"Your hand ok?" Matthew asked Luke as they say in the back of the car.

Luke still rubbed his red palm with his other hand. "Eh, it'll be fine. Just a minor burn. Guess the receiver just overheated." He glanced at Matthew. "What about your hand?"

Matthew knit his brow and looked at his hands. "Mine are fine."

It was now Luke's turn to knit his brow. "It didn't get burned?" He asked, leaning over to get a better look at Matthew's hand.

Matthew turned his hand so his palm faced Luke. Sure enough, his hand looked completely fine.

Luke cracked a light smirk as he sat back down. "Guess what just means I have more mana than you. Mine overheated and yours just became a light show." He joked, chuckling half-heartedly.

After a moment he produced his new hunting license from his wallet, looking at the amber letter 'E' on its front. He clicked his tongue as if expecting it to have changed in the time it had been since they left the evaluation building.

"Hey Mat," Luke said, facing his card to his friend. "Are the rank letters normally this... shiny?"

Matthew pulled out his hunting license and held it next to Luke's. The two shining 'E's sparked with the light coming through the car windows as they went.

Luke's still shown a brilliant orange-amber while Matthew's glistened like diamonds.

"Normally they are bronze. I'm not sure why the material changed." Matthew replied, pocketing his license. "It's also strange they are personalized to some degree.... they take after our System screens." He mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Luke to hear. "Was your original card ever personalized?" He spoke up, turning to Luke.

He pocketed his license and simply shrugged. "I put a sticker on mine... but that has nothing to do with when I originally got it."

Suddenly, the car came to a halt. "You've arrived at your destination," Victor said from the driver's seat, doing his best impression of the voice of a navigation system.

Both hunters exited the car before walking behind it and beginning to grab their luggage.

Matthew looked at the large building they had parked next to as he hoisted his luggage bag over his shoulder.

Across the sidewalk sat the double doors to a large building at least 30 stories high. The building's exterior was made primarily of carved stone and steel. The automatic sliding doors at the entrance were made of glass so Matthew could see the variety of people wandering through the base floor's lobby.

"Where are we now? This my hotel?" Matthew asked.

Like replied almost immediately. "It's my place."

Matthew looked at Luke wide-eyed.

Luke just chuckled at his friend's expression. "Not the whole damn building," he pointed up to the top of the building. "Just the penthouse up top."

"What about my hotel?"

Luke pointed up to the building again with a light smirk. "This is your hotel."

Suddenly, the window of the car rolled down. "Alright well, that's all for you two. We've got places to go and people to meet. But notify us if any more crazy shit happens." Victor said. "See you around." He ended with a nod before rolling the window up and departing from the parking lane.

***

"So originally I had your room on the 29th floor," Luke began as they stepped onto the elevator at the edge of the lobby. "But due to... recent events," He pressed the button to the 32nd floor, however, a small buzzer sounded. Luke rolled his eyes and produced a golden card from his pocket, scanning the card on a reader near the elevator's buttons; he pressed the button again and the door finally closed as they ascended. "I may have you rest at my place for now."

"At your penthouse?" Matthew asked in surprise.

Luke nodded. "I'll still pay for your other expenses like food and stuff- assuming you aren't eating at a Michelin Star restaurant every day." He added. "But the hotel room was pretty pricy to begin with. Technically there are cheaper hotels..." he trailed off a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck. He began to say something but stumbled on the first sound before speaking again. "They're kinda far through."

Luke sighed. "We're also gonna' need to find a raiding party for a D-rank dungeon. Shouldn't be too hard." He mumbled.

Suddenly, the elevator door opened to a large room. One entire wall seemed completely made of glass panels that showed a magnificent view of the New York skyline.

The floor was mostly white tiles with one section near the sofa and coffee table being white carpet instead. In front of the dark red sofa was a large flatscreen TV hanging from the edge of the wall.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

On the other edge of the room sat a kitchen with several additional appliances rather than just the microwave and stove. Next to the stove was a flat-top stove with its cover down. Next to the double-door fridge was an air fryer hooked up to an outlet in the wall.

On an island counter in the kitchen was the sink, split into two sections, and the dishwasher; which had many more buttons on it than Matthew thought necessary.

To the side of the room, leading up to a second section of the floor where Matthew couldn't quite see, was a set of stairs.

"You have a big place," Matthew said in awe as he walked into the room.

Like just shrugged, walking toward the island of the kitchen. "Not the most luxurious place in the Big Apple," He set his gun case on the counter. "But it's pretty damn nice." He said clicking the case open.

Luke sighed before pulling out its contents. In his hands was his old gun, or what was left of it. The gun was scratched and dented in several places. The revolving cylinder that held the bullet cartridges had been cracked and broken in half, and the end of the barrel had been completely crushed.

"Well... there's that," Luke mumbled, walking around the counter and dumping the gun in the trash.

Matthew walked to the living room and set his luggage bag against the couch. "Are we going to go ahead and start looking for a raiding party?" He asked, turning to Luke.

He was still staring down into the trash can, looking at the broken revolver. Suddenly his head snapped to Matthew as if just noticing he was there. "Oh, yeah, we should get on that." He retorted, walking towards the stairs. "My computer is up here somewhere."

***

Matthew gradually became accustomed to the penthouse as the sun began to set. He'd been in hotels he would have considered fancy, but the penthouse didn't cease to amaze him. The bathroom was nearly twice the size of his own back in Texas.

It was made nearly entirely of white tile. The shower was as the size of a walk-in closet with a glass sliding door on the front.

There was a spare bedroom within the penthouse that looked like it had never been touched. A perfectly made bed sat in the center of the room against a wall, flanked by a nightstand and dresser with a mirror hanging above it. In front of the bed against the opposite wall hung a flatscreen TV; smaller than the one in the living room, but still respectably large.

After setting his things down and taking a much-needed shower, Matthew ventured down into the common room to see Luke, having changed into some more comfortable clothes and was now lying on the couch with an open computer lying on his chest.

"Find anything worthwhile?" Matthew asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"A couple..." he said, sounding exhausted. "D'you think we can take up a D-rank dungeon?"

Matthew opened the fridge, scanning its contents before pulling out a cup of yogurt. "With a raiding party, I don't think it'd be an issue. What's the party like?" He asked, beginning to scour the kitchen area for the silverware.

Luke typed on the computer for a moment. "A C- rank and 2 D-ranks." He clicked a few more times. "The leader, C-rank, said he was accepting anyone to fill the slot minimum for a raiding party. He says they'd split the profit equally."

Matthew shrugged, taking a bite of yogurt as he finally found a spoon. "That's normally how it goes. Getting an equal share of the profit is a good deal, all things considered."

Like sighed. "Guess I'll sign us up." He said typing away at the keyboard.

"When is it?" Matthew asked.

"One second..." Luke said, continuing his work. "Tomorrow; noon. It's in one of the eastern subway stations; been there for two days so far."

"Well then," Matthew took one last bite of his yogurt before tossing the empty container in the trash can next to him. "Order those weapons before heading to sleep, I gotta head to bed. It's late." He said, glancing out the window at the night sky in contrast with the glistening buildings of New York.

"You have a bedtime?" Luke asked with a half-laugh as he looked at Matthew as he headed up the stairs.

"It's generally good to have a consistent sleep schedule." He responded with a completely straight face as he disappeared to the upper floor.

Luke just shook his head. "Sleep schedules my ass..." he glanced at his clock on the wall, slowly ticking by. "I better order these quick... it's getting late." He mumbled to himself.

***

Back in the guest bedroom, Matthew finally got ready for bed. He let out a groan as he fell into the bed. It felt like it had been several days since he'd laid in a bed. Technically it wasn't false, he had been unconscious for most of his time in the hospital.

His eyes closed for only a moment before a faint hum next to him made his eyes open. He looked at the nightstand next to the bed to see his phone alit on top of it. A second later the same brief hum sounded as another notification appeared on his phone.

He turned and picked up his phone, opening up his notifications.

"How's New York?"

"Have you been busy? You haven't texted me in a while."

Two text messages came in from his contacts: Audri. She was a D-rank hunter that Matthew was often in raiding parties with due to the fact they lived in the same area. He had told her he was going away for a while to New York as a gift from a friend so he wouldn't be free most of the time, although he hadn't accounted for being completely silent for most of the trip.

He began typing. "Sorry, there was a bit of trouble with..." he paused for a moment. Then he deleted the message and restarted.

"Sorry for not replying. I've been busy. Would you believe it, there are a lot of gates in New York. But don't worry this city is filled with high-rank hunters."

He pressed send, and almost immediately he got a reply.

"Oh, well that's good."

"How's your friend? The A-rank guy?"

"Anything interesting?"

Several messages came in quick succession. After they stopped, Matthew began typing again.

"He's doing good. He's letting me use the guest room in his penthouse. The view is immaculate. How's it been over there?"

A moment later a reply came through.

"It's good. What time is it for you? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Also be sure you don't go to bed hungry."

Matthew chuckled a bit under his breath. Audri always worried about him, even if there was nothing to worry about. Generally, Matthew is always considered to be good at caring for himself.

He replied.

"I could be asking you the same questions. It's only an hour behind for you. Did you be sure to eat?"

A short reply came back, taking oddly long for her.

":/ maybe."

Matthew began to chuckle as he texted back.

"Make sure you do that. But yes, it is late and I should get to bed."

He typed finally.

With a few last goodbyes and reassurance from Audri, she would eat; so she said, Matthew finally lay his head back and got under the covers of the bed.

Sleep had never come so quickly.