John was laying on his bunk, asleep at the moment, but not for long. Another notification arrived and it was the voice that made the first noise of the day.
Follower has been increased by 4
+1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Dexterity, +1 Sense.
Favourite has been increased by 1.
You have gained a new skill. Shrapnel Burst Lvl 1.
John woke with a start, got slowly out of the bunk and started opening his status screen.
John Lemon
Level: 1
Health: 72
Energy: 49
Strength: 5 +2 (7)
Physical: 6 +2 (8)
Agility: 8 +2 +2 (12)
Dexterity: 6 +2 +2 (10)
Magic: 2 +1 +1 (4)
Spirit: 5 +2 (7)
Influence: 4 +2 (6)
Sense: 3 +3 (6)
---------------
Effort: 5.
Throwing Weapon Mastery Lvl 1, Stealth Lvl 1, Dagger Mastery Lvl 1, Acrobatic Lvl 1, Spellcasting Lvl 1.
---------------
Follower(s): 16
Favorite(s): 6
Just until yesterday his status wasn't something he could brag off, a slightly above average for someone at his age if he must say. But just in a day, it was an astonishment that made his eyes wide opened, though eyes wide opened or not, John still did a big yawn.
Closing the screen, stretching his body and started noticing several Trainees began to arise out of their bunk. Taking the towel with him, he walked to the nearest bunk from the entrance door. "Lilac, wake up." John said, gently shook her body.
She slept with her face facing inside, hugging the pillow with both of her hand, flooding the pillow with drool as her lips smacked at the pillow as she was kissing somebody,
Usually, Lilac was the one that did a wake-up call at John, but maybe waking up twice before four am was too much for her. "Lilac, c'mon, you're gonna miss the breakfast." Said John, this time while poking her cheek and her ear, patiently waking her up while protesting about their daily routine in his mind.
Waking up at four, cleaning their bodies, getting prepared and finishing their breakfast before five. After that, the routine morning call then a basic theory class until 9:00 am, for Extermination program that would mean monstrology, topography, geology, and tools management straight from Monday to Thursday. With the other two theory class from their choices of minor programs on the other days.
"Hey, Lilac. Seriously, I'm going to leave you if you're not waking up." John said. This time he wildly shook her body, his face alone clearly showed some concern what if she couldn't get used to this routine.
"Hn?" Lilac groaned then she immediately rose and sat on her bed. Her eyes were half closed and drool flowing from the corner of her mouth, bellow her blanket her oversized shirt loosely fell on the shoulder part, showing off the ivory coloured on her mountain base.
Sighing, John was fixing her clothes as Lilac was rubbing her eyes, cleaning it from the eye drops. "Oh. It's just a dream." She said. Her big round brown eyes were facing John's sharp red eyes and she only did a deep sigh.
In which John instantly removing his hand from her shoulder and covering his nose. "Damn, your breath is stink." Said John. And Lilac replied with a bite on his hand, leaving John groaned in pain as she walked to the left bathroom, the girls one.
After finishing washing their bodies, changing into their uniform and bringing the bag with them, noticing there was a single soul left in their room except for those two. And by the time they stepped out from the door, the twins were waiting for them. "Must be nice right, to have a lover waking you up in the morning." Said Min-Jae with a big grin directed to Lilac.
"How many times do I need to tell you we are not." Said John. But, seeing the twins waiting for them, somehow made him felt guilty, knowing they only had fifteen minutes left before breakfast time was over. "Anyway, sorry. I don't know you guys are waiting for us." Said John.
"No... it's fine." Min-Seo replied, walking first and leading their way to the cafeteria.
They made it just five minutes before the breakfast was over. Unlike the numerous varieties of food they ate last night. Right now, all food that was loaded on top of their metal tray was: a boiled egg, a cup of coffee or tea, a grapefruit, two slices of toasted bread with peanut or butter, a bacon and a plate of breakfast potatoes.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Swallowing his bread, fully aware they didn't have that much time but Min-Jae still spoke. "So, are you two working with a noble now? I believe I saw you two were hanging out with a noble-looking girl last night."
Pelling the egg's skin. "You mean Svet? Nope~ she's just a friend." Said Lilac. And then she swallowed the whole egg in a single gulp.
Cutting the grapefruit to pieces. "How about you guys?"Asked John. And he took one piece and ate it.
Slurping her coffee, black without milk or sugar. Min-Seo only shook her head.
Then again, as the horn echoed, John and Lilac immediately gulped their breakfast down. As the twins and several others Trainees immediately stood and left the cafeteria. "John, that's the morning call." Said Min-Jae.
With a mouth full of food, John could only give an eye signal at Min-Jae as he drank the coffee to let the food flow. "No need to wait for us." Said John, finishing his breakfast simultaneously with Lilac. Then the second horn began to echo.
And of course, late they were. By the time they arrived at the yard, eight thousand new Trainees were perfectly lined up, splitting into seven groups. Sneaking their way in, it was an easy task as John used Cloaking, his body slowly faded and he sneaked his way to the Extermination group. Leaving Lilac behind.
Though one thing that John forgot while he was doing so was that several other Trainees and mentors were able to see him but none of them bothered enough to stop him from doing so.
The group that had the most number of Trainees were Knight's group. They alone had roughly four thousand new Trainees this year, all lined up in the middle. Their job was maintaining the order within the city.
The second group, lining next on the right side of Knight's group was the Garrison with around two thousand new Trainees. Their duty was patrolling on the city border and would be the first one to engage any monster.
The third group, lining on the left side from the Knight's group was the Extermination group with 812 new Trainees. Their duty was receiving a request and exterminating the requested monster.
The fourth group, Espionage, neatly lining up on the back. The most smaller group with a 159 total Trainees. Their focus was information gathering of any kind, including Criminal activity, Monster activity, Illegal trading and many more.
The fifth group, Medic, the new group with a total of one thousand Trainees, with a total of 297 Trainees. their duty was providing continuous medical care, including care for disease and battle injuries.
The sixth group, Academic. 241 Trainees. Right now their only duty was doing a research of any kind.
The seventh group, Diplomatic, 558 Trainees. Duty: Conducting negotiations between representatives of any group, providing help and administration to another group.
All in all, it was a standard morning call and slight orientation of what each program would do. Regild from the Knight's group was bragging about how he disbanded the whole gang of drug seller. Alexey from the garrison would go into the detail about how they should do a formation, protecting the convoy or keeping the night watch rotation. And this went on until the roll call was over.
****
In front of the room, a tall slender black haired woman stood. It was Vahylde whom John thought was working in administration or receptionist, who would've thought that she was a lecturer in Extermination group.
With her stern face the first word she said when she entered the class was "Monstrology the most complex and vital study you will learn as an Exterminator." she said. "The information you will listen in my lecture will determine whether or not you can survive your encounter toward any of those monster. You have been warned."
Sitting on his seat, almost falling asleep when John saw a plumb boy did a big yawn. Near on the door, Lilac and several other kids were standing, they were the one that didn't manage to attend the morning roll.
Not even introducing herself, the lecture continued as she explained three monster biology: Slime, Goblin and Dire Wolf. On the next two hours, Vahylde explained about their critical point, how to carve their organ, how to notice the difference between Slime and Ooze, how to track down the Dire Wolf, the strata in the Goblins army and many more.
Then she used the TV, or Telecasting Viewer. A device that projected a moving illusory image either it was recorded or broadcasted from a remote place. And began to show a different a film about a group of Exterminator fighting against the pack of Dire Wolf.
Pausing the film, she shifted her gaze to John. "Mr Lemon." Said Vahylde suddenly. "What's the best action when you are facing against this kind of situation?"
Rubbing to his chin, what John saw was a man, his right arm was gone, bleeding out. Eight wolves surrounded him from each and every direction and near on his legs were the pool of blood and several pieces of human corpses.
The blood on his arm will make it hard for him to run and hide, moreover, his weapon of choice is a great sword, fighting back isn't a wise choice. But he is already surrounded, so...
"Mr Lemon, you have five seconds left to state your opinion out." And Vahylde began to count.
Though, by the time her countdown reached four. John already answered her question. "Challenge the Alpha."
"If that's your answer then which one is the Alpha, how to challenge it and how is that the best action you can take? and don't take a look at your PhoneBook. You have five seconds to explain."
Scratching his cheek, thinking for a second. "From the video, it is most likely the onyx coloured one. Even though the book said the Alpha is the biggest wolf, I personally believe from its scarred body, it is the Alpha. As for how to challenge it, I believe a shout is enough to do that. And why is that the best action is because unlike most of the monster, the Dire Wolf is upholding their pride very highly. So, yeah. as the Alpha, I think it will accept my challenge and most likely if I do that, the rest of the wolves will run away or at least will let me walk away."
Vahylde lips curled up into a small smile. "It isn't wrong." She said. "But there's another safe alternative."
Pressing the button, the film started to move again and it showed something 180 degrees difference of what John just said. Rather than shouting and challenging the Alpha, the man in video curled his body up, sobbing and shivering on the ground.
The Alpha just looking at him and then howling, ordering the rest of the wolves to ignore the guy and drag the corpses of his friend. Leaving him behind as the footage changed into a gore where the pack was shredding the human body.
Turning the video off. "And as you may already know, the pay and bonus from Extermination program indeed are higher than the other program, not too mention the fame you will achieve. But at the same time, this program has a higher injury and death ratio than the rest of the program. Thus, my suggestion that will absolutely keep you guys alive: Don't try to be a hero and don't be ashamed to run away. As long as you live, who knows where life will take you. That's all, the lecture is over."
Hearing this, several Trainees were making a displeased face. Indeed, most of the Trainees that entered Extermination program was driven by a revenge, most of their story was their parent or loved was killed by a monster. Such a thought was one of the reasons for the higher death ratio in Extermination squad, the other one was carelessness.
But not affected by their opinion. "As for the one that standing in the front, please stay behind." Said Vahylde. "And I believe someone knows what he should do after this."
Twitching his eyes, a cold sweat falling down from John's forehead when Vahylde's cold eyes were meeting his eyes.
With a wry smile, John sat behind as he watched the other Trainees were leaving the room.
Without her ordered John, he already stood and lined up with the rest of the Trainees and got hit in the head by a book, thicker than his fist. "You're dismissed." Said Vahylde. "And John, do not do that again."