Fight. Level. Survive.

Epilogue

It turned out that Mayry had never actually been to the City of Trilil and was only going there as it was far away enough from her Mother that they could test whether she could recover from her Chaos sickness.

She had assured Mason that she knew the way and it would only be about a day’s walk. Mason had shown her his Ballistic Touch method of travel but, after thinking about it for less than a second, flatly refused and insisted they walked.

It was halfway through day two, and Mayry was still not willing to admit that they were lost.

Mason had his mini-map, but unfortunately, it only showed where they had been, not where they needed to go.

It wasn’t too big of a deal. They had plenty of food, and the Magic Trunk for when they needed to rest. For now, he kept following the stubborn woman.

After two days of walking and not killing a single monster, Mason was going a little crazy with boredom and had resorted to annoying Mayry.

“Are we there yet?” Mason asked.

“What? No!” Mayry answered.

“Aaare we there now?” Mason asked 30 seconds later.

“Mason! We are walking on the same road we have been walking on for the last 3 hours. Does this look like a city to you? Why do you keep asking that!?”

Mason chuckled, “No reason. We are definitely lost, though. Maybe we should stop and ask for directions.”

Mayry stopped walking and turned to face him. She spread out her arms and gestured around. “Stop and ask who Mason!? We haven’t seen a single person! And we are not lost! It’s just taking longer than I thought it would! Now shut up and keep walking. It’s this way.”

Mason grinned to himself. Some pleasures are just universal he couldn’t imagine a world where annoying people wasn’t fun.

They walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Mayry?” Mason asked.

Sighing deeply, she answered, “What, Mason?”

“You know, if you got in the Trunk, I could just carry you there.”

“No. We’re walking I don’t trust you not to use your Ballistic Touch thing and end up pinned under a tree!”

“What! How did you kno- I mean… Haha, I wouldn’t do that. That’s crazy…”

Mayry stared at him and narrowed her eyes before she just continued walking.

She sighed and turned to him. “I know you’re just trying to distract me from my thoughts, but do you have to be so damn irritating?!”

Mason considered for a moment before answering. “Yes.”

An hour later, they had wandered through a particularly scenic grove of trees. Mayry declared that they needed to stop for lunch, and so they did.

Mayry dug through her rucksack and bought out some sandwiches, she handed one to Mason, but he declined and instead bought out his Magic KFC box. He had used the box a few times but had yet to show it to Mayry.

He placed his order and withdrew his meal. He looked over at Mayry, and as he had expected, she was staring at him in amazement and wonder. Her mouth was hanging open, and just as some drool was about to escape, she shook her head and came back to her senses. “Mason, what is that phenomenal smell?”

Mason frowned, “Oh, this?” He asked dramatically. “Some would say this is the greatest food my world has to offer. It’s called KFC.”

She looked on in awe. “KFC? And what’s that?” She said, pointing to the cup of Cola.

“Ah well, do you remember when I told you about coffee? Well, this is sort of like that but cold… and fizzy.”

“Fizzy?”

“Just try it!” He said, offering her the cup.

She took a sip and recoiled in shock, “Oh wow, it kinda hurts, but it’s nice. It’s so sweet!”

Mason laughed at her reaction, “Ok, now try this.” He handed over half his meal, chips, chicken and some gravy.

Mason watched as she took a bite and then almost inhaled the rest of it. With her mouth partially full, she managed to say, “Dish ish weally good Mashon what ish it?” She swallowed her mouthful and looked at him, awaiting his response.

Barely able to contain his laughter, he said, “Okay, don’t freak out. It’s chicken

Her eyes bulged and she shouted, “What?! Mason! Holy crap.”

Unable to contain himself any longer, he let out the laughing that had been building since he bought out the meal.

“How did anyone even catch a chicken to cook it? This is from your world? How is it so amazing!? Mason! Stop laughing at me this is serious! Do you even know how dangerous Chickens are?! They are ridiculously hard to kill, I guess you would know about that, but did you know that….”

A few minutes into Mayry’s rant, where she detailed how dangerous Crack Hens were, how lucky Mason had been to kill one and the possibility of him ditching his quest and somehow opening his own fried chicken shop, Mason started to phase her out. He covertly opened his menu and started to peruse his character sheet to see if he could spot anywhere he could improve.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 25

Current XP: 11740 /12000

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 460

Mana Points (MP): 335

Stamina: (SP): 230

Stats

Strength: 40 (+15) 55

Agility: 31

Endurance: 29

Vitality: 29

Resilience: 25 (+26) 51

Intelligence: 57 (+10%) 62

Perception: 36

Willpower: 30

Free points: 1

Skills:

Identify (Advanced), Magic Missile - INT (Advanced), Emotional Outburst - PER (Advanced), Camouflage - PER (Advanced), Random Summon INT (Advanced), Mental Manipulation - WIL (Advanced), Ballistic Touch - STR (Advanced) Division - INT (Expert)

Base Skills:

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced)

Class skills:

Basic Monster tracking, Evaluate Monster, Gather Intel.

He noticed he still had a single free point from his failed cheat code. He had forgotten about it completely. He considered for a few minutes while half listening to Mayry, still ranting about Chickens and how they might be able to get Viv to make more Cola. Eventually, he threw the point into resilience as not including the buffs he got from his armour, it was his lowest stat, plus you could never be too resilient when everyone and their mum wanted to kill you.

Suddenly Mayry went deadly silent. He quickly closed his menu and opened his eyes, searching for what had interrupted the woman’s rant.

Where before, there had been nothing but an empty space surrounded by trees, a man had appeared standing in front of them. Mason didn’t recognise him, but something about the man put Mason on edge.

To look at, he wasn't anything special. He was tall and had a fairly average build. It was the way he stood that bothered Mason. The man was standing with an air of confidence and superiority, his posture relaxed and unconcerned, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. It unsettled Mason, who couldn't help but feel a sense of unease in the man's presence.

“Mayry.” The man said jovially, “How lovely to see you again.”

Mason shot a sidelong glance at his companion, who had started radiating anger. The longer she stared at the man, the angrier she got. The angrier she got, the more she seemed to change. Her eyes turned black, and her skin darkened to a reddish hue. She bared her teeth at the man revealing a mouth full of sharp fangs. She summoned balls of hellfire to each of her hands and slightly lowered herself in preparation for a fight. As she did, Mason could see two small bumps on her head, which he assumed were the beginning of a pair of horns.

“You know him?” He asked.

“That…” Her words came out as a deep growl instead of her natural feminine voice, and for a second, she paused, shocked at how she sounded, before she continued. “That’s Aiden, the ‘Other’ who kidnapped me. He was working with Gael.”

Aiden, who showed no surprise at Mayry’s partial demonic transformation, shrugged and said, “Now, now, kidnapped is such a gruesome word… we had fun, didn’t we? I like to think of it as temporarily borrowing you.” He grinned, totally oblivious to the aura of rage and killing intent that Mayry was giving off. “Speaking of Gael, have you seen her? I seemed to have lost track of the silly girl.”

Mason stepped in front of Mayry defensively, “Well, you see, about that….”

END OF BOOK 1