A week has passed since Asher had come to Sefron City, present in Amon Kingdom.
He was currently staying in a small inn, lying on a bed in his small room consisting of a small bed, with a table and chair beside it. The table also had a lamp.
"Should I start today?" Ash questioned while looking at the ceiling.
He has already gotten his identification card from the guild after registering as an awakener. Money was also not a problem right now for him if he spent it carefully.
The purple shard he sold had given him almost twenty thousand R, and the money he got from the whole village was also near 100,000 R.
Ash had actually struggled with whether he should keep it or at least donate half of it. But in the end decided against it.
"It's not like I was just lazing around all the time."
Ash said to himself before throwing a ball-shaped object upward and used 'static' on it as it went upward.
The ball stopped in the middle as he had expected and floated without moving, but many special things were found during his small experiments with his ability.
Ash released static effects, but the ball didn't come down; instead, it still went upward like he had thrown it.
"If an object is in motion, it will remain in motion even after static is used; when it is related, it will perform the action it was going to perform."
Ash muttered in amusement at this crazy agility. Just this part of ability has many uses.
The guild receptionist has also explained to him the workings of a guild quite well. The guild was an autonomous organization, with the only purpose of taking quests. By being part of it, Awakeners can take quests allotted to their rank. And also sell the materials and shards of monsters they hunt there. For a commission fee.
There was no other thing the guild could do, according to the receptionist.
"If I was stupid, I surely would have believed it." Ash grumbled as he rolled on the small bed.
Guild main work surely was to keep awakeners in check; otherwise, there would be no reason for the guild head to be a level 2 as well.
This information was also told by that lady as well, who was flaunting all the benefits of joining the guild.
Standing up, Asher looked at the dagger laid beside his bags. The one he had used to kill Kit.
Asher felt his throat drying as he remembered that scene. Taking a deep breath, he wore a black robe with a hoody, along with his shoes. Sliding the dagger in his waist to hide it.
"Let's go shopping today." Asher mumbled again, trying not to sound negative.
The only reason he has not taken any mission yet was to rest and properly heal from every injury he had sustained.
He wants to get strong for the first time in his life, to find the cause of the tragedy that happened in his village.
"And when I find the being responsible for this. I will tear him apart limb by limb."
Asher vowed to himself that he would find the cause and punish the wrongdoers who had taken his everything.
It was a childish thought to be a hero and bring justice for the people who suffered. Asher also knew this.
Outside he once again saw many carriages and people passing down the streets; unlike his village, the streets were too crowded.
Walking on the side of the road, I quietly observed everything. From the children running around to the people fighting, leaving no details.
He also attracted many glances due to his eyes but chose to ignore it.
His destination today was a gun shop. To buy a gun made to kill monsters.
Liber had already given him the location, so he was not going to be lost.
Seeing the shop at the end of the road, Ash quickened his steps and entered it. The interior was classy—this was all he could describe. At the center an old man sat with an unkempt beard.
"Um, I wish to buy a gun."
Asher's voice was not so confident as he saw the grumpy old man.
'He is going to be tough to deal with.' He internally cursed his luck.
"Do you have a permit?"
A rough voice soon came from the old man.
"I am an awakener."
Taking out his ID, Ash showed it to the old man.
"So you must be here to buy a monster hunting gun."
The old man rejoiced; his grumpy self vanished in thin air.
Seeing this unusual site of sudden change of personality. Ash was dumbfounded but soon gave a nod.
"Yes, I mean yes, I am here to buy that." Asher almost bit his own tongue but managed to keep going.
'Why am I stuttering so much!! Just because I did not talk with someone for a week, did my communication skills vanish or something?
"You should have said so earlier; want a drink or something?" The man offered.
"No, I will decline."
"As you wish."
The old man went behind the corner and took out a box; opening it, a navy blue and black single handgun could be seen in it.
"This is a new model artifact better then previous with a range of 100 meters; even a beast will get penetrated by it now."
The old man proudly said so.
"And how much will it cost.?"
"Not much, only 45,000 R."
"Ah, I see only 45,000 R."
Asher gave a bright smile, then something clicked in his mind as he shouted.
"The heck do you mean ONLY 45,000 R."
The price was so absurd that Asher could not help but shout. The average annual income of a middle-class family shpuld be around 25,000 R.
This so-called ONLY was double that.
"Tsk, do you not have money for it?"
The old man clicked his tongue; he must have assumed he was a noble from a great clan or something due to his silver eyes.
"I do have money, but such a price is outrageous."
The man's face soon regained interest when Asher said he has the money. Seeing this, Ash got a headache.
'This money-hungry glutton. Should I just run away with the gun? Asher internally debated if he should or should not.
'No, it's not worth it. He is not worth it.'
"OK, I will buy it if you give a discount or at least provide the bullets. And if the gun turned out to be useless."
Ash gave a gentle smile to the shopkeeper. Before vanishing from his site and appearing behind him.
"I will use this same gun and hunt you down no matter ..where you are."
He again vanished and appeared in front of him.
Seeing this, the man's face got a little pale before he nodded.
"Yes, it will definitely work; why will it not?"
Seeing the shopkeeper's enthusiasm, Asher also gave a smile in return.
Coming out of the store, Asher had a bag containing his new gun he bought for 30,000 R along with 50 bullets he got for free.
"That was really kind to give so many bullets and such a big discount. Why was he so pale, though?"
Walking straight to buy other things like a new dagger and armour.
Ash couldn't help but think that the shopkeeper was really amusing and kind.
The thing he did in the store was another application of his ability he found out after coming here.
He actually did not teleport or something but actually just put static on the man present and went behind him, simply that. But to the man he simply vanished.
This was another application of his ability; 'Static' was much stronger than he had imagined. It simply did not stop the target from moving; it actually stops time of the target!!
This was the most astonishing part he has found since coming here.
'I was simply thinking that I was only stopping a being from moving, but I was actually stopping their time altogether.'
If Asher, for example, used static on a food and kept it ongoing, the food will not spoil. Similarly, a person on which static is used will neither age nor see anything; they will simply get their time stopped while the world around them keeps moving.
"This also explains why the fight with the puppets was easier. Since I was stopping the time of tree perception by stopping its puppet. Unless it used another puppet to see me, he would not have been able to take precise action."
This has been a major reason as to why Ash won against the tree.
Now Ash only needs to prepare for his first hunt.