The next morning, Greed woke to the harsh rays of the sun streaming through the grimy window. He groaned, his body still aching from the beating. For a moment, he lay there, contemplating his situation. He had passed out late in the afternoon, so he had probably slept for over twelve hours, yet he still felt like absolute crap.
Once again, he cursed the shitbags who had done this to him, hoping their sacks would suffer from a random bout of necrosis.
After some time lying around, regretting his life and wishing for his past life, he huffed and pushed himself out of bed. He had made his decision last night. He would become a porter for a hunting team. It wasn't glamorous, but that's life. Sometimes, even a god has to get his hands dirty.
He tidied up the bed and left his room. After eating a quick breakfast provided free by the inn, he headed out to the porter area. As he passed the front desk, the innkeeper glanced up from his ledger.
"Heading out already?" the innkeeper asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
Greed nodded curtly. "Got things to do," he replied, not offering any more explanation.
The innkeeper shrugged and returned to his scribbling. Greed pushed open the door and stepped outside, immediately hit by the familiar smells and sounds of the slum. He took a moment to orient himself, then started making his way toward the recruitment center.
Navigating through the crowded, dirty streets, Greed occasionally stopped to ask the most somewhat friendly looking locals for directions.
Finally, after about 30 minutes and a lot of misdirections trying to lead him into a few ambuses to rob him, he reached the recruitment center. The building was nondescript, blending into the surrounding slum with its worn exterior and peeling paint.
Inside, the air was thick with tension. A mix of rugged hunters and nervous hopefuls like himself filled the room. The atmosphere buzzed with anticipation and fear, a stark reminder of the dangers that awaited outside the safety of the Outskirts.
Greed pushed past the crowded area, making his way to the reception desk. He gave the lady behind the counter a quick greeting and asked, "Any openings?"
She gave a sad smile. "The only team open right now are the Gutter Snakes," she said. "I recommend you come back early tomorrow to find a better team. They have a history of not caring about their porters, causing a higher-than-average death rate even for this field of work."
She slid a piece of paper across the desk to him. Greed looked at their info and noticed they were paying slightly more than average, rounding up fragments instead of down. Usually, teams would round down, so if he picked up 87 fragments, he'd only get 8. But under the Gutter Snakes, he'd get 9. Even if it was only one fragment difference, that could be essential to his hope of activating the system.
"I'll join their team," Greed decided, taking the pen and signing the waiver at the reception desk.
The receptionist sighed and handed him a badge signifying the Gutter Snake group, a basic design of a snake with lightning behind it. She pointed him to a group off to the side of the establishment.
"There they are," she said, nodding toward a raggedy-looking group of around ten people. They must be the porters. Nearby stood eight well-dressed (at least for the Outskirts) buff guys holding various cold weapons.
Greed took a deep breath and made his way over.
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As he approached the group, one of the biggest burly hunters, a man with a giant sword strapped to his back, called out, "You one of our porters?"
"Yeah, it's my first time," Greed replied.
The crowd of hunters scoffed. The big hunter tossed him a raggedy-looking bag, chuckling, "We all start somewhere. Just don't get in the way and try not to die."
Another hunter chimed in, "And don't break the bag, or it's coming out of your cut."
Greed heard a porter nearby whisper under his breath, "Jackasses."
After a few more minutes of waiting and getting somewhat acquainted with his fellow porters, the biggest hunter, who seemed to be the leader, clapped his hands together and shouted, "Alright, pumpkins, time to pack up and head out! We're not planning on going further than about a few miles out from the wall today. We've got a couple of newbies, and it's a pain in the ass to replace them."
The hunters let out a mocking laugh, while the porters sucked their teeth in disgust. But there was nothing they could do about it. Porters dropped like flies out beyond the walls of the Outskirts, and they knew the risks they were taking.
Greed steeled himself and followed the group as they moved out. The ragtag band of porters trudged behind the hunters, who led the way with a confidence born from countless dangerous excursions. The makeshift wall of rusty shipping crates loomed ahead, a stark reminder of the thin line between relative safety and the chaos beyond.
As they passed through the gate, Greed felt a shiver run down his spine. The world outside the wall was a desolate wasteland, filled with dangers both seen and unseen. The hunters moved with practiced ease, scanning the horizon for any signs of movement. Greed did his best to keep up, the weight of the bag already straining his sore muscles.
The group trudged on for what felt like hours, the harsh sun beating down on them. Finally, the leader raised a hand, signaling them to stop. "Alright, this is as far as we go today," he announced. "Hunters, fan out and start the sweep. Porters, stay close and be ready."
Greed watched in awe as the hunters spread out, weapons at the ready. It didn't take long for the first mutant beast to appear. It was a grotesque creature with bulging muscles and razor-sharp claws, looking kinda like a bipedal tiger with horns snarling as it charged at the group. It took a wide sweep at the leader and instantly the hunters sprang into action.
The leader swung his giant sword in a wide arc, cleaving through the beast's arm with a single strike. Another hunter, armed with a massive hammer, slide below the overleaning chest of the beast and smashed his giant war hammer, crushing the creature's knee cap with a powerful blow. Forcing it to stumble landing in kneeling position just enough for another hunter with a war axe to cleave right through thick muscle bound neck. The rest of the hunter team didn't even have to make a single move as those 3 worked together perfectly.
“Holy shit I can't believe they took down a late stage mutant beast that easily, it had to have been at least level 7!” A porter nearby couldn't help but exclaim.
Greed also couldn't help but feel a pang of envy as he watched the hunters work. They made it look so easy, their strength and skill apparent in every move. He longed to have that kind of power
As the beast fell, its neck cleanly cut and oozing, the leader called out, "Porters, get to work!"
Greed hurried over, joining the other porters as they descended upon the fallen creature. With practiced efficiency, they began digging into its skull, searching for the valuable fragment hidden within. The sight was gruesome, the stench of death and decay filling the air, but Greed forced himself to focus. He took to the habit of using a large rock to smash in the skulls of the dead creatures and zombies left behind for the porters, and luckily, nothing unexpected happened on his first time out.
The hours passed in a blur of blood and sweat. The hunters continued their sweep, cutting down zombies and mutant beasts with relentless precision. Greed's hands were soon caked with gore, his muscles aching from the repetitive motion, but he didn't care. So far, he had collected 78 fragments from the mutants around, netting him at least 8 fragments! Over double what he could've gotten anywhere else. Keep in mind, the average salary of people in the Outskirts, if they're lucky enough to have a job, is only 2 fragments a day, just enough for a loaf of sawdust bread and a bucket of water for the day if they wish to be extravagant.
Plus, this was his very first outing. Some of the veteran porters directly made over 20 fragments today. If he could get to the point of averaging those types of numbers, he could potentially activate the system in as little as 50 days! Although, that didn't include living expenses…