’Hunter or Prey? That sounds concerning...’ he arched a brow, feeling slightly anxious.
[Solo or Party?]
’I need to take the advice I was given.’ The words "better rewards" and "slightly higher chance of survival" flashed in his mind.
He fell in thought for a beat before replying, "Party."
[You do not have any current Party Members in the Stall right now.]
[Matching teammates at Random(1/5)]
[Party Assignment Complete(5/5)]
Suddenly, the profiles of five people appeared in front of him. Though it was only their images and names that popped up.
’This stuff takes bad pictures!’ Sami thought as he realized that a picture of himself would likely be shown to the others.
He turned around to see if he would see any of his teammates. Just then, however, a voice sounded from the side causing him to turn his head left.
"Brother Hong?"
The person who spoke was a well built man in his twenties with slightly long and wavy black hair, somewhat cheery brown eyes, and a lightly trimmed beard. He wore a black shirt that was tucked into gray trousers, and in his right hand, he held a greatsword that looked like something out of a fantasy.
He took a look to his side, probably to confirm from his invisible screen, before turning back to Sami. Then he smirked, extended his hand and introduced himself. "Michael Thomsson. Novice, 6 of Clubs (Berserker)."
Sami stared at the hand for a brief moment before taking it. "Sami Hong."
Michael, who was expecting more, arched a brow and leaned his head forward slightly as if to say: "What about your Card?"
But Sami only smiled and feigned being oblivious. ’What? Why are you looking at me like that?’
Seeing that he was still not saying anything, Michael frowned a bit and let go of Sami’s hand. Then he cleared his throat and scratched his chin. "Uh... since we’re going to work as a team, don’t you think it’s best if we introduce our playing Cards?"
"Oh..." Sami’s lips made an O shape. ’But... I don’t even know what card I have yet!’
He smiled and said, "I think it’s better if we wait until we are complete before we do the introductions so that we don’t have to repeat ourselves."
"Ah... I see." Michael’s jaw dropped slightly as he bobbed his head back before nodding a few times in understanding and agreement.
In actuality, though, Sami didn’t want to lock himself into a Class right now.
This game was all about having the right hand of cards at a particular time. He needed to meet up with his teammates first, and based on the Cards they had, he would decide what he would play as.
That was how the Joker played.
Michael smiled and tapped Sami’s arm while gesturing with his head. "Come on, then. Let’s look for the others. We still have about ten minutes before the start of the Quest."
Sami nodded and dipped both hands into the pockets of his black trench coat. With the crossbow strapped to his back, he began walking around with Michael.
They didn’t really say anything to each other and just kept looking around the crowd.
Soon, Sami could see a face he could recognize from the photo on the screen beside him. She was a woman with slightly long black hair and glasses. She gave off a nerdy, mousy vibe and kept looking around nervously.
She wasn’t alone, but was with two other people. One was a guy who dyed the tip of his hair blonde while the rest was black. The other was a woman with brunette hair. She had this bored and couldn’t care less vibe. She was wearing just a cropped jacket over a tank top. In her mouth was an unlit cigarette that was just there for some reason and her hands were tucked into the pockets of her cargo pants.
When Michael saw them, he smiled and waved. "Hey, over here."
"Mike?!" The other guy who dyed his hair seemed to recognize Michael and beamed as he hurried over.
"Long time no see, man!" Michael laughed as he gave him a quick bro-hug.
"Heh, heh. How have you been holding up? Last we met, we weren’t in hell!"
As they were busy catching up, Sami turned to the girl with the mousy vibe and nodded. "Hey."
She nodded back, adjusting her glasses. "Hey."
When he turned to the other woman, she just eyed him from top to legs before looking away to the other men. Then, she arched a brow and said, "Can you guys save the reunion for later? We have less than 2 minutes left."
"Ah... that’s right." Michael tapped his friend’s shoulder and introduced himself to everyone this time.
The guy with the dyed hair was holding what looked like a dagger, but slightly larger. He waved it as he spoke up.
"Kevin. 4 of Spades (Rogue). Good morning to everyone by the way."
’Spades is the Rogue Archetype Tree?’ Sami smiled as he discovered another of the Trees.
Everyone turned to the brunette woman who exhaled and casually said, "Mia. 6 of Diamonds (Wizard)."
"Woah..." Kevin gasped. "I heard the 6 and 7 Wizards of the Mage Archetype have great defensive spells. Heh. Things are looking hopeful for this party."
Ignoring him, she turned to the young woman with glasses.
The woman avoided her eyes, adjusted her glasses and murmured in a low voice, "Akari. 4 of Hearts (Priest)."
After hearing that, Sami had already begun to think about what Card he would play.
’This is great really. So far, the party looks balanced. There couldn’t be a better hand of cards for this quest than this.’ He thought.
He decided not to play any high cards mainly for two reasons. The first was that it would be a waste. Playing a high card would lock him out of that card for some time, and so, they should be reserved for higher grade quests. Also, those cards probably cost a massive amount of Prana to play.
At the same time, though, he couldn’t play a low card for this first attempt.
Sami smiled.
As everyone turned to him, waiting for him to introduce himself, he lifted his head and said, "Sami Hong. 5 of Spades."
Just then, the sweet sound of cards shuffling sounded in his ears, followed by a cheerful notification from a voice that sounded like a Clown or Joker.
[The Joker joins the Game!]
[The Joker (WildCard) becomes 5 of Spades (Hunter)]
’Ah... so I really am a Hunter for this game,’ he thought before adding out loud, "...(Hunter)."
[You have unlocked the Traits of the Hunter: Basic Agility Lv4, Basic Small Blade Mastery Lv4, Long Ranged Weapon Mastery Lv4, Basic Traps Mastery Lv4]
’Woah...’
[You have unlocked the Skill: Hunter’s Perception]
[You have unlocked the Skill: Hunter’s Mark]
[You have unlocked the Skill: Dash]
While he was still stunned by the appearing messages, Kevin suddenly blurted, "Hunter? So that is what the 5 to 7 of the Rogue Tree is called?" He stepped closer to Sami and smiled. "I bet the powers are more awesome than the Rogue."
Sami blinked before finally shrugging.
Perhaps he was getting paranoid, but... after mentioning his card, there seemed to be a bit of wariness in Kevin’s expression and body language, even though the man was smiling and acting chummy.
Meanwhile, Michael, who had turned to his screen said to the group, "It’s almost time."
Everyone turned away to their timer.
[00:00:08]
[00:00:07]
.
.
[00:00:01]
[00:00:00]
[The Quest: Hunter or Prey? will now commence.]