First Mission

Alex looked at the general sitting in front of him. Yarrik was casual and was smoking a cigar as he looked at Alex. " Kid, have you heard about Garden of Ghoul root? " Yarrik said suddenly as Alex snapped out of his thinking process.

Alex tried to remember where he had heard that name. Usually there was a system to naming these things as the most dangerous areas were called the Great Forests. Then there were Forests which were open to strong hunter. At last the areas open to all hunters were called the gardens where the most basic monsters lived and were cleared by strong hunters of any high level beasts.

The garden of ghoul root was one such garden with a huge variety of undead population of monsters. " I know it sir, its located near the Western Frontlines, I think somewhere near the Ghost mane mountain ranges. " Alex said as he smiled.

" good, well the ghoul root gardens mostly have undead creatures and we are short on staff. I have seen what you can do and usually we would have a probation period but my boys are busy with a mission. " He said as soon the chopper arrived at the Western borders. There was a huge wall there blocking the view to outside and soon Alex could see a mammoth gate leading to wilderness from the main human settlement.

" I am giving you a mission, here " Yarrik said as he passed a file to Alex. " I have marked an area in this map, use whatever means you can to clear this area of any monsters in three months. This will be your probation, I will start your training only after you clear the mission. You get bonus points from me if you manage to get a class by the end of the three months. " Yarrik said as the chopper landed near the helipad at the gate.

The chopper could only go so far as it was dangerous to fly any kind of equipment outside the walls. There were highly advanced cannons mounted on the walls and monsters had an understanding that flying over the human civilization was a death sentence so the area inside the walls was safe for air transport.

" Well, what are you waiting for!? Go ahead and get out of my face! If I see a monster in the marked area after three months, you would get multiple hell weeks, do you understand! " Alex quickly got off the chopper as he saluted the Commander " Sir! Yes Sir! "

As yarrik was leaving he eft behind a sentence that made Alex groan in pain. " I forgot to tell you, taking any kind of help from anyone is instant disqualification! " yarrik yelled from the chopper as the chopper flew off into the distance.

In the file that yarrik gave him, there was a badge with a golden sword and some documents to prove his identify and his mission instructions. He simply read through them at once as he smiled. Although dangerous, this kind of mission was perfect for him as he wouldn't have to endure the hellish trainings of special forces for three months now.

He swiftly walked up to the gate and showed the documents to the soldiers stationed there. The soldier nodded as he handed over the documents to his superior.

Alex was soon cleared by the superior as he waved to the soldier to open the small gate. The small alloy gate as thick as a concrete wall opened up with with cracking of machines as Alex could see the greenery on the other side.

Alex walked through the gate to go to the other side. There was a post outside the wall set up specially for those who wished to travel into the wilderness. There were medical facilities available and a rudimentary outpost of military was there to keep the shopkeepers and other medical personnel safe.

There were many shops set up there and the hunter gear market was a huge part of hunter economy that thrived at such areas. Many adventurer guilds and black market gangs Operated from such establishments. Alex noticed a huge screen there which was called a quest board.

The hunter association and military often posted the quests on quest boards for normal hunters. The digital screen was huge and multiple people would be able to use the single screen simultaneously.

The garden of ghoul root was a huge area, there were areas divided in sectors, Alex was supposed to clear sector R18 which was as big as a whole city. He needed to cover a huge ground near the border of the forest. It was near a buffer zone of few kilometers and then there was the main wall of the Western border.

Although Alex had read and heard about all of these things, this was his first time seeing such place. There were hunters there with various weapons, he saw some of the hunters carrying weapons bigger then themselves while some hunters were selling their own items and stuff near the outpost.

The atmosphere almost looked like a small city as Alex slowly moved through the main street. He felt that the outpost was a small scaled version of the border city. For hunters, it was inconvenient to go in and out of the gate every time to replenish supplies as they would be checked regularly for any monster infiltration so they would establish such shops on the outside to sell their stuff on the spot and go back for more action.

Alex saw a weird monster pulling carts for hunters going on long journeys as he sighed. Among the documents provided by Commander Yarrik, there were clear instructions that he was supposed to travel by foot to the sector R18 and not take any help. Fortunately the manual didn't say anything about buying weapons or armor.

Alex slowly moved through the streets where the hunters were selling their wares by simply laying the stuff on the ground. Alex had a small bag with him but it was only a day's worth of food and some clothes.

He needed to buy some food and some armor for the three months to pass and maybe scout some good places to eat as he felt that he would be frequently visiting the outpost in the future.

As he was walking, he noticed a bulky guy selling some armors. Alex stopped as he looked at all the things that bulky guy was selling.

Alex's first priority was some chest protection so he lifted up a chest plate of his size. The fitting was almost good as he looked at the seller. " How much for this sir? " He asked trying to sound polite.

" 1000 credits... " the hunter said as he puffed up his chest as he stood there silently. Alex was given some money for certain part time jobs in his time at the school and his whole saving was just 3000 credits. He nodded as he kept walking. The interaction was that simple as all the hunters were practical people.

Alex saw many other armors and after doing some research, he found out that the price of the first armor that he checked out was clearly appropriate. He then walked back to the bulky hunter as he handed over 1000 credit with a heavy heart and bought the armor.

The armor was simply a chest plate that would protect his chest in case of a fatal injury. 'Being a hunter essentially means taking back from nature. I would just have to find my own equipment in the forest ' Alex though to himself as next he bought some food from 200 credits that would last him for a week.