Back to the Old Grind

Alex and the others slept well that night. Yet, there was no time to sleep in; they awoke early in the morning, slightly hungover, and quickly got to work. If you weren't constantly progressing in this new world, you were essentially waiting for death.

Cassie had gone to the mission board first thing in the morning and accepted a mission to hunt a dozen shadow-hide foxes. The Shadow-hide fox was one of many species that had evolved from the local kit fox.

They appeared throughout the night and early morning. However, few slayers were brave enough to stalk the creatures in the dead of night. As such, if one were to hunt them, it would be in the early morning.

They were relatively easy to kill, but their hides were useful in the construction of concealment ware. Thus they fetched a fair price for such an easy task. Considering her party was in rough shape from the previous night's celebrations, she decided to take an easy task with decent pay.

The pay for this mission was a custom-made shadow-hide vest, which would be greatly beneficial to her as a rogue. Sometimes it paid to be the party leader, as she could accept missions whose rewards suited herself.

After accepting the mission, Cassie rallied with her party outside the airport; they had been engorging themselves on sugar root coffee in an attempt to break their hangover. What ended up happening is their bodies became energized, while their minds were still a bit sluggish.

Nevertheless, they were in a better fighting state than if they had not consumed such a product. After confirming the mission, the party set out towards the last known location of the foxes. These beasts were relatively cunning and liked to hide in shadowy areas.

Luckily there had been a spotting of the creatures nearby. Otherwise, this mission might take a few days worth of travel, and the party was all too accustomed to the dangers of the night. The incident with the creature now identified as a gargoyle was all too fresh in Alex's mind. He still had nightmares about Gunnar's death and struggled to face his decision that night.

The shame he felt for abandoning a teammate to save his own hide ate away at him day after day, but he rarely showed it. Instead, he masked it with alcohol abuse and violence. Luckily there was a world full of monsters and beasts for him to vent his frustrations on.

After marching for a solid half an hour, they finally came across their first shadow-hide fox. It was a cute creature with a black coat and purple markings. It had a set of saber fangs and a pair of stubby horns on its head.

The creature could transform from a corporeal state to a mist-like substance at will which made it difficult to kill if it became aware of its hunter's presence. However, it did not take much to kill such a creature; a single arrow from a hunter would be able to pierce its hide and send it to the afterlife.

As such, before it could become aware of the party's presence, Brandon knocked an arrow and shot the creature in the heart.

[You have slain a shadow-hide fox and gain 200 XP!]

the message appeared across the party's vision as they rejoiced. Despite the ease of kill, these beasts gave a fair amount of experience points. Brandon quickly approached the beast and skinned it, gathering its pelt and stashing it away within his satchel.

He smiled and pronounced with great joy

"Got one!"

Cassie smirked at his excitement and rained on his parade

"Just eleven more to go"

The smile on Brandon's face instantly turned sour, and the party collectively laughed at his dismay. It seemed their group might be hunting these creatures for a few days. At the very least, if they could not finish by late morning, then they would have to wait for dusk to hunt again.

There was not much for Alex to do on this hunt, aside from tank any monsters which ended up on their path; the hunt of the beasts itself was left to Brandon; after all, he had been the one to accept the hunter class. Because of this, Alex was dreadfully bored throughout the search.

By late morning they had gathered half of the pelts required for completion of the mission. Because they would have to wait until dusk to continue, they decided to spend the rest of their time grinding monster mobs.

The best place to accomplish this would be the battlefield between the strip and the airport. Thus, the party spent a little over an hour doubling back to the airport and going towards the battlefield. There was little action in between there, as the areas around the airport were regularly cleared of any threats.

...

The battle lines were drawn, crude fortifications had been made on both sides of the conflict to prevent either side from being overrun by the enemy. The airport was the largest safe zone for humanity within the ruins of the city. The strip was the largest monster-occupied territory. Neither side would yield in this conflict.

The area between the two regions was nicknamed the "battlefield" by the human survivors. Every day countless slayers went to the battlefield to combat the monster's unending hordes. Those who survived and contributed would gain what was now referred to as "battlefield merit," also known as "merits," or "merit points."

Recently, this system was put in place by the gangs who controlled the airport's various gates to alleviate the inefficiency of bartering. The merits could be exchanged for goods and services provided by the gangs in the airport.

The gangs had attempted to get the various merchants to accept the merit-based system; however, many were content with bartering and refused to accept such currency. Only a select few merchants were had opted to accept it as an alternative to bartering like Emily.

Emily had enough foresight to see the desperate need for a stable currency, and battlefield merit provided that for now. She figured it would not be long before the entire airport accepted it as the primary form of currency. At most, in a few months, the stubborn merchants would give up on their primitive form of business and accept the new standard.

After arriving at the battlefield, Derek was noticeably excited; he was dangerously close to leveling up to 10 and catching up with the others. Thus, he would not let this opportunity slip. At this rate, one or two hobgoblins would net him the experience needed to gain his class.

After passing through the sentry points, the party made their way to the battlefield, where a squad of monsters instantly greeted them. Gnolls, to be specific, these hyena-like bastards had become a great disturbance in the region. They really enjoyed the taste of human flesh and did all they could to get their fill.

The party used their normal tactics, which had proven solid as of late. Alex tanked the squad leader and battled it out with him while the remaining party members attacked its minions. Derek used his staff to simulate spells as he lit the gnoll whelps aflame from afar.

Cassie engaged in close quarters combat with them, slicing and stabbing their vitals repeatedly. Her daggers were very useful against these low-level creatures' armor. It cut through the material like a knife through butter. Though were she to engage the leader, her weapons may not have the same effect.

Brandon rained a barrage of arrows upon the minions from afar, now and then sneaked attacking the leader, who Alex was engaged in a furious struggle. The arrows dealt a decent amount of damage to the creature and disrupted its attacks. Before long, the gnolls fell like wheat to the scythe.

Afterward, Derek received multiple messages outlining his XP gain, and of course, the message he had been waiting for appeared in his vision, much to his excitement.

[Level Up! You are now Level 10!]

[Class Selection Available]

[Accept? Yes/No]

finally, after all of the hard work he had put in, the boy was now able to choose his first class. He went through the class selection process without hesitation, instantly choosing mage while ignoring the other options.

After he had completed the level-up process, he could feel every cell in his body infused with mana, as if his body was entirely comprised of mana and nothing else. He reveled in the power he had gained. Now he could truly cast spells!