The Seven Heroes chapter 1 part 5

"Hordes of creatures from the south spills through the twin peaks." started by the knight, Johann.

"Multitudes of goblins and orcs. They seem to have spellcasters and necromancers as well, as we saw zombies, skeletons and constructs along with that horde." continued the prince.

Johann then interjected: "They also employed an advance group which would mean this army has a tactician and not just a great rabble of monsters on a rampage, like the Wave. Most impressive though is that we saw..."

"Giants. A throng, maybe more." the prince finished.

Giants are double the size of a man. They stay in clans of 6 to 12 members, they do not join with monsters on a hunt for food or attacking villages. They usually keep to themselves and stays away from other creatures.

There was silence as the king digests the report. he then gave a grunt as he frowns down to his son.

"You two should marry each other. You already completes each other's sentences." The king chided as a playful grin spreads on his face.

"Next thing you know you will be bickering..." the king continued to tease.

"You're one to talk, if these two are married just because of that then you already have a harem... your majesty." the Royal Magi, Thorvalis quipped as he slinks towards Kain's side. A slight bow and a queasy smile on his face.

Prince Roan, still bowed, showed a slight smile. He liked the slender mage. Whilst everyone else worries that the king made a mistake appointing him as a royal adviser, he sees a loyal retainer and a good friend for his father, Kain. He understood though why people thinks ill of the magi, his unkempt shoulder length long hair and sunken eyes really do give precedent to such comments.

"Not my fault I surround myself with people I can talk casually to, Valis." answered the king.

"So this is not a wave, but an invasion. Am I hearing that right?"

"If we take the prince's report and pick it apart, I would assume so my liege." Valis said.

"Goblins and Orcs will only gather together if a strong hand forces them to. Giants will join anyone only after they have been subdued. They do value their freedom a lot."

" Raising skeletons and zombies by these numbers requires a good number of necromancers."

"Or a very powerful one." added the king as he strokes his chin as he takes this all in.

Valis gave an approving nod.

The king gave a heavy sigh and set his sights to Rolan and his sister.

"And where does the little ones fit in all this?"

Rolan felt the king's eyes on him as he heard his sister whimper. The immense pressure of having just his attention on them is enough to make one shake and sweat.

"They are our forward scouts your majesty." Johann answered to get the king's attention. He gave Rolan a wink and a small smile to ease their panic.

The king smiled and addressed the children once more.

"Your father has been worried little ones. While I appreciate your service, you are now dismissed. Your father will see to your punishment as I have a matter of an invasion to resolve."

"Your majesty, might I suggest we start a conference with the surrounding kingdoms and form a plan to defend against these miscreants? We will also need a contingency plan in case we have to..."

"Yes, yes, you are right. We need to give the citizens time to escape." the king spat out as his mind busies itself in his own head.

Valis' eyes widen as he knows where this conversation is going. He tries to steer it into a less grim path.

"not what I intended to say but I agree, sire. I will ask your hand in war, Loren to create a task force and..."

"assist the populace through the narrows." completed the king. " Oh and get that sniveling bard out of here too. His sister will kill me."

Looking incredulous Valis started to stammer, "M- My lord, you should also be heading back with your brother-in-law. He can start the talks with the other kingdoms whilst you..."

The soldiers and people around the king stopped what they were doing as Valis' words trailed off. Everyone felt the king's presence. It suddenly feels like the king has grown into a giant. A lion amidst lambs.

LOOK AT ME! It seems to scream.

After a pause, when the king felt all eyes are on him, he finished Valis' sentence.

"...Lead my men and give the citizens time to escape."

There is a finality to his tone. Valis knew there wont be anything changing his liege's mind. There never was a time when he can steer this bull.

"As you command, my lord."

Kain released his commanding aura and started adjusting his bracers. Valis gave a resigned sigh and started again.

"I will ask the war leaders into a quick meeting and tell your brother that he is in charge of getting our people to a safe place beyond the narrows. He will also start the talks with the other kingdoms when he gets back to the castle."

"Thank you old friend. I will need you for this one too."

Valis raised an eyebrow at the last sentence. He spoke in a low voice as he conversed with his friend. "You know I am not a combat mage."

"Of course, I have a plan and I need your immense spirit."

"You know I am reserving that for my research."

"It will not affect your research, I assure you."

Valis gave a greater sigh. "What else is new, drag me right into it why don't you."

Kain did not take this as irreverence but a friendly gripe. They have been through so much and the king knows his friend will go straight to his grave willingly with him if they have to.

"So, what do mean for me to do?" asked Valis.

The king looked beyond the gathering into the dark in the direction of the horde. He placed his fingers on his mustache and stroked it slowly towards his chin where the mustache joins his grand beard.

"Blow up the twin peaks."

Gamer's Soul : Monster Hunter Chapter 2 Part 2 : The Lethal game of hide and seek

Ferithan grasped his daggers as large red scales pass by his current hiding spot. He tries his best to keep a low profile while keeping himself and his leader concealed.

"My, what large nose you have... the better to smell you with my dear..." 

He allows his thoughts occupy him as he try to keep his nerves in check.

"My, what large fangs you have... the better to chew you with my dear.."

He flinched as he thought of the next verse. What better way to relax than to remind yourself how your quarry can crunch you down with no trouble.

"uuuuughhhh..." 

The unconscious woman let out a whimper as she starts to wake. The hair at the back of Ferithan's neck stood as he took a breath and held it. He instinctively put a hand on the woman's armor to keep her still as he took a slow gaze at the last location his quarry was at.

His eyes widened as the unusually large wyvern slowly turns his head towards their direction. Its eyes slowly scanned the area and stare him in the face. It lets off a low guttural growl as it slowly slinks forward, eyes never leaving ferithan's face. It was then seen breathing in, about to let out a deafening roar when ferithan saw small movements just behind the monster's head.

"FLASH INCOMING!!!"

Ferithan ducked and covered the rousing woman while waiting for a second. It only took split of that second for the wyvern to turn and focus on an incoming projectile that then turned so bright it left the red scaled monstrosity unable to respond to the oncoming threat.

The wyvern stomped an unstable leg forward trying to catch its weight as he try to focus his eyes on a human shape in the direction the flash came from. When its sight focused a bit, it was too late. An older man holding a golden serpent blade have braced and swung his sword downwards onto his waiting snout.

The large monster dropped straight down like a rock.momentarily stunned.

"Hell yeah! Come on ye overgrown winged newt. after me!" 

Galadros swung his sword sideways to the wyvern's head to wake it up and started to dash opposite to the hidden hunters.

The wyvern shook its head while getting up, planted both front claws firmly to the ground one at a time and roared.

It then took off after the older hunter, less like the Rathalos it apparently is but more like a Tigrex. If not for its Dark Red coloration and its massive size, its movement might remind one of an extremely large tigrex instead.

Ferithan stared at the weird monster going after his master. He is unconcerned, the old man have faced travesty much larger than this. If he cannot bring it down, he will escape.

His thoughts wandered back to their unusual quarry. It is way too large for a regular rathalos and moves a different way than one as well.

He kept his position for a bit longer while making sure his master, Galadros have brought the monster further away so he can safely help their leader, Alexandra, to a safer hiding place for recovery.

"Ferithan, you stink."

He gazed down to the armored hunter and smirked.

"Why good morning, Teddy. Woke up from the wrong side of bed this morning?"

She tried to sit up assisted by Ferithan and removed her helm. Beautiful golden locks flowed out of the oversized helm albeit some tinted with blood.

"Shut up, what happened?" 

"Rathalos took our prey, all four of them. Master Galadros got pissed and attacked it while it was eating and got us in this horrible mess. Since the rathalos knew we were around, it scared a bunch of raptors to hunt us down."

He smiled as he saw her eyes still filled with sparkle instead of the dead flat eyes usually seen on hunters that had a bad fall and was about to give up.

"You took the brunt of it as you tried to give me and my sister more space to collect ourselves."

His smile faded when he got to the harder story to tell.

"The large rathalos came to you while you were busy with the raptors. Rathalos usually doesn't give you much trouble but this.. is way too large to be called a routine monster."

He pointed a part of her armor that lost most of its material.

"That is a tail swipe."

Then to a part deformed rather deeply.

"And then a stomp." He looked towards the clearing where he picked her up. "He then carried you to the middle of that field and had raptors nip at you. I am quite sure it was to lure the rest of us out after he lost sight of master. We were able to form a plan to get you out of your pickle. That is the reason for the smell. Ceiba leaves. It covered up our scent."

"Where is it now?" Alexandra was nursing her head as she asked the question.

"Master showed up and took it away so we can regroup and recover. My sister found a location where we can rest. Which is where we are going if you are done gathering your wits."

"Yes I have, thank you, I remember bits and pieces but I remember that bastard clearly..." She looked at her companion missing his armor and her own mangled armor.

"but we are severely outmatched and outgunned."

"agreed." Ferithan resigned with a sigh. He helped her to her feet and picked up her sword and shield.

"I sure hope there is water where we are going."

Ferithan cocked his head as he asked; "Why is that?"

"Ferithan, you stink."

Despite the situation, Ferithan cannot help but chuckle.

Gamer's Soul : Monster Hunter Chapter 2 Part 1 : The abandoned party

Ferithan scowled at the damp fallen Ceiba flowers all around his hiding place. The Ceiba trees scattered a lot of its flowers onto the forest floor attracting insects with its stench. Humans however cannot stand its foul odour.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus his mind away from the smell and onto the task at hand. He needs to react quickly to the signal from the cliff that serves as a vantage point for his sister who is acting as their spotter. She made a whole plan centered on her observation that the monsters cannot detect them by scent when they are around the flowers.

He opened his eyes and waited for the signal. He needs to get to the hunter sprawled unconscious in the middle of an open field with raptors biting on her armor. Thankfully the Rhenoplos "Armored Teddy" set has a full face mask keeping the raptor's teeth far away from her face which is usually exposed on most of the other armor sets out there. why in the world are female versions of armor sets like that? I've always wondered why they need to show either their tummy or their legs. This particular set looks like a joke but still performs more of an armor than the lingerie armor blacksmiths seems to keep making for women. I think the blacksmiths are just all perverts....

Ferithan shook his head along with the silly observations from his head as he saw an arrow fly out beyond the fields far to his right. He braced himself for the explosion he knew would be coming from the barrel bombs he piled a long ways far from the fields. He also said his mental goodbye to the kutku bracers, helm and armor he left there as a scent bait.

The raptors turned their heads to the direction of the explosion and started to call out to other raptors around the area. They then head towards the direction of the explosion. It will take them a few minutes to get there, a few minutes to realize there is nobody there, then a few minutes to come back to their bait. A bait they set for the rest of the human hunters.

Ferithan did not head out though and stayed still even after the raptors have gone. He still awaits the signal. It is not the raptors they are worried about. Not even the Kutkus they were hunting. They can easily dispatch a pack of raptors or multiple kutkus. That is the reason they were contracted for this quest. They are very efficient at hunting them.

No they are worried for something much larger.

As Ferithan survey the skies, a huge shadow flew by towards the explosion. Something quick, red and angry. His instincts made him duck and stiffen against such a foe. He swallowed the lump on his throat as he saw the flash of a mirror from his sister at the vantage point a few seconds later and he dashed out of hiding towards the bait. As he ran he chugged down his last power juice and gave a silent prayer.

After a dozen paces or so he heard raptor calls near the clearing to the right.

They are coming back. They left guards! How can they be so smart!?! 

He scooped and picked up the Rhenoplos armored woman as well as her sword and shield and slung them onto his right shoulder. The extra weight should have slowed him down badly but removing his helm, armor and bracers allowed him much more mobility than what he normally would have.

The drug burns on his throat and stomach keeping him quite alert and ready. His body is on edge, pushing at every jog trying to get to the cliffs before the huge monster shows up.

The raptors eventually caught up, hungry and unburdened, they assailed the running hunter with teeth and claws. Ferithan could hardly defend himself while running. With a dagger in one hand he entered the "hunter's high". They dubbed it demonization, which is by all intents and purpose, pretty accurate.

His lungs burned with fumes much hotter than the power juice and his muscled tensed as if operating on a hair trigger.

He slashed on the oncoming bite slicing open a swath of skin and scale on both the raptor's upper and lower lip. That raptor fell back kicking and clawing the ground, cursing perhaps if they ever could.

He kept up his pace unabated by his maneuver, he jumped towards the right as an arrow flew through where his face was. It hit the raptor behind him on it's forehead between the eyes as it was about to take a nasty chomp. As if a crimson flower bloomed as it crashed to the ground never to open its eyes again.

Ferithan kept running and dispatched another raptor by jumping forward while making a single spin extending his dagger out and opening a gash on yet another raptor's neck.

Once he cleared the field and entered the forest, he found the pile of ceiba flowers prepared for them by his sister and dunked the unconscious hunter in. He then scowled and rubbed some flowers onto him as well making a well disgusted face.

After a couple more minutes of continuous running he heard a very loud roar. He flinched despite the distance from the source knowing in his guts how the roar rivals the monster perfectly. He shook his head and continued towards the cliff.

Ah, he finally found out that the bait has been rescued and his "hunters", the raptors, have been dispatched. It will take him a while before he realizes how we dropped out of his radar. Good.

He kept his legs moving despite the strain and fatigue. A normal monster should lose their scent... but the one following them is double the size of one deemed normal...

maybe it also have twice the size of a nose...

Gamer's Soul : Monster Hunter Chapter 1 Part 4 : The road goes ever on and on

Nearly midday and the sun is glaring down the road so intensely. A group of travelers dotted the wide expanse of sparse foliage. Following a dirt path that seems to sway back and forth due to heat of the sun. Four hunters in their hunting garb have been trying to get a wagon off a deep hollow track the wheel have unfortunately fell into. The Palico driving fell asleep leaving the popo to wander a bit on the often curving path and ultimately followed the deepened track and ended into a crack in the dirt.

Lito and Kalimata have been pulling on the tongue while Yanyi and Roluke have been pushing the back of the wagon bed. It stayed wedged pretty bad until Kalimata suggested using one of his spare lance as an incline for the wheel to get out of the deep, cracked rut. 

The hunters were able to roll the wagon out of the dried mud track and agreed when Kalimata suggested a 15 minute rest. No one contested the request due to his great idea saving them more than the 15 minutes he requested along with saving them a whole lot of work. 

Yanyi settled underneath a nearby tree with a waterskin and a bag of dried aptonoth jerky.

He can hear Kalimata bragging to Roluke on how hunters have to be as smart as he is or they will not survive the wilds. Kalimata had one arm around Roluke's shoulder as he laughs and exaggerates the 'ordeal' they just went through.

He also saw Lito approaching him with his own waterskin and a bag of bread. He seems to be listening to Kalimata brag since he had a smile on his face and chuckles while he is shaking his head.

"Mind some company? I brought some stuff for trade." and offered some bread.

Yanyi passed some aptonoth jerky and gladly received bread.

"How long do you think before he comes to us and have us say how great he is?" 

"If we keep our voice down, Roluke might keep him distracted."

Lito gave a low chuckle and cut the bread in half. He then placed the aptonoth meat in between the bread and started looking around the ground. 

He found the herb he was looking for and gave some to Yanyi, motioning to put it into the sandwich.

"Its pretty good, you'll see."

He took a large bite and made an exaggerated flex motion. "a very young power plant bud. Does not have the same effects as a power seed but tasting it might give a placebo effect. haha."

Yanyi gave a brief smile and took a bite on his own sandwich. Made a face like he just ate something incredibly spicy.

Lito almost coughed a mouthful of the sandwich as he said, 

"Oh forgot to tell ya, still has that potent kick tough." and started laughing.

They allowed a few moments to pass as they enjoy their makeshift lunch and Yanyi asked a question that has been bothering him for a while.

"Where do you fit in this quest sir Lito."

Lito's smile faded and stared off to the direction of the mountain.

He took a few moments as he forms the words floating in his head.

"The hunters we are about to rescue are very important to me."

He took a small bite on his sandwich and continued,

"A couple of them are new but experienced hunters. Their current leader, Lady Alexandra, prefers the sword and shield. A good pretty head on her shoulders with long curly locks. Level headed and organized. I usually go with her for hunts and the two of us would toy with a Gypceros until it is too tired to fight back. Always a good controlled fight. Everything is taken into account. This is the reason why we are out here. The guild master knows how good she is. A group with her not reporting back is bound to be in danger or worse."

He looked down and took another bite on their sandwich.

"If there is trouble, its bound to be from the veteran. Galadros is a monster of man wielding a long sword. Quick to laugh and quick to anger. A bulldrome in man's form." 

Lito chuckled a bit and continued. "He is my master. He taught me the ways of the hunt. He says he is an intermediate hunter, not a veteran at all but he taught me everything I know." He then pointed to Yanyi's sandwich using his own sandwich."The herb in that was his idea. He said he will get the chef back at Pokke to always make his sandwiches with it."

He gave a quick smile that faded just as quick. "Chef never did put that in. wonder why." and took another bite.

They also had a hunter that specializes in dual daggers. Does not really suit him. he is pretty quiet and he is not the bulldrome type like my master. I always think only them types will ever wield those daggers. That trick of theirs, demonization, is also a bit too sketchy, too.... ritualistic for that smart boy. Good at looking at the battlefield and finding flaws and loopholes. A real tactician that Ferithan"

Lito finished the last of his sandwich and clapped his hands clean before continuing.

"Their last member is their wild card. Like my master, quick to laugh and quick to anger. Small stature but you never want to be on the business end of her arrows. Boy they are sharp. I should know as I used to tease her." 

He showed a scar where an arrow literally opened the skin when it flew by the side of his arm near his chest. 

"Good thing she missed." Yanyi exclaimed.

"No, no. if she missed, I would have an arrow IN my arm or in my body. She meant the arrow to glide by."

"oh."

"She is an anchor. She sees the entire battlefield as it is happening and calls out strategies. She saves hunters who have gone too close or made a misstep. Imagine pissing her off in the middle of a hunt."

"I see what you mean by wildcard."

"Yeah."

At this part of the conversation, They heard the struggling Roluke whimper and saw Kalimata stripping him of his armor one by one, telling him to try the gypceros armor he had stashed in the wagon. He was bragging how it was a special gypceros and that the blacksmith needed his help to craft it.

"I think we should start off again."

"errr, yeah. Before Kalimata gets a sexual harassment charge from the Town elders."

They have started gathering their things when they saw Kalimata drawing a massive gunlance from the wagon.

"Do you think the only reason why we have that wagon is because sir Kalimata brought his house with him?" asked yanyi with an eyebrows raised.

"I don't doubt it." Lito replied as he called to the rest of the team to form up and move out.

Kalimata exclaimed that he should not be walking and should be allowed to ride the wagon to sleep as using his brain to solve this catastrophic problem made him tired.

Nobody tried to stop him and allowed him to sleep. Surely not because they think he is right.

Gamer's Soul: Monster Hunter Chapter 1 part 3: Smooth sailing from here...up to here. Now comes trouble.

In the next couple of days, Yanyi have completed multiple quests and have ranked up to two star in his guild record. He was able to gather for two more sets of armor; Giadrome armor and congalala armor. He even have some set pieces for the hermitaur armor as well. His collections of weapons have also grown quite nicely. He got himself a war hammer and had it upgraded twice to war mace. He also got his own buster sword upgraded to a buster blade. His stored zenny have also been stable now that he can go out to hunt. He started paying for his new home and is now able to eat a warm freshly cooked meal in between hunts.

Things have been looking up for him compared to when he first woke up.

The people around him have started regarding him as a bonafide hunter. The merchants now puts a smile on their faces when he approaches expecting a good purchase whenever he is getting ready for quests. His friend Yumi lights up every time he comes up to the desk. They enjoyed a drink or two at the outdoor kitchen with the chef after hours as well.

One fine morning, as he was getting ready to go to his newly acquired farm, a guild receptionist came running to him.

"Yanyi!" 

The lady is out of breath, it seems she have been looking for hunters for a while now.

"Will.. will you be able to come to the guild hall? There is an emergency and the head hunter have asked for all remaining hunters in Pokke to gather right this instant."

Yanyi nodded his consent and went back home. He gathered his equipment as quickly as he can, deciding to take his buster blade and giadrome armor and ran to the guild hall.

There are a few hunters there. Fewer still were the veterans as there were only two of them and both are already retired.

There are however some experienced hunters. One of them is a man named Lito. Sporting an upgraded Ravager blade and a Yian Kutku armor, he stands next to the guild leader wearing a worried look on his face.

The guild leader looked around and spotted the receptionists who gave a brisk shake of their heads indicating no more hunters are around Pokke and all of them have gathered.

"Hunters, I greet thee. I gathered you together this early morning for no idle banter." he started.

"We have a crisis on our hands. four of our hunters have left 4 days ago and have not yet come back."

murmurs arose a bit and died down when the guild leader spoke again.

"They were hunting multiple Kutkus near the mountain which should only have taken them a day or two. As we have lost so many new hunters before, we will need our hunters back. I am proposing an immediate quest. Recover our hunters. return them home. details will be given by our receptionists."

On that cue, Shirley stepped forward and spoke in a polite tone.

"We will need 3 hunters to go along with Sir Lito. He will lead the hunting group to recover the early party. Whoever wants to join the rescue party, please step forward and declare yourself. As this is a guild request, a reward will ofcourse be present upon your return."

She then stepped back and lifted her clipboard awaiting whichever hunter would want to join.

"Well, if they have not come back, doesn't that mean it went awry? Why would they ever risk another four? This is crazy!"  a freshly ranked two star hunter exclaimed.

"Well, because not anyone is a coward like you." an arrogant hammer user retorted.

"I myself will be going. list me, beautiful. I will bring them home" he added.

"Thank you sir Kalimata, The guild appreciates your decision." Shirley said as she bowed. She then jotted that down.

The attacked hunter reddened and left the hall.

The guild leader looked saddened and slowly shook his head.

"I will come as well" said a retired veteran hunter. but before he can continue a younger man interjected;

"No dad, let me go. I can assist them in your place. I was going to anyway. Your leg is in no condition for a fight, no offense intended. Rest assuredly, I will uphold our family honour."

The father gave a smile and gave his son a tap on his shoulder. "So be it Roluke."

Shirley took this as a declaration and wrote Roluke down. A long sword user sporting a conga armor.

"Thank you so much Sir Roluke and Sir Radaman. And for the last spot?"

"I will go too. Please add me to this group." Yanyi spoke.

"What can you do newbie" Kalimata jibed. "Well, you can always carry my hammer for me."

Instead of facing Kalimata head on, Yanyi smirked and stretched his hand out with his palm up. Kalimata laughed and was going to hand his hammer to Yanyi when Shirley stomped and glared at him. Everyone froze in their tracks.

Nobody should ever piss off Shirley. That is the unwritten guild rule # 1.

All hunters in the guild hall stood stiff and was having cold sweat. Even new hunters like Yanyi and Roluke knows the wrath of Shirley.

"Sir KALIMATA, Please carry your own equipment as each hunter is responsible to his own safety. WE do not want YOU in danger when YOU get separated from your group without YOUR OWN HAMMER."

Kalimata swallowed a lump in his throat and followed with "of course, miss. I had no intention of making anyone else carry my items.. it was only a joke." with a queasy smile as he places the hammer back to his back harness.

There was a longer moment of silence as the situation have just become more awkward. A growing stiffled giggle can be heard from behind the counter. Clearly one of the new receptionists is enjoying the situation.

Kalimata reddened.

Shirley rolled her eyes as she turned and went back to the counter.

Yanyi knows it was Yumi.

Gamer's Soul : Monster Hunter Chapter 1 Part 2 :The front desk, my first friend

The air is crisp and cold when he came out of his home. It was relatively quiet even for a mountain town. The sun have taken a small peek but darkness still bathes the town in a somber aura. One can hear birds chirps and the branches as it sways and shakes the dew off its leaves. His mind partly taking in the beauty is getting filled with the hunt as he took strides down to the guild.

Yumi, the new girl at the guild's front desk has been getting the area tidied up as Yanyi walked up to the desk. They have met the day before when she was being trained and have struck a quick friendship. She was a bit preoccupied today though with the guild quest sheets that she answered automatically without looking up.

"Hi, Welcome to the guild house! Could you give me... a..."

WHAM!

"Kyaaaa!"

Shirley was holding the book-binded completed quests for the month and its spine found a nice tender spot on her protege's skull. Yumi made an exagerrated motion that she got stunned and rubbed her bruised head.

"What did I tell you about greeting our hunters?!?"

"muuuuuuuu...."

Shirley gave a low bow and Yumi jumped and bowed with her.

"I apologize hunter, My associate have only started like yourself and lacked the proper decorum. I ask that you let it go for now..."

She gave Yumi a slit eyed side stare...

"..and we will be working on it."

Yumi looked down to the floor and gave a whimper.

"So, Yumi, what did we miss?"

Yumi straightened out and opened her eyes. She then smiled politely as she declared.

"Eye contact and a smile!"

"Correct! Now, give our hunter his rightful salute."

"Good morrow dear hunter, Welcome to the Guild house! Here we assist our hunters in finding quests that match their skill and renown. I apologize Yanyi for my earlier disposition and please be assured that I will conduct myself in proper decorum in the future."

Shirley smiled and started "Now if you will excuse me hunter, I will continue with bookkeeping and leave you in our Yumi's hands".

Yumi watched her superior walk away and gave a sigh of relief.

"oh man! She is so strict! Don't get me wrong Yanyi, I like her. Just... my head is still spinning. That was a thick book she was carrying around!" 

She then leaned on the desk with both hands under her chin.

"Ah, I hope you don't mind me speaking this way. I would like to consider you my friend if possible since we both started at the same time. Is that ok?"

Yanyi gave a hearty nod with a smile as he does like the idea of Yumi being more casual around him.

"Thanks! You will be my first friend in this town! I am glad you came back. Most people just simply disappear and not even show up for their first hunt."

She started looking through her quest pages (although exaggerated and comical) and found the quest that they agreed upon yesterday. She started nodding and started reading it through.

"Here! In accepting this request you are hereby required to present 10 herbs, 10 raw meat, 10 honey and 10 blue mushrooms upon your return. The hunter who signed below will receive 1000 zenny as his reward as well as any other materials brought back from the field within time allocated...."

"yada yada yada.... I don't think you need to hear the rest at this point because I know you will be coming back successfully anyways. hahaha!"

Yanyi cracked a crooked smile at the sheer frank confidence she had on him.

"I will return right away. Thanks for that! Consider my hunt started and I will see you later!"

He gave her a wave as he turned and started out of the gates.

Gamer's Soul : Monster Hunter Chapter 1 Part 1 : A blank slate

Yanyi was found passed out at the foot of the mountains with no memories or possessions save the clothing on him and a small dagger. He was taken to the great hall and was given an abandoned house to use as his own during his stay in Pokke village.

At first they thought that he could not have been a hunter due to his poor equipment and not having any items in the middle of the wilds would have been foolhardy. He seems to be able to wield a greatsword though, with little difficulty and enough finesse to pass the master trainer's tests to become a hunter. He was lent a buster sword and some basic armor pieces that mostly look like scrap leather and metal put together. He thanked the elders and gathered his new equipment hoping this could be a start of a better fortune for himself.

After the test, he took his items back to his new home which still feels cold and clammy as it has been abandoned for quite some time and started inspecting them thoroughly. He will be going out the wilds tomorrow and despite the simplicity of the task given to him, he would like to be ready.

He took the sword and checked its sharpness, how were the rivets? There really isn't much to check as it looks as if two pieces of sheet metal were simply welded onto a cylindrical handle but it pays to be thorough.. specially since its not just aptonoths and kelbis out there...

He then took his new armor and inspected it thoroughly as well. 

Holes in the leather... untightened binds... metal is a little rusty.. huh, I think sickness would kill me before a monster can, eh?

He chuckled as he gave his head a shake. Took the borrowed rasp from the blacksmith out and worked on areas on the metal that have rusted. Some on the shoulder and shin pads... Some on the vembrace plates and even on the chest plate. It took pretty much the most of the evening until no light can be seen outside and the room was only lit by the fire in the hearth to clean up and repair the rest of the armor.

After some time mending the leather, just as the last dimmed ember on the hearth has gone, he appraised his work in near darkness and nodded approvingly.

This seems good enough to take to the field. I wonder what is out there.

A feeling of excitement washed over him as he imagine what it would be like to be out in the wilds. 

Maybe I can find out more about why I was there to begin with. Maybe I can wrestle with a Congalala or two... 

He gave a quiet laugh at his own joke. While he does hold on to his hopes that he will find his purpose in being there, the thoughts of simply being out and earning his keep by hunting seems to be reason enough for him to continue on.

It took him a bit of time to fall asleep with thoughts of hunting and gathering at the fore of his thoughts while worry and uncertainty in his current predicament eats him inside.

The next morning seems less grim as he started to put on his equipment. As he took the leather pants, he thought less of his own problems and started to look forward the easy hunt. As he took the boots he thought about the materials he is to gather. As he wore the chest piece he thought of the random creatures he will meet. How many scratches will this plate take. As he put his vembraces on as well as his gloves, he imagines the taste of perfectly cooked aptonoth meat that he is sure to be able to enjoy when he do his barbeque in the hunting fields. And as he fit the leather strap onto his head his resolve solidifies completely and his excitement started bubbling. He got up and faced the open door. The darkness and chill of the night still lingers out the door yet he feels no cold.

Its time to hunt!