Early in the morning…
Lennard had a good meal yesterday and regained most of his energy.
Even at this hour, many people were still putting their all to work hard. Lennard went to the stone house as usual and saw Reighton with dark circles under his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't have a good day.
"Oh uhm, mister Reighton?" Lennard gently tapped on the table.
"Hm..?" Reighton looked at him with a lifeless gaze.
"What the?!" Lennard was almost scared to the point that he thought he was talking to a zombie. "Uhmm I would like to switch jobs.."
"Oh.." Reighton opened his mouth slightly and with a gloomy tone, he said, "You're good, I'll just write your name here…" He took out a notebook and scratched out the name from the mines and switched it to the list of the hunters. "Here, take this badge.. they'll know immediately… once you give it to them.."
Lennard left as quickly as he could. He felt a bit guilty for selling Reighton's ring now.
But there was nothing he could do about it except for staying silent.
He went outside and saw different carriages all for different jobs.
He approached a tough looking man with slicked gray hair and a menacing appearance. It immediately told Lennard that this wasn't a man that he could face.
And with those scars on his arms? No thanks, Lennard doesn't want to mess with this dude.
The man is named Sratir. He looked at Lennard and spoke one word.
"Badge."
Lennard stood there blankly for a moment before fumbling in his pockets in search of the badge. "H- here you go sir…"
"Hm.." Sratir already didn't approve of Lennard. But workers are workers regardless. Even if they were weak, a bit more help would be great.
"Get inside and wait for the others." Sratir couldn't be bothered to look at him any longer.
"Yes sir." Lennard lowered his head and entered the carriage immediately.
Even though he didn't like the old driver from the mines, he would prefer him as a driver instead of Sratir.
As Lennard waited inside, time passed by. And soon enough, the carriage was filled with passengers. The people that Lennard saw inside the carriage were either old or a people with a bit more muscle than the rest.
Very fitting for those who dared to take death's course.
After seeing that the carriage was full, Sratir hopped on the carriage and struck the reins down.
Neigh!
The horses began moving.
Lennard saw that they were being brought to a farther area away from the Carmil Village.
The area is called Goblin Ridge, located northeast of the Carmil Village. It is known for its dangerous beasts but it was also teeming with life. Most of the beasts found there are Scythe Toothed Boars, Wild Hounds and Goblins.
And what's most terrifying about Goblin Ridge is the Bronze Skinned Goblin. A ten meter tall goblin with exceptional strength and durability.
It was said that whoever encounters the Bronze Skinned Goblin, only death awaits them.
Despite the ridge's terrifying nature, the view was quite beautiful. Lennard couldn't help but look outside.
"What are you doing?! Keep your head inside!" Sratir shouted at Lennard with rage, his saliva flying out as he yelled.
Taken by surprise, Lennard accidentally hit his head on the window as he tried to get it inside.
"Tch." Sratir shook his head even more.
The people inside the carriage chuckled to themselves after seeing how pathetic Lennard was.
Enduring the shame in his heart silently, Lennard could do nothing else but check the system.
"Eh? There's something here.." Lennard saw a strange icon next to the sell option. It looked like a miniature TV, but because of his curiosity, Lennard pressed it.
> Watch ad? [Reward: 40$] [Y/N]
A line of text appeared above the button.
"Sure..? What could possibly go wrong?" Lennard snickered to himself. Of course, he didn't want something bad to happen.
Zoom!
Immediately, his surroundings changed.
Instead of being inside the carriage, he was transported into a pitch black void. Lennard felt like he was falling.
"WOAH! WHAT THE FUC-"
Bam!
Lennard hissed in pain as he massaged his bottom. He looked around, but all he could see was darkness.
"Hello!?" Lennard shouted.
But because of how vast the area was, his voice barely covered 1% of this strange place.
As Lennard kept looking everywhere, a huge screen appeared behind him.
The screen was white and because it was the only thing that was glowing in this void, it was the only thing that Lennard could see.
"What is that thing?" Lennard scratched his head.
Suddenly, the screen played a video.
"Hey you? Would you like a healthy and delicious sandwich? If so, then try out our latest and most delicious mayonnaise #######. It is packed with…"
A man advertising a jar of mayonnaise appeared on the screen. The product name was censored for some reason, but it was at the end of the day, an ad.
"Oh.. so I just have to watch this and I'll get eight bucks? Sweet." Lennard sat down and watched the ad.
The one minute ad was finished, but instead of the system letting him out, the screen played another ad.
"Our new and powerful vacuum cleaners will make sure that your house will be clean as ever.." A buff man with a beard was now advertising a vacuum cleaner as he bench pressed it in front of the camera.
"The hell? How many ads do I have to watch?" Lennard stood up and touched the screen.
> Ad Duration: 23h 59m 32s
Lennard stared at the duration with a blank stare. The background noise of the ad served as an extra annoyance for Lennard.
"Ah okay, it's just one day.." Lennard smiled while his mind was on the verge of insanity.
…
"WHAT KIND OF AD IS WORTH ONE DAY?!" Lennard shouted. "Don't tell me that I'm stuck here for one day!"
As Lennard was throwing a fit, he punched the screen and it showed an "X" button on the bottom left corner.
> Cancel Ad
After seeing this line of text, Lennard slowly calmed down.
He pressed it.
> Are you sure that you want to cancel the ad? (Time here is not affected by the outside. Dear user will also be in peak mental state, peak state of health, infinite energy, reduced pain, temporary immortality and indestructibility inside this realm.)
Lennard's eyes brightened.
"Then why didn't you say so? You got me worried there.." Lennard let go of the skip button and just sat there.
As the ads went by, Lennard frowned to himself.
"Not going to lie, this is quite boring." Lennard looked around to see what he could play with. He stood up and began walking away from the screen.
Once he reached a certain distance, the system alerted him.
> Going out of bounds will cancel the ad.
"Crap." Lennard knew that he couldn't walk any further if he wanted the reward.
With disappointment in his eyes, he began walking back towards the screen. He put both hands on his waist and decided to punch the air.
He kept throwing punches again and again without stopping.
"Wow, this… this is a great way to practice." Lennard decided that this void isn't as bad as he thought.
"I do not fear the man who practiced 10,000 kicks at once, I fear the man who practiced one kick 10,000 times.. This couldn't be any more true." Lennard decided to savor this tireless state of his until the time was up.
The best part was that time outside wasn't affected at all, so he could spend his time here with as much training as he wanted.
23 hours and a few minutes later…
> Ad Duration: 0h 0m 32s
"Hm? Almost up…" Lennard stopped kicking the air.
He had been kicking the air for hours now. It helped with the boredom and he didn't even have to rest because he wasn't even tired in the slightest.
Heck, there wasn't even a single sweat on his body.
When the duration finally ran out, Lennard's vision flashed.
Zoom!
..
"Agh!" Lennard stumbled on his seat, startling some of the hunters next to him.
One buff angry man growled next to Lennard. "Kid, are you trying to get yourself punched!?"
Waving his hands, Lennard immediately backed down. "No no no, I'm sorry sir."
Seeing how this kid was filled with tears, the hunter couldn't even be bothered anymore. With a huff, he ignored Lennard.
"Phew… that was a bit too close.." Lennard decided not to enrage fellow hunters like that in the future.
He checked his system.
> Balance: 40.3$
He bought experience points with his balance.
> You have leveled up!
+5 Stat Points
"We're going all on strength." Lennard dumped all of the points on strength.
With this, he was satisfied and patiently waited for his arrival.
"Hold on, no one told me where we're going to be." Lennard initially wanted to ask where the carriage was going to lead, but after seeing that everyone wasn't even batting an eye on him, Lennard decided that it would be better if he said nothing.
Soon, they reached the Goblin Ridge.
…
"Alright! Get all of your dirty butts off my carriage!" Sratir hollered to all of them.
Knowing Sratir's position, they all quickly left the carriage.
Sratir snorted coldly before driving the carriage away. These guys weren't worthy of his time at all.
..
"Hey, look.. it's the newcomers."
"Hehe, they're not going to last long.. especially that kid."
"That man looks particularly strong.. maybe Gorlen is finally going to meet a match."
"Who knows? Gorlen is a pretty great hunter. He can't be replaced that easily."
The hunters at the base talked amongst themselves.
Now that Sratir was gone, everyone looked at the newcomers and assessed them carefully. Most of their gazes usually land on Lennard.
"That newcomer looks awfully young."
"He's just a kid, he'll definitely turn tail out of fear soon enough."
"Yep, that's what I'm thinking."
…
Everyone didn't have a great opinion on Lennard. Even if anyone looked at him carefully, he looked extremely lackluster. Not worthy of your attention.
They then approached those men from Curero to receive their weapons.
The new hunters moved by themselves and grabbed whatever was left for them.
Lennard was the last. He was about to grab a weapon but all that was left for him was a knife.
A single, fricking knife.
Lennard blinked twice.
"..."
"Better than nothing I guess." Lennard held back his tears and indignance before heading towards the forest.
Were they really this rude to him? What did he even do? Lennard couldn't stand these people.
..
Lennard wandered by himself.
The forest was quite nice. The sunrays fell down from the gaps between the leaves, the area was quiet, and the greenery filled the area.
Lennard couldn't find a single beast to hunt so he just went forward without stopping. And who knows? Maybe he'll run into something since he had upgraded his luck.
He saw a very unassuming boulder and thought nothing of it.
"Damn, isn't this place too quiet? There's not a single living thing nearby." Lennard was confused at this point, but he just decided to keep moving.
1 hour later….
"Seriously, where are they..?" Lennard knew that something was terribly wrong with this forest at this point.
The soil on the ground was slowly transitioning from dirt to stone. This weirded him out until he saw a strange creature up ahead.
"Oh, this must be a beast.." Lennard took out his knife and snuck behind it.
The creature was gnawing on a corpse of a deer. It was so busy that it couldn't even sense Lennard from far away.
Thinking to himself, Lennard found the beast strange. "What a beautiful and exotic creature. I have never seen something like this.."
Green skin, long ears, uses two legs and two arms, eats food very aggressively..
"Why does this creature seem so familiar..?" Lennard frowned.
But as he was sneaking towards the strange creature, it turned around and grabbed the wooden club next to it before running towards Lennard.
[Basic Goblin - Level: 3]
"Oh.." Lennard now realized why the creature seems so familiar. "Now if you would excuse me, I would like to run."
Lennard immediately bolted backwards.
The goblin gave chase to Lennard.
"This can't be happening! I just died a few days earlier, give me a break!" Lennard looked back and saw the goblin running towards him with its bloody saliva dripping down from its mouth.
"Wait.. I have strength 11.. Maybe I can…" Lennard turned around and faced the goblin.
The goblin saw that Lennard stopped and was about to hit him with his club before suddenly being kicked.
"Hieh!?" The goblin received a firm kick on its face and it began to stagger on its legs.
While the goblin was disoriented, Lennard nodded to himself. "It's now or never.." He raised his knife and plunged it down the goblin's chest.
"Hiyeh!!" The goblin struggled under Lennard's knife, but Lennard didn't give it a chance.
He twisted the knife inside the goblin's body until it slowly became more sluggish with its movements. The blood from the goblin's wound spurted all over Lennard, covering him in blood.
He took out the knife and stabbed the goblin once again. "Gah!"
And again.
And again…
> You have killed [Basic Goblin - Level: 3]
+10 Experience Points.
…
Clank!
Lennard's bloody knife rang on the ground.
He looked at the bloody corpse of the goblin and resisted the urge to vomit. Lennard was breathing heavily and his mind felt like it was drowned in lead.
"Did I just… kill.." Lennard looked at both of his bloodied up hands.
For someone who lived a very steady and peaceful life, something this brutal wasn't something that Lennard easily adapted to.
It took him a few minutes until he recovered.
Grabbing the corpse of the goblin, he received a notification.
(Basic Goblin Hide - Price 1$)
(Basic Goblin Tooth 24x - Price 1.44$)
(Lesser Grade Wood Club- Price 0.1$)
[Sell? Y/N]
Lennard sold all of them.
He decided to rest for now.
"I'm not sure I'm going to survive here… I'm really not used to gore..." Lennard sighed to himself.