Grone was heading towards the base's tent, carrying the shadow claw hides. Completing this delivery was crucial for finishing his C-Rank mission. As he walked, he ran into Gary. Gary looked Grone up and down, a mocking expression on his face. "Huh," he said, "to think you'd actually be a C-Rank."

"Get out of my way, Gary," Grone said, "I'm not in the mood to talk to you today."

Gary smirked, raising his hands in mock surrender as Grone tried to pass. But as Grone went by, Gary snatched one of the shadow claw hides from his grasp.

"Shadow Claws," Gary said, holding up the hide. "There's no way you actually beat the Shadow Claws. And man, these are huge! Level 30, I'm thinking. A weak old man like you beat them? Tell me the truth. That necklace you're wearing... you're not really a C-Rank, are you?"

Grone let the remaining shadow claw hides drop to the ground with a thud. He lunged for the hide Gary held, attempting to snatch it back. Gary easily sidestepped, dodging Grone's grab. Grone tried again, and again Gary evaded him, laughing and mocking Grone's slow, clumsy movements.

"Give that back!" Grone demanded, his voice tight with frustration.

Gary continued to laugh, taunting him. "Aw, how about you beg for it? Maybe I'll give it to you then."

"Do you want this to be a fight?" Grone growled, unsheathing his sword. The glint of steel in the sunlight was a stark contrast to his usually calm demeanor.

Gary smirked, a cruel glint in his eyes. "Ha! Do you want to fight me? I'm pretty sure if my pet was here, you couldn't even make it past it."

Grone launched himself forward, sword raised, but Gary easily jumped back, tossing the shadow claw hide in Grone's face as he dodged. The hide struck Grone squarely, momentarily blinding him. He stopped, momentarily disoriented, and picked up the discarded hide. Gary watched him, his laughter echoing across the Crossroads Base.

Grone glared at Gary, his anger simmering beneath a controlled exterior. He sheathed his sword in its scabbard, the click a sharp counterpoint to the silence that followed. Then, picking up the shadow claw hide, he walked off towards the tent.

"Good to know you're still the same weak, old ass man you've always been," Gary sneered after him.

Grone felt a jolt of anger, a stunned silence momentarily halting his steps. He knew fighting Gary would be foolish; he wasn't at that level yet. But he kept walking, the insult burning in his ears, his jaw clenched tight.

Grone reached the tent, finding it bustling with other hunters. Behind the counter, he saw Serena. He placed the shadow claw hides on the counter.

Serena's eyes widened in amazement. "Wow, you've actually completed it! You said this would be your last quest of the day, right?"

"Yeah," Grone replied, "it's getting late. I have to head back to town."

"Okay," Serena said, counting out coins. "This will be five gold."

Grone's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Five gold? That was equivalent to fifty silver! "Wow," he breathed, "shadow claw hides are worth that much?"

"Yeah," Serena said, "they're worth this much because they're not easy to find. Shadow claws are mostly easy to spot at night, but that's when some pretty deadly creatures come out too. So the price was raised because of the quality of their fur and the dangers involved in hunting them at night. But to think you caught about four of them "during the day..."

Grone nodded. "Yeah, I kind of know where they reside during the..." He paused, considering whether to reveal his secret hunting spot.

"Anyway," Grone said, tucking the gold safely away, "I'm going to have to head back to town." He went behind the tent to where the wagons were parked. He spotted the driver who had taken him to town before and gave a friendly greeting. The man returned the greeting. Grone climbed aboard.

"Going back to town?" the driver asked as they set off.

"Yes," Grone replied.

*******

Back at home, Tyler held the sword, examining it closely. A text box shimmered into existence beside the weapon, displaying the message: +6% ATK. Tyler's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "6%?" he muttered. "Isn't that a little too low? The sword looks pretty good, but to think it only gives a 6% boost... Maybe if my attack was way higher, it wouldn't be so bad."

Then Tyler thought, "Wait, I have like 22 Strength, right?" As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the system interface appeared, displaying his stats:

SPECIES: Human

NAME: Tyler Evans

RANK: G LVL: 4

CLASS: Craftsman

HP: 37/37 MP: 33/33

STR: 24 AGI: 15 DEF: 12

STATUS: Healthy

Skills: Armour Craft, Weapon Craft

He stared at the Strength stat. 24. He'd forgotten the increase from the sword. The 6% boost was small, but it was still something.

Wait, so the 6% actually increases my Strength? Tyler thought, realizing he hadn't really tested how much his strength had grown since his Strength was raised by the system. He was eager to test it. He stood up from his bed, walked to the side, and knelt down, placing his hand underneath. He braced himself and tried to lift the wooden bed. The wood felt incredibly heavy. But to his surprise, he was doing it! He managed to lift the bed frame a few inches off the ground. He carefully lowered it back down, staring at his hand in disbelief. "Wow," he whispered, "I'm actually stronger."

After that sentence, his amazement was overshadowed by a surge of fear and anger as the memory of being beaten and robbed by that A-Rank reappeared, vivid and painful. He clenched his fist, his knuckles white. "Alright, it's decided," he muttered, his voice low and resolute. "I have to talk to Grone about becoming a hunter. It's the only way I can get home. It's the only way I'll get stronger. The system needs me to level up more so it can tell me when I can go home, tell me the objectives I have to achieve." As soon as he finished that thought, the front door to the house swung open.

He left his room and saw Grone arriving, carrying a bag that appeared to contain groceries – meat, fruits, and vegetables. Grone was carefully placing the items on the table one by one. Tyler greeted him. "Good evening. How was your day going?"

Grone smiled, a genuine smile that reached his eyes. "It went pretty well, as you can see. Turns out being a C-Rank actually is pretty amazing. It's not like those D-Rank quests. The C-Rank quests actually bring in a lot of money."

"Oh, James, you're back," his wife, Lisa, said, emerging from the kitchen. Dinner was clearly ready. Tyler was surprised; it was actually quite late. He guessed it was around eight o'clock, or perhaps even later. Grone greeted his wife warmly, and Tyler offered to help pack the grocery.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"How's Heather?" Grone asked, his voice softening as he inquired about his daughter.

"Oh, she's in the kitchen," Lisa replied, a smile warming her face. "She's been helping me make dinner." She then gestured towards the table. "You can sit. I'm going to dish it up."

Grone and Tyler sat down. Tyler leaned forward. "Grone, there's something I really need to tell you."

Grone nodded. "Oh, yeah? I wanted to ask you something too. Anyways, um, sorry for interrupting. Tell me. What is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Um, you can go first," Tyler said.

Grone nodded. "Okay. How was your first day at the job? I remember leaving you with Hector. How was it?"

Tyler's face fell. "Yeah, um, about that… it seems I can't really help him at the store."

"What? Why?" Grone asked, his brow furrowing with concern.

Tyler hesitated. "It seems the system… it's not letting me use any weapons that aren't mine."

Grone leaned forward, intrigued. "The system? What system?"

Tyler mumbled, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. "Oh yeah, um… I really don't know how to explain it to you."

Grone leaned back, considering this. "So what are you going to do? What did you do for the rest of the day?"

"I just cleaned his shop," Tyler replied, his voice flat. "Then he gave me one silver and told me to go home."

Grone frowned. "Hector? Why would he simply give up on you when you said that? Anyways, since it's weapons, couldn't you just help him craft armor?"

Tyler shook his head. "I'm not sure. You see, I get shocked every time I touch the weapons, so I was kind of scared of making that suggestion, thinking I might get shocked touching armor too."

Grone raised an eyebrow. "You get shocked? Huh? Then if I gave you my sword right now and told you to use it, you'd get shocked?"

Tyler nodded hesitantly. "Um, yeah, I think so."

Grone sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked at Tyler thoughtfully. "We'll see what we can do to get you another job. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"

Tyler, feeling a knot of nervousness in his stomach after Grone's words, took a deep breath. "Grone, I know you don't want me to do this, but I really, really have to become a hunter."

Grone began, "We talked about this, you don't have to—" but he was interrupted by Tyler, who said urgently, "Listen!"

Lisa appeared at that moment, carrying plates which she placed on the table. Tyler fell silent, waiting for her to return to the kitchen. Once she was gone, he continued, "I told you, there's a screen, a panel… this thing I call the 'system.' It told me I have to reach a certain level before it will tell me how to go home. It told me I have to…" Tyler trailed off, searching for the right words.

"...complete some objectives first," Tyler finished.

"What objectives?" Grone asked, leaning forward.

"That's just it," Tyler said, frustration creeping into his voice. "It won't let me know. It said it will reveal them when I reach a certain level."

"Wait, but what level are you talking about?" Grone questioned.

Tyler hesitated, then admitted, "I don't really know. All I know is that I have to level up and reach a certain level for it to tell me the objectives I have to fulfill. That's how I'll know what I have to do in order to return to my own world."

Grone hummed thoughtfully, considering this new information. Then he shook his head. "But with you being a G-Rank, I don't think you'll be qualified to be a hunter."

Tyler spoke quickly, "Yes, but I thought about that. You said people in this world level up automatically before they reach eighteen, right? And you also said they can level up through exercise. Since I'm already twenty-one—I can't level up automatically, or at least I think that's why I'm not leveling up automatically—so I'll have to train. You just have to train me so I can level up."

Grone nodded slowly. "Okay, I'll consider this. We'll talk about it in the morning. Right now, I don't think Lisa needs to know." Just then, Lisa returned with a steaming pot of something that smelled delicious—meat stew, Tyler guessed. Beside the pot, she carried a bowl of something unfamiliar. It looked like rice, but the grains weren't the usual oblong shape; these were perfectly round, almost like small white pearls.

Even without the meat, Tyler thought he could easily finish the entire bowl of the pearly grains. He began to eat, and then, taking a bite that included both the grains and the meat, the flavors exploded in his mouth. It was absolutely delicious. He ate heartily, a smile slowly spreading across his face, and somehow, this brought a smile to Lisa's face as well.

"What is this called? It's really delicious," he said, picking up another spoonful of the pearly grains. Lisa smiled. "Oh, those are called moonseeds." Tyler repeated, "Moonseeds," the name sounding oddly fitting as he looked at the round, white orbs. He continued eating, the delicious taste lingering on his tongue. Grone and his wife then began to converse quietly amongst themselves, their voices a low hum in the background.

After they finished eating, Lisa, surprisingly, gathered the dishes and carried them back to the kitchen to wash them. Tyler turned to Grone. "So, are you going to train me?"

Grone looked at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "You're really impatient, aren't you? I said we'll talk about it in the morning. I really have to think about this. Because, kid, being a hunter isn't easy. And I think you know that."

Tyler started to protest, "Yeah, but…"

Grone stood up, stretching his arms above his head with a groan. "We'll talk about it in the morning." He gave Tyler a reassuring pat on the shoulder before heading towards his room.

Tyler stood up, muttering, "Oh well." He went over to Heather, who was still struggling with her porridge. He gently took the spoon from her hand, dipped it in the porridge, and said softly, "Say, 'ah.'" To his surprise, she immediately opened her mouth and said, "Ah," in a cute, gurgling way. He fed her the porridge; she was a bit messy, but that's how babies are, right? After she finished, Tyler went to his room, fell onto his bed, and quickly fell asleep.

In the very early morning, a small whisper – "Hey, hey" – roused Tyler from sleep. A hand shook his shoulder. He woke with a start, startled. Grone stood over him.

"Grone? What are you doing here?" Tyler mumbled, his voice still thick with sleep.

Grone grinned. "What do you mean? Didn't you say you wanted to train? Come on, let's go. Put on those other clothes you were wearing."

Tyler blinked, confused. Other clothes? Then he remembered. "Oh, the armor," he said, recalling the 27 defense the armor added.

He wished for the red and brown armor and slipped it on. It felt less like armor and more like a comfortable jacket; he understood why the system categorized it as "regular clothing." It was vastly different from the bulky armor worn by hunters; this looked like ordinary clothes. The defense rating, however, was reassuring, and the damage from his previous forest fight was minimal. Satisfied, he stood and followed Grone out of the room.

Tyler followed Grone out of the house. "This way," Grone said, heading towards the marketplace. It was still very early; the sun was on the horizon, but hadn't fully risen yet. They walked through the marketplace, which was largely deserted except for the occasional patrolling guard. Grone then approached the wagons near the city gate.

He spotted the man whose wagon he and Tyler had ridden in before, the driver who'd transported them from the other base to town. "Hey, George," Grone called out, "So you start work early this morning, huh?"

George looked up, surprised. "Yeah… wait, you want to go somewhere?"

Grone nodded. "Yeah."

Tyler stared at the horses, a sudden question forming in his mind. "Wait a damn minute," he muttered, "Did horses always have six legs?" A notification from the system appeared: Horse Level 14 and Horse Level 20. Confusion washed over him. "Wait, these things are still called horses?" he questioned, realizing these were the only creatures that retained their names from his old world, yet looked nothing like the horses he remembered. Horses had four legs, not six! He shook his head, dismissing the thought, and jumped into the wagon. The wagon started moving, the gate opened and closed behind them, and they were out of town.

Tyler looked at Grone. "Where are we going?"

As the town and its castle receded into the distance, Grone said, "You can stop here."

The driver, George, asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Grone confirmed.

George pulled the reins, bringing the wagon to a halt. He then received four copper coins from Grone. "That should be about right, shouldn't it?" Grone asked.

George nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that's right. Two copper per person, since you didn't go far. Anyways, I'm heading back to town. See you later."

The wagon returned to town, and Grone started walking away from the road. The area was open grassland, the trees sparsely scattered—some were miles apart. The road itself was a mixture of gravel and grass, clearly a well-used track for wagons. Grone walked off the road, then turned to Tyler. "What are you waiting for? Come on." Tyler followed.

After what felt like thirty minutes of walking, Grone stopped, turning to Tyler near a peculiar tree. Its leaves were distinctly square, unlike any Tyler had ever seen in the forest—or anywhere, for that matter. He shouldn't be surprised, he reminded himself; he was in another world. Square leaves? Triangle leaves wouldn't even faze him at this point. Grone clapped him on the shoulder. "Okay, kid. This is where we train."

Grone stepped away from Tyler, a wistful look on his face. "This is where I used to train with my former partner. He's a B-rank hunter now. His name was John, but that's a story for another time. Right now, I need to teach you the basics of being a hunter. The first thing is basic exercise. So, I want you to do something for me. You see those piles of rocks over there?" Grone gestured towards a collection of rocks.

Tyler was surprised. He hadn't noticed the piles of rocks before. They were clearly arranged by someone. Grone handed him a leather bag; it was empty, and the leather felt surprisingly stiff. "I want you to put nine of those rocks in this bag," Grone instructed.

Tyler approached the rocks and lifted one. The grey stones were surprisingly heavy. Nine of them? A thought struck him. "If Grone is planning on me carrying these rocks in the bag, he clearly wouldn't do that, right? These rocks are incredibly heavy."

Tyler hefted the surprisingly heavy bag onto his back. "Okay," Grone said, "Now, the first training exercise." Tyler felt a knot of nervousness tighten in his stomach. "This is just like I thought,"he mused. "What does he want me to do? Does he want me to run around with this bag?"

"You see that tree over there?" Grone asked, pointing to a tree in the distance—a very considerable distance.

Tyler squinted. "Which tree? Wait, isn't there a closer tree? Maybe I'm missing—"

"That tree," Grone interrupted, pointing again to the distant tree.

"I want you to run from this tree," Grone said, giving a backward thumb to the tree near them, "to that tree." He pointed again to the distant tree, emphasizing the significant distance between the sparsely scattered trees. Tyler looked to the side, spotting a closer tree. "Wait, can't I run to that tree?"

Grone sighed. "Hey, do you want to train or not?"

"Yeah, but…" Tyler started.

"No buts," Grone interrupted. "You have to run to that tree."

"Um, okay," Tyler said, "When do I start?"

"You start now," Grone said firmly. "I want you to touch that tree," he pointed to the closer tree, "and then run to that tree," he pointed to the distant one, "and touch it."

Tyler walked towards the nearer tree, even this short distance feeling like a small workout with the heavy bag on his back. Grone watched him. "Okay," Grone said, "I know that tree is far, but even if you feel like stopping, remember, this is the only way you can go home. This is the only way you can go meet the people you know and love again."

The words hit Tyler like a punch to the gut. The people you love again. Grone didn't know, of course, but Tyler didn't have a girlfriend, and his family… they weren't exactly close. The only person who might be worried about him was Mike, his roommate.

As Tyler touched the closer tree, Grone gave him a sharp slap on the back. "Go! Go! You must run!"

Tyler started running, the heavy bag bouncing against his back. Grone shouted after him, "If you feel like stopping or slowing down, don't rest! You can jog, but keep moving!"

Tyler felt the weight of the bag intensely; he was already sweating profusely. The distant tree seemed impossibly far away.

But he had to run. He had to keep running; otherwise, he wouldn't level up. He ran, breathing heavily, his muscles burning. He almost slowed to a stop, then remembered Grone's words: if he felt like stopping, at least jog. The vast grassy plain stretched before him, the distant tree still seeming miles away, despite its clear visibility. He ran and ran and ran. Then, a system message popped up: Achievement Unlocked: A Beginner's Resolve. Agility: +3.

Tyler looked at the message, a smile spreading across his face. His feet felt noticeably lighter, and he knew, in that moment, that this training was truly worth the effort.