Matthew woke in his bed to the incessant beeping of his alarm.
He still felt groggy. Despite being back in his old bed, he was still back in his old bed. It wasn't nearly as soft as the bed he'd spelt in at Luke's penthouse.
Sloppily rolling out of bed (quite literally) Matthew turned off his alarm and rubbed his eyes.
His morning routine was the same as every other morning.
First was coffee, from his older-than-dust coffee maker.
Second was breakfast, which mostly consisted of whatever he had stocked in his freezer.
Third was freshening up with a quick shower and brush of his teeth.
All finished off by him donning his hunting gear and weapon's case before walking out the door.
Matthew checked the time on his phone as he got to his car. He clicked his tongue. "Only 20 minutes to get there huh?" He mumbled to himself. He looked to his car, then at the time once again.
Traffic was always hectic, especially during the mornings when everyone in the city was driving to work.
Matthew turned in the general direction of the guild building he worked for a little ways across the city.
He then had an idea. He wouldn't have considered the idea had it been just a week ago. But he was much stronger now. Much faster.
Matthew held his weapon case over his back before turning down the sidewalk and taking off in a sprint.
Running through the streets of Dallas was an odd feeling. He weaved between and through swaths of people. He ran across city blocks in the matter of a minute.
The wind gliding across him was oddly refreshing to his still partially fatigued face. He was over half way to the guild building when he started to feel a bit of fatigue.
He could feel his breathing deepen. It wasn't anything compared to what he had felt when marching throughout a dungeon, but he was simply surprised he'd made it so far without feeling anything.
He finally stopped across the street from the guild building. His breath only just beginning to become ragged.
The building wasn't insanely large, like the buildings he'd seen in New York that he could hardly ever see the top of. It was a three story building that looked more like an office building then anything else in the area. The entire outside just looked like several window panes all across its surface.
Matthew walked across the street, checking the time on his phone as he approached the front door. "Got here in 15 minutes." He commented. "This beats driving."
Matthew entered the building and was immediately met with the oh-so familiar lobby of the guild hall. It wasn't necessarily anything special.
The first thing Matthew saw as he entered was the front desk, beyond which was a lounge and food court, combined with a small bar.
The front desk was occupied by a woman with brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore a formal uniform worn by the staff of the guild hall.
"Welcome in." He heard the woman shout from the desk, just like she was supposed to do whenever anyone entered. Matthew could only imagine how she felt shouting that any time the doors opened.
Matthew nodded to the woman as he walked to the desk and produced his hunting license.
The woman took the card- giving it a brief second glance at the strange golden 'E' on it- before scanning it on a computer on the other side of the counter.
The woman handed the card back and gestured for Matthew to enter the lobby, which he happily did so.
The building was comprised of three floors. The first was the lobby, where most of the hunters who weren't working at that current point in time often hung around. The second floor was a mix between a training room and quest board. The second floor was where the weight room and sparring mats were, as well as a set of rooms for each of the squads where they briefed themselves and organized their plan for the gate- or in some cases gates- they would be entering that week. The third floor was where the senior members of the guild granted the different squads their gate for the week.
Matthew began towards the elevator when someone slammed a hand onto his shoulder, making him jump slightly.
Matthew turned to see the smiling face of a slim, dark haired man. He wore his hunting gear, thick leather armor mixed in with a plates of metal across his chest, shins, shoulders, forearms, knees, and elbows. He had a black backpack slung over his shoulder. The top zipper was open, revealing the handles of a pair of swords sticking from the bag.
Matthew returned the smile. "Sanri, it's been a minute." He said to one of his squad mates.
"Mat, you're back." Sanri said with a smile, patting Matthew on the back. "The squad was beginning to feel hollow without you."
Matthew chuckled. "I doubt that. I'm sure all of you were just enjoying a bigger cut of the dungeons."
Sanri shrugged. "Oddly enough we only had one gate. Actually, me, and Valine were transferred over to a gate over by The Ball-"
"Audri told me all that over the phone yesterday." Matthew said with a wave of his hand as if tossing the topic aside. "So anyways, where's everyone else?"
Sandri shrugged again. "I know Berret's up in the sparring mats. But as far as I know no one else is here yet."
Matthew nodded. "Gotcha."
Both hunters began towards the elevator once more before going inside at the light ding through the air.
"So how was New York? Audri said you'd met a S-rank." Sandri said with a smile.
"Of course she's told all you guys already." Matthew sighed. "Yeah I did, his name was Blake."
Sandri's eyes widened a little. "You met the Steel Soldier?" He gasped.
Matthew rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone know his nickname but me?"
Sandri chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Audri told us all. I didn't know about it till yesterday."
"I'm gonna' kill you guys." Matthew mumbled.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The elevator dinged again as the door opened and both of the hunters stepped out.
"I noticed you aren't wearing your hunting coat. Ya' lose it or something?" Sanri noted as he gestured to the lack of a coat on Matthew.
Matthew glanced down to see the mercenary's coat he'd gotten during the zombie dungeon in New York. He hadn't given it much this prior to now, but it did look drastically different from his normal garb.
"I lost it in New York. It got lost in the luggage." Matthew lied. "But I got this new one."
Sanri nodded in understanding. "Eh, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just stay behind Berret like always."
Matthew pursed his lips at the comment. "A few things have changed in New York." Matthew hinted.
"Yeah, you lost your coat." Sanri commented with a light laugh.
"Hey Sanri," Matthew snapped back. "Once we get to the sparring mats, what do you say to a friendly bout?"
Sanri let out a laugh. "If you say so."
***
Several large training mats were spread about the entire training area. Only half of the mats were taken up, filled in with pairs of hunters fighting eachother with training weapons.
"Been a while Matthew." Berret said, tossing an arm around Matthew's shoulders as he and Sanri entered the training room.
He was a big man with chocolate brown skin. His hair was equally as dark and cut just close enough to his scalp for him to not be considered bald.
He held a light hammer in one hand. On his back was a large iron shield the size of his bulky torso. He donned some light plate armor across his whole body, although Matthew knew it wasn't actually his- just the basic training armor that the guild had droves of.
"Hey Berret. Still training as hard as ever?" Matthew asked.
Berret let out a heavy laugh. "Ya' better believe it. Ya' think this muscle just naturally grows on me?" He said flexing a muscular arm, getting a laugh out of the group.
"So, Mat, we gonna' fight on the mats or what?" Sanri noted as he broke from the group, stepping towards one of the empty light blue training mats.
"He's gonna' fight you?" Berret asked to Sanri, gesturing to Matthew.
Sanri shrugged with a smirk as he set his bag down next to the mat.
Matthew followed suit and set his weapon case next to Sanri's.
Both hunters walked to the weapon stand near the back wall to grab their weapon of choice.
Matthew immediately went for a plain-looking spear while Sanri went for a pair of scimitars.
As Matthew's fingers touched the shaft of the spear, an item window appeared before him.
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[Training Spear]
[Rank: E-]
[Attack: +5]
[Description: A dull spear meant as a training weapon rather then one for a real fight. The weapon isn't reinforced with magic so it will break easily with a sufficient amount of force]
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Matthew mostly ignored the screen as he walked back to the training mat where Sanri was waiting, fiddling with his duel blades.
"So what convinced you to take me on? Didn't expect you to be so quick to want to fight me. I get you wanting to test some move or whatever you've learned, but from what you've been acting like it sounds like you think you can win." Sanri explained with a light chuckle.
Matthew let a smirk cross his lips. "Simple really," Matthew tested the odd weight of his spear, spinning it around his hand before getting into a fighting stance across the mat from his friend. "I think I can."
Just then another window appeared before Matthew, partially obscuring his vision.
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[Quest: A Friendly Bout]
[Rank: C-]
[Objective: A close ally doubts your growth and has accepted a duel to test your strength. Show them you aren't the same person you were before. Reduce your ally below 50% of their HP without falling below 50% HP.]
[Ally's HP: 100%]
[Rewards: Random C-rank skill]
[Bonus Objective: Make the ally use one of their skills.]
[Bonus Reward: Copy of the skill ally used.]
[Bonus Objective: Complete the main objective with over 75% of your HP remaining.]
[Bonus Reward: A random skill below B-rank is upgraded.]
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Sanri laughed again with a smile on his face. "Alright sure. How 'bout I buy you some coffee after I win?"
Matthew waved a hand as the quest window disappeared. "I think winning this match will be reward enough. And one last thing,"
Sanri raised a brow.
"Don't hold back, seriously." Matthew ordered.
"Yeah yeah, I get the-" he was cut off when Matthew bolted forward with surprising speed.
Sanri deflected the head of the spear as it aimed towards his chest with one of the training blades. He instinctively took a step back as Matthew altered the grip on the spear and swung the tip of the spear forward and down.
Sanri quickly knocked the spearhead aside as he stepped forward and spun, extending out his blades in the process. However Matthew jumped backwards out of reach.
Both hunters now looked at each other. Matthew had a cocky grin across his face, while Sanri wore an expression of shock.
"What the hell was that?" Berret shouted from the sidelines.
Both the hunter's heads turned to their bulky friend.
"I'll explain it later." Matthew assured as he bolted forward again.
Sanri went to deflect the tip of the spear again, but just before the spear collided with one of his blades Matthew leaped to the side. The practice spear was quickly replaced with one of pure light.
Sanri hardly had enough time to lean to the side as the spear pierced his shoulder before disappearing like shattered glass. He then was felt a pain in his thigh as Matthew cut across it with the head of his spear.
[MP: 101/101 > 96/101]
Finally, Matthew stepped forward and kicked Sanri in the ribs, causing him to skid backwards across the mat.
Matthew stole a quick glance at the progress bar as Sanri reoriented himself.
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[Ally's HP: 71%]
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Sanri and Matthew's eyes met once again.
This time Sanri let out a laugh as he began to glow red, starting from his chest and extending out to his finger tips. "Well shit Mat, guess you have changed a bit." He laughed.
A second later, Sanri shot forward with much more speed then Matthew expected.
Matthew held up his spear to defend from the blur, but the shaft of his spear suddenly broke in half as the blur passed by him. He felt a pain deep in his chest as the amulet around his neck began to glow, defending him partially from the blade that he found cutting across his torso.
[HP: 250/250 > 220/250]
Before Matthew could even react another burst of pain shot through his back.
[HP: 220/250 > 190/250]
Matthew turned just in time to dodge another blade swing from Sanri. Then he jumped back just in time to dodge another.
Matthew saw another red blurr shoot towards him. This time Matthew stooped low to the ground and swept his leg. The blurr flickered as it hit his leg and Sanri was suddenly slowed to a halt as he was sent face-first into the mat.
A loud thud sounded throughout the training room as Matthew turned to see Sanri face down on the mat.
About half a second went by with Sanri not moving an inch. Matthew was about to lift Sandri to his feet when he suddenly flipped onto his feet in a single bound.
When Sanri faced Matthew a stream of blood spilled down the center of his face from his nose. Nonetheless, he had a smile on his face.
Sanri dropped both his blades and approached Matthew to toss an arm around his shoulder. "You're gonna' need to tell me what sort of FBH experiment you got cooked into." He laughed. "That was amazing. I definitely owe you a coffee."
From the sidelines Berret tossed the two a pair of towels to wipe off the specs of blood from them. "Should probably head to the medic or something for the wounds though." Berret mentioned as he approached the two, gesturing to the wounds on Matthew's torso. "You didn't have to use Blitz like that y'know." He now turned to Sanri as he wiped the blood from his lip.
"Oh c'mon. You saw him," Sanri gestured to Matthew. "He's a unit now. He can take it." He said with excitement, shaking Matthew slightly. "Hey, how did you get all that power from by the way? And what was the, like, golden spear attack you did? Did your friend over in NYC buy you some rune stones or something?"
Matthew shook his head. "We can talk about this once the squad is all together, for now though," he broke off from Sanri's huddle. "I'll head off to the medical center real quick."
He said before quickly walking from the group, making a slight fake wince at the wound across his chest (not to say it didn't hurt).
As he disappeared behind the corner of the doorway, Matthew took a quick glance around him to be sure no one was near him. Then he put a hand to his chest as his palm began to glow.
[MP: 96/101 > 81/101]
[HP: 190/250 > 250/250]
As the wounds closed, the pain across his body subsided.
With a wave of his hand he opened his quest window.
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[Quest 'A Friendly Bout' ended due to ally conceding]
[Main objective complete]
[Bonus objective complete]
[Bonus objective complete]
***
[Skill 'Warrior's Presence' gained]
[Skill 'Blitz' has been copied from ally]
[Skill 'Healing Hands' has been upgraded to 'Healing Whispers']
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