"This is the place," says Ron.
We are standing in front of a massive two-story restaurant.
"Isn't this a little too expensive?" I ask.
"Nah, don't worry. I invited you so its my treat," he replies.
Once inside, I spot multiple dozen waiters, all in the same fancy uniform. The customers are in suits or dresses. I look at Ron and hesitantly ask,
"Aren't we a little under dressed?"
We may have changed out of the uniforms, but even my normal clothes stick out like a sore thumb in here.
"Stop being such a worry wart, relax and enjoy the food," he answers.
We approach the hostess and after confirming it would only be the two of us, we are assigned a table. After ordering some drinks, I look at the menu and search for the prices. No matter where I look, none of the options have any pricing labels. I stop myself from asking Ron about the matter. 'I'll do as he said and relax.' Despite my new resolution, a second problem arises… 'What the hell are these?'
"Hey, are these made with monster meat?" I ask Ron.
"Yeah, all the exposure to mana really juices them up, it even helps in mana recovery," he replies with excitement.
"Is it rea-…sigh. Any recommendations?" I resign and decide to trust him.
"Personally, I quite enjoy Chuul, but if you dislike sea food, then maybe you'd prefer Griffon," he says pointing out a couple of dishes.
I settle on getting a Griffon steak and place my order with the waiter.
"So, you come here often?" I ask.
Ron raises an eyebrow and says, "Are you flirting with me?"
"That's not how I meant it!" I say hurriedly.
"Hahaha, just messing with you dude. Yeah, ever since my father bought the place, I've been eating here frequently," he answers.
"He bought the place?" I ask.
"Yup, he's been getting into anything related with dungeons. Actually, that's why he is so supportive of me becoming a hunter. He wants me to become the leader of his guild," he says.
"Why doesn't he lead it himself?"
"Huh? You don't know? Only licensed hunters can create a guild," he answers.
"Oh, I see. Must be nice," I state.
"I don't know about that," he says with a face full of dejection.
Noticing the tension, I change the topic, "That reminds me. What was all that about on the first day of training? You said you lost your cool, you meant control, right?"
"No. That asshole taunted me on purpose and I…" he trails off.
'Why do I keep messing this up.'
Thankfully, the food arrives, drawing attention away from the conversation. Biting into the food, a familiar sensation runs through my body. 'Mana.' For some reason, the mana in the food is being absorbed by my body. Ron said the food would help me recover mana, but this isn't simple recovery. The mana is settling in my body. 'Is my mana expanding?' Before I can investigate further, Ron interrupts my thoughts.
"Going back to reasons for becoming a hunter, you got any besides saving people?" he asks.
"Uh, well, money. I'm the only one who can provide for my brother and hunting is quite profitable. The lack of qualifications needed is also a plus."
"But aren't you only E rank? How can you provide to a family with E rank profits?" Ron seems genuinely confused as to how someone can live with so 'little' money.
'E rank hunters earn at least 3 times more than I did as a porter! Ugh, I want to kill this guy.'
"Well, we don't need much to live," I reply with a fake smile.
We continue with the small talk, but suddenly, Ron perks up and asks, "Hey, you asked me if I was attending college, but aren't you the same? Why aren't you studying?"
"I was studying but had to drop out in order to get a full-time job," I answer.
This time, Ron seems to actually understand my struggle as he nods slightly.
"What did you study?" he asks.
"I was a Zoology major," I answer, scratching the back of my head.
"You… studied animals?" he asks in disbelief.
"Yup, I like animals," I'm used to people being surprised, strangers always say I don't look like an animal person.
"Hmm, I think I would've studied literature. I've always enjoyed reading stories," he says.
'Definitely hero stories.' I think to myself.
After some more conversation, we finish our food and head out. Outside I notice a car is parked in front of the building, a man exits it and opens the door.
"It's my driver, want a ride home?" asks Ron.
"Oh. No thanks, I'm close to home anyway," I lie. Ron can be quite the chatterbox and I'm kind of tired.
"Alright, if you say so. See you dude, we should hang out again later," saying this, Ron gets into the car and it drives off.
Once at home, I notice Tom is making some food in the kitchen.
"Oh sorry. I forgot to tell you, the guy who broke my spear invited me for some late lunch," I tell him.
"You forgot? And there I was, running home to prepare food!" Tom answers in anger.
"Sorry! I was too shocked by the monster meat; I really did forget!"
"Monster meat? You had monster meat! How was it? Did you bring some leftovers? Did you ask for the recipe? Which monsters did you taste?" a barrage of questions coming from Tom assaults me.
After explaining it all to Tom, he sighs and says, "I've always wanted to prepare a dish with monster meat."
"Don't worry! This amazing brother of yours will bring back some monsters for you," I say proudly.
"Huh? What amazing brother? E rank meat isn't even that great, stupid!"
We start to argue again, eventually leading to me a full-on wrestling match. I end up being the winner, and no, using mana isn't cheating. After that, I head to my room and get some well-deserved rest.
The next day, the instructor gathers everyone and says, "Alright! Today is the last training session. Just because training is over, doesn't mean you will be immediately expected to take the exam. In fact, we encourage you to practice some more on your own before attempting to get your license. If you want to ignore that advice, there is an exam tomorrow at the usual time of our training. After that exam, every end of the month will have another combat exam. You can check the website for more details on those. Well, that's all, get back to practice."
I decide to focus entirely on full reinforcement, but something is different. 'Why is it easier than before? Did my mana really increase? But mana capacity is impossible to increase… it must be a placebo.' A couple of attempts later, I succeed in reinforcing all four limbs at once. 'It isn't the same as full body reinforcement, my torso will lack the defensive boost, but it's better than nothing.'
With this achievement, I ask the others for some spars. With my slight increase in mana control, I manage to beat a couple more hunters. This time, when training ends, I decide to stay a little longer. The instructor gives me permission to use the gym for a bit more. Learning from my mistakes, I message Tom, telling him I'll be arriving later than usual. 'I need to master enhanced absorption, it's too good a skill to slack off on.' About an hour or so later, I can finally walk normally while using it. I decide that's good enough for today and leave the gym.
Excited about my new ability, I walk home instead of using the subway, using enhanced absorption along the way. Halfway to the apartment I run into a group of drunk men on the sidewalk.
"Hey! Isn't that our dear little porter?" one of them says.
'Alan!'
"Yeah, I think it is! I heard they found him floating around sewage water. Hahahaha!" after another person says this, all 3 of them begin cackling.
They approach me and Alan says, "Where have you been, buddy? You haven't been doing any porter jobs lately. Have you been dumpster diving? Searching for some scraps to eat eh? Hahaha."
My left arm starts throbbing, fear overwhelms me.
"What is this?" a third man, snatches the spear out of my hands.
"What the hell? Isn't this pretty good? Where the hell did you steal this from huh?" says Alan.
"A-ah, give it back!" I try to take back the spear, but Alan punches me in the face, knocking me down.
"Don't worry man, we will make sure it returns to its right full owner, right guys?" he says, the other guys snicker behind him.
"If you kneel and beg, I might give it back… as if! Hahaha."
"Kneel? Kneel!? YOU ARE THE ONES WHO SHALL KNEEL TO THE KING!" I yell this, in an alien voice.
Reinforcing my back leg, I use all my strength and pounce towards Alan. Using my right arm like a spear, I shift my reinforcement to it and thrust it towards his heart. Before he could even blink, Alan is impaled by my hand, the tip of my fingers manage to come out of his back. As I pull out my hand, Alan slowly slumps down to the floor, coughing up blood. The other 2 guys are shocked, but they have raided dozens of dungeons, they quickly regain their senses and use full body reinforcement.
Bending down, I pick up Alan's sword. Hunters usually carry around their weapons, the constant danger inside dungeons instills a bunch of habits in you. Despite it being the first time I pick up the sword, it feels like my hands were made for it. I fell a sense of familiarity, several times higher than the one I feel with spears. I dash towards the one that has my spear, he has a sword by his side, he shouldn't know how to properly use a spear.
My guess proves to be correct; he instinctively holds it like one would a sword, he looks idiotic. I precisely thrust Alan's sword towards his right eye, but he manages to react in time, batting at it with the spear. I use his own attack against him, keeping the momentum, I spin around and slash at his left side. Completely taken aback by this, he allows my sword to hack at his neck. Due to the reinforcement, he isn't fully beheaded, but the damage is enough. He collapses onto his knees, a river of blood pouring out of his half open neck after I pull out the sword.
A sense of danger rises from my back, I twist my body sideways. A sword's edge slices at my gut, without reinforcement on my torso, the sword easily cuts me open. However, due to my dodge, the wound is shallow, saving my insides from spilling out. Ignoring the pain, I empower my twist, using it to slice at the guy's head. With a smile still on his face, the sword gets lodged halfway into his skull. I let go of it, allowing the corpse to fall with the sword still stuck to it.
Now that no danger is present, I finally realize what I've done.
'I k-killed them.'
Full of panic, I pry my spear out of the guys hands and start running.