Chapter 21: Hunter Gym

'Right now...I need to sell some stuff.' Zoey thought, looking at her [Inventory] as she saw the absurd amount of items she had.

She still had 99 [Fireball] Skill books that haven't been absorbed yet, and she wanted to sell them all, but she couldn't, that would just cause a lot of unwanted attention.

'I'll just sell a few Items for now, and buy myself a good weapon.' Zoey thought, her gaze falling on the [Goblin Daggers], [Goblin Shields], and the remaining Cores she still had to absorb.

Zoey closed her [Inventory] as she walked up to the receptionist. The receptionist, a kind woman with a gentle smile, greeted her warmly "Hello, how can I help you?" The receptionist asked.

"I'd like to sell a few things." Zoey said, not bothering to listen to the whispers of the Hunters behind her.

"Sure, show me your ID please." The receptionist replied.

Zoey nodded as she showed the receptionist her ID, a suprised look formed on the receptionist's face once she saw that Zoey was already close to the peak of the Lower Rankings.

'Huh? She's already D-Rank?' The receptionist thought in disbelief, 'But she only awakened yesterday.'

"You may proceed by putting down the Items you wish to sell." The receptionist said.

'Let's just take out this, this, this, and this, and a few of these.' Zoey thought as she took out a [Goblin Dagger], a [Goblin Shield], a [Goblin Shaman Core], a [Fireball] Skill Book and the few remaining [Goblin Cores] she had left.

"Oh my..." The receptionist said in awe, not expecting Zoey to have brought such valuable Items, especially the [Fireball] Skill book. The receptionist studied the items for a moment, before returning to face Zoey.

"These will be around $3,800,000 Dollars, are these all the Drops you wish to sell?" The receptionist asked, raising a brow.

'Holy crap! That's alot of money!' Zoey thought inwardly, a shocked expression forming on her face.

Although the Association Leader had offered her way more, she couldn't deny that it felt good when she earned the money herself. The payment being way more than what her previous job had ever done for her.

"Yes, that will be all." Zoey said with a small nod.

The receptionist smiled as she transferred the money to Zoey's bank account, Zoey received a notification on her phone about the money she had received, a satisfied smile forming on her face as she looked at the amount.

'From now on, I'll be paying for the meals!' Zoey declared inwardly, 'Atleast until Christine awakens as well.'

"Now then, let's go look for a decent weapon to buy." Zoey muttered to herself with a grin as she walked into the "Armour and Weaponry" section of the Association.

As she entered, she was standing in a massive room with long rows of shelves stretched before her.

One side of the shelves, armor pieces stood proudly on armour stands, some armor looked plain and bland, while other's looked amazing and grand, some of them even had special effects as they glowed with a soft light.

Same for the weapons.

Zoey walked into the store and immediately started to browse through the weapons they had to offer, as she continued to browse, Zoey suddenly thought of something:

'What am I looking for?' She thought, her eyes scanning the weapons on the shelves, from daggers, to axes, to swords, and rapiers, everything looked so interesting to her.

'I only have experience with daggers, to due my time spent using the [Stone Dagger] in that goblin dungeon.

But right now, I'm kind of leaning both ways, I have high Intellligence suitable for Mages, and high Strength, Defense, Vitality, and Agility, for Berserkers or close-combat fighters.'

'I think the best option right now is to use both close-combat, and magic abilities, like a Sword-Mage or something of that nature.' She pondered for a little while.

Her eyes widened as she laid her eyes on a unique weapon in the midst of the rest, it was a sword forged with a shiny silver, it's hilt crafted out of a pristine gold, radiating a strong aura of royalty and elegance.

'What is this?' Zoey thought as she gently touched the sword, running a finger across the blade, feeling the cold steel.

[Knight's Oath(D)]

[Description: A sword dropped by a knight from the distant past, it carries the hopes and dreams of a soldier that fought valiantly to their last breath.]

[Effect-1: Nimble Steps: When the sword is held it grants a significant boost to the user's footwork, increasing their speed in combat by +5 Points.]

[Effect-2: Valiant Wrath: Attacks with the sword is increased when holding the [Knight's Oath].

[Effect-3: Last Stand: When the host's health has reached below 20%, the Host's Agility and Strength will be greately heightened by +20 Points.]

'This is a good sword.' Zoey mused, as she thought that this sword will be a good weapon for her at this moment. She checked the price tag, which was a staggering $25,500,000 Million Dollars.

'This is so expensive!' Zoey yelled inwardly in shock, her mind reeling at the worth of the sword 'But it makes sense, this sword is really worth it's price. With effects like those, I'm suprised the sword isn't C-Rank.'

"A fine weapon, isn't it?" A voice called from her side, prompting her to look at the person approaching her.

It was a handsome man dressed in a fine black suit, who looked like the one in-charge of the "Armour and Weaponry" Section of the Hunter Association.

"It truly is, an amazing sword." Zoey commented with a small smile. "Will it be possible if you could reserve this sword for me? I don't have enough money to purchase it at the moment." Zoey said.

The man stroked his chin in contemplation as he thought hard, "You want me to reserve this sword for you? This sword truly is one of a kind," The man said, before letting out a warm smile "Alright, I'll reserve this sword for you, however, it's going to cost you a little extra. What do you say?"

Zoey grinned happily, before nodding "Deal." She said excitedly.

The two of them talked for a little bit, with the Man giving Zoey his business card to call if she needed to order anything extra, to which she gratefully accepted.

Zoey then turned to leave, walking out of the Hunter Association building. Just as she stepped outside however, a hungry crowd of media journalists immediately saw her, causing her to hitch a breath in her throat in suprise.

'These guys again!?' Zoey thought with a small frown, annoyed by their persistence.

"There she is!" One of them shouted, pointing towards her with their index finger.

"Quick get your cameras!"

'Not happening.' Zoey thought as she swiftly bolted away, escaping the media with a burst of speed that suprised them greately.

As she ran from the crowd, cutting through the air, her footsteps pounding on the ground in rhythmic brilliance. Zoey managed to caught sight of one of the Hunter Gyms that she had planned to try out yesterday.

'I'll check it out, I'll go on a hunt another time.' Zoey thought as she walked towards the building, a determined look on her face. She glanced behind her to make sure that nobody was following her, other than the stares of the people walking around her, everything was okay.

Zoey approached the glass doors of the building, watching them open as they moved apart from each other and into the walls of the door. Zoey's crimson eyes roamed the gym as she observed the multitude of Hunters, training hard.

Some were doing push-ups with strange-tech arm bands that were used to heavily suppress their strength, making work-outs more challenging to increase Strength and durability.

Others were running on Mana-powered treadmills that moved quickly, with some of these Hunters running hard and barely keeping up with the insane speeds of the treadmill.

"Look! It's her!" A whispered gasp caught her attention as Zoey caught sight of a group of girls whispering to each other, their gazes fixed on her.

"Zoey Monroe! Holy smokes it's actually her!" Someone else said, shocked.

"What is she doing here?"

"She awakened yesterday, she must be here to increase her abilities as well, it's what most Hunters do anyway."

Zoey ignored the talk of the people as she proceeded to continue searching for a secluded spot. Finally, after a few minutes of constant searching, Zoey managed to find a secluded spot in the gym.

'Treadmill, yoga mat,weights, Strength suppression bands, this is perfect.' Zoey grinned as she walked towards it all.

"You there!" A voice called behind her, exuding an aura of power that made her skin crawl, this person was definetly stronger than her. Zoey quickly gauged his strength with [Heightened Senses], noticing a crimson aura around that burned fiercely.

Slowly, she looked over her shoulder to see a shirtless man, his body sculpted with strong muscles that radiated with strength. He had black hair and charcoal black eyes, his body drenched in sweat with the intensity of a workout he had earlier.

'This aura is somewhat terrifying, just who is this guy?' Zoey thought, a light sweat breaking down the side of her face.