Matthew stared wide-eyed at the brimstone screen in front of him. He glanced up to meet Luke's eyes.
"You can see this, right?" Luke asked again.
Matthew just nodded. "Why.... does yours look so different?" He asked quietly, mainly to himself and then to Luke.
Luke knit his brow. "What do you mean?"
Matthew turned to look in front of him and concentrated for a moment, thinking about the screen of his profile he'd seen in the hospital room. Not even a second later, a ding rang through the air as the gold and silver screen appeared in front of Matthew
===================================
[Name: Matthew Adams]
[Level: 1]
[Job: None]
[HP: 50/50]
[MP: 25/25]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Vigor: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Sense: 10]
[Faith: 10]
===================================
Now it was Luke's turn to be surprised. "Why does mine look so different?" He echoed under his breath, turning back to his screen.
Luke looked between the two profiles. "We have the same stats."
Matthew glanced at Luke's screen. Sure enough, they were the same except for their names.
A few moments passed until Luke spoke. "How high d'you think it'll go?"
Matthew glanced at his friend. "What do you mean?"
Luke gestured to their stat screens. "Our stats. How high do you think they can get? Generally, the world doesn't give you a stat screen so you know where you'll be stuck all your life."
"Never really thought about that," Matthew mentioned, facing back to his stat screen. "Did you complete your first quest?"
Luke quickly turned to Matthew. "You got one? What did you do?" He asked, probably much louder than he'd expected.
Matthew waved his hand. "It just told me to rest and heal. The reward was a 'miscellaneous healing item' but," he reached into his pocket, producing the small box of band-aids. "I kind of expected more than this."
Luke chuckled at the sight of the band-aid box. "Very helpful." He said sarcastically. His face straightened as he faced back to his screen.
"Any idea what these screens even.... are?" Matthew asked.
Luke sat back in his chair. "After we got... crushed... by the statue in the dungeon, I had a...." He paused, trying to think of the right word. "Vision?" He said. "I was falling through dense smog. Like the ash from a volcano. I could hardly breathe, but then this," he pointed to his screen. "Appeared to me. It called itself the System. It asked me if I wanted to live; to be 'reborn' as it put it. Didn't have much of a choice, so I accepted." He rubbed the back of his neck. "To be honest I half expected to wake up in some fantasy land." Matthew cracked a smirk at the remark. "But, I just awoke in the hospital."
Matthew nodded. "My vision felt like I was ascending into the sky. My screen never really introduced itself as anything... but it said I was chosen for something. It said I showed courage. It asked if I wanted to become a #^%*+."
Luke looked at Matthew, his face contorted in confusion. "A what?"
Matthew repeated himself. "A #^%*+." This time he heard it. He'd tried to say 'Brilliant Fragment' but his words seemed to alter themselves as he spoke into a distorted echo of a sound he wasn't even sure a human could make. Like a mix between a screech of some unknowable beast and a high-pitched ring.
Matthew sighed silently. "Why can't I say it? Did it say what you were?" Matthew asked Luke.
"My screen mentioned that something about the €£#¥+^." Once again, the words were distorted as they left his mouth.
Luke cursed under his breath, glancing at his screen, then at Matthew's. "I don't think it wants us knowing." He mumbled.
Matthew looked at his screen. "It?"
Luke gestured to the screen. "Whatever spoke to us; an AI, God, or whatever-the-fuck else." He said.
Matthew sighed. "Well, whatever it is.. it chose us for something. But I'm still curious now that you've brought it up," Matthew crossed his arms as several questions swirled in his head. Until he finally latched onto one. "How do we level up?"
As if on cue a set of dings echoed in both hunters' ears. Next to each of their respective profile screens appeared another screen.
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[Quest: Savior of the People]
[Rank: E]
[Objective: Save people from mortal peril 10 times]
[Progress: 0/10]
[Reward: +3 attribute points, 1 E-Rank item of your choice, 1 random skill]
===================================
As Matthew looked over the new screen a large smile spread across his face, partially covered by his hand as he raised it to his mouth. "Well, shit." He muttered, glancing at Luke's screen. He had a similar expression on his face, if not an even more gleeful expression.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
[Quest: Feller of Beasts]
[Rank: E]
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Objective: Slay 10 magical beasts]
[Progress: 0/10]
[Reward: +3 attribute points, 1 E-Rank item of your choice, 1 random skill]
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
"I think we've got the answer." Luke chuckled, glancing between the two quest screens.
"Yeah, just gotta save you 10 times." Matthew joked, gently jabbing his elbow into Luke's side. Then his smile faded. "But, if we do want to complete these quests generally safely, the easiest way to do that is to enter a small dungeon party."
Luke shrugged. "Technically, I have the authority to enter any gate within the tourist district on my own of C-Rank or below by myself. So it shouldn't be that hard."
Matthew gestured between their stat screens. "No no, you're as strong as me now. Meaning you're only as strong as an E-rank."
Suddenly, a faint shadow seemed to loom over Luke. "Oh yeah....... fuck." He muttered, gesturing to his hunting coat which was still partially in tatters. "We need to get new gear. Our weapons were busted when we got back to the real world. I can buy some simple gear, but I still need a way of making money. If I'm as low a rank as you- no offense- then I'll be a bit tight on cash for a while."
Matthew scoffed. "Whatever happened to Mr. Millionaire?" He joked.
Like just looked at his friend with a serious expression. "Well that is still there... but living in New York is expensive. The only reason I always bought extravagant things is because I earned tens of thousands of dollars whenever I completed a decently sized raid. But now though I hardly make that much." He sighed. "I'm not great at math, but with the money I have now, I can only live in my place for about half a year. That's not including paying for our hunting equipment."
Matthew just crossed his arms and looked at the new quest screen. "If the System does as it says it will, then by completing these quests not only will our stats increase, but we'll also get gear as well." He looked to Luke, a faint smirk on his face. "About how much do E-Rank items sell for?"
A light smile spread across Luke's face. "Few thousand a piece." He glanced between Matthew's screen and his own. "And that's two of them in a single quest."
"And if we keep doing these and get stronger- assuming this works like I think it does- we'd get better rewards that we could potentially sell," Matthew explained.
Luke nodded, giving the idea some thought. "Guess we know what we're doing after this." He said with a smile on his face.
Suddenly the door to the reevaluation room swung open, revealing Victor at the doorway.
As the door opened, all the screens in front of the two hunters shrunk to nothing as their attention shifted toward Victor.
"Alright, you two, time to get your new ranks." He said with a smile across his face.
***
The reevaluation room was similar to how Matthew remembered his first time entering an evaluation room in Texas. Albeit, it wasn't a scanner as he remembered.
Instead, there was a large orb in the center of the room hooked to an array of wires and machinery. It was similar to the orb Victor had offered Matthew to measure his mana. However, rather than being the size of a baseball, it was the size of a large boulder, standing well over 6 feet tall.
Standing at the side of the room next to a large computer was one of the technicians along with Marco and Victor.
The technician was a young woman, roughly mid-twenties if Matthew's guess was correct. She had brown wavy hair with thin black glasses placed upon her nose. She wore a white lab coat with an ID hanging from her breast pocket.
"Come to me so I can scan your Hunter Identification card. Once I've verified that your record is logged, place your hand on the man receiver," the technician nodded to the giant orb in the center of the room. "It will read your mana levels and give you a new rank corresponding to the amount of mana it has recorded."
Luke stepped forward as he began to fish in his pocket. "Guess I'll start us off first." He mumbled, producing a small card with his identification and a golden 'A' planted upon it. He then handed it to the technician's outstretched hand.
She quickly glanced at the card before placing it within a reader next to the screen. "Place your hand on the receiver." She ordered as she began to type away at the keyboard.
Luke set his hand against the shining black orb. Suddenly, the machines began to hum, filling the room with a low rumble. As the hum began to grow, Matthew noticed a small flicker of red emits from the depths of the receiver. Slowly, it began to pulse and flicker. It was as if a flame had been ignited within the orb.
Matthew looked at Luke, his eyes widened slightly in surprise at the unknown glow. Then Matthew looked to Victor and Marco. Both had a mix of confusion and shock on their faces. Finally, he looked at the technician. She was still glued behind the screen. Her eyes kept glancing over the readings. Slowly, her face began to contort more and more into confusion and shock.
The flickering light within the orb began to pulse brighter growing to the outer edges of the once blackened orb.
Suddenly, an alarm sounded at the screen the technician stood at. Just then Luke quickly pulled his hand away, a light yelp coming from him. Not a second later the alarm stopped, and the glow quickly faded, as did the incessant hum of the machines.
Matthew glanced at Luke's hand as he began to shake it and rub his palm. The palm of his hand was a light red and brown as if he had just touched a hot pan.
Everyone exchanged glances. "The hell was that? Does that normally happen?" Victor asked, turning to the woman behind the screen who looked just as shocked as Victor.
"N-no I've never seen..." her voice trailed off as she glanced at the screen and pulled out a card that had appeared from a slot on its side.
She pulled out the card and scanned it over several times. Quickly she moved over and pulled out the other card Luke had first given her, looking between the two.
"I-I don't-" she was cut off when Luke walked to her, taking both cards from her grasp.
He scanned them both over, just like she had. Matthew noticed the rage welling in Luke's eyes. It almost felt as if the fiery light from the mana receiver had transferred to him. But then, his body relaxed and he let out a sigh.
Luke tossed his old card to the woman. "Well I can't use this anymore, can I?" He said, producing his wallet from his pocket and begging to put the card in one of the many pouches of the item.
As he did so, Matthew caught a faint glimpse of the letter on the card. It was an 'E', but unlike many others, such as his own, which showed the letter in a dull bronze. The letter on Luke's card was a glistening amber mixed with a prismatic sheen.
Matthew was snapped from his thoughts when Luke walked up to him and gently pat him on the shoulder. "You're up next, Mat." He said with a half-smirk.
"We aren't bringing back that nickname," Matthew mumbled in something between a laugh and a sigh.
Matthew stepped forward and produced his hunting license card from his pocket; lending it to the woman.
She inserted the card into the reader near the screen. Instead of saying anything she simply nodded to Matthew. A sense of tension still weighed on her face from the confusion of the prior reading, but Matthew placed his hand on the orb as the machines began to hum once again.
Immediately, Matthew felt a pulse run through his body. It felt like the sun was shining down on him, filling him with energy. It felt as if he were back in the sky where he had first seen the silver screen above him.
His thoughts faded when he noticed a bright light swelling within the orb, glowing brighter and brighter by the moment. It wasn't like the flickering fire that had been there when Luke touched it. Instead, it was pure, brilliant white and gold. As if he were staring directly at the sun.
Then he heard the beeping of the receiver's alarm once again. Suddenly his hand was pushed away from the orb. As the alarm and humming of the machinery stopped, Matthew looked at his hand. He couldn't quite describe what it was, but somehow his palm felt cleaner than a moment ago, as if he had just dunked it in soapy water.
Matthew looked around the room. Once again, everyone looked confused and shocked at the events. And once again, the attention then turned towards the woman behind the screen.
Quickly she took out the updated card from the side of the screen and held it towards Matthew, trying to avoid eye contact with the people in the room.
Matthew stepped forward and grabbed his new license. In most regards, it hadn't changed much. He was an E rank before so nothing had changed there. However, once again, the color was different. Unlike Luke's however, the letter of his license wasn't amber; rather it was glistening white. As if the letter itself was made from a diamond.
Matthew pocketed his new license before returning to Luke's side.
Victor then turned to the woman, and then to the large orb in the center of the room. "So what happened?" He asked, his voice much more leveled now than it had been.
The woman glanced from her screen to the orb, then back to Victor. "I'm not sure why... b-but the readings had shown they only had a mana reading of around 10, an E-rank. But.... then the number began to rise... quickly." She added, taking a nervous glance at both Luke and Matthew. "The reading got so high that, eventually, the receiver couldn't properly read all of it, so it overloaded." She glanced at the slot where the new hunting licenses were produced. "But regardless of that... the system still processed them as an E-rank.... although for some reason it's not following the proper procedure with the design of the cards. Normally, E-ranks are displayed in bronze. But theirs weren't." She stole another glance at the pair of hunters. "I've never seen any design like that produced on any of these machines I've worked with."
Victor and Marco traded glances before Victor just sighed and put his shades back on. "Oh well, make a call to the maintenance team," he stepped over to the large black orb and knocked on it with his knuckle, creating a metallic rumble through the room. "Tell them your machine is broken." He said before starting towards the door as the group began to leave.
As the door shut, Matthew looked back at the black orb just as a flickering golden light began to fade within it.