The arrival of the pair with the hostages taken by those monsters was celebrated with many shouts and tears; the villagers only held back from throwing a party because of the precarious situation they were in.
"Our first adventure was a good one."
Jon was smiling as he watched everyone's faces celebrating the reunion. His fellow hunter was also smiling as he witnessed the events.
"Now is the time to leave."
The shooter more than agreed it was time to go. Their backs were already turned to continue on their way to the city where the hunters' guild was located.
The departure was not peaceful as several boys surrounded both of them at the same time with shining eyes. The feeling they gave off was like meeting an idol.
"I'm going to be a hunter when I grow up!"
"Just wait until you hear my name in the future!"
"A holy sword is for wimpy kids, the real deal is a holy spear!"
"A bow and arrow is much better than a spear. My arrow can pierce a thousand butts at once!"
"The goblins wouldn't do anything to my legendary weapon."
The pair just smiled as they waved goodbye, not wanting to spoil the children's dreams or take away the romance of an adventurer's life.
"You can marry my sister if you want. She's a bit old, but she's very beautiful," a boy who was 10 years old at most said. You could tell whose relative he was by his hair and eyes; the similarity to his sister was immense.
"Mary will slap you silly if you offer her to strangers."
The older adventurer's polite advice made the little rascal smile at him; you couldn't expect anything good from that mischievous boyish grin.
"Marcus!"
Mary had arrived with an embarrassed expression as she looked at the two hunters. The transformation came when she turned to her brother; the woman seemed to have a great ability to mask her emotions.
"I didn't say anything wrong! I was just telling the spear uncle about my little sister. Her beauty was highly praised, and he's even interested."
The woman's face quickly turned red at the mischievous boy's words. The spearman's face also turned red from his inexperience with ladies.
"We'll come back later."
"Jon!"
Fay shouted at her friend when she saw he was being offered to the black-haired young woman; the embarrassment was a shared sentiment.
Their departure from the village was delayed by various interruptions from the locals to thank them for eliminating the little green monsters. The journey was spent with various side conversations between two friends tired from a deadly fight against several cunning enemies.
"Can I ask you something?"
The spearman's question quickly caught the shooter's attention. It wasn't normal for him to ask questions during their time together; the norm was just to obey orders or make some adjustments.
"You can, although you've already asked one."
The sense of humor was not lacking on that serious face. He didn't seem like the same rational and cold person who could be suffering the worst pain in the world and not lose his seriousness.
"Is your family okay? I noticed a strange look during the reunion between the families." "I understand if it's a sensitive question."
"My family is fine."
His gaze betrayed immense sadness as he thought about the time before arriving in this world: his mother scolding him for working too much, his father proud of his son for joining a reputable company, his troublemaking sister.
"Then why the sadness in your eyes?"
"It's just that it hurts so much that I can never see them again. I wish I had spent more time with them."
"I understand."
The mood was ruined as sadness spoiled the spirits of the members of this newly formed team. The pain of losing something valuable was difficult to measure in someone's heart.
"We'd better go to sleep and then turn in the quest. My body is begging for a bed."
"Yeah, I'm dead tired after all this."
The two looked up at the sky to get an idea of what time it was. The sky seemed to indicate it was late afternoon, close to dusk.
"Let's meet tomorrow morning at the guild's door. I'll wait for you."
"I'm excited for new adventures. My spear can't just stay on my back."
Jon quickly said goodbye to his newest friend in this world and went to the Hotel Styx to rest. Quick greetings were given to Isabel before he entered the room.
The first thing he did upon entering his hotel room was not to jump into bed because of his exhaustion, but to cry tears of sadness for the goodbye never said to his family.
"Mom..."
The memory of a middle-aged woman with a similar appearance to his filled him with sadness, the one who had often reprimanded him to control his emotions and be a good man.
"Dad..."
The clean-shaven man with gentle eyes filled his head with sorrow, the one who taught him how a man's life should be, when to carry the weight on his shoulders and also when to let it go.
"Brat..."
The saddest memory was of his little sister, only 12 years old. The two of them were always fighting over small things, but they were also united for better or for worse.
"I miss you all so much. I wish I could have spent more time with everyone."
Sadness filled his heart as tears streamed from his eyes. The young man was trying his best to think of his family so as not to break down. The new world hadn't given him a chance to be sad or to soften.
The night passed in an instant after he calmed down from remembering his family. The world was spinning, and he needed to move on even if he couldn't see those who were dear to him.
"Live well, please."
This was the former Earth resident's farewell to his family. His thoughts were now on this world, on how to survive and make a living.
"System!"
The blue screen quickly showed three white dots. Permission to speak had been granted to the being from another world.
"Can I increase my stats now?"
"You may."
The blue screen quickly enlarged to show the user's stats. The moment this happened always filled him with surprise, as if he were in a game.
Which stat do you wish to raise for a small fee?
Strength: F- Up Dexterity: D- Up Magic: F+ Up Agility: F+ Up Wisdom: F Up
The knowledge of games from his life on the blue planet filled his mind. His way of thinking shifted to mix the best of real life and games.
"Does Wisdom increase my mana, or is that the Magic stat?" "I remember a game from my past life. In that game, the Magic stat increased the quality of magic, while Wisdom increased the quantity."
"The host was very clever to think about quantity and quality." "The Magic stat will increase the quality of mana, and the Wisdom stat will increase the quantity."
His finger pointed to the screen after the simple explanation and pressed the Wisdom stat. The blue screen didn't change to another color, but a pop-up-like window opened with another question.
"Are you sure you want to increase Wisdom?"
"Yes."
The status window made the transformation happen in just an instant. There was no discomfort after becoming a little stronger, only the feeling of infinite power overflowing. The feeling was as if a full glass had increased in size; the contents inside were no longer enough to fill it.
Status Window:
Name: Jon Walker Age: 20 Years Sex: Male Class: Shooter
-Skills: Mana Bullet: The shooter can form bullets with his own mana. Mana bullets are made of energy.
Materialize Weapon: The shooter can hide his weapon until the moment it is necessary to summon it for battle.
Survivor: A passive skill that helps the shooter think more clearly in critical moments.
Stats: Strength: F- Dexterity: D- Magic: F+ Agility: F+ Wisdom: F+
"Increasing my wisdom will allow for the creation of more bullets in combat. I'll test it later to see how many I can fire per day without rest."
His reasoning was working at full steam as he walked towards the hunters' guild to receive his reward.
"My priorities should be wisdom to increase the number of bullets, magic for the power of each bullet, agility for movement, and finally dexterity for aiming and shooting."
His priorities were still being decided until he arrived at the guild and saw his friend sitting at the entrance, ready to start another day of adventures.
"Shall we go?"
"Let's go."
The pair was smiling as they entered the hunters' guild with bright smiles after completing the mission. The other adventurers looked surprised as if they had seen ghosts.
"You came back alive and completed the mission? Did you fail as expected?"
Luna was the one to speak up about the goblin mission in the village of Hampton. The others were paying close attention to hear every detail of the failure or success.
"We succeeded, although we almost died."
Jon's serious and professional tone left no room for doubt about the mission's success, which greatly pleased the guild employee and the others as well.
"The newbies these days are no rabble!"
The person who spoke these words was a very beautiful woman with scarlet hair. Her skin was white, and she wore an emerald bandana on her forehead. Her clothes were revealing, with a white cloth to hide her modest breasts and tight black pants.
"Thank you, Veteran Edith."
Edith was well known for being a silver-ranked adventurer. Her deeds were sung by many bards in famous cities.
"Who knows, maybe one day you'll get close to our rank? You still have a lot of growing up to do, but you have plenty of potential."
The person speaking was a muscular, bald man. This person wore baggy white pants, a black sleeveless shirt, and black boots. His face had a rather large beard, and he looked to be in his early forties.
"A compliment from Sir Beorn is music to my ears."
The person thanking him now was Fay, who greatly admired the silver-ranked adventurer for his deeds, as well as for his strength and character.
The last one was quite problematic in the eyes of many people. A woman with purple hair opened her mouth to comment on something unsaid by anyone in this guild. Her gaze was one of strangeness as she looked at the rookie hunters.
"Shouldn't you change your clothes? You're hunters, not beggars." "If you want to be beggars, just throw yourselves in the pig mud and ask for money. I'll give it to you right now."
That woman's sharp tongue was well perceived by everyone; laughter was a common response when hearing it. The shame of the spearman and the shooter was noticeable.
"Here's the mission money, 50 bronze coins for each of you."
The duo quickly left the place to buy better clothes and not be reprimanded by that sorceress with the venomous mouth.
"Alice has too big of a mouth."
The spearman was the one who was angrier at being reprimanded in front of people he admired; he didn't like the tone used with him.
"The worst part is that she was right. The others were the strange ones." "We look like beggars. Beggars are just dirty; they don't have torn clothes and shoes like we do."
The shame didn't disappear from his face even though some time had passed and he was embarrassed. His only luck was that he could remain stoic to mask his feelings of shame.
The place they chose to buy new clothes was from an old acquaintance, not so old if his stay in this world was as short as only a few days.
"So, to what do I owe the visit from my friend Jon and his companion?"
Dimitri was smiling as he saw the adventurer return with company to spend money. The preference was something that made him very happy to see he was being visited.
"I want to buy new clothes. Mine are all torn from the adventure." "I need black clothes. Camouflage works better with clothes of this color."
Jon almost always worked at night or in the dark. The two times his life was put at risk were in dark environments.
"I need clothes like his, but I want more vivid colors like a light green or red."
The difference in tastes was noticeable as they chose different clothes and different colors in the final result of trying them on within their budget.
Walker was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, white gloves, simple pants of the same color as the shirt, and brown boots to complete his order.
"I like it."
Fay was someone who preferred shirts with shorter sleeves; its color was a green like the trees. The pants were also black like his friend's, and the boots were green, like the color of military uniforms from Earth.
"It suits my tastes."
The merchant was very happy when he saw the two customers satisfied with the service he provided.
"Come back anytime."
The two hunters left with smiles after changing their clothes. The spearman threw his old ones away; the shooter did not, as it was a memento from his old world.
"Shall we choose a mission?"
"We need to."
The proposal to choose a mission came from the polearm user, who was excited to continue his life as a hunter.
"I want to buy a book about monsters. I can't depend on luck like I did just now."
"I fully support buying that book. The records must have the characteristics for us to survive the increasingly dangerous missions."
The purchase of the book was suggested by the former inhabitant of Earth. The hobby of reading was ingrained in him; preparation is never too much when it comes to one's own life.