Monster Hunting 1

Today, we would be hunting monsters.

Behind the academy lay a large forest containing hundreds of monsters.

Monsters naturally formed in the forest due to the extremely high amount of ambient mana around the academy.

Despite its scary background and name, the Ashwood forest wasn't particularly dangerous.

The academy staff would regularly wipe out any monster deemed 'too dangerous'.

That left mostly low rank monsters such as orcs, goblins, slimes and the such.

Today, we would be hunting them as practice.

It wasn't something I found particularly interesting, but I still needed to gain combat experience.

Fighting enemies by clicking a mouse on a monitor and actually swinging a sword at them were as one would image, quite different.

Right now, my fighting skill... well, it couldn't even be considered as a skill.

I was pretty shitty.

"Make sure to take your time picking out the weapon most suited for you. Monster hunting ain't a joke."

Our teacher spoke with a gruff voice.

Professor Alvera's appearance did not match her delicate name.

A woman covered in scars, wearing little to cover herself.

Her dark skin was clearly exposed, truly, what little clothing she had left nothing to the imagination.

'Honestly, if she's saying that monster hunting isn't a joke, shouldn't she at least be wearing armor?'

I had such thoughts for a second, before realizing that the Ashwood forest was practically a joke to someone of her skill.

And anyway, her skin was as tough as nails.

I looked around the room, thinking of what sort of weapon I could use.

Perhaps a rapier, like Aria had chosen?

...Nah, it required too much precision.

Maybe a mace? All I had to do was swing it around.

Well.. such a thing wasn't particularly my style.

Although quite funnily, Cassenia had chosen a mace as her weapon.

A saintess with a mace was an interesting picture.

Iris had chosen a magic staff, and after some consideration, I decided against it.

My magic abilities were still pretty weak, so taking a staff wouldn't be ideal.

Evelyn had taken a simple short sword. It wasn't a bad option, but I still wasn't particularly confident with such a weapon.

In the end, I decided on one of mankind's most primal weapons.

The spear.

It was a weapon with a lot of different applications, to stab, to slash, to skewer and to throw as a javelin.

More importantly, even an idiot could use it, after all, it was just thrusting forwards.

On top of that, I took a dagger as a backup weapon.

"So that guy uses a spear?" 

Once again, it seemed that my classmates were talking about me.

[1436 Credits]

The credits I had been gaining through the confusion I had caused during the entrance ceremony had mostly dried up.

I was still happy with the gain I made.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Aria looking at me.

My gaze met hers.

"You... Ares von Castellan. Let's make a bet. If I am able to obtain a higher score than you in this class, you must explain to me how you beat me, in detail."

I saw a fiery passion in her eyes, she was determined to beat me.

It seemed that she had gotten over her defeat from a few days back.

'But if I were to make that bet... I'd definitely lose...'

My power as a joker had many applications, but it wasn't particularly suited for clearing out hoards of monsters.

Her contract with the spirit king of thunder, Voltaire, allowed her to wield devastating lightning magic. 

Considering her own magic was already lightning, she had an extreme synergy with her contracted spirit.

"Ah, I'll pass on your offer."

I rejected after a short moment of consideration.

"Oh? Is it because I didn't offer you anything in exchange?"

She pondered for a moment before speaking again.

"Alright, if you win, you can ask me for one favor. It could be anything."

My eyes gleamed with interest.

"Oh, anything you say?"

She seemed to get the wrong idea, her face exploded into a blush.

"W-w-well, obviously it can't be 'that', but anything within reason!"

I wasn't going to ask for something of that nature anyway.

Eventually, I would have to visit the elven kingdom.

And if I had a favor from her when I got there, it would be immensely useful.

[Side Quest

In the upcoming monster hunting practical class, gain a higher score than Aria.

Stronger monsters net higher scores!

Reward: One Favor from Aria, 500 credits, + Fame in the Academy, + Relationship with Aria, Arcanium Circlet

Failure Penalty: - Relationship with Aria]

"Hey, how lowly do you think of me? I wasn't gonna ask anything of that sort. Anyways, I'll take you up on that bet."

I smiled at her, but she didn't seem to believe the first half of what I had said.

"Well, I just want you to know, you'll be losing this time!"

She flashed me a grin, her golden eyes sparkling with determination.

I grinned back at her in kind and we left the armory.

I took a moment to look at the quest I had received.

The rewards were pretty mundane, except the last thing.

An arcanium circlet would be a great accessory for me to obtain.

Arcanium was a type of metal that had been exposed to magic particles for centuries, for example, the eastern Stonespear mountains had been controlled by dragons for millennia, and as such, they were rich with extremely high quality arcanium.

It had a simple yet amazing property, the ability to store and conduct magic.

It naturally made magic abilities stronger as well as allowing the host to store extra magic in the arcanium.

The other thing about the quest I found a little humorous was that if I beat her, then I would gain reputation with her, yet if I lost with her, my relationship with her would worsen.

She was an oddly competitive person, and it seemed that she had deemed me as someone worthy of being her rival.

'If she knew the way I beat her was by sneakily casting the same spell on her for over 20 minutes straight....'

Well, she wouldn't find out anyway.

After all..

I'd win this bet.