Chapter 3

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP

The alarm on Jack’s phone went off, he got up and switched it off, it was eleven AM, he liked to sleep in for as long as possible. He quickly hopped in the shower before getting dressed, he took a look at himself in the mirror, overall he’d say he was around average in height and build if a little skinny, not weak but not particularly fit either, pale skin and still young looking in his mid twenties. He had short messy light brown hair and blue eyes.

As he stood under the hot shower he wondered about last night, about his encounter with the wasp and those hunters. He’d found the whole thing incredibly stressful and frustrating but at the same time he’d never felt more alive. Months ago he like many others had entertained ideas of monster hunting and dungeon diving and exploring the anomalies that appeared throughout the world but when the realities of his elemental affinity took hold he’d let that dream slip away. Now though, he wondered, so what if a lightning cultivation method hadn't been discovered yet? It’s only been a couple of years, they find materials from monsters, new species of plants and new minerals that help in cultivation all the time. In the meantime though there were plenty of monsters like those wasps around that could be taken down normally, he could just as easily make a living through that. It wasn’t as if he hated his current job, he didn’t like it either, he was just an office drone, it didn’t pay great and just about allowed him to rent his small flat whilst saving a small amount every month. But getting a new better job at the moment was nearly impossible, with the world still reeling and changing the economy in a state of confusion and fears of a new depression, most normal businesses were playing it safe and putting a freeze on any new hiring or they were losing business and haemorrhaging money.

For now Jack thought on and hopped out of the shower and got dressed, he grabbed his keys, wallet, phone and venom sack and headed into town to the same sandwich shop he’d stopped at yesterday. After eating he wandered over to the nearest pharmacy and entered. It was a typical pharmacy selling over the counter drugs you’d normally find but with a heavier emphasis on emergency first aid supplies, there were even some more exotic medicinal products created from harvested monster parts and newer forms of plant life. Jack walked past the rows of merchandise being browsed by several people and approached a bored looking shop assistant leaning against the front desk, a young woman in her early twenties.

“Uh, hi I-” Jack started.

“Can I help you?” she interrupted, the bored look never leaving her face, her elbows never left the counter.

“........yeah, I have this to sell, you take these right?” He pulled the venom sack from his coat pocket.

“Oh! Right, yeah yeah, we do.” She suddenly perked up looking more serious. “We didn’t know anyone was coming today, we usually take deliveries after hours, and my manager usually does these kinds of things. Nevermind I can handle this, so what have you got for me?” She smiled, looking excited.

“Um, this giant wasp venom sack.” He showed her again.

“Right, and?”

“And what?”

“And what about the rest?” She looked perplexed.

“There er, is no rest, it's just this.”

“Oh, just er, this?” She frowned and looked down at the yellow lump in Jack’s hand. “Mind if I take a look at it?” He handed her his prize and wondered what was wrong. She examined it and looked up at him.

“Well, it seems intact and well preserved, we can offer £150 for it, would you like that added to your hunters account? If you pass me your card I can do that for you now.” She looked at him expectantly.

A slight wave of panic nearly overcame Jack, what the hell!? He thought they just gave out cash for these things! Do you actually need a licence or something? Maybe that woman from before was messing with him all along. Shit is he committing fraud right now!? Or is this more like poaching? Damn she’s looking at him funny now, he needs to say something, just power through, fake it, be confident!

“Ah! No I’ll just take cash, thanks.” Jack tried to take a deep breath without looking like he was taking a deep breath.

“Cash? Really? Erm, well, ok….ah right! This is just left over from a hunt right? You forgot to include this in a loot drop off?” She seemed perplexed for a moment before arriving at the wrong conclusion.

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“YES! Um I mean yeah that’s right, thought I’d just get some loose change while I’m at it ya know.” He gave her what he hoped was a confident relaxed smile, inwardly feeling relieved, his heart was beating faster than when that wasp tried to murder him!

She shrugged. “Well ok then, lemme just count out the bills and we’re good to go.” She opened the register and flicked through a few notes before handing them to Jack. “Ok, that’s all of it, can I help you with anything else today?” She smiled at him, seeming much friendlier than at the start of their interaction.

“Uh, no no, we’re good, all good, that’s all I needed, you’ve been a great help, i’m gonna go…..now, see ya.” Jack hastily made his exit, better to get out now before he was asked anymore awkward questions, he overheard her mutter just before he stepped outside.

“Seems most hunters are weirdos after all.”

A weirdo? Him? Feelings of relief and triumph now mixed with feelings of dejection, Jack still had one more stop to make before heading off to work.

He walked down the high street looking for a shop that specialises in weapons, he found several but whenever he approached the front windows and saw their display pieces most of them appeared to be in the high hundreds or low thousands of pounds. He continued to walk along before he found one more in his price range, this one wasn’t as big as the others but didn’t look too bad either, where all the other shops appeared to owned by various corporations, chains, and sporting goods companies this one appeared to be independent without any kind of logo, or cardboard cutout of a grinning model posing with a battle axe. Gary’s Monstrous Alloys it said with a sigil of a crimson rampant bull wrapped loosely in chains.

Jack opened the door and walked in, the interior looked fairly standard, not that Jack was an expert, there were rows of racks of weapons including swords, axes, spears, knives and maces that looked to be from every different era of human history and region but with modern twists. There were mannequins displaying armour that certainly didn’t look like they’d been used in mediaeval times, with a lot of it looking like a mixture of kevlar and some sort of black shiny carapace material along with helmets with what had to be ballistic glass visors.

There were however no guns, none at all, the UK government still refused to allow civilians to own and use firearms. There was a recent law passed that said anyone could own and openly carry a weapon of up to 3 feet in length without a licence but definitely no guns in Britain except for the military and police, it was a heavily contested and contentious issue everywhere and still brought up frequently in parliament.

Jacked walked past the racks of weaponry towards a counter past a set of stairs leading to a second floor with more merchandise. There was no one there, either customers or a salesman. There was however a small reception bell which he rang.

“YEAH?” a gruff voice came from the open door behind the counter.

“Uh hi! I’m here to buy….stuff.” Jack didn’t really know what he wanted yet, he was just a beginner so he thought he might let an expert decide.

“Alright be there in a sec!” A few moments later a short bald man in his fifties came out, he looked extremely muscular in a skin tight t-shirt, his forearms were covered in bandages but streaks of grey coloured skin seemed to be peaking out. “What can I do for yer?”

“Yeah i’d like to buy a weapon please,” Jack cheerfully said.

“Ha! That's lucky, we happen to sell weapons here, have you looked around yet?”

“Um no, I haven’t really er….done much hunting or anything….i’m sort of looking for a first timers weapon, something easy to use and stuff.” Jack finished awkwardly.

“Is this for self defence or are you thinking of becoming a hunter?”

“Um, a - a hunter.” Jack stammered.

The man looked up and down at Jack for a few moments, oh god it’s happening again thought Jack. He stood his ground though.

“And what's your price range?” the man asked, he was frowning.

“Um, nothing too expensive, preferably £200 or less.”

“Right! A cheap idiot's weapon it is then, be right back.” The man swiftly turned around and headed back through the door behind the counter. Jack heard some clatter and the man muttering something before he came back out with what looked to be a short sword in a sheath. He drew it and showed it to Jack, the blade looked a little thick and wide, it was just under 2 feet in length, had a single edge and came to a slight curve with a pointed tip at the end. This definitely wasn’t a katana.

“Here ya go, this is a machete, made of carbon steel, it hacks, it slashes, it stabs, not much more to it really, if you want to get inventive you can even use the pommel in your hand to bash things. That’ll be £190." He handed Jack the weapon and got out a contactless card reader, Jack quickly took out his debit card from his wallet, and passed it over the card reader.

With the transaction done Jack looked at the man. “Thanks! I think I'll come back later when I’ve started to get my feet under me with this whole hunting thing,” Jack said, feeling much more confident now that he had a real weapon in his hand.

“Uh yeah, right kid, hey could you do me a favour and not tell anyone where you got this weapon?” The man looked a little concerned.

“Oh, ok, erm why?”

“It's just that, with dead hunters, especially the new ones, it quite often reflects negatively on the makers of their gear, I really don’t want some journalist coming around asking me about you when you’ve gotten yourself eaten or something.” He rubbed the back of his head looking sheepish.

“EATEN!?” Jack looked horrified.

“Yeah, eaten, dismembered, dissolved, melted, decapitated, eviscerated or whatever, just say you got it from a bargain bin or something, be vague, don’t mention me. It's still not legally required for smiths and weapons manufacturers to put their sigils or their products so they can’t trace it back to me if you don’t say anything, don’t get me wrong, it’s still a quality weapon, it won’t break or fail you, it’s just that….” He trailed off.

“You don’t rate my chances very high.” That familiar feeling of frustration and bitterness welled up in Jack again.

The man sighed “Look, most new hunters fail, since it's such a dangerous job, that failure tends to lead to death, and you don’t really look like hunter material, I mean, are you even gonna buy some armour?”

Jack shook his head.

“Have you had prior combat experience?” the man asked

“Nope.”

“Are you part of a group?” he asked

“I can always join one later,” Jack replied somewhat defensively.

“Uh huh and what element are you?” he asked

“Lightning.”

“Oh Jesus.” His eyes went wide, he looked shocked. “You should really-”

“Thanks bye!” Jacked turned around quickly and left before he could hear anymore and left the shop. He stepped outside and breathed a sigh of relief, so many naysayers lately. He looked down at his new machete, examining it, huh, it really doesn’t have a maker's mark.