Tyler looked at the woman, and her name and level appeared above her head like a halo: Anne Style: LVL 27, the system displayed. Anne gasped, recognizing him. "You're the man who saved me earlier!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm—" Tyler began, but she interrupted.

"My benefactor!!" she declared loudly.

"What?" Tyler said, confused.

"You saved me from being robbed! If it weren't for you, I'd have lost everything. And you showed such incredible skill—you must be a high-ranked hunter to have stopped him so easily..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes fell upon his E-rank necklace. Surprise dawned on her face. "Wait a moment... you're E-rank?" she asked, incredulous.

Tyler was surprised by her expression. He’d expected disappointment at discovering he was only E-rank, but she seemed fascinated.

"Yeah, I'm E-rank. I'm actually here to—" Tyler began, but she cut him off.

"How was an E-rank able to move like that? Unless you're nearing D-rank levels? You were so fast! You'd have to be at least D-rank to move that quickly, or maybe you're an assassin-type hunter? I've heard they're incredibly fast, but I've never seen one in action—until today, of course," she said with a chuckle. She continued on, but Tyler tuned out, already anticipating a lengthy explanation.

"She is so talkative..." Tyler thought.

Finally, she paused for breath. "Anyway," Anne said, "what can I help you with?"

"(Finally!) You sell minerals here, right? I want to buy some," Tyler said, relieved she'd finally stopped talking.

"You want to buy some minerals? Which ones exactly?" Anne asked.

"Okay, um... how much does copper mineral cost?" he asked.

"Oh, come and see for yourself," she said, heading into the room behind her.

Tyler followed. He stepped into a large room filled with enormous metal crates arranged in neat lines, each overflowing with different kinds of ore. The room was surprisingly spacious despite the sheer volume of materials. He saw copper minerals neatly organized in their own rows, alongside iron, steel, and silver, all similarly categorized.

"As you can see," Anne said, gesturing to the crates, "the materials are arranged from smallest to largest. The smaller copper pieces cost less than the larger ones."

"How much does the small copper cost per mineral?" Tyler asked.

"It costs 5 copper coins," Anne replied, "but since you helped me earlier, I'll always remove one coin from the price of the materials you buy. How about that?"

"One coin?" Tyler asked, surprised by her generosity.

"Yeah," Anne confirmed with a sly smile. "So, for example, if something costs 5 silver, it'll be 4 silver for you. Consider it a thank you, Benefactor."

"Oh, okay... Thank you. I want to buy enough small copper for 100 copper," Tyler said, extending his open palm. A gold coin shimmered into existence on top of it.

"Wow," Anne said, taking the coin, "are you a mage hunter, or is this another assassin skill I didn't know about?"

"Something like that," Tyler replied cryptically.

"Alright, I'll just have to get a sack from the corner there," Anne said, pointing to a stack of empty sacks in the corner.

"No, it's alright, I have a place I can keep them," Tyler replied.

Tyler lifted one ore and saw it was quite small, part of it literally just rock. He then began taking the copper ores, letting them disappear into his inventory one by one. Anne watched, surprised by how the metal ores vanished. Tyler continued, counting aloud until he reached twenty-five. He automatically opened his inventory and saw that his total copper was only 18.

"Wait, is it because they're too small?" he asked, looking at his inventory.

"How are you able to do that? Are you a mage hunter?" Anne asked, equally surprised.

"Nope, it's my own special skill," Tyler said, putting a finger to his lips. "Just promise you won't tell anyone about it, okay?"

"Okay, I won't tell anyone," Anne promised. "But where do they keep disappearing to?" she asked, still curious.

"My inventory. Think of it as a big invisible bag I carry around... only I don't," Tyler explained.

"Wow, that's an amazing skill! Can you access it anytime you want? And how do you access it?" Anne asked, then gasped, her eyes widening. "Was that robe you were wearing in your...inevitory?"

"It's 'inventory,' and yeah, it was. Anyway, I have to get going now, so bye," Tyler said, exiting the back room. He paused at the doorway. "When do you close the shop?"

"Oh, at sunset," Anne replied.

"I'll come back tomorrow then," Tyler said, leaving the shop.

"Come again!!" Anne yelled after him, still marveling at his abilities. "Wow, he was amazing... What were those skills?" she wondered aloud.

"I'm glad I didn't have to tell Hector why I threw him that copper dagger. It's good that other people can use my weapons, but I can't use theirs?That's annoying, but I'm going to take advantage of it. I'm going to craft a lot of items and sell them in Hector's store. I'm actually glad he agreed so easily. I thought he'd want to negotiate a lot of stuff, but with how things are going, I'm just glad it happened." Tyler thought headed back to Hector's shop.

Tyler arrived at Hector's shop, but Hector wasn't at the counter. Entering the back room, Tyler found Hector crafting a sword, hammering a red-hot blade on the anvil. Sweat beaded on Hector's brow as he worked, completely focused. Tyler yelled, "Hector!" Hector didn't hear him. Tyler yelled again, "Hector!" This time, Hector looked up. "Oh, you're back," he said. "Took you a while."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that," Tyler replied. "Anyway, I'm back with enough equipment to craft a weapon." Tyler said.

"Well, okay then, go ahead," Hector said.

"Okay then, craft copper daggers," Tyler instructed the system.

The system responded, Crafting... A moment later, another message appeared: Crafting successful. Tyler checked his inventory; a copper dagger appeared, and he had nine copper ores remaining. This gave him an idea. It only took nine ores to craft one dagger.

He commanded, "Craft copper dagger."

Again, the system replied, Crafting... followed by: Crafting successful. Another inventory slot filled with the copper dagger icon.

Copper daggers materialized in Tyler's hands. "See? Like I told you, I can craft weapons," he said.

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Hector approached, examining the daggers. "Yeah, you truly can craft weapons. I checked out that copper dagger you gave me earlier, before you went to the mineral shop. I should probably give it back. For copper weapons, they're surprisingly hard and well-crafted. It's better than any weapon I've ever made from copper. To tell you the truth, I've never crafted weapons from copper before. I only make copper armor. It seemed like a stupid idea, but this..."

"So, you crafted two. Do you only want me to hang them?" Hector asked, holding the daggers.

"Yeah, no," Tyler clarified. "I'll use the other two I made for hunting. These are the ones you can sell."

This skill of yours is honestly... I don't know how to put it," Hector mused, "It's like the easy way to crafting. It feels off, but it's still very good. So, do you me to sell these right now?"

Tyler handed the two daggers that had materialized in his hands to Hector. "Yeah, maybe you can put them on display where you sell the other items," he said. "Oh, okay, I'll do that."

"So, how much do you want to sell them for?" Hector asked.

"How much would you prefer to sell them for?" Tyler countered. "I'm not really sure how this blacksmith business works, so how much do you think they'd cost?"

Hector examined the daggers again. "These things will probably fetch about five silver ."

"What? Five silver?" Tyler exclaimed.

"Yes, five silver ," Hector confirmed.

"Well, that's not much profit," Tyler muttered. "I spent one gold to make those two."

"No, you are getting it wrong, I am saying that you can sell each dagger 5 copper, I mean 5 silver apiece. If someone buys two, for dual wielding, you'll have a gold coin," Hector said. Tyler replied, "Oh, yeah, that works, but do these daggers really cost that much?" Hector said, "No."

"These daggers don't really cost much. Unless you're a blacksmith like me, you might not realize it, but they aren't that tough. They look tough; they feel tough—hell, they look really good, shiny and gleaming—but they don't have much durability, do they?" Hector asked Tyler.

Tyler remembered throwing a dagger against a monster and it shattering. "Yes," he admitted, "they don't have much durability, but they're still pretty hard. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Don't worry about it," Hector said. "I'm getting something out of this, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Tyler agreed. "Well, anyways, thank you again. I'll be going," Tyler said as he left.

Hector looked at the copper daggers. "This kid's really good at using that skill," he muttered. "He doesn't even have to work that hard for it. This is so unfair." Hector thought.

As Tyler walked, he noticed the sun setting and headed back home.

"Man, time probably passed faster than I thought because we did so much today," Tyler mused. "Actually, something's been bothering me about this world. The hours feel longer—not drastically, but it feels like 26 or 27 hours in a day. I haven't seen a clock, so I can't be sure, but it always feels so long."

He arrived at his house, opened the door, and found the sitting room empty. He heard voices from another room—probably Grone and his wife.

He saw food on the table and sat down to eat. The first spoonful emptied his stomach; he was ravenously hungry. He ate quickly, pausing a few times to pat his chest as he nearly choked. He finished the meal quickly, stood up, and said, "I really need a bath." He glanced at his trousers beneath his robe and noticed a bit of blood, likely from the crimson wolf bite. The reddish-brown color of his trousers, however, made it hard to tell for certain.

He went through a nearby door into a bathing room, drew water from barrels—it was quite cold, but he didn't mind—and poured it into the tub. After bathing, he realized he only had two pairs of trousers, the other being in his room. He retrieved the other pair, changed, and then went outside.

Tyler thought, "It's crazy how they have flushing toilets here, but I've never seen a sink. And the tub doesn't have running water, yet they have a small fountain somewhere. What powers the flushing toilet? Is it magic? I can't see any pipes. I thought they were built into the walls, but the walls are wood inside and brick outside. I don't understand their construction methods, so I won't worry about it."

Tyler returned inside and knocked on the door to Grone and his wife's room. A baby's cry came from within, and Grone opened the door. "Oh, you're back," Grone said. "Did it take that long to talk to Hector, or were you working again?"

"No, I ran into a bit of trouble," Tyler replied. "I was taken to the dungeon."

"What? You were taken to the dungeon? What happened?" Grone asked, clearly surprised.

"Well, you remember that A-Rank who robbed me? Turns out it wasn't an E-Rank. It was actually a level 30 A-Rank. I saw him again today trying to rob a woman, so I had to act, and we ended up in a fight."

"A guard came and saw us fighting, and he took us to the dungeon," Tyler continued. "We had to pay a fine for fighting in the streets."

"Right, so you had to pay a fine to get out," Grone said.

"Yes," Tyler confirmed. "So what happened to that hunter?" Grone asked.

"I left him there," Tyler said. "Looks like he'll be there for a while. It'll probably be a short time, but I don't think he's actually a hunter. He wasn't the rank we thought he was; he was pretending to be an A-rank hunter."

"That's very illegal," Grone stated. "Pretending to be an A-rank hunter carries a severe punishment. You could be imprisoned for many years, and if you impersonate a hunter and use their name, you could even face the death penalty."

Tyler was surprised. A death penalty for impersonation? He hadn't realized the punishment was that severe.

"Did you win?" Grone then asked.

"What do you mean?" Tyler questioned.

"Against the high-ranking hunter," Grone clarified, "did you win?"

"Y- Yeah," Tyler said, "I won."

"Haha," Grone chuckled. "He pretty much deserved it. I mean, he really beat you up that time." Tyler felt embarrassed and scratched his head.

"Yeah, um, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," Tyler said. "That's why I knocked."

"Oh? What is it?" Grone asked.

"I want to go hunting again, right now," Tyler said.

Grone was surprised. "What do you mean? We just hunted a lot today, and you made some money. Aren't you tired?"

"Well, not really," Tyler explained. "Every time I level up, my exhaustion decreases, and I leveled up today, so I'm full of energy. Plus, I want to gather more materials for crafting."

"Crafting?" Grone questioned.

"Oh, I forgot to show you something," Tyler said, taking a few steps back. "Watch this." He mentally equipped the Gloom Armor, and it shimmered into existence, a high-quality blue robe appearing on him. Grone was surprised by the sudden change.

Grone saw the concentric circles on the sleeves of Tyler's Gloom Armor. "This is pretty amazing, right?" Tyler asked.

"Yes," Grone replied. "When did you craft this? When did you do that?"

"I actually made it today," Tyler said. "It's made from Gloom fangs."

"Gloom fangs? The ones we killed earlier?" Grone asked.

"Yes," Tyler said.

"It turns out I can make armor from the hides of creatures and things like that," Tyler explained.

"Oh," Grone said, "Is that how you made the other armor I found you wearing in the forest that time?"

"Yeah," Tyler replied, "That one was made using crimson wolf hide and a hex horn."

"Oh," Grone said. "If you want to go hunting, then I'm coming with you."

"Oh, no, it's okay," Tyler said. "I'll just take E-rank quests—they're the only ones I can take right now. You don't have to come if you're exhausted, and I can see you are. You should probably rest."

"You shouldn't go alone, though," Grone said. "You still have a lot to learn."

"It's just E-rank quests," Tyler replied. "I'm probably okay taking them alone; they're not that dangerous."

"It's not about the E-rank quests," Grone countered. "You know you can still run into D-rank or even C-rank monsters on those quests."

Tyler grinned. "And I was able to defeat C-rank monsters on my own, wasn't I? Anyways, you should probably rest. This is why I wanted to become a hunter—to be independent and to be able to help you, to repay you."

Grone looked at him. "Well, you should really be careful," he said. "Even though you've learned a lot, you still have much to learn. You need to learn where and when monsters are likely to appear, what they eat, things like that. That's how E-rank hunters survive—they know the areas where certain monsters gather. I want to teach you that. Why don't you sit down at the table so I can tell you all about it?"

Tyler said, "Oh, alright," and went to sit at the table. Grone followed and sat down beside him.

"Okay, so this is how it is," Grone began, explaining the local wildlife, describing each creature, their habits, and the times they were most active. He spoke of the Shadow Claw Rabbit, and Tyler recounted a near-fatal encounter with them. Grone gave examples, such as the Hexhorns' preference for areas abundant with certain flowers. He continued describing various monsters until Tyler seemed to grasp the concepts.

"You got it, right?" Grone asked.

"Yeah," Tyler replied.

"Good," Grone said. "You really need to remember this. Don't forget, alright?"

Tyler, getting to his feet, went to the door. He looked back at Grone one last time. "I'm leaving now. I'm going hunting. And don't worry, I'll be right back before you know it."

Grone smiled. "Well, alright. Don't die out there. You know what happened last time."

Tyler chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." He exited the house. Looking at the setting sun, he muttered, "You know what, I don't think I'm returning today either. Well, anyways, time to go now."

Tyler headed to the marketplace. He spotted the familiar fruit vendor, the old woman he'd bought from before. "Hmm, I want to buy ten apples," he said.

"Good evening, you want to buy ten apples?" the woman asked, confirming.

"Yes," Tyler replied.

The old woman carefully placed ten apples into a sack and handed it to him. Tyler gave her a gold coin, received his change, and started to leave. The old woman called out, " Please come again."

The sack of apples vanished into Tyler's inventory. He continued walking, spotted the waiting wagons, and climbed aboard one. A man he didn't recognize greeted him. "Oh, good evening young man. Where are you headed?"

"To the crossroads base, please," Tyler replied.

The wagon owner looked at Tyler's E-rank hunter's necklace. "Okay," he said.

The wagon owner climbed aboard, and the carriage started moving, the horses pulling them out of town and down the main road. The wagon reached the crossroads, stopping just behind the large tent. Tyler paid the driver one silver coin, received his change of two copper coins, and dismounted.

Tyler circled the tent before entering. Inside, he saw hunters submitting quests, collecting rewards, and carrying materials. He approached the counter, expecting to see Serena, but a young man with short, reddish-brown hair—almost ginger—stood there instead. He appeared to be around Tyler's age.

Tyler approached the man and said, "Good evening."

"Oh, good evening. How may I help you?" the man replied.

"Is Serena not around?" Tyler asked.

"Oh, Serena's not around tonight. This is my shift; we switch off. She takes the day, I take the night," the man explained. He glanced at Tyler's necklace, noticing his E-rank status. "Oh, are you looking for any E-rank quests?"

"Yes," Tyler said.

"You're pretty lucky," the man said. "You just made it in time for the last one."

"Really? Oh, okay. Which one is it?" Tyler asked eagerly.

The man turned, took a flyer from a quest board behind him, and placed it on the counter. The flyer was detailed, with a clear drawing of a bush. "This E-rank quest requires you to bring back some Brunish tree leaves," the man explained.

"Brunish?" Tyler questioned.

"Yes, Brunish leaves," the man confirmed. "They're used to make tea; people really like them. This is a standard E-rank quest."

"These bushes are mostly found just before you cross the river," the man explained. Tyler looked at the flyer, a little disappointed. He noticed the reward in the corner: nine copper coins. The man looked confused by Tyler's reaction; most E-rank hunters would be happy with such a quest. E-rank quests were rare because they were often completed quickly.

"Alright," Tyler said, "Where do I need to sign?"

"Oh, sign here," the man instructed. Tyler picked up the pencil, intending to sign, but realized he didn't know the local script. As soon as the pencil touched the paper, however, his hand moved on its own, writing his name flawlessly in the alien language—an action he hadn't consciously performed.

The man simply watched, then said, "Alright," taking the flyer and placing it under the counter. "Good luck on your quest," he added, standing up.

Tyler, still slightly stunned by the automatic writing, turned and left the tent, heading straight for the forest. He noticed the darkening sky and a grin spread across his face. He could easily obtain the Brunish leaves, but that wasn't his primary goal. He wanted Shadow Claw Rabbit. Every time he crafted items from their hides, he also obtained skills and he wanted more. Then, the system notification appeared before him, displaying:

Rank-E

Quest Created: Return with a Brunish leaves

Reward: Basic Armor Recipe

Reward: basic Armor recipe

Reward: weak deafease potion recipe

Accept Quest (Yes\No)

Tyler read the system notification, a look of amazement on his face as he walked slowly. Another notification popped up: Achievement Unlocked: My Second Quest. Stamina +5. Tyler was pleased. He started walking towards the forest, feeling his heart quicken as he left the crossroads behind.

"Accept quest," Tyler muttered, continuing his walk. The system replied: Quest Accepted. He pushed through some bushes and deeper into the woods. Sounds reached his ears, and then, a slime appeared before him. The system displayed above its head: Level 16 Slime. Daggers materialized in Tyler's hands, and a small smile touched his lips as he adopted a fighting stance. Then, another slime emerged from the undergrowth.

The second slime was also a Level 16 Slime. Before Tyler could react, the Level 16 slime leaped onto the first, and the two quickly merged, forming a single Level 32 Slime. Tyler sighed, but his heart pounded once more. " Again? "