Heading back to the Association, Karl looked at the notice board, and he started trying to understand what kind of currency is used now, what kinds of jobs are available, and if there was anyone else that he knew.
On the board are notices for certain materials that people want, there were notices to bring back the infected animal corpses, the animals don't turn to dust when killed, it's only the humans who have been mutated that do.
There were also notices for jobs such as Healers, Blacksmiths, and Mages who specialize in Earth magic or other kinds of magic to help build stuff. The last type of notices were for animal companions who's owners have died.
Looking at all of the different dogs and Ravens that have no owner, Karl took the two that have been there for the longest time and brought them to the counter. Bringing a mission to kill three mutated bears and bring them back as well, he gave all of the missions to the woman at the counter, which was Annabelle, and she stamped them to confirm that he had accepted them.
"I'm sorry about how I had acted earlier. Please don't hold it against me. I-" Annabelle was about to continue but she stopped talking when she saw Karl raise his finger to his lips, she was going to make sure to listen to every word that Karl said.
"I won't hold it against you, but I will warn you. Start acting more professional or I will personally see to it that you no longer work here. Even if I don't know how to do that yet, I'm sure I can find a way to speak to the leader. I'll be watching you, so be careful."
Annabelle hurriedly nodded her head, she needed to keep this job since it allowed her to live in the Association building and provided her with free food and clothing. She had known it was Karl when he walked up to the counter, even in his knee armour, because of the General's star.
Starting to walk away, Karl saw that a there was another person coming out of the door he had been led into by Annabelle, but the person had a General's star with the number '5' in the centre of it. It was a man in his twenties, he had a bald head, a grimace on his face, and a happy light in his eyes.
Watching him follow a woman out of the door, Karl saw that in the next moment, the bald man raised his hand and smacked the back of the woman's head, which then exploded like a grenade with bone shrapnel flying all over the place.
Two seconds of silence ensure, but in that time, the man killed three more people, and he showed no sign of stopping. After the two seconds, people started running away, they weren't pushing and shoving though, they were all running out of the building in an orderly fashion.
The mentality of people has already changed for awhile now, they aren't the people that they used to be. Most of them have experienced life and death situations, so they didn't panic and start battling to run out of the building.
This man was the exact type of person that wasn't supposed to be a General, he went crazy because of his new authority, and he started a killing spree. Everyone had let their guard down due to Karl because he hadn't done anything outrageous and they weren't prepared for another General.
Chasing the people who were running out, the man wanted to kill more people, but he was stopped by the stalkers who were trained to take down Generals. "Come quietly or have your arms and legs cut off."
A Stalker with green star on the forehead of his mask said this as he was holding a wand, he was the leader of this squad of Stalkers, and he was at the same level range as a General, he just chose to continue being a Stalker and restrain berserk Generals.
Smiling crazily, the man started laughing, his face then ceased all movement and coldly said "No.", and then the battle started. Multiple Stalkers encircled him, the ones who used magic were staying a little ways away so they couldn't be hit by any of his attacks while and so they could safely cast their magic.
The physical fighters were up close and is his area of attack, but they were attacking him with all sorts of weapons. Some of them were trying to use chains to try and restrain him, it wasn't working though since he would just break the chains, and then the first spell arrived after 30 seconds.
Being cast by the Stalker group leader, the spell used was a fire type spell, and it was one of the harder ones to silent cast.
Stalkers specialized in casting silent spells to make sure that they remained quiet when ambushing Generals or other entities that require it, they only use vocal spells if they won't have enough power generated by the silent spell.
An arrow of fire condensed and shot towards the General, it hit his forehead causing his head to snap back and his body was flung in a circle mid air from the momentum, but then something shocking happened.
Standing up as if nothing happened, the only damage that was visible was a small patch of burnt skin that wasn't even as big as the palm of a normal person. Laughing maniacally, the berserk General started beating the Stalkers mercilessly.
When the first Stalker was killed, the rest of them died like like dominoes, or they would have if Karl didn't step in. Appearing in front of the berserk General like a ghost, Karl placed his armoured hand on the General's face and pushed as hard as he could.
Surprised at the sudden intrusion of a third party, the Stalkers and the General were shocked when they realized that it was the other General who had received his emblem today. Kneeling on one knee, he looked at the face of the General, and he observed the eyes.
Noticing that the look in his eyes was vacant, as if he was sleeping or brain dead, Karl held him down while turning to the group leader. "I could use some chains now, you did want to capture him alive, right?"
Stunned at this other General, the group leader hurriedly shook himself out of his revery and went to get multiple sets of the strongest chains that were currently available. Turning back to the bald man, Karl continued to examine the face that wasn't blocked by his hand.
Moving his head closer, Karl saw that there was a small pink stain on the corner of the man's lips, and then he was struck in the back of the head by something. Barely moving an inch, Karl slowly turned around to see that the thing that struck him was one of the Stalkers' weapons.
Seeing his health drop by five points, Karl was shocked at the weakness of these so called Stalkers, but he wasn't the only one shocked right now. The Stalker that hit him was also shocked, he didn't know how this General was perfectly fine after receiving a full powered blow from him.
His other group members were shocked at what he had just done, hitting a General, who was unprovoked previously, allows them to get rid of you however they wish. Slapping the Stalker who hit him with the back of his hand, Karl watched in slow motion as he flew away and hit the wall.
Controlling his strength as to not instantly kill the Stalker, Karl wanted to figure out why this Stalker had attacked him when he didn't do anything, and he wanted to make sure this person was interrogated properly. He felt like something larger was going on.
Coming back out from a room, the group leader saw the scene of Karl backhanding one of his subordinates, and he thought that this other General went berserk, but then he saw half of the remaining Stalkers surround and restrain the other Stalker.
Bringing the chains to the General that was restraining the berserk General, the group leader inquired the reason as to why he backhanded one of his subordinates. "Because he attacked me, unprovoked, and I don't take kindly to being ambushed."
Tying the bald man up, Karl left knocked him unconscious for good measure, he then placed the man beside the Stalker who had ambushed and started heading in the direction of the animals shelter, he needed to go and get the Raven and dog.
The group leader and other members of the Stalkers watched his back as he walked away, the group members were thinking about how strong he was while the group leader was thinking about how magnanimous he was.
"Sir, I think it would be best if we doubled or tripled the amount of Stalkers who followed him, he was able to take a full powered surprise attack from Jake and remain completely unharmed, he also gave him a backhand slap sent him across the room."
Shaking his head, the group leader disagreed, "Have the top 10 highest levelled members of the Stalkers following him, they will be the group who stop him, if what you say is true about him, then we might need someone at the Leader's level to be following behind him."
Heading down to the animal shelter, Karl gave the notice he had got and showed it to the receptionist, who had been staring at him wide eyed, and his eyes became even wider when he saw what couple of animals he was going to try and adopt.
"A-Are you sure these are the ones that you want to adopt, they are quite aggressive compared to most others. They had been sent under our care shortly after the attack happened, we didn't have this building back then, we didn't even have this whole taking care of animals thing yet.
Our founder was the one who had established it, you might know her, she is the General named Kris." Smiling happily, Karl didn't react shocked as he knew what Kris's personality was like, she had a major soft spot in her heart for animals.
Leading the way towards the rooms that the two animals were in, the employee in front of him unlocked and opened up a heavily guarded door, Karl was then sent inside as the door was closed behind him, he would be let out if he gave three knocks on the door.
Examining the two animals, Karl saw that the Raven had blood red eyes with no pupil, it had sleek black feathers and talons, it's beak was the same blood red as it's eyes. It's length was an astounding 18 metres while it's wingspan was 39 metres.
The dog on the other hand, it was slightly larger than a horse, it was a German shepherd, it's fur was pitch black and golden, it's eyes were two different colours, one was the same green as Karl's while the other was a dark purple.
Walking closer to the two animals, Karl examined them while they did the same to him, getting right in front of the German shepherd, Karl took off his helmet and looked it in the eye. It had originally been laying there nonchalantly, but it's nonchalant posture disappeared when it was looked in the eye.
Keeping it's head to the floor, it didn't even dare to look Karl in the eyes after barely looking at them for a second. Turning to the Raven, he started climbing up onto it's back while looking into it's eyes, and he stroked it's head.
" I wonder if you would let me be your new master?" Saying this out loud, Karl saw that both of the animals nodded their heads slowly. "Wonderful! Let's get going then, I need to go and kill 3 bears and bring back their bodies for processing, then I will start levelling up as fast as possible."
After saying that, Karl brought the two animals out of the heavily guarded room, and he walked out of the animal shelter after waving goodbye to the receptionist who had brought him down to the animals in the first place.
Hopping on top of the Raven, Karl started flying out of the city and headed towards a place that he had memorized on the map, it was a place that had multiple bears staying in that area, and it was the perfect spot to find the beast to kill.
(AN. This is the last chapter in volume one, I will work a little bit more on Defending My Home before doing some more of this. Peace out!)