at that point.

Still, he didn’t think that it was his problem to deal with. Humanity had to make its own choices. He couldn’t make those choices for them and he wasn’t their caretaker.

“I guess I’ll probably do a 5 raid per week schedule then.” He said contemplatively.

“That’s probably a good choice. And with your talent you should level pretty quickly. Maybe in a few years you’ll be as high of a level as the world’s top currently is. Of course by then they’ll be at a higher level, but not by much.” Rebecca agreed.

She seemed to remember something. “Oh! Did you look at the world buff Gaia just issued? With that you’ll level even faster. Of course so will everyone else. But still.” She exclaimed in excitement.

Kailan tried to hide his helpless expression as he replied. “Uh… Yeah, I saw it. Isn’t that something.” He dryly laughed.

“It has no effect on me since my talent rank is above Demon.” He thought as he once again worried about what the future would hold.

“I can’t wait to see how much faster I’ll level with this.” She said with a look of joy.

Kailan smiled happily. He was glad that she had quickly recovered from her moment of anxiety. Maybe this world buff could be useful to him in other ways, he contemplated.

“I’m hungry. Want a snack?” Rebecca suddenly said.

“Yes. What kind of snack?” Kailan responded as he got up to follow her into the kitchen.

“Hmm. How about popcorn?” She asked, opening one of the kitchen cabinets.

“With extra butter.” Kailan replied happily.

Rebecca and Kailan made their popcorn before moving back into the living room. They both sat on the couch as Kailan unmuted the news channel again. Rebecca wanted to watch the press conference that her guild had conducted that morning. She wasn’t a part of it for other reasons, but Cole was, and she was worried about him.

Time flew by as their father and brother soon came walking through the door.

“What are you two up to?” Elias asked as he plopped into the chair Rebecca had been sitting in earlier.

Edward scooched Rebecca over on the couch so that he could sit at the end. She took it as an opportunity to lean against him, using him like a pillow. Which he didn’t mind.

“Just watching the news.” Rebecca replied.

“The news? What nonsense, all they know how to do is complain. Give me that remote.” Edward barked out. He took the TV remote and changed it to cartoons.

“Figures.” Kailan said as he glanced at his dad.

Edward grinned, enjoying his control.

“Daddy… I was watching that.” Rebecca huffed as she tried to steal the remote back.

But Edward simply held the remote up high as he replied with his eyes still glued to the screen. “If you want to watch that nasty stuff go home and watch it.”

“Meanie.” Rebecca crossed her arms as she slammed her back into his chest in a fit. Edward had the wind knocked out of him.

“By the way, where do you guys live? And how do you afford your own place along with new weapons and armor?” Kailan was curious how they made their money to afford such things.

“Well I live in an apartment in Castleton near my guild. And Becca lives in an apartment just North of Greenwood, also near her guild. It’s pretty common for guilded Hunters to live near their headquarters building in case of emergencies.” Elias responded.

“As for money, we get that from the dungeons. Did Eva not tell you about mining?” He asked curiously.

“Not really, I assume mining means to dig out the resources from a dungeon mine right? But how much money can you make off of low level resources and items?” Kailan didn’t know the exchange rate of resources for Earth, but he had estimated it based on other worlds he’d seen.

“Are you kidding? A lot.” Rebecca jumped in when she heard her brother’s question. She was surprised that he didn’t know this.

Just as she said this the door opened and Maria walked in.

Everyone looked at her strangely. “You’re home early mom.” Elias exclaimed.

“I changed shifts with one of the other nurses. She had a family emergency so I have to go back in this evening.” She replied as she set her things down.

“What are you all talking about? I heard something about money.” She asked as she took her seat next to Edward. Rebecca had gotten up and sat in the other chair opposite Elias.

“Her senses are terrifying…” Kailan thought as he admired his mother’s acute sense of hearing.

“Kai was asking about how we made money.” Elias replied to his mother.

“Oh, and what do you need money for?” Maria turned to Kailan with a sly smile. She of course was only joking. Kailan was an adult, so he would naturally need to have his own income.

“Well, if I want new weapons and armor. Or if I wanted to move into my own place. It might be useful.” He replied snarkily, smiling.

“Move?!” Maria was taken aback. When did this come up?

“I mean eventually. I can’t live at home forever. Don’t worry, I’m still going to stay here and mooch off of you for a while longer.” Kailan spoke sarcastically as he nudged his mother.

She let out a deep breath she had held in. If he had been trying to move out now, that really would have been too much.

“So how much money can you make from a level 1 dungeon?” He turned towards Rebecca as he asked.

“Depends. First you should take a mining team in with you. They can collect all of the materials while you hunt. Once you leave the dungeon there is a management team that will help you sort out and value the things you brought back. I’d say on average you can make around $100K for a level 1 dungeon raid.” Rebecca responded as she calculated.

Kailan’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “A hundred thousand dollars?! Are you sure?”

“Yeah, our guild has level 1s and they usually bring out about that much. Of course it then gets split. Firstly the Hunters Bureau has a fee for the dungeons which is 15% of the income. The raid team gets 50% and the rest is given to the Miners. Those amounts are then divided evenly among everyone. And if you want to keep any of the materials retrieved it comes out of your percentage.” She continued to explain.

“Wow, I had no idea materials from a low level dungeon were so valuable here.” Kailan was truly shocked. This was way outside of his estimates. Had he known he would have had Eva bring in a mining team with them this morning. He made a silent note to ask her about it for tomorrow.

“It wasn’t like that a decade ago. When the dungeons first appeared the prices were much higher. But as more and more resources were brought back the demand for supply also dwindled. It leveled out around two years ago. Now the pricey materials come out of level 6, 7 and 8 dungeons.” Elias added in.

“Truly, capitalism at work” Kailan thought feeling depressed at how much money he missed out on today.

“Anyway, even if you only run 3 dungeon raids a week you can easily make around $15,000.” Rebecca concluded as she felt sorry for her little brother. He must not have made any profit today.

“Wouldn’t that cause massive inflation?” Kailan thought about it for a moment. And come to think of it, it did make sense for the prices to be high for a world like Earth which has had no real contact with other worlds to begin with. The resources brought back from dungeons are extremely valuable to a world that doesn’t have access to a market for them, they can be used in many fields of study.

“There were some issues but it wasn’t as bad as you would think. The market is still fluctuating as it adjusts even now, but it’s mostly evened out. The world didn’t have much of a choice but to adapt.” Elias replied.

Kailan made another mental note that he should check the values of various materials he’s familiar with on the Hunters Auction later. He wanted to compare and get a better idea of the financial situation the world is in. Money wasn’t really important to a God, but it was important on Earth.

“By the way Kai, did you go to a dungeon today?” Elias asked as he sat up as if drawing closer to hear better.

“I did.” Kailan chuckled.

“So… How did it go?”

Kailan proceeded to tell his family about his dungeon trip. He of course left out anything that would give him away, but it was enough to excite Rebecca and Elias. They marveled at how strong their little brother had become.

Maria wasn’t as agitated as everyone thought she would be. She sat there listening with a smile. She was thinking of how proud she was of Kailan and how he would one day be the most powerful being on Earth. No one would be able to hurt him.

Eventually they all turned to enjoy the cartoon Edward had put on. They simply sat there enjoying the atmosphere and each other’s company. Maria got up around 5 to make dinner. It was a fantastic meal. Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.

After dinner, they once again retired to the living room to fight over what movie would be put on.

Edward looked at his two older children, annoyed that his movie choices were thrown out before anyone else's. “When are you two going to move back to your own places?”