Zach held the piece of paper in front of the receptionist.
"You want to go out and hunt the monsters?" The receptionist raised a brow.
Zach nodded.
"You can hunt monsters in the outskirt oasis, but..." she paused. "Only a total of two or more gold ranks can take on a hunting mission."
"Sorry, buddy, but you're gonna have to find a partner." The receptionist shook her head.
"Come on..." Zach sighed.
Now he had to look for a partner?. Finding friends weren't exactly his strong suit.
"I'll go with him." Zach heard a familiar voice.
Beside him, Beatrice took the mission slip and stamped it startlimg him.
"Beatrice, aren't you supposed to be in training?" he asked.
"Decided to take a mission," she replied indifferently.
"Umm, okay, I guess." Zach always felt weird talking to the female trainee.
But it couldn't be helped, because the previous owner of this body flopped so many times in front of her, and he could remember it clearly.
"Wait!? You're going now?" She asked as Zach handed his badge to the receptionist.
"Yeah...?" Zach shrugged.
"Ok"
The duo exited the Avalon Academy, greeted steadily by the guards.
The guards there were super friendly, with bright smiles that hid the deep pain underneath.
Passing by a stretch of merchant halls that clung to the city's edge, the guards at the entrance were stern, glancing thoroughly at their mission documents before letting the duo into the lift—which was a wooden structure rigged with thick ropes and pulleys.
The lift creaked as the city became further and further above them; the peak slowly became a silhouette above them as the platform hit the sandy shores with a soft thud.
Zach walked out calmly. "The outskirts..." Zach shivered. This place reminded Zach of his encounter with the two hunter-ranked Thyxar earlier in his trials.
"This place gives me the creeps," Zach shivered. In front of them stood what looked like a dune jungle, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Zach held a weapon in his hand, resembling a massive fish hook that had straight edges; the weapon ended with a bare rim, similar to that of a baseball bat with a dagger-like blade underneath.
The weapon wasn't long; the blade only spanned 76 centimeters—the height of an adolescent's arm.
Zach walked around quite confidently; Beatrice walked behind him. "So, why...?" Zach turned around to the girl behind him.
Beatrice glanced at him with an unreadable expression. "What?"
"Why'd you want to take this mission with me?" Zach clarified.
"Training..." she muttered. Zach raised a brow; he could feel it in his gut that there was more to this, but decided not to press.
Zach walked for a bit; the ground was littered with thick sand, making it tedious to walk on.
No grass was spotted in the vicinity; just tall trees that cast a broad shadow over everything.
Zach finally found the shore—a beach-like scenery with a cool breeze, an ocean-like view, and an otherworldly calm to it.
Well, that would have been the case if a giant crab wasn't nestled in the hot sand, soaking in the sun.
'Shit...' Zach gritted, wielding both his blades.
Beatrice stood there as Zach rushed towards the monster.
The monster, startled, raised it's hand to attack.
The monster swung its large pincer, but Zach dodged it, striking its robust carapace.
"It's strong," Zach gritted. His strength was about the same as an average human, so he couldn't get the carapace to split open.
"At least not like this." The monster swung its pincers, and Zach shape-shifted to a hawk, flying over the monster's large figure.
The monster turned; its large pincer thrashed at the soil. It was huge, about the size of a house.
Zach reverted back in the air, landing on the monster's huge carapace; sword in hand.
The monster turned, but the thing about crabs is that they can't touch their backs.
Zach turned into a viper, following the monster's outline, then reverted, stabbing the monster's underbelly.
The monster shrieked but couldn't do anything. Zach slid out of the way in his snake form before the monster came down on him.
Zach reverted a few meters away, panting.
[30/100] He had been trying to conserve soul essence by shifting in three-second intervals.
But I guess that wasn't enough, considering how low his essence was and how much the skill drains it.
One of the hook blades was stuck underneath the monster, he couldn't yank it out in time.
"You gonna help me or something...?" He gestured at Beatrice, who was standing a few meters out, arms crossed.
"No..." she spat with an unreadable expression.
"What?"
The monster charged in, and Zach stepped to the side, narrowly dodging the attack.
The crab swung at him with slow movements—mainly due to the fact that its carapace was heavy, allowing Zach to easily dodge while seeking out its weaknesses.
As the battle prolonged, Zach noticed the crab's only exposed joints when it swings, and additionally, the eyes of the monster were small, limiting its precision.
The crab thrust its open pincers, and Zach gracefully stepped to the side, avoiding the attack.
He raised the hook blade in his hand and, with all his might, swung down precisely at the abomination's joints.
_Twwacck_ _Kreee_ The monster shrilled as it stepped back, its center of gravity tilting slightly.
It's pincer dropped to the ground as it staggered back, blood gushed from it's joint, it's large frame trembling from the pain.
"Here's my chance..." Zach dashed in, morphing into a serpent, slipping under the monster, and with a yank, pulled his second blade.
Black blood spurted out of the monster's underside, painting the lush sand underneath.
The monster's eyes latched onto Zach; it charged in frantically. Zach easily dodged the attack, striking at the second joint, and with a fluid motion, struck one of its legs, tipping it over.
The monster's belly faced the sunlight; it wiggled frantically but couldn't get up.
Zach climbed atop, stabbing it with his hook blades. The hook blades trapped some bones and flesh, but Zach yanked them out with all his strength regardless.
He stabbed at it repeatedly until the crab stopped moving.
After confirming it's death, Zach still stood atop the monster's underbelly, as if searching for something.
"Where is it...?" Zach touched around the body like a doctor looking for a patient's veins.
Aha! He stabbed at the spot close to the monster's head, dug his hand into the flesh, and removed his arm to reveal a red orb the size of a grown man's fist—a Bloodstone.
Zach smiled. "Finally."