Fight. Level. Survive.

Chapter 41 - Fuck This Guy

Mason looked up at Mayry, eyes wide, “Me? Mess with your mind? Never! I’m insulted you would even accuse me of such a heinous act!”

Sighing deeply, she replied. “Mason, how many times do I need to tell you, I can sense magic.” She took a step closer to him, pointing a finger at his chest. “So, imagine my surprise when I feel a burst of magic coming from you hit me and then suddenly have my mind filled with thoughts about how great you are.”

Mason's face fell as he realised he had been caught. "Okay, fine," he admitted, holding up his hands in surrender. “I got a new ability and tried it on you.”

He swatted him on the head, “Asshole, what was it supposed to do? Make me think of you? That a pretty shitty new ability?”

Defensively he replied, “No, It’s supposed to make the target loyal to me for a while. I tried on you because I couldn’t figure out to activate it, and I didn’t think it would do much to you because you’re already loyal to me! Or so I thought.” He narrowed his eyes at her, dramatically rubbing his head where she had swatted him.

“Oh”, she looked thoughtful, “you could have just asked. Now, come on, it’s getting dark, and you need to be up early tomorrow for training!” Grinning at the defeated look that had appeared on his face at the mention of ‘training’, she turned and started to head back to Town.

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The next three days went by in a blur. In the mornings, he trained with Lyvan, who was, in fact, a sadist. The more pain Mason was in, the happier and more ferocious the man got. Mason had to admit, though, the training was helping. He had been hit by the Gnoll so often that he had gotten noticeably better at dodging.

One time he had even managed to land a hit on the Gnoll… once. Apparently, that had been a mistake.

The Gnoll’s grin had just widened, he had said something about kiddie gloves and ever since, he hadn’t come near to landing a hit again.

After every training session, he would be a sweaty, exhausted mess, feeling as if he was dying. Honestly, he was considering asking Lyvan to fight Gael when she returned, If only to satisfy his own desire of seeing one of them on the receiving end of being beat the fuck up.

Once he had regained the will to live, he would go to the hunters association building and pick up new contracts. He would then set off and try to complete as many as he could before coming back and restarting the cycle. Mayry had gone with him the first day, but the next two days he had gone alone.

Over the last three days, Mason had completed another five contracts netting him a decent amount of coin and a butt ton of experience. He had hit level 19 and was on the brink of reaching Level 20 and getting a new Skill Selection. He was also very close to upgrading his Mental Manipulation skill once his Willpower got to 25.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 19

Current XP: 7330/7500

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 330

Mana Points (MP): 320

Stamina: (SP): 215

Stats

Strength: 30 (+15) 45

Agility: 25

Endurance: 23

Vitality: 23

Resilience: 18 (+26) 44

Intelligence: 41(+10%) 41

Perception: 30

Willpower: 24

Free points: 0

Skills:

Identify (Basic), Magic Missile - INT (Advanced), Emotional Outburst - PER (Advanced), Camouflage - PER (Advanced), Random Summon (Advanced), Mental Manipulation - WIL (Basic)

Class skills, Basic Monster tracking.

The five contracts he completed had levelled him several times in his class and gained him the Class Ability he had so desperately wanted.

New Class Ability unlocked: Evaluate Monster.

Class Menu

Class: Hunter level 8

Local rank: 50/87

National Rank: ???

Continent Rank: ???

World Rank: ???

Class skills: Basic Monster tracking, Evaluate Monster

Evaluate Monster

Passive Effect - See the HP bar of any Monsters you engage in combat.

Waking up on the fourth day was no different than the previous three. He woke up, got ready, and left his room ready to get beaten up.

The only thing that kept him going to see Lyvan every morning was the knowledge that with his constant stat increases and new abilities, he would one day be able to wipe the grin off of the sadistic bastard’s face. He had a long way to go, but he would like to see Lyvan fight him when he was Level 50 or 75! There would be no way he’d stand a chance.

Busy daydreaming, he failed to notice the figure creeping up on him. A sweeping kick knocked Mason’s legs out from under him, causing him to hit the floor ass first.

“What have I told you? Always be ready for an attack!” Lyvan said as he stood over him, grinning.

“You have literally never said those words to me.” Keeping an eye on the Gnoll, he got to his feet, ”The only instruction you ever give me is shouting DODGE before you try to kill me.”

“Fair enough, well I’m telling you now… DODGE!“

So it began, Lyvan threw a punch at Mason’s head which he managed to duck under by a hair’s breadth. He sprung back up, flinging himself at his opponent, desperate to land a hit. Lyvan effortlessly moved out of the way as if Mason was moving in slow motion.

Lyvan launched a kick at Mason’s stomach, which sent him flying onto the dirt floor. Mason was back on his feet and, on instinct, took a quick step to his left. A fist from behind appeared in the exact spot his head had just been. He spun around and saw Lyvan had somehow gotten behind him.

Before he could go on the offensive, he heard a giggle, momentarily distracted he chanced a quick look and saw Mayry was in the corner watching them, laughing at him getting knocked around. Annoyed, Mason turned back to Lyvan. The distraction had allowed another strike to slip by his defence and land on the side of his head. Mason once again hit the floor.

Hearing another giggle from Mayry, he felt something within him click. He saw red and felt everything around him slow. His Emotional Outburst Skill had triggered. His mind emptied, focussed on one thing. He charged toward a grinning Lyvan.

He lunged toward the Gnoll. He felt far stronger and moved far faster than he did mere moments ago. Somewhere in his subconscious, he held himself back just enough that he didn’t think he would kill the man.

He threw a punch, but his fist found empty air.

He felt a presence behind him and kicked, but again nothing. He spun and saw the Gnoll standing there, giving him a curious but somewhat bored look. Mason stopped holding himself back. Fuck this guy. He attacked with everything he had. The longer he fought, the angrier he got. He punched him again and again, but every punch found nothing but empty space. It was infuriating! The more frustrated Mason got, the faster he moved and the harder he hit.

After what felt like hours of throwing endless punches, kicks, elbows and knees, Mason let out a carnal roar and threw himself at the Gnoll one final time. His mind now was filled with nothing but an intent on killing his trainer fuck the consequences. He finally felt something connect. A fist plunged into Mason’s stomach knocking the air out of him and stunning him for a moment. He sank to his knees and looked up at Lyvan. The Gnoll was no longer grinning.

“What the fuck was that?” He growled.

Thankfully, the punch to the stomach had knocked some sense back into him. He wheezed out, “ Sorry, sir, I got carried away.”

Surprising Mason, Lyvan let out a bellowing laugh. “Sorry? Don’t be sorry, lad! That was brilliant! It was the hardest anyone has made me try in years! You almost had me there a few times!” He lifted him up off of the floor, patted him on his head, and walked off shouting back, “Same time tomorrow?”

Mason stood there for a few moments staring at the Gnoll’s back as he walked away. Mayry walked over and stood beside him, “That was insane! For the last few minutes, I couldn’t see either of you, you were moving too fast.”

“What the fuck is he? There is no way that normal people should be able to do that.”

“Oh… Did I really never tell you?”

Mason turned his head to look at Mayry. She backed away, startled for a second at the insane look in his eyes, but continued, “Err, yeah, Sorry, I thought I had told you. Lyvan has an ability that makes him faster and stronger than whoever he fights. It’s why he’s never been beaten in a duel. No one really knows if it’s Family Magic or Chaos Magic.”

Mason, hit with so many new powerful feelings, felt himself sink to the floor.

On one hand, at least he knew why he hadn’t been able to beat the man. It wasn’t that he was progressing too slowly or that the Gnoll was better than him… it was basically just hacks.

On the other hand, No matter what he did or how much he progressed, Lyvan was always going to be that much faster, that much stronger than him, meaning he would never get to enact his revenge.

On the other other hand… If Mason killed the man and took his ability, it would be one hell of a way to up his game, he could imagine fighting Gael and the look on her face, and Mason was always just one step ahead of her. Oo, wouldn’t that just be grand? He would need to figure out where the Gnoll lived, he could use his invisibility sneak attack and… Wait, what? He was planning to kill Lyvan? The bastard was a sadistic prick, but he was really only just trying to help him. What the hell was wrong with him?

Shaking his head, he looked back at Mayry, who had been staring at him. “What?”

She looked away when she realised he had noticed, “Nothing… you just looked…. You looked weird for a second. Never mind.”

“Okay… Well, I’m going to go do a contract, I think I’m going to do this one solo if you don’t mind. I have a lot to think about, but I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, no worries, I have loads of work to do. Maybe come find me if you get back early?”

Smiling, Mason waved and replied, “Yeah, For sure.”

Mason, deep in thought, made his way to the Hunters Association building. He was wondering if his system was affecting him more than he thought. He was fully trying to kill Lyvan during that fight and then afterwards… planning on killing the Gnoll in his sleep. That couldn’t have been him, could it? He wasn’t a murderer. Apart from Trolls…. And Goblins… and… you know what? Shut up.

After the morning he’d had, he wanted an easy afternoon. He found the easiest-looking contract and stuck with it. All he needed was something to push him into Level 20, and he’d be happy.

New Contract:

Monster Hunt

Target: 1 Unicorn - Adult, White

Danger Level: Unknown

Last known location: Umlilo Forest

Reward: 85 Iron

When he heard unicorn, all he could think of was My Little Pony. In all the reading he had done, he hadn’t come across anything on unicorns. He assumed it was because they were harmless creatures that very rarely needed to be dealt with by Hunters.

But Mason was shocked at how high the reward was. The highest he had seen before this was 50 Iron, and that was for a Hydra someone had supposedly spotted. This was just a unicorn… they were just glorified horses, weren’t they? Easy money!