Maveric Armory was a square, two story tall building. As a refurbished property, the outside was an old school made of graying brick and had tall, arched windows. The double wide front door was made out of thick wood and misted glass with a sword and armor etched in. It didn’t look that formidable, really, as if any Hunter could tap on the glass and have access to the wealth of weapons and armor inside. Any idiotic Hunter.

Uncle Maveric didn’t consider his stores any different from his product. If anything, it was more important, since it housed a portion of his wealth. Which is why every centimeter of this unassuming building was embedded with protective magic. Well, several layers of it, actually. The first layer simply prevented entry. If the idiot insisted on breaking in any way, the second layer would activate and issue a warning shock. If the jolt didn’t fry the person’s brains out and they still tried to break in, it would trigger the third layer – an A ranked explosion. Even if the idiot survived the blast, they would be unconscious when the police got there.

Needless to say, it only took one person’s example to let the whole city know not to mess with Maveric Armory. The charred lump of flesh didn’t live long enough to be booked.

Around the back was a green and wood stable for Uncle’s mounts locked with a numerical keypad. The code was the last four digits of my phone number, something Uncle Maveric would rather die than give out. He and Dad were just a bit protective of me. The stable was clean with three stalls on the right and shelving on the left. A single, dull lightbulb hung from the ceiling. Shiva must have recognized the place, because she willingly walked into the last stall and waited for me.

I patted her nose, then removed all her gear and hung them on the hooks inside her stall. On the other wall was several standing cabinets and a desk. I leafed through the cabinets until I found a towel and – thankfully – a jar of herbivore mount treats. Uncle’s mounts were carnivores, so I wasn’t expecting to find something Shiva could eat. I dumped half of the foul smelling brown nuggets into her trough. It probably was too much, but I didn’t have anything else to give her.

Honestly, I was just impressed that Shiva hadn’t rejected me yet. I couldn’t say that either of us had had an easy day today and now I didn’t have anything to feed her. But she grunted happily while I wiped her down with the towel without even lifting her nose out of the trough. I left the stable, carrying the canister with the fire marten carcass inside and the bag of food I hadn’t been able to eat all day. If I was lucky, it was still edible.

I walked up to the back door of the shop and set my stuff down. The pressure emitting from the barrier around the building was enough to make my knees shake. Calmly, I reached out my right hand. An inch before I made contact with the handle, my hand was stopped by the magical barrier. Flashes of reds, blues and greens wove together in knots and symbols, forming a net that covered the whole building.

Instead of flinching, ready for a big boom, I simply waited. I couldn’t help tilting my head back and appreciating the beautiful pattern glowing against the intense starry night. It was a pity most people couldn’t see magic — it really was amazing.

After a second, a purple hexagon panel formed around my hand. The magic glittered and shimmered, warming my palm and fingers as it read my DNA and prints. The hexagon turned white, then dissolved into white sparkles. It set off a chain reaction, causing the magic around it to turn white and fade away into sparks. The light show spread out until it reached the rim of the back door, forming a perfect rectangle and allowing me to open the door.

I only had sixty seconds to get inside before the barrier closed again, so I didn’t wait. I awkwardly dragged my stuff inside while using a foot to prop the door open. Sure enough, I could feel the pressure of the barrier as it sealed itself back together after the door closed behind me.

A small blue light hung above the door, but otherwise, it was completely black inside. I paused and fumbled around the wall, searching for the light switch. When I didn’t find it on the left, I reached to the right. After what felt like forever, I finally flicked the switch on.

The bright lights blinded me. I blinked uncomfortably until my eyes didn’t hurt as much. Uncle Maveric had a habit of spoiling his shop employees – as long as they lived up to his standards – so the back room was more cushy than some houses I'd been in. There was a large couch in front of a big flat screen TV, a foosball table, and a mini kitchen, complete with a dining table with padded chairs. The earthy tans, browns and sage greens were classy and sophisticated with pops of wood to give it a rustic flair. The display room in the front of the building had the same color palette and style.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I was too tired to drag the large canister any farther, so I left it at the door and walked over to the table and set the food bag down. Next came the ruined bow and hanger. Finally, I started to strip off my uncomfortable leather armor down to the under armor suit. It felt wonderful taking the restrictive gear off. Each piece fell unceremoniously to the ground. As a good little armorer shop manager, it killed me to see gear in that condition – especially knowing that I caused it to look like that. The armor was great quality, but since most Hunters don’t go swimming in full gear, the leather wasn’t treated for intense water work-outs. And I must have spent an hour unconscious in that pool.

Without dying somehow. Frankly, nothing about that situation made any sense at all.

Now that I was in a safe place and Una was being taken care of, I wanted to think more about what had happened, but my tired mind was done for the day. My body was nearly in the same state. My empty thoughts ran in circles, trying to make sense of the voice and how I survived, until they simply short circuited.

Once I dropped the last piece of armor on the ground, I leaned back in a chair at the table and moaned. My whole body hurt like I’d been run over by a herd of mammoths. I should go lay down on the couch, but I simply wasn’t ambitious enough to move yet. Or even keep my eyes open. As for calling dad … In just a minute. After I rested for a second.

My green under armor was uncomfortable and chaffing every time I moved – it wasn’t meant to handle that much water either – but I didn’t dare take it off. I didn’t have anything to change into. And there was no way in hell I was walking around my uncle’s shop in panties and a bra, security cameras or not. Nope, no way. I’d deal with the consequences tomorrow, after I got some sleep.

My mind was slipping into unconsciousness when I heard a ding sound. At first, I thought I’d made it up, until the sound dinged again. It didn’t sound like a door opening tone, just a smooth, clear bell.

My eyes cracked open.

A large rectangular teal semi-transparent screen was floating in the air right in front of me.

I gasped, suddenly awake, and sat up. The screen adjusted with my movement, staying two feet away at chest height. Close enough for me to read the words on it without difficulty, but far enough so that it didn’t feel claustrophobic.

This was a Guide screen that all Hunters had. At least, it looked just like the examples in my old school books. Only, I didn’t have a Guide, so where did this come from? Then I read the words.

[Welcome to the Becoming Stronger Quest. The contract has already been agreed upon and cannot be revoked. Further instruction will be given when the host acquires a Guide. Please note that the host is not permitted to talk about this program, the System, or tasks with anyone.]

I gaped at the screen, processing what it said. A part of me had wondered if the voice I’d heard before I passed out was a hallucination.

The voice had asked ‘Do you want to know?’ Know what? It sounded like it knew something about me, but I couldn’t think of anything it might know. I mean, how could it know something about me that I didn’t?

Only … there was a night in my life that I didn’t remember at all. The night my mother died.

The voice’s second question was, ‘Do you want to unlock your full potential?’ Did that mean that I wasn’t actually an E, like what I tested as? Was I actually stronger? But that didn’t make sense. Once someone manifested as a Hunter, their stats didn’t change. It didn’t matter how much they worked out, their strength would never go up. An E couldn’t become a D, just like a B couldn’t become an A. It was set for life.

“Becoming Stronger Quest,” I whispered, reading the first sentence again.

So … it meant I could become stronger. I wouldn’t have to be weak for the rest of my life. No more repeats of today. I could hold my head up no matter where I went, not because of my uncle, but because of my own strength.

I’d have to wait until I got a Guide to know what was really going on. Frankly put, it still didn’t seem real. As if someone was going to jump out any second and yell, ‘Surprise!’

But it sounded like somehow, as I was suffocating to death in the mud, I signed a contract. And I was going to have to fulfill my half of a bargain. Whatever that was.

A shrill ringing blared out from somewhere to my left.

I jumped, heart in my throat, and gaped at the cordless landline phone hanging by the locked office door.

It rang again, impatiently demanding to be picked up.

“What idiot doesn’t know that the shop closed an hour ago?” I muttered and looked back towards the Guide screen.

The screen was gone, as if it had never been there.