Year 0002, The Imperium
---
The next day, the mission was completed. August's wide grin reached from ear to ear.
[ SYSTEM: DING! MISSION COMPLETE REWARDS WILL NOW BE GIVEN; HUNTER NOVICE SET WILL BE PLACED ON A CHEST INSIDE THE HOUSE.
[A NEW ACTIVE SKILL HAS BEEN UNLOCKED:
(WIND BLADE LEVEL 1)
- Sends three sharp wind blades, 10 feet in front of the user; it costs 15 mana, and each blade deals 20-30 damage to its target. ]
"YEEEEEEEESSSSS! MY FIRST SKILL!
WOOHOO!"
August was in the middle of his daily routine when he got the notification; he jumped in joy in the middle of it.
Thankfully the others were a lap behind him, so they haven't really heard him.
They were currently taking a morning jog while also inspecting the outside perimeter and checking the new wall surrounding their village.
Since they could no longer go and jog around it, they only went to and fro a couple of times outside, and they went inside the perimeter and finished running around inside the village
.
A moment later he left after he finished his morning exercise.
And after witnessing that the wall was looking good and nothing was amiss, he began walking towards the house.
---
August isn't the type to consistently check his [Personal Panel], and it has been a while since he did.
So he didn't know there were many major and minor updates that happened to him.
And he would continue to do this until he reached Level 10; it was a milestone achievement, so he might as well do it at that time.
He didn't even notice that he has already earned a Guardian Beast.
With the current events that happened, he was too busy to bother with the mundane things such as inspecting himself.
---
After he finished his morning exercise, he directly went inside the house with hurried steps, almost as if he was about to jog again; he was indeed pretty excited to check his rewards that he couldn't wait.
In the corner of the house near his bed, he found something new; it was the wooden chest!
And surely it wasn't there before; this was the Rewards Chest that was given by the system.
He went towards it to gain access to his rewards....
[DING!]! NOVICE HUNTER SET REWARDS CHEST, WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN IT {YES/NO}?
{YES}
The locked chest opened, and it revealed the items that were stored inside of it.
For a while, August was left in a wandering gaze...
Wait, how did it even get here? Who delivered it? Like, before he realized that it materialized in the mortal world, but how?
The system is currently mum about it; there were no words that could explain it, at least to August.
(But the system only uses things that are available to the host, his kills, i.e., boarats and rabbits, the woods he foraged, and such.)
This Novice Hunter Set that he got is made from the Commander Grade Boarat that he recently killed.
And the arrow tips were made from normal rank boarats that he had killed.
But even though it is novice, it isn't bad in the standards of the world; in fact, it is actually pretty good.
Most people in the villages or even towns could only dream of it; only those in mid-tier towns could probably afford to have even one of the things in the set.
(There is also a secret feature in this set that will be unlocked when he reaches the prerequisite level 10 and when he knows the truth of his Guardian Aetherwing.)
It would then turn into a Novice Hunter "Guardian" (Rare) Set; it will basically give him access to one of 'Aetherwings' low-tier skill sets for a limited period of time each day and allow him to gain access to the beast's power (1-5%).
So if he could manage to unlock it later on, he would have something akin to a one-shot, one-kill skill.
With anything that is below Boss Rank and at least Expert Rarity, since it all comes down to the user's proficiency, which is him.
And he is fairly new with magic, the most bottom of the barrel; at max, he could only use 5% of the beast's maximum power.
---
[ INFO PANEL : EQUIPMENT GRADE AND RARITY ]
GRADE: THE GRADE OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT DEPENDS ON THE MASTERY OF THE CRAFTSMAN, ARTISAN, BLACKSMITH, OR WEAPON MAKER WHO MADE IT.
° NOVICE
° ADVANCE
° MASTER
° LEGENDARY
RARITY: THE AMOUNT OF FINISHED PRODUCT THAT CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER THE WORLD, DUE TO THE DIFFICULTY, RARITY, SKILL, AND PROFICIENCY OF THE CRAFTSMAN, ARTISAN, BLACKSMITH, ARMOURER, OR WEAPONS MAKER WHO MADE IT.
° COMMON: 100,000—MORE
° RARE: 100-1,000
° UNIQUE: 10
° LEGENDARY: 1-5
° MYTHICAL: ONLY 1 BUILT IN EXISTENCE BY ANY BEING BLESSED WITH DIVINITY BY THE GOD OF CRAFTSMANSHIP, ARTISAN, BLACKSMITH, ARMOURER, OR WEAPONS MAKER.
---
August is now draped with his new equipment. His head was covered with a beautiful leather hooded cape that ran down until his waist, while the hood was adorned with an inch-long tusks-like protrusion on each side of his head, a mini horn.
His body armor, shoulder guard, gauntlets, gloves, pants, and more were in a similar fashion.
The thick hide and the leather made from its skin insulate his body from the cold, while some of the Boarat's bones protect his vital body parts; it was found all over the most important parts of his body.
His clothing was being highlighted by the Boarats strong yet now very light bones after it was refined by the system.
Its bony color contrasts with the dark, earthy colors of the leather and hide of the Commander Boarat, and you can find it all the way down to his boots.
From a glance, it looked very heavy from an outsider's perspective.
But it was meticulously fitted with him in mind, exactly to his current body and overall strength.
What's more amazing with this set is that it can grow along with his body later on.
His new bow was also made of the strong and yet very flexible wood that they collected before; it was also adorned and strengthened with the Boarat's refined bones.
Its bowstring was made of the Boarats sinew; it was strong and flexible, ten times better than his two previous bows, and it speaks for the overall quality of its build.
In a similar fashion, it goes down even to his quiver; the wood and bone were carved with interesting intricate patterns, laced with some leather belt strap.
It could now store 40 arrows, and with its increased space, he won't be running out of arrows too soon, and he has two of them now!
You can see it on both sides of his body; it was secured very comfortably, and even with extreme movements, the contents of the quiver would not fall off.
The one he was using before has only 35 maximum capacity.
His arrow was also tipped with the normal type but refined Boarats bones.
Its length was made with the leftover trees that they chopped down; now he has at least a thousand arrows lying around ready to be used.
Interestingly, he was also given two sharpened boar tusks; one was almost the length of a short sword and the other was the length of a dagger.
The short sword can be hidden horizontally on the lower back of his body, while the dagger can be easily accessed near his chest.
It also includes a small wooden/bony shield that he could hang on his back when not in use.
"But why would the system include this on my reward?"
He could understand the rationality of the dagger... But the short sword and shield were new; he hadn't used a blade and shield in any of his combat and hunting encounters.
But later on he realized that, with his previous encounter with Commander Boarat, he ran out of arrows pretty soon, and that was what caused him to be almost killed.
And a sidearm or a secondary weapon would have surely been good to have at that crucial moment.
He could only smile at the system's thoughtful gesture.
He definitely has to include this with his training regime later on.
---
While August was still looking at his overall outfit.
The others have finally returned; it looks like they also have finished their training.
They now looked roughed up, with the dirt and grime sticking on their clothes, while their sweat bathed their bodies.
When they got inside the house, they saw someone who was draped like a cool-looking barbarian.
The two boys were awestruck looking at him; it was too cool...
While the girls thought... They only looked at August's face... He looked handsome right now, a small blush etched on their faces.
August finally noticed the others presence; he turned around and noticed his audience's exhausted looks but with their eyes brimming with admiration.
"Oh? You're all back!"
"Woah! Gus, where did you get this?"
Erik said with a sparkling and curious gaze, Bren was also the same.
"You look so cool right now, big bro!"
Bren said.
While the two girls didn't want to say something embarrassing as they were a little meek at the moment with his current look.
"Looks good on you."
Gel said, while Betty only nodded in understanding.
August wondered how to respond.
"Oh, this? Hmmm...I dunno, it's hard to explain really...."
He scratched the side of his head, and his mind began to wander off into the distance.
Then it dawned on him he hasn't really explained his powers to other children yet; at first he was trying to keep it a secret, but now how could he hide this from people who were always with him?
He can't lie about it either, and the system seemed to have given the others a hint of its presence.
Maybe it wants them to grow with him also?
[ . . . . ]
"As cold and silent as always, huh? Oh, by the way, thank you for this gift and for before... I think?"
[ .... YOU'RE WELCOME, MASTER.... ]
It's not as cold to me now as it was before; something must have happened when I was knocked unconscious before.
[ .... I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! HMMMPF .... ]
"Wait, so something did happen!?"
(If he only knew that Manager Dorothy had tears in her eyes.)
---
He snapped back to reality when he realized he was standing there again, looking distantly into nothingness.
The others were also waiting for him to explain, but...
"Right, I don't know how to explain this, but this is part of my power ...."
After he said that, he only smiled at them and went to the kitchen to prepare their breakfast; he didn't explain it any further. :}]
The others were dumbstruck, clearly disappointed with his answer; they could only sigh in unison.
"-_- "
When the others were ... Well... left with nothing to work on
.
They also left to do their tasks; they could only continue to wonder about this mysterious power of his for the rest of the day...