Jay walked into the room, following the strange whispering urging him onward. To his surprise, the magical moss lamp shattered when he crossed the threshold. Blanketed in darkness, he reacted without thinking, taking another lamp from his inventory.
“Is everyone ok?” he called back to his friends. “That was weird, right?”
“We can’t follow,” Taylor Lynn replied, her voice oddly muffled. “Some kind of force field in the way.”
Looking back, his friends were stuck, blocked by the threshold, standing near where his lamp had exploded moments before.
There was clearly some kind of magic in play.
He walked back toward his friends and reached his hand out. His hand was stopped by the doorway. Trying to move forward, he found it blocked his exit.
Shifting his attention, he inspected the stone doorway more closely. There was writing around the frame. It was inscribed into the frame—just like the previous plaque—but there was no plaque on the archway. Instead, the language was inscribed into it. He instantly recognized it as the same language he had seen when entering the dungeon.
The inscription read: The first step in the path is complete. At the beginning and the end—a Monster Hunter must walk alone.
“I assume you all can’t read that?” Jay asked, pointing to the inscription.
“Not even a little bit,” Lester replied, attempting in vain to crane his neck to see past the threshold.
“Just more weird letters,” Jenny added, her face scrunched in frustration. “That’s about it.”
Their words were slightly garbled, blocked by the barrier.
“I’ll be back. I’m going to explore the rest of this cave,” Jay said with a decisive nod, unwilling to leave an opportunity for answers behind. The pull to follow this passage was even stronger than before. Something for Monster Hunters. Seeing Taylor Lynn’s look of doubt, he repeated: “I’ll be back.” On the other hand, she might just be upset she didn’t get to come along.
He could hear his friends arguing as he walked forward, but their protests were muted by the barrier.
As he continued alone, save for Cuddles on his shoulder, he realized how stuffy the feel of the air was. The passage smelled dank and lifeless as if nothing had existed in the back of the dungeon for decades. Maybe nothing had.
He walked on for several minutes, carefully watching his steps for traps when the stone hallway widened out.
No traps triggered as a cloud of dust swirled to join him in the air, disturbed even by his slow movements. Once again, Jay was pleased to discover the game did not simulate choking on dust. The green light of his lantern glittered against the dust motes as they slowly floated to the ground. His curiosity was running rampant.
The dungeon hallway shifted as he continued to walk, carved brown stone changing to hewn, dark gray stone blocks.
The blocks were laid floor-to-ceiling, framing a more traditional dungeon structure. Each block appeared to be individually carved, though the blocks seemed uniform. Jay could see the creases where some cement-like material was used to lock the stones together.
He continued forward as the hallway offered him offshoot directions to choose from. He ignored all of them, continuing straight. Eventually, several more minutes later, the hallway opened into a room. The room was large enough to fit four of his tiny bedrooms from the real world.
He angled the green moss lantern’s dim light around the room, trying to take it in. Suddenly, torches, set into the walls around the chamber, flared to life with hot white flame. He set down the small green lamp, which was washed out by the rest of the light, and made his way to the center of the room.
Jay drew his dagger, slightly on edge. The situation was bizarre, separated him from his friends, and had every indication it was a trap. Spontaneous torches were never a good sign. Still, he remained relatively confident in his ability to run from enemies his level, thanks to his boost from the slimy cowboy hat.
In the room’s center was a large stone box surrounded by blazing torches. The larger room was less stuffy than the previous hallways, but the heat coming off of so many small fires was making the temperature uncomfortable, especially as Jay drew closer.
He carefully maneuvered his way through the torches to look closer, inspecting the box for seams or an opening mechanism. The areas around the box were included in his search. He wouldn’t forget the trick of the Lizardman King’s throne any time soon.
The first thing to stick out to him was one word scrawled into the side of the box: Angerine.
“You again?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. “I have no idea what you mean. You look like a proper noun, but I’ve never heard of you. Neither have my two friendly neighborhood Loremasters.” The box, being a box, did not react to his accusations.
“That’s Jenny and Taylor Lynn,” he explained. The box had no reaction. He sighed, leaning against the box. Things were starting to feel a little hopeless. The dungeon built for Monster Hunters seemed to hold little to interest him. Looking around, he saw no doors. The walls were featureless. This was the end.
“I’m sure there’s a way to open you,” Jay mused, pushing his dagger into the seam.
“I’d prefer you didn’t,” a voice said behind him. Jay spun around, bringing his dagger up into a defensive position. He almost dropped it in surprise.
A spectral figure armed with two crossbows stood in front of him. The woman wasn’t aiming the crossbows at him, but that didn’t reduce her perceived threat level. Her semi-transparent face showed no emotion, but her eyes pierced him, burning with curiosity.
“That’s my tomb,” she continued, “and I’d prefer it remain undisturbed.” Jay’s eyes widened at the news of his near brush with graverobbing sunk in.
He inspected her game info, trying to make sense of what was happening and hoping this didn’t turn into a ghost fight. He wasn’t sure if his weapons could even hit ghosts.
Angela Kitt [Monster Hunter], Level: ???. Health: 37,650/37,650.
There would be no fight. If this woman attacked him, he would be absolutely slaughtered. But she was labeled a Monster Hunter, which had to count for something. Maybe she’d spare him, one Hunter to another.
“Hold on. Your name says you’re a Monster Hunter,” Jay said, beginning his information fishing expedition. “I thought I was the only one to have that class?”
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“I will answer your questions to the best of my ability, but please have a seat.”
“On the stone ground? I’m good here, thanks.”
The ghostly woman seemed about to protest but shook her head, lips cracking into a tiny smile. “Very well, Jay Miller.”
Her figure wavered as she sat next to him, folding her incorporeal form over itself. Instead of being put away, the crossbows were laid on her lap as she spoke. “You are the only player to become a Monster Hunter, but you must know already that this does not make you the only Monster Hunter to ever exist.”
It was jarring that she referred to him as a player directly. That was definitely not normal. It was just the kind of thing he was looking for. “It does make sense that the game would have other Monster Hunters for me to interact with. Quest givers, class trainers, and other NPCs….” His voice fell away as he realized what he was saying. He should have met other Monster Hunters. There should have been some others in the game world. But every other player he’d met had been convinced of his class rarity like they’d never seen one.
He mulled it over for a bit. “Are you a class trainer?”
Even longer than a typical Elf’s, her ears twitched as she replied, “In a manner of speaking.”
The spectral woman bowed her head slightly as she explained.
“I am Angela Kitt, founder of the Angerine. I’m here to welcome new Monster Hunters who begin to walk the path. You have passed your first test, Monster Hunter. There will be many more to come. But first, are you willing to hear the story of the Angerine?”
Jay was listening with rapt attention. The obvious question was: who or what were the Angerine? If Angela was a “founder,” it could be an organization or philosophy. Most of all, he wanted to understand why the NPC was programmed to break the fourth wall. She had called him a player, and there must be a reason.
“I’d love to hear the story,” Jay said. “Of the Angerine. And you.”
“My story?” she asked, her eyes sparking further interest. “That’s a longer story, though I hope we have the chance to discuss it someday. Perhaps when you finish the other two trials. But first, the Angerine.”
Her ghostly eyes looked into the distance as if she was accessing memories and stuck in what she saw. Jay didn’t interrupt the strange character, not wanting to ruin the story. Still, he was feeling impatient with the scene.
“The Angerine started within my own family,” Angela finally said softly, her voice far away. “I invented crossbows out of necessity. My husband and children were fascinated with the weapon, so I trained them on its use. It was much stronger than the bow but lacked easy reloading methods. They helped me experiment with techniques and inventions to compensate for the deficiency.”
Jay felt himself leaning in closer, hooked on every word. If he could deal with all the problems of reloading his crossbow, the damage increases would be well worth the trouble.
The ghost didn’t react to his invasion of space as she continued, “In the beginning, the Elves weren’t so united. Originally, we lived together in small tribes. There was no Elvish Queen. There was no Ilra for trade and no Selestina, the capital of the Elves. We united because the Demons came.”
The mention of demons pulled his immersion deeper, despite thinking he couldn’t be more interested. If Angela knew something about them, he needed to know how to fight them.
“The Demons aren’t monsters, exactly,” she said sadly, “but they certainly make you wonder, sometimes.”
The ghostly figure sighed. Jay could feel the touch of her breath, which should have been impossible. His eyes widened at her influence on the mortal world, fingertips absentmindedly touching where he felt the breath. Her eyes finally met his own as she continued.
“They burned down every small village they could find as they carved a path of destruction. A few survivors were able to spread the word, letting some precious few flee as we were pushed back to the edges of our territory.”
Her gaze hardened as her anger brought a magical breeze churning through the room. The air turned cold. “Even through this chaos and turmoil, the Elves knew we could do something to protect ourselves: band together. My family established the capital city of Selestina and sought to unite the clans, or at least, the survivors.”
The swirling of the wind stopped as spectral tears started to fall from Angela’s eyes. “My husband planned the city. My son organized the labor force to build it. My daughter became the first Queen of the Elves. And I saw to our new city’s protection, training new Monster Hunters to fight monsters and Demons alike.”
Her face twisted, becoming fierce, but her words echoed in the quiet stillness. “The fighting was endless. One day, the end came for me. But the end for me wasn’t the end for our people. The Angerine, the first Monster Hunters I ever trained, carried the Elves forward in my death.”
The last of her tears fell as she looked away. “But our notoriety was our downfall. We were the ones hunted to extinction. Many of us were viewed as a threat to those in power. They wondered if we could be trusted to remain on their side. Some of us died to monsters, but many died of political assassinations. When times of peace come, the world does not believe it needs hunters. And now there is you: the last of the Monster Hunters.”
Jay was stunned to silence, unsure of how to reply. The woman had clearly been through trials and tribulations. After a few moments, he offered, “Thank you for sharing the story.”
Angela Kitt simply nodded. She clutched the crossbows in her lap so tightly the spectral wood warped. It shouldn’t have even been possible for a ghost.
“What is the creature sleeping on your shoulder?” she asked, shifting the topic of conversation.
“That’s a whole other story,” Jay laughed, reluctant to discuss the death squirrel. Still, he was grateful for her deft maneuvering of the conversation. He continued, “At some point, I need to rejoin my friends. They’re probably waiting for me. You want to know if I’m willing to face the rest of the trials and become one of the Angerine, right? If I’m willing to forge a new way through an old path?”
“You need not tell me, Jay Miller. I am bound only to the places of Angerine trials,” she said sadly. “If you continue the trials, that will be enough answer. But I do have a gift for you.”
“A gift?” Jay asked, perking up. It was unlikely the ghost was hiding a Netherbolt somewhere, but he’d take anything he could get.
Angela nodded, pointing to his forehead. “Yes. I can unlock that, Bestiary. I can give you the ability to manifest and use it properly. Normally, we reserve this right for those who pass all three trials. I will make an exception because you will need all the help you can get on this journey. With the rest of the Monster Hunters gone, you are alone.”
“I’m not alone,” Jay argued. “I have my party with me.”
She smiled sadly as she reached out to touch his forehead. “All the true tests of a Monster Hunter are undertaken alone. You will see in time.”
He felt a surge of power as she touched his forehead. The wind in the stale room kicked up again, whipping itself into a whirlwind. His understanding of his Bestiary was wholly transformed. He had been missing so many things.
He felt knowledge flooding him as he intuitively understood how to charge it with power and create copies of it—copies he could pass to his allies.
Most importantly, he learned how to synthesize monster data from his knowledge with an ability called Synthesization. The ability’s text boasted about the power to turn monster powers into a Monster Hunter’s advantage. The opportunities were endless.
System Message: The hidden quest First Angerine Trial has been completed! This quest cannot be shared, even with other Monster Hunters. You gained 5,000 experience.
System Message: Angela Kitt has fully unlocked the powers of your Bestiary to support your candidacy for the Angerine legacy. You have learned the Synthesization process: Defensive Ability. Access these abilities from your Bestiary menu.
System Message: The hidden quest Second Angerine Trial accepted! Travel to a remote island to find the second dungeon of the trials. The first challenge of the second trial will be locating the island. Time has sealed it from the rest of the world.
“How am I supposed to find this island?” Jay asked, but the founder of the Angerine was already gone. The whirlwind was gone. He was alone. In the end, she was right. He would need to find the island on his own.
“And you’re sure you don’t want me to leave some kind of tribute inside your tomb or something?” Jay asked to an empty room. He was reasonably confident Angela wouldn’t return. He was honestly hoping to lure her back to ask about the island. “I’ve got plenty of gold. A few interesting bolts. I guess I could part with my crossbow.” He trailed off, thinking about how he didn’t want to lose another crossbow.
Luckily for Jay, she didn’t return to lay claim to his crossbow. He smiled to himself as he entered his fully updated Bestiary menus. The screens now showed him the different defensive abilities of the monsters he had collected data on. Other ability categories were stored on many creatures: Utility, Attack, Magic, Ultimate, and Summon. These categories remained sealed.
Dreaming of ultimate abilities, he began reading through the list of defensive abilities on which he could activate Synthesization. After all, the party didn’t know when to expect him back. They could wait.