Chapter 21 - Tutorial (Hunter) - 7
No light. Noah's frantic search for the breaker panels leads to fruitless wall-touching. He arrives at the middle door. Opening the door, linking the garage and washroom, Noah finds a dark alley.
He gulps and pauses, "Nah, I-I'll manage in the dark."
Refusing the dark corridor, Noah avoids stepping into Vesper's bear trap, showcasing his cunning evasion. Shifting tactics, he scavenges runes from the kitchen and dining area, consuming them to boost his permanent status points like Vesper once did, leaving white orbs at the exit.
Vesper, seething with frustration, emits incomprehensible sounds in his transparent cage.
"JUST GET IN THERE AND STEP ON IT, YOU FOOL!"
His half-empty energy bar forces him to wait for regeneration, observing Noah devouring the house's runes while tracking their count on his monitor.
.
Total Rune: 16
- Common Rune: 7
- Uncommon Runes: 4
- Rare Runes: 3
- Super Rare Rune: 1
- Epic Rune: 1
Total Value: 302
.
Watching Noah consume them stirs a heartache in Vesper as he imagines the status points he could have gained from those runes. He questions if this is indeed the terror mode due to the abundance of runes in the house.
Luckily, Vesper doesn't need to wait long. Just 34 seconds after deploying the bear trap, his energy replenishes to 100. With the prey lingering too long in the main area, Vesper chooses to summon the hoarder.
Emerging from the kitchen's ceiling, a monster that once killed Vesper enters the stage. The eight-legged woman silently lurks in the dark, crawling on the ceiling and using her hair to scour for runes. It creeps toward the center of the house.
…
Meanwhile, Noah halts his collection of white and green runes in the living room, cautiously peeking outside the window to check for the rooftop creature's proximity.
"KIHIHIHIHI!"
Coincidentally, the spider lady patrols the front of the house due to earlier flickering lights, occasionally glancing inside for the survivor. Noah ducks and stealthily approaches the middle door leading to the corridor.
As he prepares to open it, his arms and shoulders brush against moving coarse black strings.
Mistaking them for spider webs, Noah hastily swats them away, only to find the hair strings springing into motion.
Like a swarm of snakes, they quickly ensnare Noah's body in a tight bundle.
"WHAT THE HELL?! AAAAAHHH!!"
Looking up, Noah finally notices the eyeless woman, who grins widely at him before he meets the same fate as Vesper did in his first run.
Her hair wraps around his head. Then, a disturbing noise resounds in the house.
CRACK
The eight-legged spider twists Noah's neck 180 degrees, ending his life in an instant.
…
DING
A grin spreads across Vesper's face as he observes the cage vanishing. Furthermore, he anticipates with excitement what rewards await him in this stage.
The monitor provides a detailed view of Vesper's score.
.
Successful protection of the hidden stage's rune = 100 Points
Total survivor elimination. = 80 Points.
Guardian incapacitating a survivor = 10 Points.
Spell casting = 3 Points
Value of remaining runes in the stage after the mission divided by 5 = 60.4 Points.
Total = 253.4 Points!
S RANK!
.
Vesper is astonished by how effortless it was, pondering the potential credits and rewards awaiting him from this successful mission.
While Vesper relishes his first kill, Xenokaz materializes through the garage's shutter door and delivers a friendly slap to his back. The impact sends Vesper tumbling forward, crashing into the broken truck within the garage.
"KAHAHAHAHA! Easy, right?" Xenokaz chuckles.
With legs pointed at the ceiling, Vesper scratches his head, gazing at his mentor from an upside-down perspective.
'The crawler-hoarder combo seems to be the meta. It worked against me when I was a survivor, so I figured it would work against him too.'
Xenokaz nods approvingly. "Yes, the crawler and hoarder combination is quite popular among rookie hunters. But once you accumulate enough credits and earn your first promotion, you should consider recruiting some personal soldiers to join your legion."
'Personal soldiers, sir?'
"Yes, they're like personal troops that you can summon in addition to the provided guardians. However, the energy required depends on their overall strength. If they're too powerful, the cost increases, making it harder to summon them in smaller stages like this."
'I understand,' Vesper responds, growing increasingly intrigued.
The prospect of learning more about the game excites Vesper, especially the idea of facing Noah again.
Xenokaz helps Vesper back to his feet, patting his shoulders reassuringly.
"We'll commence our second lesson after the reward ceremony. Your credits should be transferred to your account by now. You can summon your status menu to check your bank balance and stats."
It dawns on Vesper that he had completely forgotten about his status attributes and credits. He lightly slaps his forehead and turns to Xenokaz.
'How do I summon the... status menu thingy again?'
"Wha-?!" Xenokaz is taken aback. Leaning in closer to Vesper, he whispers, "Have you never summoned a status menu before?"
'No, nobody mentioned it to me.'
"Holy hell! Are you serious, junior?!"
Observing Xenokaz's reaction, Vesper finds it peculiar, wondering what the lich is so surprised about.
'What's the matter, sir?'
"SO MANY THINGS, SERIOUSLY!" Xenokaz paces back and forth in the garage, visibly frustrated and confused. "IF YOU'RE UNAWARE OF THE STATUS MENU, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO EQUIP THAT EYE RUNE?! HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW YOU COULD INSERT A RUNE INTO YOUR EYE SOCKET?!"
'Eye rune?' Vesper flinches, recalling when Alanna implanted something in his left eye socket, and he instinctively touches his face. Then, the memory of receiving a curse upon his third death floods back to him.
'This must be a cursed rune, sir. When I yielded to a hunter, she implanted a cursed rune in my eye.'
"WHAT?!" Xenokaz stomps toward Vesper, grabbing his head and pulling the misty man closer to inspect his flame eyes.
Vesper sweats profusely with the lich's face uncomfortably close. He wants to break free from the mentor's grasp, but the skeleton lich's grip strength is too strong.
After a tense minute of staring, Xenokaz releases Vesper with a long sigh.
"That is indeed a cursed rune. The hunter who cursed you is devious. It will bring you many troubles."
'What can it do, sir?'
"I don't know either. I don't have a high-ranking appraisal rune that can identify the curses. How about you draw a square in the air with your index and middle finger. That's how you summon a status menu here. You can access it even during a mission. It should tell you what the curse is."
Enlightened, Vesper follows the instructions and draws a square with his fingers.
DING
A semi-transparent screen materializes, similar to when Vesper is trapped in a transparent cage, displaying his status and equipped runes.