Chapter 5

Theia turned and marched off leaving Clio alone in the frozen tundra. Blood flowed down her arm onto the snow. She pulled an extra shirt from her inventory and used it to temporarily bandage up the wound. When her heart no longer felt like it was going to leave her chest her guide sent a soft chim into her mind.

NOTICE: Clio Josephine Nowak has gained [1 Unused Stat point]

Do you wish to use it now? YES OR NO

Clio mentally nodded her assertion assigning the stat to Strength, bringing it up to a whopping 8 points. She felt a tingling, reminiscent of her limbs falling asleep, course through her body for a moment. Slowly it faded leaving only an echo of the feeling behind.

She saw others starting to collect the wolf carcasses and started to do the same. Suppressing her gage reflex she began pulling the impaled wolf across the snow. She strained against the creature’s weight only managing to move it a few inches every couple minutes. Eventually, she dragged it to where the other hunters had gathered. A man effortlessly picked it up and tossed it onto the impressive pill of carcasses.

He turned to her “Ah, you must be Clio Nowak. I am Assistant Director McMillian, a B-rank Passive Division hunter. I will help you in getting adjusted to life here in the BHB.” The middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair whipped his hand on his snow pants before extending it.

“Thank you, sir.” Clio shook the proffered hand.

He looked around “Looks like clean up is almost done. So we can start on your orientation. For today, I’ll show you around the base a little, but for the most part rest after the gate break. I can see you’re pretty beat up.” Hunter McMillian deftly led Clio through the hubbub and back out into the snow. “Tomorrow, we’ll go over more of the day-to-day expectations.” He showed her the training rooms, a room not unlike a community center gym, with racks of weapons lining the walls and the rest of the room unfurnished. Before leading her to a tunnel descending into the ice. “Due to all the gate break most of our infrastructure is underground. As they walked through the labyrinthian tunnels volcanic ash, suspended in the ice from an eruption millennia ago created a black line through the light blue walls. Assistant Director McMillian pointed out the mess hall as they passed “Meals are served at 6:00, 12:00, and 18:00. I will meet you here tomorrow at 6:00 to start your orientation.” Finally, she led her to a smaller tunnel lined with doors. Each had a number next to it. “Your room is number 104. You will find your assigned gear and clothes waiting inside. Your room has four rooms. A sitting room, bedroom, bathroom, and first aid room.” With nothing else to say he turned and marched away.

“The air isn’t the only thing cold here,” Clio muttered as she searched for her room. When she found it and opened the door she discovered it was nicer than she had expected. The ice floor was covered by a rug and the whole room was magically heated to a pleasant temperature. She pulled her duffle bag out of her inventory and placed it on the armchair. As silly as it was having it visible made her feel less isolated. Taking off her winter layers. She went into the first aid room all too aware of her smarting left arm. The room had a chair, sink, sub, and self-upon-self of first aid supplies. Some of which she was familiar with from her school’s first aid class, others she could begin to figure out what they did. She grabbed a bottle of anti-infectant and bandages. The chair was soft but still provided enough support she removed the soaked-through shirt compressing her wound. She winced as she poured the antiseptic over the gash, the cold liquid stinging fiercely. She gritted her teeth as she carefully rebandaged her arm. It had already started to clout. “That’s good. I won’t need to get stitches.” Clio let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. When she had the baggage secured she retreated to the cozy bed and opened the letter Cali had left in her bag. A necklace with two interlocked Cs fell out along with a small note.

Clio,

I was going to give this to you when we left for college but now seemed like an appropriate time. No matter where we are we’ll have each other’s backs! I’m sorry for pushing you into my dream. See you in a year!!!

Love,

Cali

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

P.S. You better text and call :)

Clio clasped the delicate necklace around her neck and released the pent-up emotion of the whole heroin experience of the past few days. Quiet tears rolled down her cheeks as she passed out.

In her dream, she saw the wolf lunging towards her again. Its teeth sharped to a razor’s edge. She flung herself to the ground the wolf soaring over her head. More wolves appeared encircling her. They all leapt at once. Clio awoke in a cold sweat. Her body shaking, she saw the glint of yellow eyes in every shadow. Eventually, the exhaustion proved too great and she fell back into a fitful sleep.

Over the next few days, Clio fell into the routine of the BHB. Because of her low rank, she was required to rise in the morning and assist in preparing breakfast, before training. She would return to the kitchen to do the dishes after dinner. Then attend the daily briefings. Her third day marked her first gate entrance. After breakfast, she suited up and took the slippery tunnel to the surface to meet the gate group she would be assigned to.

“This is our new gathering, Clio, D-rank hunter. She will be gathering materials within the gate during this delve. Any questions.” The B-rank hunter in charge of the group introduced Clio. The group consisted of the B-rank leader, a sword user, and 14 C-rank hunters, most were sword users, although 4 used bows, and one was even a mage although Clio couldn’t tell what his affinity was. When no one voiced any questions the group piled into the large vehicle on treads waiting to take them to the C-Rank gate where they would be delving. It was around an hour’s drive away.

Clio sat towards the back of the vehicle. Trying her best to stay out of the experienced hunter’s way. When the group arrived at the towering yellow gate everyone disembarked and immediately started preparing. Weapons and armor were pulled out of inventories. Clio touched the hairpiece weapon, just to be certain it was still there. Satisfied that it was, she pulled a woven basket and a sickle from her inventory. While they could never be certain what a gate would look like before they entered the preliminary reading suggested it was a rainforest. Suggesting that the primary harvestable materials would be plants.

Once the group was organized the leader called everyone into formation. Entering the gate felt almost identical to Theia’s teleportation earlier. One second they were in the snow the next in a hot, humid, tropical rainforest. Every hunter transported their winter equipment quickly in their inventories before looking around. The forest was a lush green. The cries of monkeys sounded off in the distance. The heat felt oppressive to Clio after the days in the below freezing, but the warm sun on her face felt almost heavenly.

“The limited visibility in the forest may pose a challenge. Be vigilant.” Called the B-rank. The fighters shifted into a battle-ready stance. Clio, her back almost in the portal stiffened. The stories and news articles didn’t capture the sheer oddity of the gates. They were their little worlds independent of the points they were linked to on Earth. However, their size was finite. A muted yellow wall ringed the gate’s world.

As the party made their way further into the forest, the noises got quieter. Until they stopped altogether, the lack of sound made the group hypervigilant. As they ducked under a low-hanging branch, hundreds of reddish monkeys, with yellow eyes attacked.

The primates called vines from the trees, using them to entangle and trip hunters. Others hurled sharpened rocks at the trapped people’s eyes. Clio was far enough back to avoid getting ensnared.

The hunters around her rushed in, their swords gleaming. For every monkey that fell more filled their place. The monkeys used vines to steal people’s swords. A C-rank got in close enough to lob a monkey’s head clean off. Only increasing the intensity of their attack.

Clio’s heart pounded as she gripped her sickle, her eyes darting around for any signs of danger. She spotted a monkey swinging towards her, its yellow eyes gleaming with malice. Swiftly grabbing her hairpiece she extended it. Using the monkey’s momentum to raise her spear, the monkey was too far along in its arc to change course. She slid backward, kicking up dust as it impelled itself on her spear. Blood sprayed in a drizzle down on her. She shook the lifeless creature off of her weapon.

Around her, the battle raged. Hunters were fighting off monkeys from all directions, their movements a blur of steel and sweat. The air was filled with the sounds of clashing metal and the screeches of the monkeys. Clio weaved through the combatants. Doing her best to stay out of the way. In the chaos of the battle, she spotted the B-rank fighting off a primate almost 3x his size using a stolen sword.

The hunter ducked under the monkey leader’s swing, using his superior speed to make a lunging attack at the monster’s left eye. The creature raised its arm to defend the attack, but the hunter shifted the trajectory of the attack angling his sword down, impaling the creature’s neck. The monkey’s hide prevented the sword from penetrating very far. Not allowing it time to respond the hunter his sword and lunged again, this time toward its heart. The monster let out a bellowing yell. The other monkeys abandoned their opponents and rushed towards their leader’s defense.

The other hunters were quick to react. Cutting down monkeys’ exposed backs. Others rushed to prevent the creatures from interfering in the leader’s battle. The 10 sword-wielding C-rank hunters created a loose circle around the raging battle. The 4 archers positioned themselves in the tree. Picking off any monkeys that made it past their comrades. The formation proved to be an effective money slaughter system. With surgical slashes monkeys fell. The leaders inside the formation battled, but it was clear the monkey had no chance against the human. Who lept into the air and with a final attack at the creature’s neck, managed to separate its head from the rest of its body.

With the troop of monkeys dealt with the hunters began storing their bodies. Clio got to work collecting the plants located around the clearing created by their fight. She hadn’t been told what to collect, so she went by the more the better rule of thumb. They could always toss any useless materials later. She used her sickle to remove flowers, leaves, and mushrooms. Carefully bagged them separately before tossing them into her basket. When it was filled she traded it out for a new one. She even found a slightly glowing crystal hidden in a dead tree stump.

“This was only one troop. There will be more and given the strength of these beasts, the boss will likely be significantly stronger high C almost to B. Their use of magic suggests high intelligence stats. Although we fought one hurd without casualty or major injuries we mustn’t get cocky. Let’s move.” The group took off again.