July 20 — Night.
Total deaths: 36.
First day since the Hunter’s Mark awakened.
The Hunters’ Guild gleamed in a way neither of them expected.
Noah and Lily crossed through the polished marble double doors, and both of them paused for a moment, taking in the place with wide eyes.
Golden columns, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, dozens of lines of Hunters moving back and forth in gleaming gear, collecting rewards, comparing loot, talking with an almost festive energy.
“This is…” Lily murmured, wheeling herself slowly, looking in every direction.
“Luxurious,” Noah finished, just as surprised. “Wasn’t expecting this.”
“I thought it’d be like some boring office.”
“Me too.”
They moved through the crowd, trading quiet laughs over the excessive decor, the sheer size of the place, the number of people. But halfway through, Noah lowered his voice.
“We should keep it low-key,” he said. “Most of these Hunters don’t see this place as anything amazing. To them it’s just work, or worse, a curse that forces them to be here.”
Lily nodded, understanding.
They reached one of the several lines set up for selling materials. When it was finally their turn, Noah set his leather bag on the counter.
“I want to sell what’s inside.”
The woman behind the counter —impeccable uniform, hair pulled back with military precision— opened the bag and, for a fraction of a second, a look of disgust crossed her face before she could rein it in.
“Is something wrong?” Noah asked, catching it immediately.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she replied, with a professional smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
But the way she held the bag, with only two fingers and her arm stretched as far from her body as possible, said something else entirely.
“You could have brought this in better condition,” she muttered under her breath, already turning toward the storeroom.
Noah stayed silent.
He felt a tug at his sleeve. Lily leaned in, whispering:
“Was that… my imagination, or did that woman just look down on us?”
“She did,” Noah confirmed, quietly. “But don’t let it bother you. We’re just as important as anyone else here. We have the same rights she does.”
While they waited, a nearby conversation caught Noah’s attention: three Hunters were discussing, amid laughter and exclamations, something about a recent event inside the Fortress, something related to a specific floor. He couldn’t quite catch the full details, but the curiosity stuck with him.
The woman came back with a fine cloth pouch, jingling with coins.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it over. “Payment was calculated based on weight, material quality, species of origin, and market demand.”
Noah opened the pouch and counted quickly. It was considerably less than he’d expected.
“Excuse me,” he said, as politely as he could manage, “is this correct? This seems like quite a bit less than what I brought in.”
The woman narrowed her eyes, offended.
“I find that rather insulting,” she replied, her tone laced with barely concealed disdain. “I know your kind need the money. The Guild doesn’t. We have no reason to cheat Hunters.”
The words “your kind” hung in the air with all the classist weight they carried.
Lily clenched her fists on her chair, about to respond, but Noah put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s fine,” he said quietly. “Thank you,” he told the woman, taking the money.
She responded with a barely contained sound of disgust as she turned to the next customer.
Once outside the Guild, Lily couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“That was so unprofessional of her.”
“Someday I’ll make her respect me,” Noah replied, with a calm smile. “And then I’ll be the one looking down on her.”
Lily looked at him with a spark of excitement in her eyes.
“Are you going to become someone strong?”
“Yeah. I’m going to train hard to become one.”
“You have the kind of character it takes to pull off something incredible,” she said, with absolute conviction. “I know it.”
They walked amid idle chatter until they reached the main plaza, where, despite the hour, a considerable crowd was celebrating amid laughter, music, and colored lights.
“That’s a lot of people for nighttime,” Lily commented.
“Probably because no one knows if they’ll get to gather here again tomorrow,” Noah said. “So they live in a constant party.”
Lily’s expression dimmed immediately.
Noah, noticing his mistake, quickly tried to smooth it over.
“But I’m not going to do anything reckless,” he added. “In fact, I’m going to be the most cowardly Hunter of them all.”
Lily laughed, though there was still a bit of sadness in her eyes.
“That doesn’t sound very manly of you.”
“Oh, just watch,” Noah went on, getting more animated. “The moment a strong monster shows up, I’ll be the first one running as fast as I can. I’ll become famous for it. The biggest coward among all the Hunters.”
Lily burst out laughing.
“And that’s how I’ll always make it home safe,” Noah continued, with dramatic flair. “You’ll think, ‘wow, my brother is so strong,’ but really it’ll be because I was the fastest one running away. It’s a bet. Just wait, give me a few days.”
“As long as you make it home every day,” Lily said between laughs, “I won’t mind if that’s what you become known for.”
Noah stroked her head.
“That’s exactly what’ll happen.”
The smell from a food stall stopped them a few steps further ahead: roasted meat, spices, something sweet mixed into the air.
“Want to get some of that?” Noah asked, pointing at the stall.
Lily looked at the food with obvious longing, but shook her head immediately.
“No, I’m not hungry. I can eat at home.”
“We always eat at home.”
“I know we’ve got money problems,” she said calmly. “I don’t want us spending on this. There are more important things to pay for.”
Noah gently steered her toward the stall anyway.
“I’ll handle that. What matters to me right now is that you’re happy. You can enjoy a meal out, just this once.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Better days are coming. Just focus on enjoying this.”
He ordered the food, and when it was handed over, Lily accepted it with a genuine smile, the kind Noah recognized as her all-time favorite meal.
“Thanks, brother.”
She started eating with obvious delight.
Noah watched her in silence, a quiet determination settling in his chest.
‘I’m going to get money,’ he thought. ‘A lot more than I have now. I’ll give her a happy life, even if I have to die a thousand times for it.’
◇◆◇
That night, sitting cross-legged on his bed, Noah went over the descriptions of his skills one by one in his system window.
‘If I want to optimize my progress, I need discipline. I have to know exactly when to use each skill. Eventually, I’ll have so many I won’t even remember them all. Better to study them now, while I still can.’
He counted mentally: six skills in total, not counting the system’s own built-in functions.
[Echo Thrust] — Rank C
• When performing an attack with a weapon, generates a second phantom impact at the same spot 1.5 seconds later, dealing 30% of the original damage.
[Swift Step] — Rank C
• Allows the bearer to accelerate a few meters in an instant. All of the bearer’s attributes are boosted for a single attack.
[Awareness] — Rank D
• Allows the bearer to sense presences and imminent dangers nearby.
[Fire Resistance] — Rank C
• Grants resistance against fire damage.
[Devourer’s Hunger]
• The bearer recovers part of their strength and gains resistances against the monster they consume.
[Requiem] — Rank C
• Accumulates and stores all damage taken by the bearer. Upon activation, releases all that stored damage in a single devastating attack.
‘I need to adapt my combat style into something fast, agile. Combinations, not brute force.’
He pulled out the new dagger he’d bought that same afternoon: simple, weak, practically identical to the last one.
‘This won’t be enough to make quick progress,’ he thought, weighing it in his hand. ‘But it’ll do for now.’
He remembered that selling the parts from the Floor 1 boss and the dark knight had, by far, brought in the most money.
‘I should focus on special enemies. There’s a guide out there covering every creature discovered up to Floor 500, but it costs a fortune. Practically like buying a luxury car.’
He considered, for a moment, stealing it. With [Return] he could do it without any real consequences, roll back time as if nothing had happened.
‘But the Hunter guards would catch me immediately. I’m still not strong enough to be a thief.’
He opened his inventory and looked over the different types of monster flesh he’d collected on Floor 2.
‘I don’t know what side effects eating this might have. I don’t want to get sick and have to repeat the whole day. I’d lose the progress I’ve made with Belle.’
He decided to wait until the next morning.
Before closing the system window, curiosity got the better of him.
“Hey,” he asked it, “is there any way to change the point I return to when I die?”
[Find out yourself.]
“Give me at least one hint.”
[You’ll find out.]
Noah sighed, frustrated.
‘It never gives real information when it’s convenient for me. Like it’s hiding something on purpose.’
But thinking it over calmly, it made sense: he had the power to come back from death, an absolute advantage over any other Hunter. Maybe it was better not to push that limit too hard, in case he lost it out of pure curiosity.
‘For now, I’ll just go with it.’
He stayed up late studying every skill, memorizing every detail, every possible combination.
◇◆◇
The next morning, on July 21, the kitchen filled with a strange smell, half appetizing and half disturbing.
On the table, Noah had laid out several plates: from the simplest —just plain cooked meat, no seasoning— to more elaborate preparations, with sauces, spices, and even a stew he’d tried to recreate from memory.
‘I made sure to test several methods,’ he thought, looking at the row of plates with a mix of pride and anticipatory nausea.
He steeled himself, swallowing back his disgust, and took the first bite from the simplest plate.
A chill ran down his spine. Not because of [Devourer’s Hunger], but from the sheer knowledge that he was eating strange meat.
‘I never thought I’d end up eating monsters,’ he thought, chewing slowly. ‘This should be an absolute taboo.’
He swallowed.
Nothing happened for several seconds.
And then, a window appeared in front of him.
[Skill activated: Devourer’s Hunger.]
[Resistance acquired against: Shadow Demon.]
“It worked,” he murmured, with a relieved smile.
He tried the next plate. And the next. Each preparation different, each texture different, until he finished with the stew.
In every case, the result was the same: the system window confirming a newly acquired resistance.
‘What a relief not having to eat it raw,’ he thought, pushing away the last empty plate. ‘Every method worked the same way. Now, in theory, I should have greater resistance against the Floor 2 monsters. At least the ones I’ve already faced. Including the dark knight.’
He sat there thinking a moment longer, chin resting between his fingers.
‘Now there’s just one important thing left to check: whether [Return] also brings back what I’m carrying in my inventory.’
If that worked, it would mean he could bring pieces of a boss’s flesh with him before facing it, gaining specific resistances in advance.
Advantage after advantage, always one step ahead.
Noah struck his palm with determination.
“Alright,” he said, with a resolute smile. “That’s today’s goal.”
A/N: I’ll be uploading one chapter a day. :D
If you support the novel by giving it a ranking, I’ll post one extra chapter for every two new rankings it receives. ^^
Remember, if the novel gets enough support, I’ll increase the release rate to 2 chapters a day. ^^