016

The next day, I woke up late. The sun was already out when my eyes pried open. With the light of the risen sun shining upon my face through the curtain-less windows, I forced myself out of bed.

After I got out of bed and used their bath, I promptly left. I had a few things to do before I visited the Union.

First, I needed more clothes. I also needed proper gear if I want to work here. Looking down at my shoes, I could tell that they’re maybe a day away before becoming completely unusable. It’s a wonder how they’ve lasted this long.

I also needed breakfast. I walked around the crowded marketplace that surrounded the central part of the city.

The city was circular, with the four gates in four directions and the Union Building in the centre.

The area that immediately surrounded it was the marketplace, and outside of that was the residential area. So I didn’t have go that far to reach the market.

Even though they call this place a town, East Green is a very populated place, everyday many people come and go from here. The market is very lively.

I walked up to a random food stall that already had some people eating there. I also ordered the same. It was a meat dish, I didn’t know what kind, but the taste was kind of on the mild side, with a subtle sweetness that lingered after the mouth warmed enough.

It was very delicious. I ordered seconds and for only 2 silver, it was totally worth the price.

I asked the vender itself about what I wanted to buy and he was kind enough to let me know.

I went to a few nearby shops and I bought a few extra pairs of the same type of clothes I was wearing. Since I didn’t need warm clothes, the total cost also went down.

Since this is the first place that anyone comes to after entering through the East gate, they sell a lot of warm clothes for the newly arriving people, and that is the stuff that is the most expensive here.

Not kidding, the shopkeeper showed me sweaters worth more than all the money I had.

With the clothes bought along with a simple backpack, it all came down to 30 silver. With only 48 silvers remaining, I was going to look for shoes.

There were a lot of stores selling shoes, but they were all the good-looking kind and not the actually usable kind. I needed shoes with a good grip that would handle the stress of using [Sprint] and [Quick Dash]. So the only place left for me to go to was the armour shop.

There were a few of them around here. With the Union Building being here and what not, there are a lot of hunters that move around this place so an armour shop is very good business around here.

I found one that kind of looked on the cheaper side, but that was only wishful thinking.

With the door being already open and no customers there, I walked in.

The shopkeeper was a spectacled old man. When I walked in, he seemed to be working on something as he was hunched over a small table in the back of the shop. And as the door to the back was left open, I could see him.

“Excuse me?”

Crash!

The moment he heard my voice, his hand slipped on whatever he was working on and the thing collapsed.

I could see sadness in his eyes as he looked back towards me. I smiled awkwardly in response.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked slowly.

“Yes, I’m looking for shoes. Good, durable shoes.”

His expression looked like thinking for a second and then he asked.

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“What kind of shoes? Part of a set of armour or the general heavy duty kind? Magic Infused or not? You have battle aura relating to your feet?”

He asked with rapid succession.

“None of those, I just need some simple shoes that can take a heavy beating without tearing apart.”

He folded his arms and looked at the ceiling thinking for a second, before he went in the back and carried back a dusty old box.

“See if this is to your liking.”

Saying that he passed over the box. It was surprisingly heavy.

I opened it and inside were pair of heavy duty black leather shoes, the soles were thick and I could a faint outline of some metal that surrounded it. I thought it would be very rigid because of it but it wasn’t. It was just as flexible as any other shoe.

But what caught my eye the most was the piece of thick metal that covered the back and the front of the shoe as well as the padding on the bottom also looked good enough to hold it in place.

I was immediately interested in buying it. But something told me that these wouldn’t be cheap.

Without showing my worry, I confidently asked.

“How much are they?”

“50 Silver”

“I’ll give 40.” The man’s eye widened as he heard that.

“Nah, I can’t go that low, 48 is the most I’ll go.”

“40.” It is at times like these when you have to stand your ground.

“48”

“40”

“46”

“40”

“45 and that’s it. Take it or leave It.” he firmly said as he folded his arms done talking.

“Deal.”

As I was taking my leave, I noticed a weapon on the side. Considering that I was going be a hunter eventually, I was going to need a weapon. If I had the funds I would’ve bought it right now.

It was the perfect weapon for someone like me who didn’t know how to use any bladed or blunt weapons. Sadly I couldn’t afford it right now, but I will soon.

Looking at the price tag below it. 200 Silver. Keeping that weapon in mind, I left the store.

I was very happy with my purchase. I knew he was already selling it for cheap seeing as it was only collecting dust in the back room.

I wore those shoes on the spot and ditched my old ones.

I dropped off the extra clothing and with only 3 silvers remaining in my pouch, I headed directly to the Union Building.

It was already noon time so when I reached the counter, the receptionist was already waiting for me there.

“On time. Very punctual.”

“Thank you.”

I couldn’t really say that I didn’t have anything else to do that’s why I was wasting my time just waiting outside the building.

My ID was already there as she handed me a silver metal card the size of a playing card. It had my information in the back as well as the number 6 plastered on the other side. She informed me that since this was bound to me by blood the number would change accordingly as I level up.

It also had a green outline to it like some of the requests on the notice boards indicating my rank. Rank F. The lowest rank that a volunteer can be.

Apparently, if my level was above level 15, I would’ve gotten a different card. A golden one. The Ranks would be transferred as the ranking wasn’t based on strength but on the number of requests completed.

To go from Rank F to E, I had to complete 100 requests. So my rank isn’t increasing any time soon.

I was about to head towards the notice boards to look at a few requests when I heard the receptionist call out to stop me.

“Wait!”

“Yes?”

“Do you have a job in mind? Have you already accepted any requests?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Good.”

With a wide smile plastered on her face, she took out a very thick stack of papers from below her desk and I was left stunned. What was this…?

“All the requests that are there for someone with a high level [Sprint].”

And here I thought that I was going to have difficulty getting work. I was very curious so I had to ask.

“You see, this town isn’t the only one around here, there are a lot of smaller ones near here as well. Making deliveries to those towns is a lot effort as it requires a carriage and a party of hunters to guard it. And since a carriage is slow, it is very easily attacked. But if it was a single person going back and forth really fast, it would both be cheap and safe.”

“But why [Sprint], aren’t there better skills for that?”

“There are. [Swift Movement] from magic arts and [Agile Feet] from martial arts are both better in terms of speed, but [Sprint] is longer lasting even if it isn’t the fastest. Both of the others have a cool down time to them, so they can’t be used successively as well. [Sprint] on the other hand comes from a very different third branch, Blood Arts. They use Qi and are very hard and painful to train in, so many people don’t bother with them. The main advantage that Blood Arts have on other branches is that their skills can be used successively without any restriction.”

I finally understand what’s going on. That means that since I don’t have magic and aura, I can only use Blood Arts. Now that I know that, I can look into it a little more. The name sounds really ominous though.

I was going to take a request from the pile but the receptionist stopped me again.

“If you’re going to start, then start with this one.”

She gave me a request that she had already kept on the side.

“Hey Racheal, come over!”

I saw who was coming and it was the butcher girl from yesterday.