"So you mean to tell me that this boy got the same title as me even though he is a level 11 and an E-Rank? Bullshit."
I sigh and turn my status screen to her, showing the title.
"Wait what?! How did you get that?"
******
"... and that's about all when it comes to my class and how I got the title."
"I see, I see… Do you mind if we test some things out? I have a few things I want to check and if it works out I might be able to help you get some more titles."
Why would a random S-Ranked hunter want to help me to get more titles?
"May I ask why? I get that it might be interesting to test out someone with a class you've never seen but what do you get out of it?"
Roland interrupts before the woman, who I found out was named Mera, could answer.
"We want you to help us with taking down Cataclysm. They are a group that wishes to destroy the System Association and let the monsters flood out the gates. They think that when the gates opened, some kind of higher power wished to use them to eliminate the weak and make the world into some kind of hierarchy based on strength. Cataclysm has millions of members around the world, some we know about but others are still hidden within the System Association itself. There is a group of us among the S-Rank hunters as well as a couple highly trusted A and B-Rank hunters that are trying to fight back against them but when anyone could be a member of Cataclysm it makes it harder to trust people."
That's a lot to take in for someone like me, just an E-Rank. And what about Carter? He is also an E-Rank so he must be just as overwhelmed as me.
Looking at Carter I can see that his eyes are locked in on every word coming out of Rolands mouth.
"If you are unsure about joining then let me tell you that your friend's master is also a member of our team. He's been helping us for a few years and even told us about a promising new student he had taken on, wanting to ask for his help once he grew strong enough."
I look to Carter for confirmation but he is deep in thought, seemingly coming to a realization that his master had some hidden secrets. He seems to accept it quickly though, almost like he suspecting something like this already,
"If you guys can help me get stronger then I don't see why I can't help. I just want to get stronger and help make money for my family."
My resolve hardens at the thought of what I could do with multiple S-Ranked hunters backing me. With their help getting out of E-Rank is only a matter of time and if I keep it up then even A-Rank would be possible given I spend enough time working towards it.
"We can't help you too directly because if Cataclysm finds out that a random E-Rank is getting support from multiple S-Ranks then you could easily become a target."
That makes sense I guess. But if they can't do anything directly then how are they going to help me?
"What skill book is that you've been carrying with you? I assume you just got it from the gate you cleared, yes?"
Rolands curiosity on the book pulled us all away from the current thought as I remembered I'd been carrying around the book this whole time.
"Ah yeah we both defeated a boss and he dropped this and also this whip"
I hand over both the whip and book to Roland, allowing him to inspect them.
"This whip is not worth more than 30,000 credits. Skill books on the other hand are quite rare so even the lower level ones tend to cost at least 10x more than the whip. Given that this is a summoning skill book would make it more expensive but as helpful as a wolf can be, there are a lot more summoning books available that offer better summons. Still it would be good for you to have a skill which isn't random in case you get into trouble while in a gate."
Roland extends his arm, book in hand.
"I will handle the selling of this whip and book for you. I will transfer the credits to you through the official market accounts so nothing looks suspicious."
With this Roland gets up again and makes his way back to the desk. Opening a different drawer this time, he pulls out another phone and begins tapping away.
"Oh but I planned on using the skill book so I could have a more reliable skill."
"That's why I gave it back to you. Learn the skill before you leave so no one sees you leaving with a skill book in hand."
Confused, I tilt my head… 'But how will I sell it if I use it?' I thought to myself.
'Ding!'
My phone gets a notification that is followed by a silence in the room. Pulling my phone out of my pocket to see what the notification was shows me that I have received 500,000 credits.
"Wha… What did you do?!"
"Simple. I bought the book that you found in the gate after I put it up for sale on your behalf. Anonymously of course. And now I'm gifting that skill book to you as a token of friendship. To anyone on the outside it would just look as if you sold your skill book and some anonymous rich guy buying a gift for their nephew or something. No one will think twice about it now, you get some credits to help support your family and help buy some more equipment while also getting to use the skill book yourself."
My shock is clear but I compose myself and thank him. Looking back at the book in my hands, will it really give me the ability to summon a wolf?
"Come on boy, learn the skill book quickly."
Mera was clearly excited to see the summoned wolf, must be a dog person.
'Would you like to learn the skill: Summon Wolf'
'Yes or No'
I raise my finger towards the window in front of the book and press firmly over the 'Yes' button. The book fades out of reality and a new status window appears.
'Skill Obtained: Summon Beast'
"Summon it!"
Mera is on the edge of her seat at this point.
'Summon activated'
'Summoned Creature: Zombie'
Glowing blue light starts to encircle the space next to me, Mera hands are already extended ready to embrace the fluffy wolf that she is expecting. As the light rises, encompassing an area the size of a person.
The light fades revealing the rotting corpse. It looks like it can barely keep its balance, parts of its flesh are missing and I can clearly see bones in some areas. The immediate smell that comes from the zombie is as you would expect. Vile.
Mera had her eyes closed, anticipating a fall into a fluffy cloud of wolf fur. Instead she was greeted with the stomach of a zombie, one of its exposed ribs nearly scratching her face. Upon contact the skin across the zombie's stomach releases some kind of puss onto the cheek of Mera.
She was about to scream in horror over what she found when opening her eyes but Roland quickly intervened, cupping a hand over her mouth and praying it would keep her quiet. We didn't want to alarm anyone outside and expose the little meeting we have going on here.
Mera finally calmed down, wiping her face clean with a handkerchief.
""Give me a good reason I shouldn't beat your ass right now."
"I didn't summon the zombie on purpose, I promise."
Upon hearing that he was an accident, the zombie groaned. It kinda made me feel bad but it was just a zombie so it doesn't matter. I unsummoned the zombie and tried again.
'Summon activated'
'Summoned Creature: Snake'
A much smaller blue glow appeared on the table this time. A snake roughly between 2 and 3 feet long appeared on the table before it made its way towards me, slithering up my arm and around my shoulder, resting there.
"So I think something happened to that skill…"
END OF CHAPTER 11
A/N: I've gotten some very kind comments and messages from people telling me they enjoy the story and want more chapters! I'm currently releasing 3 chapters a week on monday, wednesday and friday with an extra chapter available on my patreon.
I'm working on getting a nice backlog of chapters so i can have 2 or 3 chapters up on patreon ahead of the releases here. Should i have enough chapters ready then i would probably do a mass release.
For now though, I would really appreciate it if you left a review! Any feedback is appreciated but leaving reviews can help boost my novel for others to see :)
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