Running at a blistering pace, I quickly made my way toward the local Adventurer Shopping Center. Through my training, I had managed to increase my speed and endurance exponentially, completely outclassing my previous abilities. In the past, I could maybe run a six-minute mile, but now, I could run a mile every two minutes.

Arriving at the shopping center, I swiftly opened the door and glanced around, marveling at the array of fancy ether equipment. Despite being a relatively new form of energy, ether had rapidly gained popularity. Over the past two-plus years, advancements in ether technology and equipment had progressed remarkably. It began with crude circuits embedded in weapons and evolved into sophisticated ether machines used to analyze talents within just the first year. Now, nearly three years after the ethereal awakening, the equipment I was about to witness had become marvels of human ingenuity.

With no further preamble, he walked into the first shop he saw, Ricky's. Ducking to enter the homely-looking shop, he heard a young man, presumably Ricky, greet him:

"What can I do for you? Are you looking for anything special?"

"In fact, I am. Do you happen to have a buckler or medium shield? It's the only thing I’m missing at the moment," I replied.

"Of course. If it’s not too much to ask, how much are you looking to spend?"

"About $1500 bucks," I replied, noting that it was most of my allowance from the past couple of years.

"Well, that's enough to get you a high-quality shield, although not quite enough to get a basic ether inscription, I'm afraid."

"A basic shield will have to do. I trust you have one in mind?"

"I do. Wait a moment while I fetch it from the back." A moment later, Ricky returned, slamming a hefty circular shield onto the counter. "This beauty was originally priced at $1400, but it's been sitting in the shop for a while. Let's say $1100 for it, plus tax. You're looking at about $1189."

"That sounds like a reasonable price, but I would love to get a feel for it before I commit," I said.

"Of course, I should have offered," Ricky replied, handing me the shield. I quickly strapped it to my left forearm. The whole point of getting a shield was to cover up what I considered to be my most glaring weakness: my inability to effectively utilize my left arm in a fight.

When fighting, or rather training since I hadn't actually been in combat before, my most devastating blow was a two-handed overhead strike. But that was literally the only time I ever needed my left hand when using my poleaxe, so there was really no reason not to get a lightweight, compact shield. This shield could not only effectively store my short-sword but also protect me from attacks.

"Wow, this is a perfect fit, and surprisingly lightweight," I said, a glimmering smile plastered on my face.

"Of course it is. The material is from a mutated maple tree that was harvested a year or so ago," Ricky replied.

"I'll buy the shield irrespective of your answer, but could you perchance add a strap to hold a shortsword in the middle of the shield, right above where I would strap in my forearm?" I asked with pleading eyes.

"Well, I could, but it would be an additional charge. Let's say $110 plus tax. We'll round down and say $1300 for the shield plus the strap, and we'll call it even. What do you say, deal?"

"Deal. When should I be back for the shield?"

"30 minutes, max."

"Alright, I'll see you then." After swiping his debit card, he swiftly left the store to continue his shopping trip.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

In the next half hour, he picked up a conventional skinning dagger for $50, but nothing else caught his interest. After collecting his prize from Ricky and expressing his gratitude for the expedited job, he quickly made his way toward the city gates.

After presenting my job slip and ID to the security guard at the north wall—though it was more of a fence than a wall—the guard waved me through. Quickly passing through the checkpoint, I pulled out the map from my pocket, noting that the rats were reported to start appearing about three miles out. I strapped my shield to my left forearm and began briskly walking northeast.

Crouching low, I quickly brandished my poleaxe and took in the vast expanse of beautiful grassland. What had once been fertile farmland, teeming with field corn each spring, was now completely overrun by wild vegetation and giant rats. I stepped into the former cornfield, deliberately making as much noise as possible to attract the rats.

Just as I was considering changing my hunting tactics, two rats appeared, sending my adrenaline surging. I charged at the 25-pound rats, delivering a brutal two-handed strike to the first, splattering blood and brain matter across my face. The second, smaller rat let out a screeching cry and rushed me with blinding speed. However, it wasn't fast enough. I quickly dislodged my poleaxe from the skull of the first rat and whipped it around with tremendous force, nearly decapitating the second rat.

"Damn," I muttered to myself, "never thought I'd see the day I was covered in rat brains."

Noticing another group approaching my location, I charged recklessly, only to realize halfway there that it was a group of three this time. No matter. I raised my poleaxe, once again shattering the skull of the first rat. But unlike last time, two rushed at me simultaneously. After wrenching my poleaxe from the first rat's corpse, I skewered the bulkier of the two, driving my poleaxe deep into its torso. With a quick tug, I realized it was stuck fast. Thinking too slowly to dodge or block, the third and final rat managed to take a good chunk out of my leg before I could draw my shortsword from the sheath above my left forearm. I plunged it straight into the rat's spine, cracking bone and quickly silencing the foul beast.

Flooding my body with healing energy, my flesh and sinews rapidly regenerated. Once the battle was over, I quickly cut off the rat tails and placed them in my repurposed school backpack. Each tail weighed a good couple of pounds, between 2 and 3. Although I wasn't being paid per job, I was being paid per tail, and my backpack was becoming quite hefty.

After dislodging my poleaxe and resheathing my shortsword, I resumed my hunt. I moved stealthily across the field, systematically taking down groups of two to three rats. Within a couple of hours, I had collected 35 rat tails. Leaving the area proved more challenging than I had initially anticipated, due to the surrounding corn maze. However, with the careful use of a compass, I soon found my way and was quickly on the path to the DOEA office.

After depositing his trophies with Poppy and greeting Mr. Shore, he walked out of the DOEA office with a sly grin and an unexpected $800 increase in his bank account. Surprised by the generous $30 per rat tail, he had made out like a bandit. His grin momentarily faltered as he remembered the hefty $250 he had paid in taxes. Well, it couldn't be helped; adventurers might earn a lot of money, but they also tended to spend it faster than anyone else—that was just the way it was. His grin slowly returned as he thought about the potential earnings in the coming months.

Interlude

Poppy grinned as she watched young Bradley prance out of the office. He had so much potential; in fact, she had never seen such a blazing star of talent combined with such dedication and a zeal for power. In her estimation, he would soon be considered a T-rank adventurer, the highest level that this backwater city could challenge.

Michigan was considered one of the safest places to live for many reasons, primarily due to it having one of the lowest concentrations of monsters in the entire continent. Poppy supposed this was due to the state's relatively few access points. The Mackinac Bridge was one of the only ways in which the vast numbers of powerful beasts and monsters from the north could enter their secluded state, while the surrounding water provided protection from almost every other direction.She believed that Bradley would soon outgrow this relatively easy working environment and venture past the Mackinac bridge in into the upper peninsula, possibly even into some parts of the Canadian province Ontario.

Canada had become one of the most devastated places on Earth, with its sparse population and high concentrations of ether leading to terrible mutations among beasts and humans alike. This resulted in the creation of terrifying abominations and hordes of monstrous creatures.

One of the most terrifying realities of this new world was the emergence of humanoid monsters. Humans mutated just as severely as beasts, and in places like Canada, where ether levels were exceptionally high, contact with it caused dramatic changes in normal, unchanged humans. The prevailing theory suggested that these mutated humans were the origin of the goblin, ogre, kobold, and troll infestations that now plagued the Canadian wilderness. With almost all human populations wiped out in the initial weeks of the Ethereal Awakening, these monstrous populations had exploded.

She just hoped the young and impulsive man wouldn't get himself killed the first time he encountered one of the true monsters of the wilderness.