Unfortunately the sense of peace didn’t last forever.

I’d barely opened my eyes in the morning when a System window popped up in my face, telling me that there was a new Daily Task. I nearly jumped out of my skin as all my sleepiness vanished just like that.

“Right, that.” I moaned and scrubbed my hands over my face.

I paused and looked at my left arm. It didn’t hurt. Last night, even with the heavy dose of Tylenol, it still hurt when I moved it around. But now … Frowning, I moved my arm in circles. When it still didn’t hurt, I poked at it. At first gently, then a little harder. Still nothing.

“Huh.” I pinched the edge of the medical gauze and tugged, pulling it apart until the last inch slipped off my arm. My mouth parted as I gaped at my smooth skin. Eyes wide, I twisted my arm around as I tried to see every inch of my perfectly intact flesh. There wasn’t even a slight skin variation. “What is going on?”

I mean, it was amazing, but how did it happen? Confused, I opened my Main Menu and found that Daily Tasks wasn’t the only button with a notification sign. There was one by Abilities too.

Excited now, I opened it. The three question marks were gone, replaced with [Regen (Limited)]. When I clicked on it, it read: [While resting, your health will heal at the rate of 1% per minute. Effect is doubled while sleeping. Limitations: Cannot regrow severed appendages or heal poisons. Seek medical help in such cases.]

“Wow.” All I could do was gape at the screen. Only the strongest of the strong had an ability like this. Not even all of the S Rank Hunters had Regeneration — only half of the ones in America did. I didn’t know about the rest of the world.

Still, it was amazing. It meant that a fifty minute nap would completely heal me. Or if I couldn’t shut my eyes, I could simply rest and the problem would be fixed in an hour and a half. I also couldn’t help but wonder if there was a next step to the ability. If I could level myself up, did that mean I could level up my abilities too? I guessed only time would tell.

I checked the Daily Task and read it out loud. “Destroy three energy crystals.”

It didn’t even say what kind of monster it wanted them from, it simply said three energy crystals. In theory, I didn’t even have to kill a monster to get the crystal. If I was faster and stronger, I could steal them from other Hunters and destroy them. But I wasn’t faster and stronger — I still had a long way to go to get there. Even if I was capable enough to steal, I wouldn’t. I’d never get stronger that way.

I jumped out of bed. Unlike yesterday, I could actually feel the difference in my body when I moved. I felt lighter, as if gravity didn’t have the same hold that it had on me yesterday. Was that because of my increased Strength? Is this how all Hunters felt? Man, just a small taste was heady stuff. I couldn’t wait till I was stronger.

I quickly dressed and pulled out my armor to suit-up. That was when I found out that my armor regenerated over night too. It looked brand new, any scuffs or marks that I got yesterday were just gone.

It was still early when I stepped out of my room. I froze with my hand hovering over the doorknob. A chill went down my spine. I felt like I was being watched. I looked both ways downs the hall. I was alone, and all the doors were closed. I moved to the stairs. There wasn’t a single sound outside of my boots soft shuffle on the hall runner, even when I passed Leticia’s new door, but I still couldn’t shake the creepy feeling that lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. It wasn’t until I was halfway down the stairs that the feeling finally went away.

Henry bustled around downstairs, preparing oatmeal and fruit for breakfast on one side of the U-shaped kitchen. On the other side, the counter was covered in lunch prep. Some already full paper bags sat on the counter next to the kitchen door. Henry passed me a bowl of food and motioned to the table. “Go eat.”

I smiled at him and turned. It wasn’t until that moment that I noticed that the dozen or so other Hunters at the tables were all staring at me. Some of their faces looked at me like I was insane, while others were curious. A couple even looked me up and down with incredulous expressions.

My hands tightened on my bowl and I took a breath, trying not to squirm under their gazes. Don’t show weakness, I reminded myself. Don’t let them get to you. I sat down at the end of the table and focused on eating my oatmeal while keeping my expression as unaffected as possible.

“Hey,” a guy sitting a couple chairs over put his elbow on the table and openly stared at me. “Did you really go crazy and stab Leticia’s door yesterday?”

Ah, that’s what the gawking was about. Well, I guess it was out of the ordinary for the weakest Hunter to attack one of the strongest. God, I hoped none of them caused trouble for me just to get closer to Leticia. I looked at him like it was no big deal and simply answered, “Yes.”

His brows shot upward, nearly touching the brown fringe of his hairline. The Hunter beside him snickered under his breath. The brown-haired Hunter snorted and shook his head. “You’re insane, provoking that woman. Watch your back, that’s all I can say. She doesn’t work alone.”

Henry cleared his throat loudly from the kitchen. “If you’re done eating, but sure to bring your dishes over.” He stared pointedly at the brown-haired guy.

The younger man’s mouth wrinkled and he shoved his last few bites in the mouth. He picked up his stuff and brought it to the sink without complaint. He grabbed a lunch bag off the counter and left.

Most of the other Hunters went back to their meal, but others still continued to stare at me as if they wanted to see if I was going to freak out. Determined to let them down, I calmly ate my meal and put my bowl away.

“I’ve already talked to her,” Henry muttered under his breath. “Don’t stress over it.”

As if talking to Leticia about it would fix the problem. No, my little blow up yesterday just blew things out of proportion and, according to the warning I’d just been given, I was going to suffer some consequences. Would something happen in the Gate Vale?

I picked up my sack lunch and smiled at Henry. “I won’t.” There were more important things to do than stress — like complete the Daily Task and work on getting stronger. I just hoped I would be strong enough to handle whatever Leticia might be planning by the time it happened. With a quick goodbye, I left the kitchen.

As I walked down the hall to the front door, steps on the stairs caused me to look up. Two older girls stared at me like jungle cats, ready to pounce. In a glance, I recognized them as Leticia’s posse. Just like their leader, their armor was covered in rhinestones and sparkling stitches. It was a look that was popular with the young women, and it looked good when it was done right. But as Es, the two women obviously didn’t have the income to pull the look off. They just looked tacky.

Tacky or not, their stares sent a chill — like the one I’d felt in the hall — sweeping through my body. I lengthened my stride and walked out the door, slamming it behind me.

They were going to come after me, I knew it.

I hurried to the tram, catching it as it left the station. All was fair in the Gate, but that was only if Leticia and her posse could find me. If I could put distance between us, then the odds of them finding me later would lower. Luckily, it didn’t look like anyone was following me yet. If Leticia did anything to me the day after we had a row, it would be pretty damning, even if there wasn’t a lot of evidence.

For once, I didn’t look for a group to follow, but entered the Gate all by myself. I was still weak enough that I could use the protection, but how would I explain myself if someone saw the carcass of a monster disappear? Or how would I handle the reaction of the other Hunters if someone saw me destroy an energy crystal? If I thought my reputation was bad now, I don’t even want to think of what it would be if I was labeled a crystal-breaker. After all, the entire world was powered by those shiny stones.

My task was to simply destroy three energy crystals. I could choose wherever I wanted to go — I chose to return to Edmond Woods. It was so early in the morning, most of the monsters wouldn’t have been cleared out. The timing was good and bad at the same time.

I found a Vale Wolf pretty fast. Unfortunately, a much stronger Steel Tiger came by before I could finish the kill. In the end, I had to run away. Monsters instinctively attack the weakest creature around them, so the Steel Tiger stayed to eat the Vale Wolf while I ran.

The System flashed a message at me. [Your kill was stolen +0 EXP]. Was it mocking me?

I slowed down and leaned against a tree, puffing for air. “Gee, thanks,” I muttered and leaned back, tipping my head against the trunk. Now I had to find another Vale Wolf. At least I’d only lost a couple HP in that encounter. My new arm bracers made a world of difference. I took a deep breath and got ready to move.

“Are you sure she went this way?”

I froze. The female voice was undeniably familiar. I’d never learned her name, but I’d seen her face at the Hostel for the last year.

“That’s what those guys said,” another girl spoke, also from the Hostel.

Carefully, I leaned around the tree and peeked. Sure enough, it was the girls from the stairs this morning. Leticia’s posse. So they weren’t going to let me go after all? At least they didn’t seem like they knew where I was, just what location I was in.

The girls looked around then huffed and started walking in the opposite direction.

I waited until they were gone then, I ran the other way. It was time to change locations. I didn’t want to be seen by other Hunters, but maybe the tall grass in the Golden Plains would give me enough cover.

Just before exiting the woods, I ran into another Vale Wolf. Determined, I put everything I had into a quick kill. Since I knew I was being hunted by more than just monsters, I really needed to get out of there. I was breathing heavily by the time the wolf dropped to the ground. As quick as I could, I collected the wolf pelt into my Items Bag and shattered the crystal. There was a giant bruise on my leg and I couldn’t keep from limping as I walked away, but I was otherwise okay.

I’d barely gone a couple feet when I felt something to my right. I turned. Acid-green liquid flew at me. I moved out of the way. It landed on the ground where I was standing. Instantly, the puddle started to smoke and boil as the liquid sank into the dirt.

“What the?” I looked up and froze.

A thick, short snake hung from a tree branch. It’s pink mouth still gaped open, showing off long fangs. Above it’s head read: [Acid Spitter Lv3. Warning: Poisonous.].

Sometimes the names of these monsters were just a little too literal. I didn’t even have to guess what was going on, when a fleshy tube in the back of the snake’s throat contorted and another stream of green liquid gushed out.

I dodged to the side and heard the ground sizzle behind me. I was in a hurry, but that didn’t mean that I was going to run away now. I might not be ready to take on the girls hunting me, but I wanted to see how I would fare against a level 3 snake. I gripped my kindjal and lunged at it.

*****

Five minutes later, the snake dropped to the ground and a joyful ding echoed in my ears. [You leveled up!]

At the same time, three drop orbs appeared next to the carcass. I gaped at them, shocked. I never thought I’d get so much from one little — albeit pain-in-the-ass — snake. But it also raised a problem. My Items Bag only held ten items. When I added those items, it would be more than half full. If the next monster I killed dropped three items, I’d have to carry things in my arms. That just screamed rob me. I needed to get another Items Bag soon.

Quickly, I assigned my status points then collected a snake fang, a snake skin and a drop of poison. With a quick slash, the energy crystal exploded and the carcass faded away. Breathing heavily, I limped away, sporting a burn on my arm and hip. The bruise on my leg was aching more than ever.

There was a patch of grass next to the Gate that I could sit down on and rest for a while to eat an early lunch. With my new-found Regen ability, a lunch break would give me enough time to heal before going after my last monster. And since I was in the open, if those girls did find me they wouldn’t be able to do anything to me. A smile pulled at my lips as I hobbled along. I’ve got this.

Jyn Devhro

Rank E

Lv 3

EXP to Next Lv 23

HP 14/35

MP 15/15

Strength 13

Magic 10

Constitution 12

Stat Points 0

Agility 13

Perception 14

Intelligence 10