Morning came slowly to Sector 4 as a pale gray light came through the single dirty window of Donald’s apartment.
He woke up on the hard wooden floor. His back didn’t hurt. The new strength in his body made the hard floor feel comfortable.
He sat up and looked at the bed. Evelyn was still asleep. She looked peaceful, but her face was very pale.
Donald opened his system menu to look at his stats again. He noticed something he missed last night in all the excitement.
Name: Donald
Class: Investor (SSS+)
Level: 1
He blinked. SSS+. He had never even heard of a class ranking that high. The strongest Guild Masters in the world were S-Rank. If anyone found out he had an SSS+ class, they would either try to use him or kill him. He had to keep it a secret.
He looked at Evelyn and used his [Valuation Eye] again. The text floating over her head was more detailed today.
Target: Evelyn Vance
Class: Vanguard (A-Rank)
Current Status: Fractured Core.
Condition: All Active Skills LOCKED.
Physical State: Durability reduced to C-Rank level. Strength reduced to D-Rank level.
It seems the system would always give a variety of information every time he valuated a person.
Evelyn groaned and opened her eyes. She sat up slowly, holding her chest.
"G-Good morning," Donald said softly.
Evelyn looked at him, then looked around the tiny room. "I really thought yesterday was a dream," she muttered. She looked down at her hands. "My core is...stable. It still hurts, but the leaking stopped."
"I... looked at your condition with my skill," Donald told her, keeping his voice calm. "It says you are still an A-Rank Vanguard, but your skills are locked. It says your body is as tough as a C-Rank, and you have the strength of a D-Rank."
Evelyn stared at his suspiciously. "Huh, how detailed...thats an unusual appraisal skill... But that is exactly right. I am just a glorified A-Rank now. My muscles and bones were changed by years of high-level fighting, so I am harder to kill than a normal person. I can still hit like a D-Rank. But if I try to use even one active magic skill, my broken core will burst, and I will die on the spot."
"You don’t need to fight," Donald said. He stood up and grabbed a heavy steel wrench from his rusty sink. "I will do some hunting today."
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "Hunting? With a wrench? Kid, you beat a street thug, not a dungeon boss. Don’t get ahead of yourself"
"I have a plan," Donald said. "I need to buy us food. Just stay here and lock the door."
Before Evelyn could argue, Donald stepped out and closed the door behind him.
He walked out of the apartment building and headed toward the edge of the Slums. He didn’t have money to enter a real Guild Dungeon, but he didn’t need to. He was going to the Scrap Tunnels.
The Scrap Tunnels were old city sewers that had been changed by weak magic. Low-level monsters lived there. Poor Awakeners went there to hunt for cheap mana cores. You could sell a handful of low-level cores for enough money to buy a good meal.
Donald paid a single copper coin to the old man guarding the tunnel entrance. He climbed down a rusty ladder into the dark smelly tunnels.
He walked quietly, holding his wrench tightly. His [Valuation Eye] was active, glowing faintly in his eyes.
After ten minutes of walking in the damp dark, he heard a scratching sound. He stopped and hid behind a thick concrete pillar.
Crawling out of a broken pipe was a Cave Crawler. It was a giant insect, the size of a large dog, with thick black armor and two sharp, snapping claws. It was an E-Rank monster, stronger than the hound from yesterday.
Donald breathed in slowly. His mind felt clear. He didn’t feel fear. He felt ready.
He looked at the bug with his [Valuation Eye].
Target: Cave Crawler (E-Rank)
Weakness: The soft joint right under its head.
Combat Plan: Trap the claws, strike the neck.
Donald stepped out from behind the pillar. The Crawler hissed, snapping its big claws, and rushed at him fast.
Donald didn’t swing the wrench yet. He waited. As the bug jumped, thrusting its right claw to snip Donald in half, Donald activated [Aura of the Vanguard].
His left arm glowed with the hard, invisible shield. He pushed his glowing arm straight into the bug’s open claw. The claw slammed shut on his arm with a loud CRUNCH, but the magic shield held strong. The bug’s weapon was now stuck.
With the bug stuck to his left arm, Donald spun his body to the side, using the bug’s own pulling weight to throw it off balance. As the bug’s body tipped upward, the soft, pale joint under its head was wide open.
Donald stepped in close. He didn’t just hit the bug; he used his legs and hips to put all his new strength into the swing. He smashed the heavy steel wrench perfectly into the soft neck joint.
SQUELCH.
The heavy metal broke right through the soft spot. The Crawler went completely still, then dropped to the wet floor, dead.
Donald pulled his arm free. The shield on his arm flickered and turned off. He was breathing a little fast, but he wasn’t hurt at all. He used the sharp end of the wrench to dig into the bug’s chest. He pulled out a small, glowing green stone. An E-Rank mana core.
He smiled. It was worth about fifty credits.
[Ding! Monster Defeated. Experience Gained.]
Donald put the core in his pocket. He needed a few more before he could buy a high-protein meal for Evelyn and finish his first System quest. He gripped his wrench and walked deeper into the dark tunnels.