'What?! A future crew member?'
Bang was surprised as he saw the quest screen pop up in his mind. He looked in the direction of the fight and saw a teen who looked like his age. He wore a gray shirt and black shorts which was now dirtied and riddled with holes in it's arms and sides.
The slapped man had an unkempt brown hair and his cheeks were clearly red from the slap. He looked down on the ground dejectedly as his shoulders dropped.
The two guys who had slapped the teen into submission looked like they were in their mid twenties. They both wore a leather vest over a plain white t-shirt. They wore cargo shorts that were filled to the brim with tools. He could see some knives and other tools dangling in their waists.
He felt like he had seen this type of uniform before. Or at least the previous guy did. He noticed that one of the men was drunk by the way he swayed left and right. He could see a tiny bit of pink glow in the guy's cheeks.
The other guy just supported his friend and kept quiet. Bang noticed that this guy wasn't drunk.
"Why did you look at me like that huh?! You think I'm useless or something?! You think you're better than me?!"
He heard the drunken man berate the assaulted again even after his opponent got down. Preparing his entrance speech again and again in his mind, he finally felt prepared and coughed.
This cough took the attention of the sober guy. The drunken man and the assaulted guy didn't react and just minded their own business.
"Hello fellow friends, what happenstance led to this kerfuffle? I'm sure we can all work this out together."
Bang said this with an awkward smile. He had never spoken to another human being in this world before. Actually, he couldn't even remember the last time he spoke to a human even before he died and got here.
"Do not come into the business of the Hunter's Quest. Leave now and don't get involved."
Seeing the fierce glare pointed in his direction, Bang stopped in his tracks. He even subconsciously flinched because of how the guy shouted. Bang had never liked confrontations. He always wanted to just ignore a problem rather than solve it.
He had also remembered the name Hunter's Quest. It was one the four powers that truly governed the town he was living on. All he knew about them was that they were fast, agile, and proficient in tools.
He steeled his heart, took a big breath in, and walked towards the man who was slapped. As he went near him, he could see out of the corner of his eye, that the sober man looked at him incredulously.
He kneeled down and talked to the slapped man with a little nervousness on his voice.
"Are you okay? Can you stand? I'll help you get out of this mess."
"........"
The slapped man didn't respond. It didn't even look like he had acknowledged Bang's help.
'What an ungrateful little bastard. Here I am trying to help him and he fxxxing ignores me. Is this guy really a crew candidate?'
Bang ranted to his system. He felt embarrassed and ashamed of being ignored like this. Can you imagine how it feels to offer help to somebody and they are ungrateful?
"......"
Bang ignored his system's silence. He had decided not to help this guy since he clearly did not want it. Hmph...
'I suggest owner to provoke the two hunters'
'What????? What the hell are these prompts that you're giving me, system?!?!'
Bang scrunched his eyebrows together and looked left and right in confusion. He was so baffled at his system because it seemed like it was just saying what it wanted.
'What good would that do????? You're so suspicious, system, why do you want me to die???'
He retorted at his SUStem. He had no trust in his system whatsoever.
Suddenly, a thought rushed in his mind. A sentence came down from the system. It was so sudden and so subtle that he almost blurted it out while he was angry.
'What the hell system?? Why do you want me to say that??'
'I urge owner to say this so as to progress with the quest.'
That was not a valid explanation that Bang could accept. Any word of his might trigger the drunken idiot and the sober man to transfer their hatred onto him.
The thought came into his head again and he finally relented. He turned to the two men and provoked them.
"Drinking in daylight and assaulting a minor.... Is that what a member of the Hunter's Quest is permitted to do?"
Bang said this with no confidence at all. The tone and magnitude of his voice was weak and feeble, in contrast to the arrogant sounding words that came out of his mouth.
Seething in anger, the sober man scowled in Bang's direction. He was willing to let this man go but now, that provocation won't be without consequences.
It was at this moment that he saw a shining sphere tucked in Bang's armpits. It was glowing in temptation. A beacon of light, in the sober man's eyes.
This was a treasure that will boost their power. A chance at taking revenge for his fallen comrades. A coveted treasure by all powers, the essence.
The greed in the hunter's eyes can be seen clearly. This treasure was too attractive to pass by. The hunter readied himself to sprint by contracting his legs.
'I urge the owner to run with the future crew member.'
Seeing both the warnings of the hunter and the and system of an incoming action, Bang did not hesitate. He forcefully took the hands of the UB, ungrateful bastard, and ran back to the forest.
Unprepared, the UB tripped on a rock and fell down. This gave enough time for the hunters to catch up.
Seeing the two hunters in pursuit, Bang panicked in his mind. It was bad enough to run by himself but now he had to slow down because of a luggage.
A sudden thought entered his mind. It was a series of actions that would distract the enemy and give them enough time to sprint away. Probably.
He helped the UB up from the fall, and secretly picked up the stone that tripped UB.
He then held the essence on his hand and prepared a throwing stance. The sober hunter saw this and was grateful. He swore to himself that he would let them go once he caught the essence after the throw and only give them a light spanking.
The sober hunter saw the throw and a blur go past his head. He turned around and followed the direction to where the object would land.
The hunter realized that it was too small to be the essence and his fury reached the heavens. He had been tricked by a kid. He swore to himself that he will kill this kid to satiate his anger.
Before the hunter turned around, he saw the stone hit his drunk comrade. He was not worried that his comrade was hurt because it was just a tiny stone. At worst, it would only cause him bruising.
The hunter saw his friend kneel down in despair. It was only a couple of moments till he saw tears running down his friend's face.
Worried, the hunter immediately stopped his pursuit and ran towards his friend. He could only comfort him in this time. Nothing could bring back their brothers in arms.
"Jose...Jose its okay it's not your fault..... It's not our fault. We were just not strong enough. We will have our revenge. Once we get that kid's treasure we'll have enough power to get justice for Romano."
It was at this point that Jose stopped crying and looked up at his friend.
"Is... is that true? You're not lying to me are you Paulo?"
"No, I saw it with my own eyes. That kid had an essence."
————————————
Running away with hurried breaths, Bang noticed that the hunters stopped chasing them. He didn't know the reason why but he was happy with the outcome.
'System you're a genius!!!'
He finally praised his system after saving him from all those troubles. He might have given the system a bad rap but the system always shows up just in the nick of time.
After running for a little while, they finally stopped. They were in the middle of the forest with no indication of the direction they should take.
Bang took this chance and laid down next to a tree and panted in exhaustion. He had never worked out this hard in his previous life. He thanked the gods that his body was fit enough to run in that pace.
'Congratulations! You have completed a milestone in the quest. 5 wp will be rewarded.'
++++++++++++++
QUEST
-Main Quest
•Save your future crew member
# Ask your future member about his background
++++++++++++++
He looked back at the rumored potential crew member and sighed. This guy was just silent and only looked at the ground. Even after escaping, there was no sign of relief that could be seen on the guy's face.
"What's your name?"
"......"
"My name's Bang."
"......"
After a long silence, Bang's blood boiled in anger. This guy couldn't even answer a simple question from his savior!
As he was about to stand and lecture the kid, the kid finally muttered something.
"Ligi....."
Cooling down, Bang continued his questions.
"Why were those two mad at you? You stole something or what?"
"......."
Once again, the reply he got was the sound of silence. Before he even got the chance to be angry, a new prompt popped up.
++++++++++++++
QUEST
-Main Quest
•Save your future crew member
# Get your future crew member's trust by throwing a rock in the north direction.
++++++++++++++
"Ha.......wha-..........how doe-"
Bang was speechless at that incoherent sentence.
'What the hell does that even mean?!?!?! Do I earn his trust by throwing a rock like this?!?!?'
Bang said that as he sarcastically picked up a stone near the tree and threw it in the north direction.
Following the trajectory of the stone, he slowly saw that it landed near two pairs of feet. Looking up at the owner of those feet, he saw the two hunters from before. They locked eyes for a second and there was only a quiet sound.
'System you're an idiot!!!!!!'