***Hayato***

Hayato buried the last of the [Savage gray wolf] he had encountered. After procuring their pelt, fangs, claws and meat; he proceeded to burn them all in a pile and buried their bodies. Even though they were annoying monsters, they managed to make him panic. A feat not even after realizing he was not in his world could not do.

From all the fighting, he managed to get one level and filled his EXP bar by 39%. It was already high considering that all monsters’ ranks go up at night.

He recalled the fight he was in not long ago. “If [Savage] ranks are already that powerful, I don’t want to meet a higher rank at night…” Hayato mumbled as he fell onto the ground under a lone tree in a middle of a clearing he had found. Although he almost died due to his panic, he did answer one of his questions: about the items and currency he gains when he kills the monsters.

The monsters themselves did not drop the weapons and currency but they are more like rewards from a lottery where the worst drop is just a little bit of money. If he were to put it in simpler terms: they were gifts selected by random that are influenced by the item drop rates everyone had. Apparently, the drop rate is gained by increasing the LCK stat that most people ignore since it only gives a minimum amount of +1 [Magical Attack] per point in LCK.

Hayato himself had a higher amount of LCK in his stats than most do and because of his [Lucky bastard] passive ability: he had higher drop rates than anyone in [Kismet online]. The only other people that might have beaten his LCK stat might be the top ten players of the game.

“I will leave the question of WHO gives the items for a later date… Next would be about the monsters…” Hayato recalled what he had been told and what he had seen for himself.

After defeating the monsters; Hayato had dismantled the five ones closest to him and managed to take all of the valuable materials, burn and bury them and when he reached the first [Savage Gray wolf] he had killed: it had changed.

It was no longer a [Savage Gray wolf] but it turned into a [Savage ghoul wolf]; a wolf that has risen from the dead with slightly stronger abilities and even had the passive ability called [Rot] that rots away any living thing that it was biting on. Hayato was just grateful that the wolf never managed to get a bite of him before he managed to kill it by hacking its body into pieces.

The worst thing about when they turn is: they could not be harvested anymore. The bones were too feeble and would break even just by pinching it with his middle finger and pointer finger, the meat had turned rotten and contained several disease inducing bacteria and virus, the pelt was infected with an incurable disease that causes anyone to equip it to receive a debuff on their defense, and its fangs and claws had crumbled into sand. Not a tiny speck of the turned monsters can be harvested so he just burnt it into ashes and buried it DEEP underground.

What he had learned from the gate guard was all true so far. The only thing he could not and would not try was confirming whether he would be revived if he was killed. If he would be revived after being killed it would be fine but if he didn’t: He did not even want to think about it. True, he may not fear death but he worries about those that he will leave behind. His family, friends, students… He did not want to cause unnecessary things by dying when he just got back.

Remembering about the unidentified items he had been given after fighting the wolves, he thought that it would be good for his advanced appraisal. “I guess I should finally try to identify the items I have gotten…” Hayato took out the items he had gained that were not appraised yet. There were 5 items all together: 1 pair of boots, 2 rings and 2 katana blades.

Hayato took a deep breath and imagined his eyes drawing information from the items that were sitting in front of him.

[table]Wolf skin boots[tr]

[tr]Type:bootsDurability:13/20Rank:NormalDEF:+10Stats:SPD +5Requirements:LVL6[table]2x Critical Rings[tr]

[tr]Type:Ring accessoryDurability:N/ARank:GreenDEF:+3 eachStats:Critical rate +5% eachRequirements:LVL6[table]Iron Katana[tr]

[tr]Type:one-handed bladeDurability:17/20Rank:GreenATK:+45Stats:Fire attack 10%Requirements:LVL10[table]Iron Katana[tr]

[tr]Type:one-handed bladeDurability:16/20Rank:GreenATK:+45Stats:Ice attack 10%Requirements:LVL10Hayato smiled. He had elements and SPD/critical boosts. He brought up his player menu in order to ‘properly’ equip the weapons even though he knew he didn’t have to but was surprised when he found 9 more weapon slots for him to put weapons in named [Tail 1] – [Tail 9]. Curious, he equipped one of the two newly acquired weapons onto [Tail 1] and closed his window.

He brought his tail in front of him. He saw no difference. No color changing, no sword protruding from his tails and no texture change as it was still fluffy. “Maybe…” Hayato turned his attention towards the tree behind him and then to his tail. He then made a slashing motion with his tail towards the tree. Where the tail touched, there was a slight burn and he could see that there was a small cut mark.

“So my tails gain the properties of the item I equip on it…” Hayato mused out loud and again made a slashing motion with his tail at the tree. He saw it as a very useful thing, now he can use his tails not only to attack his opponents but he could also overpower them with the elements as well as have at least 8 more weapons equipped than his enemies.

“Six elements means I need to equip six halberds in order to get slash, pierce and blunt attacks…” He then thought about the other three tails he had. “I should get one scepter or wand to increase magical proficiency and two shields…” For some odd reason: shields were not categorized as ‘armor’ but were under ‘weapon’. Meaning that it was a defensive weapon that blocks attacks while at the same time deals a good amount of blunt damage.

“I will try it out after crafting the shield” He was now curious on how much impact the shields he uses will be able to absorb. Now he had his eyes set on acquiring the materials needed for making weapons he needed to answer another question he had: [Boundless dungeons]. Do they still follow the rules of the game or have they changed like most of the things have?

Hayato remembered the difficulty when he tried to activate his [Wind walk] ability. He could picture illusions easily because it tricks the senses into believing that an illusion has been cast but what about magic? Does he only need mana and creativity or does he need other components in using the ability?

Then there were also other active abilities like a [Swordsman]’s slash or a [Warrior]’s bash and then there was also [Healing Magic] from that could be casted by professions that have healing abilities like [Cleric] and [acolyte]. Do they need to picture the wounds to heal or do they need something else like the information of the disease?

Hayato clicked his tongue and clenched his hands into fists. He did not have enough information. He felt so useless and he hated it. He needed more information about the world, not just the game world but also this world in which he was thrown in.

A small beeping noise brought Hayato out of his train of thoughts. He then remembered about the [Communication system] that is still running even after being transported. Pressing the small button with a phone on it with his mind; Hayato answered the call: “Hello?”

“Ah, big brother…” A voice appeared in the back of his mind. It was called [Telepathic call], a sort of ‘magic’ that allowed the user to call others by linking their mind waves or simply by ‘telepathy’. The voice belonged to Ame, the little girl in his party.

“Ame, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Hayato did not even need to utter the words as it was directly coming from his mind, meaning he was using his mind’s voice to talk. Hayato could mildly feel that the girl on the other end of the line shook her head.

“Can you come back? I have something that I need to talk to you about…” Hayato never once heard the little girl sound so dispirited. He knew it had only been a few hours at most since he had been away but seeing it was a direct request from one of his students; he nodded to no one in particular.

“I understand. I’ll get there as quickly as I can…” Hayato heard the girl made a grunt before the ‘telepathy’ got cut off. Hayato stood up from the spot under the tree and activated his [Wind walk] ability to accelerate his speed.

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It only took Hayato fifteen minutes of non-stop running to reach the inn where he left Ame and Yuka. Seeing as the window was still open, Hayato jumped in causing the person who was sitting on a chair next to the window to jump from her position.

“Can’t you enter in like a normal person?!” Yuka screamed her question towards him with a red face.

“Sorry about that…” Hayato sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he apologizes to his red headed student and then turned to look at the little girl on the bed with a sad look on her face and didn’t seem to have realized he had arrived. “Ame…?” He called out to the little girl.

“Oh!” The little girl was brought out of her thoughts when Hayato called out to her. She then looked at the white haired male with a sad smile. “Big brother…”

Hayato now knew that it must be something serious must be troubling her. He approached the little bed and sat next to her. “What’s the matter? What is it that you need to talk to me about?” The little girl made a complex face. A wide arrange of emotions were displayed on her face ranging from happiness, sadness, relief and regret. She then looked up at him.

“It seems I cannot follow big brother on your journey…” she said in a quiet voice.

Hayato went silent. ‘Could she still be traumatized by her first kill?’

“I found out not long ago that An-chan was also here and had been trying to contact me when he was inside a [Closed dungeon]…” Hayato stayed quiet and listened. “He got killed when he was trying to contact me and had been revived at the next town…” She clenched the blanket she was using. “I… I want to go to An-chan… He’s my only family and-” Hayato cut off her sentence by hugging her. He could feel her trembling and sobbing in his embrace.

“Ame…” Hayato began to stroke the little girl’s head. She must be feeling quite scared. Not only did she kill for the first time; she also found out that her brother had been killed inside a dungeon. Even if he was revived, she must be shook quite badly after hearing that her brother had been killed. “You don’t have to worry about me.” The little girl wrapped her arms around him.

“Big brother… I was so scared! When I heard that An-chan got killed from his friend, I thought that he would be gone forever!” She began to cry harder. “I-I-I thought that… *sob* I thought I lost him!” She began to wail.

Hayato did not speak but continued to stroke the little girl’s long hair in an effort to comfort her. It must have been shocking news to find out that your sibling had been killed. Ame began to calm down and continued with her story.

“An-chan will be coming here and will probably reach the town around a few hours from now…” She said as she sobbed. “I’m sorry big brother… I want to go with you, I really do but…” her eyes began to glisten again.

Hayato shook his head and gently petted the little girl’s head. “You don’t have to apologize, you know? It’s good that Ryuu is here in the game…” the girl stopped her sobbing. “Now that we know he’s going to see you right after his death, you should greet him with a smile to soothe him.” The little girl nodded. “Then you should get some sleep…” Hayato slowly laid her down on the bed and fixed the blanket so it would cover her from the neck downwards.

The little girl only nodded and closed her eyes. Seeing her like that, Hayato beckoned the red head who had been silently watching the scene in her chair towards him. She obeyed and approached him. Since she knew what he was going to ask: she took the space next to the little girl.

Seeing as he had no other reason to stay, Hayato was going to exit the room through the window again. He felt a small glare from his red headed student and closed the window instead. He went to the door, all the while being glared at by his student, and exited the room normally.

Entering the room right across theirs, Hayato lay down on his bed. He closed his eyes and entered the world of sleep where he was plagued by the sinister smile that appeared in his vision before he finally found salvation by the dreams of his family.

-End of chapter-

why do my tables keep moving?

as always constructive criticism is welcomed along with suggestions and your views on the story