Chapter 13

Now that he was fully kitted out Jack decided to take on a few more hunts this week to try out his new gear and earn some money. The hunter’s HQ wasn’t far from where he was so he made his way over. He walked through the revolving doors and immediately noticed far more people than usual.

He made his way through the atrium and stepped through the double doors into the jobs and requests room. There were even more people in here, this was not a sleepy weekend with just a few hunters, there had to be dozens of hunters and other personnel here. Groups of hunters were gathered around tables discussing things and laughing, others were gathered around the terminals lining the walls scrolling through the screens and a particularly large group of hunters were gathered around the main notice board.

Jack had never seen so many hunters gathered around in one place, he looked around at the different armour they wore, it was all a bizarre mixture of clashing colours and styles of apparel that was rather eye-catching if not outright garish at times. Some favoured practical modern looking understated armour like Jack’s, some seemed to be wearing bulky impractical if not magnificent looking plate and furs and others wore a mixture of styles.

The weapons though, all kinds of swords, axes, hammers, spears and other melee weapons were spread throughout the room, there was also a smattering of people carrying large extremely heavy looking weapons that normal people had no business being able to lift. Despite what Charlie had said earlier about most hunters not bothering with guns, Jack noticed a fair few assault rifles, sub-machine guns and pistols, shotguns however appeared to be the most popular.

Seeing as all the terminals were in use for the moment he wandered over to the main notice board screen to see what all the fuss was about. He looked up and saw the different jobs were displayed as actual paper notices, the paper was even made to look slightly yellowed and curled or crinkled with a nail on the top of the notice as if to look like it was hammered into the board. He saw a variety of jobs and hunts for various ranks, the low ranking jobs he could take were mainly for exterminating mutated animals, harvesting plants and carrying loot for higher ranked hunters. Further up the ranks he noticed there were actually hunts for mutated insects, strange that a mutated cockroach or spider was higher ranked than a giant rat Jack thought. Even further up, all the way into the lofty ranks of rank D he noticed a job for hunting a flock of giant chickens!

A little perplexed he continued looking at all the various hunts and jobs, the highest ranked jobs all had something to do with going into dungeons, there were a fair number of well paid gathering jobs that were based around the periphery of the Dire Woods but still beyond his rank. A large number of different, actual monster hunts were present but most started at rank E and above.

A little searching around led him to view a high F rank job he could take, a suspected Goblin infestation around a residential area in the south east edge of York, the details listed it as being worth one thousand five hundred pounds if there were goblins present and the hunter dealt with them. Unfortunately it was a requirement that at least two hunters work together on this hunt, it was apparently official policy that lower ranked hunters had to be in groups when hunting humanoid monsters.

Jack frowned when he saw nothing else he wanted at the moment, all the terminals were still being used so he looked around the room, it was then that he noticed the person at the help desk, it was Cheryl. He caught her eye and she nodded to him, he waved and made his way over to her.

“Hey Cheryl!” He greeted her.

“Hi Jack, you here for a Job?” She replied as she languidly leaned against the help desk, all the surrounding hustle and bustle didn’t seem to phase her.

“Yep, just waiting for a terminal to free up”.

She looks down at his armour, then at the spear and axe hanging from his back. “So you actually got some proper equipment then? I thought you were having trouble getting the stores in the plaza to sell you stuff, they all mentioned some lighting cultivator going around begging for equipment.” She frowns at him.

“Those fuckers, I wasn’t begging, they just refused to sell me anything!” He sighs and tries to calm down. “Anyway I managed to work out a deal with a store in town, they’ll supply me with weapons”.

“Uh huh, a deal, right.” She looks at him sceptically but also seems amused.

“Er so anyway, did you hear about that Kladican thing from yesterday? Scary right?” He hurriedly tries to change the topic.

“Yeah, I heard alright, I also heard you were the one to call it in, what, didn’t want to fight yourself?”

“WHAT?! You’re kidding right?”

“Haha, I am, that thing was a high A ranking monster, it would have torn you to pieces.” She grinned at his discomfort.

“Oh! Ha yeah, er I think one guy actually did get torn to pieces.” He remembered, now feeling slightly ill thinking about it.

“Ah, Lucas, he always was reckless, I knew he’d come to a sticky end eventually.” She shook her head sadly.

“Erm so, where did that thing spawn anyway? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She shrugged. “It's still being investigated, but we think it originated from the Dire Woods, a lot of powerful spawns seem to come out of the various magical anomalies like the Dire Woods in the Yorkshire Dales or the Red Gorge in Cornwall. There were no localised multicoloured storms like what preceded that Titan Centaur thingy in Oxford so it must have come from the Woods. So anyway, have you taken a look at the board yet?”

“Yep, it was interesting to see the different types of jobs available, though I don’t know why giant chickens are ranked so highly.” He shook his head.

“You’re not ready for giant chickens.” She firmly replied.

“Oh, well nevermind then, I was just curious.”

She nodded her head, satisfied. “Did you see anything you were interested in?” She asked.

“Yeah actually, I saw a high F rank hunt for a goblin infestation, but I need at least one other hunter to team up with.”

“Goblins? Nasty little….HEY YOU!! READ THE SIGN DICKHEAD!!!” She screamed and looked past Jack and pointed to the ‘No elemental abilities inside’ sign. Jack turned around and saw a startled looking man who looked like a deer caught in headlights, he had a large sphere of water hovering over his head which suddenly dropped, drenching him and several other people nearby. The people nearby laughed loudly for a few seconds before turning back to what they were doing.

“You tell ‘em Cheryl” A voice from nearby sounded, Jack turned back to the help desk and saw Stacey leaning there grinning.

“Hey Stace! You all done today?” Cheryl smiles back.

“Yeah, just thought I’d do a quick harvesting job, the others have all got their own things today.” She shrugged.

“Well, if you’ve got time, maybe you could help Jack out, Goblin hunt, he needs an extra.” She waved in Jack's direction, Stacey looked at Jack inquisitively and Jack waved at her too with a smile.

“Goblins? God I hate those things, I’m in.” Stacey replies firmly.

“Really? Just like that? You don’t want to hear the details?” Jack asks, surprised.

“Lemme guess, homes have been broken into in a certain area, a bunch of shits gone missing, pets have gone missing and now people have started to go missing. Is that about it?” She asked.

“Er yeah pretty much, not sure about people going missing though, you’ve hunted them before?”

“A couple of times, the entire experience is usually fairly disturbing, but goblins themselves aren’t really a threat unless you let your guard down, they’re like stunted malnourished feral children. But they’re never alone and their tactics are usually to swarm their prey and stab it til it's dead.”

“Ok, where do you think we’ll find them?” He asked.

“Some place dark, we’ll need to go to the area and search for a place that looks abandoned or squalid, let's go to a terminal and accept the hunt.” She led Jack over to a terminal and slotted her licence in. She quickly scrolled through the relevant screens like a pro and accepted the goblin hunt. It asked if she was adding another hunter to the hunt, she selected yes and then it asked for the add on hunter to scan their licence in at a contactless part of the terminal. Jack did so and the hunt was officially on. His pager buzzed in his pocket, he took it out and it displayed a hunt accepted message.

“Ok, now that’s done, we’ll want to prepare, do you have a flashlight?”

“I’ve got a maglite.” He rummaged through his rucksack and showed it to her. It was a large, extremely solid looking thing.

She nodded. “That's a good start, but we’ll want more.” She beckoned him to follow her and she led him to the plaza. When they were in she turned left up the stairs, when on the upper floor she walked along until they were in front of a shop called ‘hunter’s exploration gear’. She entered with Jack following, she walked over to an aisle displaying caving gear and scooped up a large armful of flares. She deposited them all at the front desk in front of a bewildered shop assistant who asked if she’d like them bagged up, Stacey nodded and told them to charge the expenses directly to the guild. With that done Jack and Stacey headed outside.

“C’mon, we can take my car.” She led him over to her car, they got in and were off.

It was only a short drive to their destination, with traffic it would be around twenty minutes, Jack didn’t want to spend it in awkward silence and had a burning question.

“Soooo, are you like, friends with Barry?” He asked, trying to be casual.

“Sort of, he’s my boyfriend.” She replied casually.

“WHAT?!” He screamed.

“Just kidding, hehe. I can’t take my eyes off the road right now but I can tell that the look on your face right now is priceless.” She wore a manic grin while she navigated past traffic.

“Oh ha ha, you’re funny, yeah, but seriously are you friends with that douche or not?.” He asked, not wanting to waste anymore time.

“Er that would be a no, definitely not, he really is a douche.” She replied.

“A massive douche!” This was a line of conversation Jack could follow. “So, why were you with him the other night last week?” He asked.

She sighed. “That wasn’t out of choice, it was due to a lack of options, one of my usual team was injured and we needed a replacement for our assigned patrol with the neighbourhood watch. Barry was one of the few people around and he volunteered.” She shrugged.

“Huh, he doesn’t strike me as volunteering helpful sort of guy, more of a complete dickhead sort of guy.” Jack mused contemplatively.

“Yeah, he wasn’t doing it to be helpful though, completing a certain number of neighbourhood watch patrols is needed to maintain your monthly quota after rank E.” She said.

“Oh ok, that makes sense. Anywho, what exactly is the neighbourhood watch? I’ve heard about it occasionally since I joined up and I think you mentioned it when we first met but……meh i dunno.”

“The Watch? Well basically once you’ve got a bit of experience as a hunter and you’ve gotten stronger you can sign up for a patrol around the county of North Yorkshire, there are dozens of patrol routes all over the place and you get paid a flat sum upon completion and any monsters you kill and harvest during your patrol are all yours. The pay differs on the location though, some routes are safer with lower pay, others are hazardous with bigger pay.” She explained.

“Hmmm, that sounds pretty good I suppose, in principle, though it seems kind of open to abuse or cheating or something. What's to stop someone from just….running the entire route as fast as they can and avoiding all monsters?” But Jack was really thinking about Barry and his goons taking advantage and outright torturing the other Watch team for their loot.

“Haah, yeah, there have been some problems in the past, people just in it for easy money and not erm, obeying the spirit of the job for lack of a better term. When it was first set up it was still new, just like the entire hunters organisation and we didn’t think there was a need for loads of rules just to make certain people do their jobs.” She sighed sadly.

“Oh there's always a need, gather too many people together and there’s bound to be a couple of wankers in the group.” Jack replied.

“That's very cynical of you, but you may be right, anyway we have been cracking down, adding on more requirements and rules for patrols, like GPS tracking during a patrol. I think there’s a debate about using chest cameras like the police but that could just be a rumour. Ah! We’re here.” Jack looked outside as they pulled into a small cul de sac, they drove along before spotting a police car, they pulled up and parked just behind it. They got out and were greeted by a male police officer wearing a high vis jacket.

“Hi there, you must be the hunters the guild sent over, I received your text. I’m Sergeant Peters.” He held his hand out and both Jack and Stacey awkwardly shook it.

“Yep, that's us!” Stacey replied. “So I have two questions, firstly are there any empty buildings around here? And secondly, have any people disappeared yet?” She asked brusquely.

The officer looked startled for a second at the sudden barrage but maintained a professional demeanour. “There was a building project next to this cul de sac to the west but that was abandoned a few months ago, most of the houses were constructed I think but still needed furnishing and plumbing and electricity installed. As for disappearances, a group of goblins actually broke into a house and snuck into a child's bedroom, but fortunately the father heard and came running. He managed to drive them off but he and the girl were severely injured, multiple knife wounds.”

Stacey didn’t say anything, she just nodded her head listening, looking very serious.

The officer continued. “I have to say I’m pleased to find a hunter who actually cares about the people they’re trying to protect, most hunters just seem to be in it for the money.” He said.

“Or the fame.” Jack added helpfully.

“Er yes the fame too.” Peters begrudgingly agreed with Jack giving him a weird look.

“Or the thrill.” Jack also added.

“Yes, the er thrill.”

“Or the glory, but that might just be the same as fame, the point is there are lots of things to be in it for.” Both Stacey and Peters were looking at him now, Jack mimed zipping up his mouth.

Stacey calmly turned to Peters. “I am concerned, but I’m also asking because if the goblins have started going after people then that means that a large number of them have spawned and they’re looking for bigger prey.”

Peters eyes grew wide in concern. “Oh! Does this mean we need more people then? Are the two of you enough?” He asked.

“It’s fine, Jack and I will be enough, it just means we need to be more careful, that's all, and if it’s really bad we’ll scout things out and call for backup. But that will result in the hunt rank increasing and the pay too, anyway c’mon Jack, let’s go.” She turned and headed to where Peters had pointed where the building site was.

They left the cul de sac and went a hundred metres or so up the road before turning off into the building site. Half finished houses without windows lined the road, plastic sheeting rustled in the light wind, it was eerily quiet except for a faint high pitched cackling in the distance.

“Huh, this is how horror films start you know, you’re not gonna suggest splitting up are you?” Jack asked.

She turned to him and grinned. She shook her head and spoke. “Nope, I’ve watched way too much TV for that. But seriously, when we find them don’t allow yourself to get surrounded, they’re weak little shits but they will try and swarm you, when they're confident they’re like tiny berserkers. We’ll try and funnel them into a corridor or something then take them out.” She was all business now.

“Ok, but can I take point or be in front for that? I want to get some experience.” He asked while unholstering his spear from his back, the harness for his spear and axe was a nifty little device with magnetic catches making it easier and faster for grabbing his weapons and putting them away.

“Yeah, I was gonna suggest just blasting them but if you’re sure we can do it your way.” She shrugged and acquiesced.

“By the way, what element are you?” He asked her.

“I’m water element, I was just gonna blast them with scalding hot steam then finish them off while they were rolling around on the floor screaming.” She explained nonchalantly. She drew a long slightly curved sabre from a sheath at her side and gave it a twirl.

“Huh, brutal.” He swallowed nervously.

“Tell you what, I’ll let you take point, but when or if I say errrrr marmalade, you get back immediately and I blast ‘em, how's that?” She asked.

“Marmalade? As far as safe words go it's not the worst I suppose.” He smirked at her and she smirked back. “And what about these? I presume they factor in somehow.” He held up one of the bags filled with flares.”

“Sure, just light and throw as many of them as you can, if in doubt chuck one, goblins have very sensitive eyesight and I want to plaster the whole fucking fighting area with flares, hehehe, they’ll hate it! Hahahaha!” She began cackling maniacally.

“Er, roger that.” He replied.

They continued deeper into the new not quite finished housing estate, it was beginning to get dark, the sky was grey and overcast and the wind was picking up. The further in they walked the more they began to see litter and random pieces of junk scattered around. Eventually the shrill cackling became more audible, and they began to hear whispering all around them though Jack couldn’t tell what was being said. His grip tightened on his weapon. Stacey spoke to him out of the corner of her mouth whilst still looking ahead.

“Don’t worry, they won’t attack us yet, they’ll wait until we’re in their lair. I think.”

He nodded and they kept walking. Eventually they came to a large two storey house at the end of the street with an overgrown lawn in front, a clearly audible din was emanating from within. High pitched voices babbling and gibbering nonsensically, shrieking, breaking glass, banging objects and more could be heard.

Jack turned to Stacey and she nodded at him and gestured for him to go first. He shrugged and walked along the pathway through the lawn. As they approached, the noises from the house faded into frantic whispering before being replaced by the pitter patter of tiny feet scrambling over wooden floors all over the house. Once they reached the open front entrance everything was dead quiet, there was a rustle behind Jack and he turned around in surprise but it was just Stacey fishing out a flare from the shopping bag. She looked at him and nodded, giving him an encouraging smile, he nodded back.

He gripped his short spear in both hands and stepped through into the house. The interior revealed a dark entryway with stairs leading upwards. Jack looked down the corridor leading further into the house, the faint light coming through the front entrance revealed the walls to be covered in markings, scratches, scribbles and various coloured smears of unknown origins. He turned back to Stacey and she looked at him meaningfully and mouthed the words ‘right here’.

She then began banging the side of the walls with her sabre, shouting out various obscenities. After a few seconds of that Jack began to hear high pitched shrieking and the sound of tiny feet scrambling around, mainly from downstairs, it seems this house has a basement.

Eventually the pitter patter of tiny feet gets louder and the first goblin skids around the corner into the corridor. It is an atrociously ugly thing, with just enough light to see by, Jack observes it’s mottled grey green skin, standing around four feet tall it had scrawny limbs and a small pot belly which is just visible underneath it’s ripped and stained t-shirt. Its face isn’t much better, a too wide mouth filled with needle-like teeth and a short pointed hook nose rest underneath beady yellow eyes which glare at Jack and Stacey hatefully. A second later an avalanche of more of the little monstrosities appear behind the first, they stay there and stare at the two hunters, hissing and waving what appeared to be weaponry . A crude assortment of kitchen knives, screwdrivers, butter knives, spoons and spatulas were all present, Jack had to do a double take when one particularly vicious specimen appeared to be dual wielding syringes.

Stacey whispered to Jack from behind. “We’ll wait for some of them to charge then I’ll start throwing flares to the far end of the corridor.”

He nodded in response. He then took out his pager from his pocket and selected the camera option, he turned around and grabbed a simultaneously horrified and confused looking Stacey by the shoulder and took a selfie with her with the goblins in the background. Afterwards he put his pager back in his pocket and got ready for a fight. He tensed up and lowered his spear in anticipation, he reached into his core and channelled lighting energy into his spear. He was pleasantly surprised to find the energy sunk into it easily, like a dry sponge absorbing water, he channelled as much as he dared into it and then took a couple of steps forward. That seemed to be all the provocation the goblins needed because with a great shriek the first ten or so scrambled forward, gleefully shoving each other out of the way in order to be the first.

Jack reached the first one and thrust his spear into it, the goblin tried to dodge but despite its small size it wasn’t exactly graceful. Jack caught it in the shoulder, he felt the spear stick momentarily and then a quick vibration seemed to travel down the shaft into the goblin. The goblin juddered and stiffened briefly before falling still, Jack’s spear blade cut upwards almost of its own accord through the goblin, upon exiting he saw what looked like steam or smoke rising from the charred meat of the goblin’s shoulder.

The goblin collapsed at Jack’s feet, dead. The rest charged at Jack and he moved to meet them, feeling strangely calm, the goblins themselves almost appeared to be moving slightly sluggishly. Lit flares then began arcing overhead to the other end of the corridor into the mass of watching goblins who hadn’t charged yet. They all gave panicked shrieks and wails and ran further into the house, away from the sudden bright lights in their midst.

Meanwhile Jack was taking down one goblin after another with single hits, his lighting enhanced weapon skill proving extremely useful. The corridor prevented them from circling around him and so they could only attack one or two at a time, all Jack had to do was at least tag them with his spear and the lightning took care of the rest. Within a few minutes they were all dead. The last couple had attempted to flee past the flares, but it was like the bright lights made them go blind, they kept running into the walls or each other. Jack and Stacey slowly and cautiously walked down the corridor towards the two stricken goblins who were now crawling around blindly on their hands and knees. Jack finished them off with two quick spear thrusts.

“Well well well, Mr lightning element, aren’t we just full of surprises?” Stacey asked with an amused smirk as she stood there with her arms folded. “You know, I actually know a guy in London who can heat his blade up so hot that it can cut through monsters like they were made of butter, ruins the blade eventually though.” She poked one of the goblins with her boot, it rolled over to reveal a deep, ragged, steaming charred wound in its chest. “This is a bit like that.” She said thoughtfully, tilting her head staring down at it.

“Er yeah, I don’t suppose this can stay between us can it?” He asked, he hadn’t really meant to show off his ability but the situation forced him too, in truth although he wanted his abilities kept to himself for now he hadn’t yet thought of a real plan to keep them so. Especially if he was forced to work with others.

“Hmmm, why the cloak and dagger? I’ve never heard of a lighting element who could actually use their element, most aren’t strong enough, if any. You could be famous, people would pay to know how you do it. How do you do it anyway?” She asked.

“Well, I’ve sort of learned how to cultivate.” He replied. Her eyes went wide in shock and she opened her mouth and closed it several times as if she didn’t know what to say. Jack cut her off. “Can we just finish the job first? I'll explain everything later.” He was feeling a little frustrated that less than a week into his new career, already two people knew his secret. She silently nodded.

He sighed heavily and looked down at one of the goblins corpses, it was the first one he’d seen from before the fight. Not to be racist or anything but it was even uglier dead than alive, its head lolled to one side and its long tongue stuck out from its open mouth. Jack took a look at the filthy and torn t-shirt it was wearing and saw it had the words ‘the only thing I love more than beer is twins’ printed on it, along with an image of two women holding glasses of beer. He smirked a little and then realised all the goblins appeared to be wearing looted human clothing, most of it was ill fitting and in poor condition but the monsters were wearing human clothes nonetheless. He didn’t know whether he should be disturbed by that or relieved that the little monsters had a sense of modesty. He knew before he even arrived here that there were things the goblins probably had that he didn’t want to see.

He turned back to Stacey to ask if she was ready to continue and saw several goblin corpses by the foot of the stairs. He looked to Stacey inquiringly and she raised her sabre which was dripping blood, she shrugged and gave a lopsided smirk before motioning with her head to continue down the corridor.

“Now they’re scared the goblins will retreat either further into the house or down, anywhere that takes them away from the light, I remember someone telling me its instinct. So for us that’ll mean the basement. Remember the safe word.” She said teasingly while conjuring a ball of water and used it to wipe the blood off her sabre, she shook it once and every last drop of water fell to the ground.

He nodded and began walking. The corridor was around ten metres in length and took them to a large room, Jack didn’t know what the room was supposed to be as it was still unfurnished. Several doorways lead to other parts of the house, Stacey went to each doorway and peered through but didn’t enter. She began rummaging in the shopping bag and started placing lit flares in various parts of the house they’d visited. It was then that Jack thought he’d found the way to the basement. In a large room that could potentially be a kitchen one day, it had what looked like a kitchen island in the centre, there was an open doorway with stairs leading down into pitch black darkness. The entrance to the basement appeared to have ragged looking large sheets or curtains nailed and duct taped to the top of the door frame hanging down to the floor, but in their haste to get into the basement the goblins must have ripped part of it off as it now hung to the side. Jack alerted Stacey and she came over to look, he stepped into the kitchen.

A high pitched screech suddenly emanated from his left behind the kitchen island and a trio of goblins came charging at him. Already alerted by the screeching Jack reacted quickly and stabbed one but another leapt at his face with a butcher's knife, he managed to get the spear shaft in the way and held it at bay. Meanwhile another goblin tried attacking him while wielding a cleaver with both hands, Jack was in no mood to play games and booted it in the face, it flew backwards and lay still. This was when Stacey stepped in and quickly thrust her sabre into the knife wielding goblin’s throat before walking over and doing the same to the downed goblin Jack had kicked before.

“Ok, you ready? That's their main den, we’ve backed them into a corner so they’ll be especially vicious.” She looked at Jack.

“I’m ready.” He replied firmly.

“Good, we’ll both go in with several lit flares each, as soon as we enter we’ll place flares right in front of us then try to herd them all into a tight bunch, throw the flares around the edge of the room. Make them all gather together as tightly as possible, then it's marmalade time.” She grinned in anticipation. He nodded silently, in what little time he’d known Stacey she often seemed to wear that manic grin of her’s. Maybe this explained why Barry had been so quick to back down to her when Jack had first met them.

They both went through the shopping bag and took out several flares, they lit them all one by one and carried them to the basement entrance. They walked down the stairs, with Jack going first, their shadows dancing madly along the walls, accompanied by the red light of the flares. Over the hiss of the flares they could hear the gibbering and babbling of the goblins getting louder. They approached the foot of the stairs and walked into the basement, it stank. The wretched unholy smell appeared to be a combination of many things including but most certainly not limited to rotting meat, faeces and unwashed bodies without any sense of hygiene.

The light of the flares held by Jack and Stacey only partially penetrated into the warm stinking gloom, they dropped them in front of the basement stairs and began throwing more lit flares from the bag into the edges of the room. A great wailing panicked shrieking sounded throughout the room and scrambling was heard throughout as panicked goblins hurried away from the walls. The tiny figures created giant twisting shadows which shambled madly across the walls. Jack kept throwing more flares and was beginning to run out, he looked over to Stacey to see what she was doing. She was just stood there, frowning with her arms slightly raised and her hands held slightly apart. Jack threw flares until only a few remained, he had successfully boxed them in and lit up the entire room. It was then that Stacey softly spoke.

“Marmalade.” Jack stepped back quickly and Stacey stepped forward. She thrust her hands forth and a great jet of superheated scalding steam sprang forward into the goblins midst. The panicked screeching turned into screeches of pain, before fading until less and less could be heard. Stacey kept the steam going for several seconds before releasing it and sagging forward, letting out a great gasp and began breathing heavily as if she’d just completed a long sprint. The red looking steam eventually dissipated enough for them to see the dozens of goblins littering the middle of the basement floor. Some were twitching feebly, still alive and moaning pitifully, others were completely still and quiet.

“We’ll need to go through them and finish them all off.” Stacey said, still breathing somewhat heavily, crouched down behind Jack. He nodded in response and moved forward into the crowd of stricken goblins.

It was gruesome work, he stabbed one helpless goblin with his spear only to move onto the next. He began to feel that familiar twinge of guilt he’d felt for the giant rats in his previous hunting job. They looked so small and helpless now that they weren’t trying to murder him with kitchen knives and spatulas. Once he was finished he and Stacey took a look around the large basement. There wasn’t a lot to be seen at first, it was dark, the red flares didn’t didn’t provide a massive amount of light but they could see the goblins had amassed piles of random junk they seemed to value and bits and pieces of some random unidentifiable goop were scattered all over. He didn’t look too closely at what it was, the flares only provided a red light so any detail that might’ve been provided by colour was thankfully missing.

It was only when Jack approached a large pile of something in a corner that any sympathy he’d had for the goblins evaporated. They were bones, some with bits of ragged flesh and hair still attached, most of the bones were small and at first he couldn’t identify what they were. But then he started to see the skulls as he sifted through the pile with the point of his spear, he didn’t want to know but at the same time he couldn’t stop himself. Skulls belonging to rats, cats and dogs were all there, along with various others, eventually his worst fears were realised when he saw several human skulls in the pile. He stared at them and swallowed heavily, feeling slightly nauseous, some of these human skulls were quite small.

“Hey Jack, let's go, we need to let that police guy, Peters, know we’re done here.” Stacey spoke up softly behind him. She had a hand on his shoulder as she tried to gently guide him away.

He allowed himself to be led away, they walked upstairs silently and exited the house into the twilight. It was cold but the air was fresh and taking in a deep lungfull made him start to feel better. As the adrenaline wore off he began to feel tired and sore, he sat down on the step in front of the main entrance and leaned back on his hands looking into the darkening sky while Stacey fiddled about with her pager.

After a few minutes she turned to him. “Ok, I’ve alerted Peters, he said he’ll be here in about twenty to thirty minutes.”

“Really? That long?” Jack replied in confusion. What could he be doing? They only just left him.

“Yeah, he said something came up, besides the police are stretched pretty thin these days.” She replied with a shrug.

“Hmm, I would’ve thought the police would be here with us, or instead of us, taking care of this, I mean they’ve got riot gear, guns and special forces and whatnot right?” Jack mused.

“Yeah, but it’s like with the army, you can’t go toe to toe with most monsters until you’ve got some cultivation under your belt. And cultivation can be just as dangerous and deadly to the cultivator as fighting a monster. I suppose the government didn’t want to lose half its police force to cultivation accidents by making it mandatory. So they just outsource that work to us, private contractors.” She explained.

“Oh shit! Cultivation! I still need to do it!” He sat up in alarm just now remembering.

“What? Now?” She questioned incredulously.

“Yep, this is the only time, you wanted to know how I did it right? Well then.” He twisted around to peer back into the dark house. “Would you mind please fetching those goblin corpses from the hallway?” He asked with the sweetest smile he could muster.

“What? Why can’t you do it? You’re a big strong man.” She baulked at going back into the dark house.

“That's sexist.” He replied. He stared and smiled at her. She sighed heavily before re-entering the house, she emerged a few seconds later dragging two small dead and smelly goblin corpses behind her. She dumped them on the grass and looked at Jack expectantly, he just motioned his head back into the house with a small smile. She rolled her eyes and went back in, muttering under her breath.

Jack clambered back to his feet and slowly walked over to the two corpses and knelt over the first. He’d been pondering over a different way to do this, he didn’t want to be leaving intact monster corpses behind him after every hunt, at least not until he was ready to be outed as a successful lighting cultivator. Until the cat escaped from the bag so to speak he needed to be more discrete, and short of skulking around burying all his kills or dissolving them all in a bathtub of sulphuric acid like a serial killer he needed to alter his approach to cultivation. First things first though. He put his hand over the corpse and poured a little energy into the creature. It twitched slightly, he then drew out the energy contained within and the twitching became more violent like it was having a mild seizure, abruptly it fell still and Jack could feel no lighting energy within it. He then attempted to draw out even more, thinking that if he perhaps left it without any residual magic it would eventually fade like all other monster remains.

It was only a small trickle but it was there, barely, it came out with only great effort from Jack, like he was trying to suck in air through a straw after running a race. The goblin resumed its twitching and jerking around before falling still a second time, Jack stepped back and took a deep breath, he wiped sweat off his forehead. Looking down at the goblin, he saw his handiwork had left a mark or two. It looked completely desiccated, like it had been decomposing for weeks under a hot sun and already he could see faint wisps of multicoloured vapour emanating from it.

“Whoa, so that's how you do it? You suck something from dead monsters?” Stacey was looking at him wonder while holding a small goblin upside down by its ankle.

“You don’t have to put it like that, but yes. I think it’s got something to do with the charged ions and electrolytes contained within various er, organisms or biological entities. So long as they have cells and a nervous system I can use that as a sort of cultivation essence, like fire elements and burning charcoal or water elements and…. you know, water.” He explained to her. “So….erm, you’re not going to tell anyone, right?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment, her forefinger tapping on her chin before she eventually spoke with a grin. “I won’t tell anyone, as long as you send me a copy of that selfie from before.”