Chapter 13: Resolve And The Next Step

Confused by the result of the battle, Jayven couldn't move and stayed still for almost an hour. His mind was in spirals since waking up he was in a daze as his mind was somehow empty.

But now it was running so fast that it confused his thought of many possible reasons why it happened and what he should do now.

Even so the result didn't change, he killed a person. He had thought of this possibility, but facing it right now still left him in shock.

Although not as calm as he was before, he still steeled himself and made preparations to leave the place.

Carrying with him his loot from hunting monsters while leaving the group of lifeless corpses untouched.

But before leaving he took every evidences that could point to his involvement. Like the knife that stabbed him and many more.

"Hopefully, this will not connect me to this incident." With Jayven leaving the place and heading back.

~~~~~North Gate~~~~~

Not long after, Jayven arrived at the gate. And with his arrival, the inspector there asked him if he was alright.

"Are you alright?"

He was shocked by the sudden question but tried to shake it off. Knowing that he might become suspicious.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, I guess you had your potion already. Having that kind of wound meant that you were hurt by a monster with shard horns like a horned rabbit."

Hearing that, put Jayven at ease. 'Good thing the stab at his side was judged as a horn rabbit attack and nothing else.'

"That's I just got careless and was stab by a horned rabbit, that's all."

"Hah! Careless, he said. More like pathetic; you can't even hunt properly. If it were me, I could slay them in my sleep."

A guy suddenly barged into the conversation, and from the looks of it, he wants to boost his ego with the female hunters with him.

And it seemed to have worked, for they started to giggle sweetly at him as they looked at him with pride.

"Please stop with the unnecessary comments; accidents happen, and I would like to advise you to avoid hunting in your sleep."

Hearing that many hunters around us laughed at the guy. Annoyed, he pulled out his stash of corpses from his bag, as he unceremoniously said.

"Look at what I hunted."

He then showed off the Saber Wolf, steel-horned deer, and Charging Boar he seemingly hunted.

"See, this is strength, unlike that pipsqueak over there."

'Did he just call me a pipsqueak? Yeah, I may be shorter than you, but I am still growing, dumbass.' Sighing in his mind, Jayven made an excuse and then told the inspector to hurry up.

"Miss, I am a bit in need of treatment, so could you please hurry up?"

"But he talked down to you just now. Are you really just going to let it be?"

"Even if I want to. A guy like that might not even change their stance on this."

"I guess you're right about that. Also, you made a good choice; even if you heal yourself with potions, you can't say 100% that you are healed. Let me just do some final inspection, and your good to go."

"Heh, what a wuss. That's what you get for keeping the line." The guy kept on taunting Jayven even after he left.

'Even though it's his fault, he is accusing me instead. Whatever, I say back to him won't change; I may even be painted as the bad guy here.'

Grumbling in his mind, Jayven unceremoniously left the gate, feeling even more mortified.

'Why did this happen?' He asked himself in adaze as he look for a bus to ride. So after riding a bus, he sat down and unintentionally dozed off.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Kid, you did amazing there; even with that adversity, you pulled yourself up."

A tall man with a huge sword on his back walked towards the small boy.

"No, I wasn't able to do anything; I am weak."

Depressed by his own inability, his expression was sad. Seeing this, the man continued to speak.

"I guess you're right, but everyone in this world has their own moments of weakness and strength."

"Even you?"

"Yeah, so Don't sweat it." He gave a refreshing smile before continuing.

"By the way, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a hunter like you, Uncle!"

"Pfft. kohoh kohoh."

"Ah, are you okay, Uncle?"

"Ahem, ahem, Why Uncle?"

"Because of your beard?"

"Oh, puwahahahhaha." He laughed so hard, as if he just remembered ho he look.

"Haaa, kids as pure as you is definitely going to have a hard time."

"But I will try and succeed in becoming a strong hunter like you."

"Heh, you remind me of my friend; he was like you once."

"Really? Is your friend strong?"

"Yup, Stronger than me, But not as handsome though."

"Does having a beard makes you handsome?"

"Tch, this kid." Shaking his head, he looked at the child again.

"You want to be a hunter, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. I want to be a hunter who protects everyone."

"That dream might be too much, but it's better than nothing."

"Really?"

"Just so you know, the world is filled with unimaginable danger. And monsters are not our only enemies."

"Then what are those other enemies?"

"It's too early for you to know. Just remember that whatever you face in the future, know that your dream is important and that no matter the challenges you will face, you must never lose hope."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then, with a thud, Jayven woke up from his dream.

"Sorry about that. It seems like there's a traffic jam." Just like the driver said, there were a number of vehicles up front.

So they waited until they were ready to leave. But during this moment, Jayven's mind started to stabilize.

'I guess this is what he meant when he said that I have to face enemies that are not just monsters. But maybe I already realized it, but I couldn't accept it yet.'

Upon his realization, he was able to calm himself down a bit. And there he started to reflect on what happened during that fight.

'My mistake at that time was being overconfident. I didn't notice my surroundings and didn't realize that they could have their own hidden abilities to use.'

He started to point out his mistake and how he shouldn't have made those unnecessary moves.

'Luckily, though, I also hide my own. But I could have finished the fight quickly if my skill hadn't been activated. Or would the outcome be worse?'

A lot of thoughts came to mind, and he calculated the mistakes and created possibilities that could and must be avoided at that time. As well as thinking of the possibility if he had not activated his skill.

And not long after, the bus started to run, and as he continued his reflection, the bus arrived at his destination, stopping his running thoughts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon arrival, he did some menial tasks that he needed to do, such as taking a bath, cooking and eating his meals, and finally doing his homework.

And since it was almost the end of summer, he stopped using his skills and seriously did his homework. After having finished what he needed to do, he checked his account.

[10,000,000.00 ACC]

"Being a hunter sure is a lucrative job. Although most of this is thanks to the horn root of the crystal-horned deer. Also, thanks to me getting stronger at a fast rate, I was also able to hunt stronger monsters. But this is still not enough to buy a storage bag."

He sighed, looking at his current account. And thought of what to do now that he had killed those guys.

"Even though I still have the silver-horned rabbit, I can't sell it yet. Let's stop hunting for now; this might be enough for my training."

Thinking of the previous incident, he thought of laying low for now. And concentrated on what to do from now on.

"It would be obvious when the investigation into those bodies started that it was a fight between hunters. So for now, I'll continue training; it may not be as fast when hunting, but I could focus on strengthening my recovery stats."

With that in mind, he listed down what he needed to buy and what he would do for his future regime.

"Class is going to start again, and the national exam is going to start after the month of New Year's. I need to fully train myself to the limit for this. So starting tomorrow, I need to buy potions and High-quality Food nutrients."

For potions, there is nothing much to say they are needed to increase his recovery stats.

While the High-quality Food nutrients are those monster meats of high-ranking monsters, there are also Fruits and vegetables that are planted in mana-rich environments.

Having this will give Jayven to fill his body with nutrients that will make him healthy and strong. Not to mention a possibility for his stats to increase because of it.

Jayven continued his plans, budgeting what he had and what he would need in the future for the upcoming national exam.