“Well it looks like this gear can give several skills,” Said the blacksmith as he perused his own menu. Mary grew bored waiting in line with Dad. The blacksmith here was super busy while surrounded by more hunters than she knew existed.

“Well tell me about them so I know if it is worth farming.” Dad was kneeling down so that he could hear and talk to the smith.

“There is Quake Stomp on the boots, a skill that pits your strength against a target's swiftness that can cause the creature to fall down. The big ticket for the whole set is an Unending Stamina Skill. Says for five seconds you have no limit on the amount of stamina you can spend. Pretty handy if you’re already low on Stamina.” The smith was all smiles as they looked at Dad. The sight of a giant not so foreign to these people. Thankfully though Dad seemed to be the only hunter that was a giant.

“That is amazing. Hey Cindy, I think it would be wise for me to get the whole set. Unending stamina seems like it would be a great skill to have.” Dad had excitement in his eyes for the first time at the prospect of hunting monsters for something.

Cindy nodded, the spell runes the clothes were offering were pretty useful. “The stone element is pretty strong against fire and flying monsters. I think it would be helpful if I had that and I can use the secondary rune to coat you in stone armor while channeling some mana. I think that would make me feel a lot better about you taking damage.”

The two of them had a plan. The Stone Ape had some special quests to hunt it down and they appeared to be a pretty big menace to ill equipped hunters. It was going to be a long day of fighting them though. Thankfully Dad was able to get the boots that gave him the stomp ability. Any form of disruption and crowd control would be great.

As they geared up and prepared to head out a single hunter approached them. Cindy was excited to meet some people that also hunted monsters. She was half sure that she was going to be the only monster hunter in the world but it seemed that she was going to be proven wrong.

The youngest of them had a fur headdress shaped like a mohawk. He had a giant crossbow slung on his back, his clothes looked easy to move in. Cindy stepped forward with a smile, “Hello!”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Hi, I heard you two were going out hunting Stone Apes. I have a couple quests involving them and the resources they guard. I’ll share the quest with you if you will let me join the hunt. I’m Orin.” He reached out a hand to Cindy who shook it enthusiastically.

“I didn’t know you could share quests, that is awesome. It looks like you are a ranged hunter. Are you also looking for gear from the apes?” Cindy was bubbly and wanted nothing more than to just say yes and run out into a three manhunt.

“No, my Boroclops gear is good for ranged attacks. It gives me a dodging dash skill that is invaluable for me to stay safe. Well, which one of you is in charge?” Orin looked between the two as he waited to be accepted or rejected.

Cindy and Dad both responded at the same time, “I’m in charge.”

The two looked at each other and squinted their eyes at one another. “Dad, I’m the one that taught you how hunting worked. I’m in charge.”

“I’m your father, I’m in charge.” Dad stared at her with serious eyes as the two challenged one another. “We can rock paper scissors over it. Since you have a point. But no arguing if I win.”

“Dad,” Cindy floated up to his ear with a spell and whispered into Dad’s ear. “I’m the Hero. Let me be in charge ok. It’s important to me.”

Dad sighed heavily, his breath nearly sending Cindy spiraling through the air. “Fine, but if this goes sideways, then I’m in charge. You don’t know how to handle emergencies like I do.”

Cindy nodded before flying back down to the ground with a huge smile, “Welcome aboard. Dad takes the frontline of combat. He has plenty of hit points but we need to whittle down the enemy as fast as possible. I do have a healing spell but we don’t have potions yet. We haven’t gotten our harvest of herbs and mushrooms to make them. Are you all set, did you eat your pre-hunt meal? Got all your ammo?”

Orin nodded and smiled at the pair of them. “I’m all set, swiftness is my big stat so it isn’t that big of a deal for me to be in the backline. I’m pretty fragile so I’ll be avoiding drawing the monster’s attention. I’ll do my best though. So whenever you are ready we can head out and start hunting.”

They were maybe a mile away from the city once more before Orin stopped and started to share the quests he had stored up. A couple were about gathering a rare drop from Stone Apes. There was also another couple of capture quests that would give special rewards that both of them needed. Orin was very friendly and looked to be in his teens.

A strange sense of maturity filled the young man. Cindy looked at him with wide eyes at what she could be in just a few years. If aging in this world was the same as home. She looked at Dad from the corner of her eyes. Doubt that he would accept being here for that long filled her. Unlike her he had friends at home, all hers had moved away. Maybe Orin could be her first real friend here. A third member of their hunting party.

“Well,” Dad said, “Let’s get farming Stone Apes.”