Fight. Level. Survive.

As you left Ganehfrel, you were gifted with a powerful infusion of Chaos Magic. This will of already begun to alter you. The sheer amount of Chaos Magic now coursing through your being will allow you to grow in power in the neutral world. Your newly acquired system, aptly named, enables you to extract trace amounts of Chaos Magic from the beings you defeat, fueling your system and allowing you to level up, gain new abilities, and become stronger. In short, the infusion of Chaos Magic has given you the means to grow exponentially and be unmatched in power in the neutral world.

However, this infusion of Chaos Magic also comes with its risks and consequences. As you tap into the chaotic energies, you may find it challenging to control them, and they may even take over your mind and body if you are not careful.

Additionally, the more powerful you grow, the more likely it is you will be noticed by the other participants of the trials. They will be the only ones in the neutral world with the capabilities to understand the immense power you possess and seek to challenge or eliminate you, making it crucial to use your newfound abilities wisely.

Despite the potential dangers, you now have the means to become an unstoppable force in the neutral world. With each defeated opponent, you can absorb their Chaos Magic, empowering your system and unlocking new levels of strength and ability.

-Excerpt from ‘The Trails’ Chapter 6, The system.

Chapter 30 - Big, ugly, grey

Quest Update! But Daddy, I love him!

Quest Objective - You have piqued the interest of the Mayor of Sparksford, who just so happens to be Mayry’s father. Don’t fuck it up. Objective complete

Reward - Depends on how badly you fuck it up. - Surprisingly, you didn’t fuck it up, much. Good job! - + 30% XP from the next Monster you kill.

After dinner, they headed to the hunters association so Mason could turn in the Ash of the Arboroth and get paid for the contract.

The reception, the pretty nature spirit he had seen last time, took the ash and put it in a box that flashed green, probably signalling that it was what he said it was.

“Alright, Mr Hughes, congratulations on completing your first contract.” She handed him a small pouch of coins while looking at something on her desk, “your badge has been updated to show your current rank, which is 79/88 locally.” She looked down again as something buzzed. “Oh, actually, make that 79/87. I’ve just seen that someone has just died. Have a nice day!”

As they walked away, he turned to comment on how blunt the receptionist had been when the *DING* of a notification made him jump.

First Hunter contract completed.

25 Class experience gained

Class ability unlocked - Basic Monster tracking

Class: Hunter level 1

Local rank: 79/87

National Rank: ???

Country: ???

Continent Rank: ???

World Rank: ???

Class skills: Basic Monster tracking

Closing the menu, he saw Mayry glaring at him, “I know you’re looking at your menu thingy, but when you randomly stop moving, close your eyes and start pulling weird faces, it makes you look demented.”

He scowled and replied, “I do not pull weird faces! And I’ll just be another minute.” He closed his eyes again and said out loud. “Class skills Help.”

Help - Class Skills.

Class skills are skills that will help you perform better as a Hunter. Skills are awarded when enough Class experience is gained. The first skill, Basic Monster tracking, will allow you to better hunt down Monsters by highlighting tracks left behind by Monsters.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at Mayry, “Good to go.”

As they continued walking, Mason explained what the notification had said and told her about his new ability.

She seemed interested in his new ability but frowned. “It’s called basic Monster tracking, so it probably only works on Monsters. Won't be much help dealing with the bandits.”

Defensively, Mason replied, “Yeah, but it’s still cool!”

Mayry rolled her eyes at him, “Yes Mason, very cool. Now, are we heading to the bandit camp or calling it a night?”

He grinned at her admittance that his new skill was indeed cool, “We’ll head out the camp; check it out, come back plan, and then hit them first thing tomorrow. How does that sound?”

“Fine, how are we getting there? Horses?”

Mason stiffened and looked around, “Horses? Where? Oh, err, no. I don’t do horses….”

Mayry narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you… you are! You’re scared of horses!”

“Oi! I am not scared of horses!” He said through gritted teeth before adding a mumbled, “their faces just freak me out.”

Mayry was trying and failing to hold in her laughter, putting a hand to her ear, she pretended that she hadn’t heard him. “What was that?”

“I said, Their faces freak me out, okay?!”

Mayry abandoned all attempts at holding in her laughter, “You’re a Monster hunter who’s scared of horses. This is brilliant. The great and terrible slayer of Basilisks is scared of horses. This might be the best day of my life.”

Mason, who had gone pink with embarrassment by his point, saw that the laughing woman had started to attract attention from passersby, “Mayry, shut up, or I am going to leave you here!”

Her laughter started to die down. Her face had gone completely red as if she had been unable to breathe. “Ok, ok, fine, I’m sorry. It’s just really funny, wait until you meet an Equine.” She almost devolved into laughter again until she took a few deep breaths. “Ok, I’m good. So horses are out. How do you propose we get there, then?”

Mason was still pink in the face and trying to avoid the judging looks from the people who had stopped to observe the scene. “I was going to offer to carry the Trunk all the way there, with you inside it, but after all that,” He gestured to Mayry’s still grinning face, “I might just make you walk the whole way.”

Mayry’s eyes widened. “Oh, come on, It’s like 5 miles away. I was only joking! Please.” She looked at him with an expression he hadn’t seen her use before, It was a decent impression of the way a puppy looks at you to try to get more food.

Rolling his eyes and cursing his soft spot for the woman, “Fine, but don’t touch my stuff.”

Grinning at her victory, she said, “Thanks! But, err, you don’t really have any stuff?

Annoyed, Mason replied, “Why do people keep saying that? I have stuff!|

She rolled her eyes and patted his shoulder as they walked, “Okay, Mason, I won’t touch your ’stuff’.”

“Grr, Whatever, you can get in after we leave the town. I don’t want to be accused of kidnapping you again.”

They exited the town with no problems. Mason watched as the woman had the audacity to get into the Trunk and spread out on his couch, looking as if she was planning on taking a nap. She saw the look he was giving her and said, “What? It’s gonna be ages!” Shaking his head, Mason closed the lid of the Trunk, hoisted it onto his shoulder and started running.

With his increased strength the Trunk wasn’t heavy. It was, however, quite awkward to carry while running. He started off with it on his shoulder, then he tried holding it out in front of him. Eventually, he found the best way of carrying it was to have the trunk on his back and do a sort of Naruto run with his hands behind him, steadying the trunk.

Now that he was relatively sure he wasn’t going to drop the Trunk he wanted to take a look at his Character sheet, as it had been a while.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 14

Current XP: 4000 /4200

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 290

Mana Points (MP): 280

Stamina: (SP): 200

Stats

Stats

Strength:27 (+15)

Agility: 22

Endurance: 20

Vitality: 19

Resilience: 15(+26)

Intelligence: 33 (+10%)

Perception: 27

Willpower: 17

Free points: 6

Skills:

Identify (Basic), Magic Missile - INT (Advanced), Emotional Outburst - PER (Advanced), Camouflage - PER (Advanced)

Class skills, Basic Monster tracking.

He was relatively happy with his build so far. The only place he seemed to be lacking is Willpower. He considered continuing to ignore it but remembered the mind-numbing pain one of Gael’s abilities had inflicted on him. With higher Willpower, it’s likely he could have lessened or even ignored the pain.

He put 4 points into will power and the remaining to into Vitality because you could never have too many hit points.

=====================

The five-ish mile journey should have taken a normal person an hour and a half to walk and run the whole way, probably about an hour.

So she was pretty surprised when, after only 20 minutes, Mason stuck his head into the truck and asked hesitantly, “What would you like first? The good news or the bad news?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “What did you do?”

“Well, the good news, we’ve arrived, and there aren’t any… Human bandits.”

“Oh well, that’s….“ She narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious, “Why did you specify Human?”

He paused, “Do you know what a Troll is?”

“Yeah, of course, big, ugly, grey… Oh, fuck me, is that the bad news?”

He rolled his eyes at her, “No… The bad news is that the troll bandits might have seen a trunk flying through the air…."

“Oh, damn it all, Mason.”

“…. And they might have started chasing the trunk.”

She pressed her face into her palms, “What else?”

“They’re still chasing me. I got away a few times, but, Trolls apparently have a ridiculously good sense of smell, and they kept catching up to me… long story short, we have about five minutes.”

Dammit, they were only supposed to be scouting. If she knew there were trolls, she would have prepared so much more firepower. “If they kill me, I will fucking murder you Mason.”

“How is that gonna work if you’re already dead? Never mind, I was going to deal with them myself, but you said you wanted to have some fun. Also! I was wondering, do they count as people or Monsters? They are kind of humanoid, but I’ve never seen any humans that fucking ugly.” He smiled as he spoke, but from how he glanced behind him every couple of seconds, she could tell he was panicking internally.

She was coming to the realisation that Mason talked even more bullshit than usual when he was freaking out. She answered him, trying to remember what it said about them in the Monster books she used to read as a kid. “Trolls are technically people, but as they’re usually really stupid, they’re normally classified as Monsters. There are some peaceful communities, but most you are likely to find are going to try to eat you.”

She thought for a few seconds before remembering an old kid’s rhyme they used to sing in school.

Trolls regenerate. It’s their claim to fame,

But listen, friend, for there's a way to maim.

Fire and acid are what they fear,

They'll regenerate no more, shed a tear.

“They regenerate super fast. Fire and acid are the only things they don’t heal from, don’t suppose you picked up any abilities like that recently? No? Didnt think so. So I guess this one is all me.”

He looked rightfully sheepish, he was the one who ran headfirst into a camp of trolls, and now she was going to have to fight them.

Suddenly Mason’s eyes lit up, “I could use my summon ability! Last time it was a giant gorilla, This time, it could be a badass lava Monster or something!”

His head disappeared, prompting Mayry to scramble to her feet and follow him.

She stared on in amazement at the crack that hung there in midair, It seemed to be a hole in everything. Staring into it made her feel uneasy as if its very existence was an affront to nature. For whatever reason, she couldn’t help but continue to stare.

The crack wasn’t making any noise, but Mason still felt the need to shout, “This took a lot of Mana. It’s gonna be a big one!”

The crack in space flashed suddenly and spat out a fist-sized creature before gradually sealing shut as if it were a wound rapidly healing.

The thing it had spat out was currently flying around Mason’s head at high speed.

That was when the 6 armoured Trolls stepped into view.