[North West: Luke's Party!]
"Nom Nom. I wonder how much more time it will take Nom nom. It's already dark, so we should return now, let's try again tomorrow," the one to speak was Mr Harrison. He ate the sandwich from the shop, while looking at the students in front of him.
It's already been 4 hours since the tutorial started, and they have hunted 9 monsters in total. But now that the night was upon them, hunting became much more dangerous due to lack of any light source.
"I agree. I have been feeling chills all over my body, just by staying here," Julia spoke as she shuddered while looking at the empty snack shop they were raiding just now.
"I want to return as well," Alice, who spoke as little as possible, also voiced her opinion on this. Though she was afraid of the goblins, she was more afraid of the two boys in her party who were continuously ogling her whenever they had the chance to.
Luke, the leader of this party, observed the expressions of the rest of the party members, and nodded in return.
"All right, let's return now. We will continue our hunt, tomorrow," he spoke, as the rest of them stood up.
The party took a bunch of food supplies and cautiously walked back towards the safe zone. Even though they were healed by Mr Harrison, the build of fatigue was something that the spell cannot remove.
Slowly and steadily, the party reached back to the main area where about 30-40 students were sleeping. It seemed like everyone had the same idea. Though since there were a lot more students than just this, it seemed many have still not returned yet.
"Mark!" Luke called out Mark who was sitting by himself with a deadpan expression. Hearing Luke's voice, Mark turned to him, before giving him a slight glare.
"Hey! Glad to see you safe. Where is Adrian? I don't see him anywhere," Luke continued as he observed the area trying to search for Adrian. Luke's party also followed behind him and reached Mark.
"He wasn't here," Mark spoke in a low voice.
"What?" Asked Luke.
"I said, he wasn't here when I came. I asked around but nobody has seen him or knows where he is… he hasn't even returned yet," Mark's voice was getting dry by the second. He simply stared at the entrance hoping that Adrian would somehow appear here. But as time passed, that hope only vanished.
Luke understood the meaning behind Mark's words. He went out on his own. And he is probably dead by now.
"I guess. It is tragic," Luke spoke with a half serious look. He had a more annoyed look compared to a saddened one.
"Tragic?" And Mark turned to Luke with a sudden shock. His friend could be dead, and all Luke has to say is… that?
And then a glare replaced Mark's shock as he shouted," WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN TRAGIC?! HE WAS YOUR FRIEND TOO!!"
-Boom!!!!
Mark tried punching Luke but was stopped by Tristan.
"Stop being a cry baby, Mark. Your friend was baggage, even he knew that. That is why he went out to try his luck. It's tragic that he couldn't change his fate, but that's all. Sure if he were to stay here, hiding and leeching off Luke, then he could have lived more days. But tell me honestly, how long do you think he could have survived anyway?" Tristan spoke with a mocking smile as he looked at Mark.
Mark narrowed his eyes on him before observing Luke," is this the type of person you always were?"
Even though Mark was angry, so much as to kill Tristan, right now another feeling prevailed. And that was of disgust and disappointment. He couldn't believe that he was friends with people like them.
"Let's go Luke. We need to rest, too," Julia grabbed Luke by hand and took him away, as the rest of the party followed behind them. The only one left was Alice, who had conflicted emotions on her face.
On one hand, she too hated the party. Their behavior and ways were disgusting to say the least, but on the other hand she was also dependent upon them since she needed to survive.
In the end, the need for survival prevailed over morals. And she silently walked away from Mark, as he just sat there with his eyes closed. If one can lean in closer… they might even hear him sobbing and apologizing to Adrian.
…
[Deeper into the South Region!]
[Sub-Quest Completed: Kill!]
[New Skill: Hunt!]
[Skill: Hunt
Grade: C
Effect: Mark a target of your choice! When fighting against that target, All physical stats increase by 30!
Cooldown: 3 Days!]
I looked at the dead body of the [Goblin Warrior!] with a sigh. It wasn't as fulfilling as I thought. Even though I killed him, much more easily than before, it didn't feel as satisfying as I thought it would.
"I guess, that's as far as revenge goes," I sighed before looking back into the moonlit night. Despite the darkness, I was able to see clearly. I guess I underestimated the utility of [Perception!] quite a lot.
"It's safe now!" I spoke loudly signaling the NPCs to come out of hiding.
And 18 people appeared out of hiding, as they slowly walked towards me. They had reverence in their eyes, and they observed me as if I were an Angel sent by heaven to them.
'No matter how many times I see their looks, it's always awkward,' I just simply turned around and began walking. Since we were pretty much a walking group of meat for the monsters, stealth was useless. And thus, I put the cloak in the [Inventory!].
'We should reach the safe zone in 15 minutes,' I thought as I recalled how I stumbled upon one of the NPCs, as he was being chased by a monster.
One thing led to another, and I was able to gather a group of NPCs, hiding together. Convincing them to come with me to the safe house wasn't hard since all I had to do was feed them to win them over.
Though protecting them throughout the path was a pain since there were more monsters than usual on the path. But since I could gather more points, it wasn't all that bad.
[Points: 47,400!]
[GM Points: 1155!]
I wanted to buy a lot of things, but I decided to wait until I reached the [Safe Zone]. It's only been 4 hours since the Tutorial started after all.
Having enough GM Points, I thought of moving up my game by creating a [Skill] that would help me hunt even [D-Grade] monsters. At least that's what my objective is for tomorrow.
'What could be the best skill that would allow me to both hunt lower rank monsters faster and allow me to fight a [D-Grade] one easily?' I thought about it as I looked at [Hunt!]. It was suited for a one-vs-one but that's like 2 monsters in the tutorials.
I needed something else. Something convenient.
And as we walked forward, we finally reached the [Safe Zone!], where the rest of the players were currently sleeping.
"Adrian?!!"
But before I could even take a step in, someone at the side of the door looked at me with a flabbergasted look on his face.
"Mark?"