Looking over the quest available at the Vocation office, one struck me as curious almost immediately. An unknown monster had kidnapped a farmers daughter. Reading the description, it seemed that it snuck in at midnight and the Farmer woke up to only tracks and a missing daughter.
"Hey Prim, how does this one sound?"
"An unknown creature? it seems that it's power level isn't too high since it didn't kill, so i'm okay with it."
Walking up to the attendant And tapping my finger in the desk I ask, "Is there any more information about this quest posting?"
"Let me see here, *reads over quest paper* why yes, although I don't recommend this one in all honesty."
"Pray tell, why is that?"
"Well you see, one other solo hunter took this quest one only for thier corpse to be abandoned at the entrance of the farmer's land. Not only that, but, the body was mangled beyond recognition. The only reason we were able to identify the body was because of thier hunter's tag."
"But any monster can do that if thier able to take out the hunter," interjected Prim.
"Although that might be true, We have a ranking system and it is the same as the currency we use. For example, You two are only bronze rank hunters, meanwhile the deceased hunter was about to receive a promotion to become a silver ranked hunter."
"So then this thing has to be star grade two or at least, at the peak of star grade one." -Prim
"We'll accept the quest, it seems like good experience for helping me and Prim reach the next star grade." -Elias
"Okay, its settled then, we'll head out immediately. It seems to be on the outskirts of Ranstor so keep your guard up." -Prim
Heading back to my apartment, we began to pack our weapons along with enough rations to last us about 3 days each. I remembered about the scroll that I obtained from the unknown man who gave me my hunter's license and gace it another look over. The title read 'Mana Scroll' and it would allow the person to use it, to have increased mana progression speed.
"Hey Prim, do you happen to have the same scroll?"
"I don't anymore, I used it almost as soon as I obtained it to get stronger."
"I see, before we go, lets increase our mana level to be on the safer side."
With a simple nod of her head, Prim and I began Siphoning mana after activating the scroll. The mana in the area started to become denser and have weight to it, as if it was trying to become a solid mass. Without hesitation, the siphoning stage began.
Richer mana was harder to intake than impure mana, it actually began to hurt my body the longer it continued. Clenching my teeth and fighting through the pain I activated the next stage, mana compression. Almost as if the mana was threatening to explode from my grasp, it kept expanding only to have me controll it, over and over. After about an hour of struggling, the mana finally came under controll and it was time to store it. With each step the mana pools within not only myself but Owlso grew in size. After about 3 hours both me and Prim were able to increase our mana techniques.
*Ding*
Finally, I had obtained a second skill! I quickly opened up my status window and my almost jumped at what my eyed laid upon. Magic Bolt: shoot out a bolt made from mana, elemental damage can be added at the cost of more mana. A long ranged skill, this would be perfect for closing or keeping the distance with enemies. looking over it seemed that Prim had also unlocked a new skill so I decided to go ahead and ask "New skill?"
"Yeah, Its called 'Daggers Bite,' it allows me to create jagged edges out of mana allowing me to increase my bleed chance."
"That's Incredible, we should be okay with 2 skills each and the backup of our beast, so lets head out to the mission site."
Gathering our supplies we quickly made our way out of Ranstor and were able to make it to the forest outskirts within 2 days, but upon reaching our destination we noticed smoke rising from a few buildings. The closer we got to the location the worse the scent in the air grew, something awful that cause both mine and Prim's nose to crinkle. Upon reaching the edge of the property we were able to see that only a storehouse of some kind had caught fire and faint laughter could be hear inside. Placing a rag over my mouth I motioned for Prim to follow behind me.
The doors were wide open and in the center of the barn stood a man whose face was mangled and seemed to have boned protruding from his head. Another body was near him, one of a woman who lay on the floor, almost unconscious. Her clothes were in tatters, almost as if the had been ripped off of her. Even on her darker skin, bruises and cuts were heavily apparent. The rank stench within the air was soon discovered, a body had caught fire at the edge of the barn and was roasting while this scene unfolded before us.
*deep and gutteral* "Who dares interrupt us, for we are the ones who shall reign over these lowly humans."- Monster
"Us, you and the woman?"
"As is I would ever merge with a human woman even if it was out of necessity, Disgusting!" -Monster
I began reaching for my greatsword and and taking a step closer to the unconscious woman as the creature seemed to be uninterested in a fight at the moment. Nodding towards Prim, we made our move. She activated her accel ability and quickly dashed towards the woman surprising the creature. following her lead I dashed in front of Prim to provide protection as she lifted the woman. "Take the woman to a safe distance and then return, but he might be dead when you return."
With a mocking grin she dashed as far as her ability could before continueing at a normal running pace. The creature quickly took action but collided with the heavy steel.
*Screeeee*
With anger strew across its face, it protruded a weapon that seemed to be made out of bone from the center of its palm leaving a gaping hole behind. Without hesitation it began its horrendious assault. The force of each blow was filled with immesnse strength that cause every muscle in my body to strain. Before the creature could strike again I leaped back to give myself some space from those deadly blows. Suddenly a dark flash blinded me and an burning and indescribable pain coursed through my entire body. All the air left my lungs and I couldn't hear my heart beating any longer. My vision began to clear and a sharp white bone impaled me where I stood. The creature grinned spoke then, "Foolish little weakling, I can't even be bother with such a worthless meal."