Hunts

Two figures hurried walked out of the Archer guild. One was a handsome black-haired boy and the other a shady looking cloaked figure, Arjuna looked at Alanis and said in an awkward voice

"soooo I guess we are going to hunt leader ranked monsters now?"

Alanis sighed and answered in a depressed tone

"yeah, I guess so"

Arjuna shrugged

"Alright, let's go!" and saying that he walked cheerfully to the entrance of the city of dawn. Where the grasslands and plains were.

Alanis watched Arjuna walk down the street in a cheerful mood. She really couldn't understand that human. He first, almost provoked a Nightfall Archer to a level that made her knees weak. And then asked that Nightfall Archer if he could become one while casually dissing the first Nightfall Archer.

And then somehow, he managed to get a mission from Sninkkaakac. This also meant that Sninkkaakac was actually considering passing on the class. And he also casually tossed the mission to Alanis too.

Alanis rubbed her forehead trying to process all of the crap that had just happened.

So basically the person in front of her, was also somehow in the standing for the Nightfall Archer class. The two of them could work together to finish their mission which was to defeat a leader ranked monster in a week with no special training or skills.

Alanis wanted to collapse and sit on the sidewalk for a few days just to ask herself how she got into this stuff.

A leader ranked monster was always leading a group of monsters with it. It was the toughest of the bunch and required an adventure team to take down if it was high leveled.

Two long-ranged archers would never stand a chance against one especially if it used its minions to swarm them.

She wanted to think more about how she and Arjuna were going to defeat two leader ranked monsters in a week. But then noticed that her partner Arjuna had disappeared.

She quickly stood up from her sitting position and searched for Arjuna's distinct black hair amidst the sea of brightly colored hair.

With her eyes that had been trained by years of living in the forest. She spotted a small dot of black a few hundred meters away from her, walking steadily towards the entrance gate.

Alanis sighed to herself and touched the green brooch on her elven garments through the dark cloak. A small gust of green energy in the shape of a formless wind emanated from it and surrounded her in a swirl of green. An incantation by her made the green energy disappear from view.

And with a gentle push off her legs. She jumped meters above the crowd. None of the people in the crowd seemed to notice the cloaked person in the air and walked on like nothing happened while Alanis jumped from stall to stall sometimes swinging off of clotheslines as if she didn't weigh anything or somethings onto the roof of some houses running and jumping on top of them.

Arjuna had already forgotten about Alanis and was hurrying to the entrance of the city of Dawn intending to make full use of his 10% exp bonus. His master had already hunted a leader ranked monster, so he was sure he could too.

As he passed the gate in a hurry, he gave a small wave to the gate guards, who waved back with a grin on their faces.

Arjuna didn't know it but he had become famous in the city of dawn, he was the new rookie that both the adventures guild and alchemy guild were competing for. Rumors of the archer guild joining in the mini-war for him had also spread.

While all that Arjuna did was gather herbs, the sheer amount of herbs that he brought along with the high quality he brought them back in made him a valuable asset for any guild. It was like finding a master herbalist in terms of gathering herbs.

Sadly Arjuna didn't care much about gathering herbs, he saw them as a skill to use in potion making and for earning a few silver coins.

He walked out into the plains and grasslands that surrounded the city of dawn. The tall grass and wheat that could reach up to his waist were on either side of him as he walked down the road.

Arjuna started to think about where the leader ranked the monster would appear. He was in a grassland so what kind of monsters would appear in a grassland?

"and where do you think you're going?"

A sudden pissed off female voice came from in front of him. Alanis materialized into his view with a burst of green energy dispelling and dissipating.

Arjuna answered normally

"hunting for leader ranked monsters"

Alanis's voice rose

"And you thought you could go without your partner?"

Arjuna suddenly remembered what Sninkkaakac said

"ohhhh that's right, I'm supposed to take you along"

Alanis started at Arjuna for a good second. Questioning why he was like that. But she gave up and asked him in an exasperated voice

"so, you have any plans?"

Arjuna nodded

"yup, hunt every monster we come by until a leader ranked monster appears.

Alanis sucked in a deep breath and let one out as slowly as he should.

"you know what," she said "fine let's try it your way"

And without further ado, Arjuna walked deeper into the grassland.

The two trodded silently together into the grassland. Keeping their eyes out for any sudden attack by some monsters. There were none, and the awkwardness and silence were so over bearing at that point, Alanis wished that a monster could attack them already.

Arjuna turned around and asked suddenly

"do you have any goals?"

Alanis was a bit taken aback at the deep question and replied

"a few"

Arjuna continued to walk, but after a few seconds he decided to open his mouth

"i have lots of them, even bigger then being a Nightfall archer,"

Alanis stopped, her interest had been caught, what could be bigger than the fabled Nightfall archer?

He stopped and looked at the grasslands in a focused manner. He reached his hand out and seemed to grasp at something.

"I saw a place once, in a dream, it was the most beautiful place if have ever seen. With towering mountains, long harmonious fields gentle sloping hills, and small homely towns."

Arjuna turned around and looked back at Alanis with a smile that could only be described as beautiful.

"I'm going to find that place, and if it doesn't exist, I'm going to make it, that's one of my goals. And I think its my biggest one"

Alanis took damage from Arjuna's smile. It was just too perfect the kind innocent eyes, the bright smile, and the silky black hair.

Alanis looked away from Arjuna for a second to calm herself down. Arjuna saw Alanis look away and shrugged thinking that she was trying not to laugh.

He didn't care if people laughed at him for his dream, his master and brother were behind him, and that was all that mattered.

Arjuna continued walking.

Alanis managed to recover and chased after Arjuna again. The two walked in silence. Until finally Alanis this time broke the silence.

"I don't have a goal as big as yours, but ever since I was young, I wanted to become strong, and to me, that meant being a Nightfall Archer"

Arjuna let out a light laugh

"what are you going to do with all of that strength? just sit in one place gathering more?

or perhaps" he said as he turned to face Alanis again "you want to journey around the world with companions"

Alanis let out a small grin

"perhaps"

A sudden rustling in the grasslands caught both of their attention. Alanis leaped back and pulled her thin elven bow out and notched an arrow in quick succession.

Arjuna jumped a few feet to the front with his bow in one hand and a potion with a dark red liquid in the other.

The two looked at the place where the rustling came from. And slowly a giant snake rose from the grass. It was green and about 10 meters long. It rose to a height above Arjuna's head and opened its mouth revealing fangs that dripped out a green fluid.

From behind the giant snake, other smaller hissing sounds came from the grass. Numerous green snakes about the size of Arjuna's arm slithered out.

Arjuna analyzed the giant snake in the middle

[Giant Poisonous snake]

[level 49]

[leader ranked]

[special skills]

[poison fang]

[enhanced strenght]

[unnatrual size]

[fear indcement]

Arjuna said to Alanis quietly as they both backed up slightly as they faced off against the group of snakes.

"well, we are pretty lucky aren't we?"

Alanis let her arrow fly, the arrow shot in a straight line into the snake's mouth. It reeled back in pain as she replied with a slight quip.

"quite Arjuna"