===================================
[Quest: Savior of the People]
[Rank: E]
[Objective: Save people from mortal peril 10 times]
[Progress: 10/10]
[Reward: +3 attribute points, 1 E-Rank item of your choice, 1 random skill]
...
[Quest Complete]
[Would you like to accept rewards? Y/N]
===================================
Matthew looked at his quest screen as it seemed that, finally, the zombies had ceased, at least for the moment.
Everyone had taken a breather to rest and lick their wounds, with the help of Horris.
"Everyone doing alright?" Dorian asked, his forehead noticeably moist from sweat.
A faint echo of 'good's and 'fine's echoed from the party.
"OK good." The mage said half sarcastically. "So now we know something new," he glanced at Luke. "They are attracted to sound."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Got it, I won't save you next time." He muttered.
Dorian just chuckled. "Alright everyone take 5." He said as he began making his way to the other raid members.
Luke stepped to Matthew to lean against the building he was standing next to. "Ya' complete that quest?"
Matthew nodded. "Haven't collected the rewards yet. I also leveled up a few times." He stated.
Luke nodded in understanding. "Same here. How many times?"
"Three or four maybe?" Matthew said, opening up his status screen with a light ding through the air.
===================================
[Name: Matthew Adams]
[Level: 4]
[Job: None]
[HP: 50/65]
[MP: 33/33]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 13]
[Vigor: 13]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Sense: 13]
[Faith: 13]
===================================
Both Luke and Matthew's eyes widened slightly.
"Everything goes up by one when I level up?" Matthew spoke in a low voice, trying to keep the conversation confined to only himself and Luke. "I thought it would have given me stats to allocate among them. But this is much better."
"You got hit?" Luke asked, gesturing to Matthew's less-than-maximum HP.
"Just got bitch-slapped by a corpse; I'll be fine." Matthew waved off the issue.
"My quest got done a while ago. Haven't had a chance to accept anything yet." He said as his status screen appeared.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
[Name: Luke Sirius]
[Level: 4]
[Job: None]
[HP: 65/65]
[MP: 18/33]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 13]
[Vigor: 13]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Sense: 13]
[Faith: 13]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
"You haven't used as much 'ammo' as I thought you would've with all those zombies around," Matthew noted.
"My best guess is that when my maximum MP increased from leveling up, it increased my current MP as well," Luke explained.
"That happened with my HP... that's why it isn't lower," Matthew said.
"You think we should accept the rewards?" Luke asked.
"With them?" Matthew muttered, discreetly pouting to the party around them.
"Just the ability points... and that skill too I guess," Luke said. "We can get the item later," he held up his gun. "These will do fine for now."
Matthew looked to the party around them, none of them were paying either of them much mind as they talked amongst themselves. With that, he nodded his head.
"'Accept quest rewards.'" Luke and Matthew spoke in unison.
===================================
[Savior of the People Quest Rewards Accepted]
[Rewards: +3 attribute points, 1 E-Rank item of your choice, 1 random skill]
...
[Feller of Beasts Quest Rewards Accepted]
[Rewards: +3 attribute points, 1 E-Rank item of your choice, 1 random skill]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
From the corner of his eye, Matthew noticed a flicker on his status screen.
===================================
[Name: Matthew Adams]
[Level: 4]
[Job: None]
[HP: 50/65]
[MP: 33/33]
[Available Status Points: 3]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 13]
[Vigor: 13]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Sense: 13]
[Faith: 13]
[Skills]
[Active: Healing Hands]
[Passive: N/A]
===================================
Matthew tapped Luke on the shoulder and gestured to his new skill.
"Well.... open it," Luke said with slight anticipation.
The hunter did as Luke said, tapping the skill as another smaller screen appeared.
===================================
[Healing Hands]
[Rank: D]
[Type: Active]
[MP cost: N/A]
[Description: You convert mana into palms into vitality. You convert 1 MP into 1 HP to heal the person you touch. The amount of HP healed per MP is based on your Faith stat]
[Current Conversion Rate: 1 MP > 1 HP]
===================================
"I can heal?" Matthew said almost too loudly.
Luke and Matthew exchanged awed glances. Healing of any sort was very rare without the use of magical items to enhance it. Even for the hunters who specialized in it, the most high-ranking hunters could do was regenerate a limb at a high cost to their mana.
While the skill wasn't anywhere close to that level at the moment, both hunters quickly had a realization: the more Matthew leveled up, the higher his maximum mana and faith stat became. Not only increasing how much he could heal but making it more efficient as well.
Matthew held his hand up to the side of his bruised face and focused for a brief moment. Almost immediately a soft light emitted from his hand.
[HP: 50/65 > 65/65]
[MP: 33/33 > 18/33]
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Matthew looked at Luke with a smile. "Well, shit." He said with a light laugh.
Quickly Luke opened his status window. "Well, now I gotta' see what I've got." He muttered excitedly.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
[Name: Luke Sirius]
[Level: 4]
[Job: None]
[HP: 65/65]
[MP: 18/33]
[Available Status Points: 3]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 13]
[Vigor: 13]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Sense: 13]
[Faith: 13]
[Skills]
[Active: Sundering Blow]
[Passive: N/A]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
A smile came upon Luke's face as he pressed on the skill's name. Another briar-rimmed screen appeared.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
[Sundering Blow]
[Rank: D]
[Type: Active]
[MP cost: 5]
[Description: You enhance an attack with crippling mana that wears down anything it hits. Anyone hit by this skill had their defense reduced. The percentage of the defense reduction is based on your Faith stat.]
[Current Reduction: 10%]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
"Interesting," Matthew commented. "I guess we can understand what our faith stat is for now: increasing the potency of our skills."
Luke nodded. "Should we put our points into that then?" He gestured to the 3 attribute points on either of their status screens.
"You can. I won't stop you. It'll be a good investment eventually. But the problem is we don't know when it will scale up. For all we know it could take 20 more points into it for the reduction to even go up one percent." Matthew gestured to the skill window. "I'd suggest putting the points into something that would help us survive for the time being, so preferable HP."
"Well, I'm having an issue with my mana being so low." He glanced back at his status window. Immediately his eyes narrowed. "The hell?"
Matthew followed his eyes to Luke's mana count.
[MP 18/33 > 21/33]
"How is it regenerating?" Luke mumbled. As he heard his confusion, the answer appeared before him on yet another screen.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
[Maximum MP, as well as MP regeneration rate, is based upon the user's Intelligence stat]
[Current regeneration rate: 1 MP per minute]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
"Oh... I guess we have been here for a few minutes." Luke muttered.
"Well anyways, I need to put some points into something that will help me with combat. I get we are E-ranks but it's taking me several stabs to kill a single zombie. And they are on the weak side of D-rank grunts due to how many there tend to be.
Matthew raised his hands to his status screen to allocate his 3 points.
===================================
[Name: Matthew Adams]
[Level: 4]
[Job: None]
[HP: 65/65]
[MP: 18/33]
[Available Status Points: 0]
[Strength: 16]
[Agility: 13]
[Vigor: 13]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Sense: 13]
[Faith: 13]
[Skills]
[Active: Healing Hands]
[Passive: N/A]
===================================
Luke sighed. "Mana has quickly become an issue, I can't necessarily just wait for it to regenerate just to fire a single bullet."
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
[Name: Luke Sirius]
[Level: 4]
[Job: None]
[HP: 65/65]
[MP: 28/40]
[Available Status Points: 0]
[Strength: 13]
[Agility: 13]
[Vigor: 13]
[Intelligence: 16]
[Sense: 13]
[Faith: 13]
[Skills]
[Active: Sundering Blow]
[Passive: N/A]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
As expected, his current mana increased as did its maximum.
"Alright, good. Now we should have enough stopping power for now to help a bit more on the 'killing things' department." Matthew commented.
Suddenly a loud clap came from the alley.
Matthew quickly grabbed his spear and glanced upwards to see Dorian clapping his hands together.
"I think that's enough of a break for now." He said in a semi-shouting voice.
One by one, each hunter got into their prior marching order: Lilian and Matthew up front, Horris in the middle, and Luke and Dorian in the back.
They didn't find too many zombies wandering... or much anything at all. All anyone heard was the footfalls of their comrades and the miscellaneous sounds brought about by the machinations of the abandoned town.
"Strange," Lilian muttered beneath her iron helm.
Matthew glanced at the tank next to him.
Her head turned slightly to face him, the metal clanging together with a gentle clang.
"What?" She asked, an annoyed tinge to her voice.
"You said 'strange'."
"There's no creatures around here. We've been walking for over an hour, but I haven't seen a single one since we were surrounded by that hoard." She commented.
Matthew had to admit, it was odd. Obviously, with the gunfire from Luke, the hunters had attracted zombies within a large radius of themselves. Even out here they should have attracted the attention of a few keener creatures, but if that were the case they would have passed them by now.
"Maybe they are swarming near the center," Matthew noted.
"What makes you think that?" Lilian asked, looking forward into the damp streets of the city the gate had manifested.
Matthew looked up towards the glistening moon. "Zombies are hoard creatures. Generally, the bosses of gates are tougher versions of most of the enemies you'd find within that gate itself,"
"Well, no shit. Think this is the first time I've been in a gate?" Lilian scoffed.
Matthew just held up a finger, trying to keep his train of thought going. "What if... whatever the boss is, is making the hoards? If so wouldn't it make sense for the hoards to swarm to the boss's location? Plus... the boss needs guardians after all." Matthew explained.
"I guess that makes sense. But why then haven't we seen any, are we not getting closer to the damned center." The armored knight complained.
"Calm down you two, we'll get to the center shortly," Horris spoke from behind them. So far through the dungeon, he had hardly said a word. His voice was somewhat monotone and bored. His once-white robes were now caked with mud and blood from the zombies that had been slain, and his slicked hair had become undone.
His eyes glow softly green as they scan over the walls around them as if he were peering straight through them.
Suddenly though, he stopped. At the action, everyone came to a halt.
"What's up?" Dorian asked, setting a hand on Horris's shoulder.
Horris wore an expression of confusion as he began to step forward, outside of the crowd they'd formed around him.
"Hey... you alright? Did you see something?" Dorian asked again, walking after his friend.
The hunters all looked to one another as they quickly followed suit.
"That doesn't make any sense. It just doesn't. That doesn't make sense." The white-robed hunter muttered as he trekked forward into a clearing where a courtyard once was.
"Horris, the hell are..." Dorian trailed off as they walked into the courtyard.
As Matthew stepped into the courtyard behind them as he gazed upon the scene.
The courtyard had become overgrown to some extent over the course of its abandonment. The courtyard was made up of a circular path with worn-down wooden benches spread out periodically among it. In the center was a dried-out, half-eroded stone fountain. Scattered among the grass, however, were a plethora of corpses. Not walking, animated corpses like they'd been facing, but actual corpses of zombies. Some were torn in half, some beheaded, and others had seemingly been beaten into a paste.
"Uhh.... we're sure no other parties came into this place right?" Lilian asked as she walked towards a corpse and turned it over with her boot.
"We definitely are. I'd rented the gate out damn near the second it opened." Dorian said, scanning the large courtyard for any movement.
Matthew looked at the buildings around them. Mostly, they were all the same decrepit building worn away by whatever event had befallen the place.
All except one: A large cathedral several blocks away whose spire rose high above any other building.
"Matthew watch out!" Horris shouted suddenly.
Matthew turned just in time to see a white blur rush towards him he only had enough time to raise his spear before the blur slammed into him.
Matthew felt something pierce his stomach as he was hurled backward, crashing into the stone fountain.
[HP: 65/65 > 15/65]
The blur began to dash forward again but was stopped by the shining shield of Lilian. Finally, the figure's claws began to grind across the metal.
The creature was oddly human. Its skin was a pale white. It wore a simple white button-up shirt and black suit pants, albeit both were now covered in blood. Its eyes were both a vibrant blood red. The nails on its hand were elongated and sharpened into fine points.
"Get back you..." Lilian began to shout. Her voice faded as she gazed into the creature's glowing eyes. Suddenly, she found them mesmerizing. For a moment she began to relax her body, letting her shield fall, but instead, several gunshots rang out.
Several bullets of magic pierced the skin of the creature as it leaped away, covering nearly 30 feet in a single bound.
Luke quickly looked to Matthew as his revolver began refilling itself.
[MP: 40/40 > 36/40]
"Matthew, you alright?" He said dashing towards his friend. He kept an eye trained on the creature as its skin began to slowly cover its wounds. Above the head of it, he saw its name in deep red letters.
[Vampire Thrall]
The thrall growled as it began to dash towards Matthew, however, it was stopped when a large shard of ice stuck into its shin and began to expand, covering its foot and part of the ground in one solid chunk of ice.
It turned its head to see Dorian preparing another shard of ice. However, with another his the thrall began to dematerialize. Its form quickly dispersed into dozens of small black flapping wings.
The second ice shard soared through the air but flew through the swarm of bats as they began to collectively fly toward Dorian.
As the swarm of bats approached Dorian held out a palm as a wave of chilling frost shot up towards the swarm.
However, in unison, the bats dove downward and converged, melding into each other to once again form the vampire who thrust his sharpened claws forward.
The vampire's hand pierced through the figure before them, its hand sticking the hunter's torso in a bloody stump.
Dorian looked in horror as a white-robed figure stepped in front of him to take the blow.
"Horris!" Lilian shouted as she ran forward and swung her mace downward at the vampire.
However, the undead quickly bound to the side away from the blow.
The heavy mace crashed into the ground causing a small crack into the earth.
Lilian and Dorian turned their attention to Horris as he slumped against the mage. A large bloody hole ran straight through his stomach, his mouth was oozing blood and his eyes were bloodshot.
"Shit shit shit," Lilian muttered as she began to gloss over Horris's injuries.
All Horris could do was mutter in light gasps.
Dorian and Lilian watched as blood began to soak into his robes, turning them the same deep crimson as the vampire's eyes.
They could only watch as Horris's eyes glazed over into death and his body went limp.
Lilian gritted her teeth and clutched her mace. "You undead fuck!" She shouted as she turned towards the vampire.
However, all she saw was yet another blur as it dashed towards her.
The vampire stopped short when the head of a spear swung outward towards its skull. The undead was forced to step back to avoid the edge of the spear being embedded into his head.
Immediately after the swing, Matthew took a step forward and lunged with his spear. However, to his surprise, the vampire grabbed the head of the spear just as it began to pierce their skin.
The vampire knocked the spear aside and took a step forward just as another magical bullet flew into its head. As the bullet impacted the vampire, a purple pulse enveloped the creature.
Through Matthew's eyes, he saw a small icon below the creature's name: a shield with an arrow pointing downward.
"Matthew? You're not injured?" Lilian gasped, seeing the lack of a wound on the hunter's chest.
"Tell you later." He replied risking a glance at his status window.
[HP: 48/65]
[MP: 0/33]
Luke spun the barrel of his gun as a normal bullet lodged itself into the chamber, replacing the purple bullet he'd fired with his skill.
[MP: 36/40 > 31/40]
"Stay sharp Mat. Don't get yourself killed... again." He shouted, firing several bullets at the vampire as Matthew rushed forward.
[MP: 31/40 > 25/40]
With the help of Luke, Matthew pushed forward. He stabbed his spear forward in conjunction with the magical bullets of Luke's gun.
The vampire was quick, several of Luke's bullets missed it by mere centimeters as it weaved through them, only to become grazed by the spearhead of Matthew, however, the blade only managed to tear at its clothes.
Suddenly, the eyes of the vampire turned to Matthew as they pulsed red. For but a split second, that was all Matthew could see. He relaxed his body awaiting the vampire's embrace. Then he heard a gunshot and his mind became clear just as the vampire drew close.
As the vampire raised its claws and lunged forward, it was met with an iron spear ramming into its chest.
Nonetheless, the spearhead only lodged an inch into the creature's chest.
The thrall screeched as it jumped away, reaching the edge of the courtyard and leaping once again, dodging several other bullets as it went atop one of the buildings and began to flee.
Even so, Luke fired more bullets forward. "Coward! Come back you asshole!" He shouted, firing more shots.
However, he finally let his finger fall from the trigger as Matthew touched his arm and eased it down.
"Don't waste your mana, it's gone now. It's fled." He said, turning his attention to Lilian and Dorian who were both standing over Horris's body.
Lilian had taken off her helm as tears spilled down her eyes. Her stoic exterior had fallen as she kneeled next to the dead hunter.
The corpse of Horris had been set atop Dorian's lap.
For a brief moment, everyone was silent except for the sobs of the two hunters Horris had known well.
Meanwhile, Matthew and Luke stared out towards the cathedral where the vampire had fled. However, in reality, they were staring at a set of screens before them. Each saying the same thing.
===================================
[Quest: Bloody Vengeance]
[Rank: D+]
[Objective: Slay the vampire thrall]
[Rewards: +10 attribute points, 1 D-rank skill of your choice, 1 unique item]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
Luke and Matthew exchanged glances before returning their gaze forward, this time towards the cathedral, towards the vampire.
Both knew what had to be done, but first, they'd need to prepare themselves.
"'Accept item rewards."' Both ordered.