F Rank Hunter (5)

Several days had passed since the betrayal and the time for the military academy enrolment was closing in. Arthur had managed to train diligently, a newfound motivation urging him on for more strength like an addict. 

Leo had returned to his joyful demeanor slowly, although a hint of maturity also began to sprout under the facade. Lauren had also woken up in the hospital, a whole new person. The once shy girl was no more as she didn't even recognise the party members anymore, causing Arthur to come to the conclusion that she must have been under some sort of mind control by Aria. The stout dwarf still remained part of the now 3 man party. His temper was slightly more controlled now, and he was now more willing to follow orders in battle. 

Arthur had become the leader of their 3 man Hunting group, leading them efficiently. They had completed 8 more missions in a span of 4 days, leaving only one more mission till Arthur was a full fledged Hunter. He could then take on missions solo.

Although the dangers were clear, taking missions solo had much more benefits than drawbacks. Firstly, he desperately needed funds. From these missions alone in the past week, although the money was shared he had accumulated around $15,000. Additionally, solo missions would force him to be put in strenuous situations where his stats could grow more.

But this would be a plan for the future, he had no death wish. He struggled to kill an <Uncommon > Tier beast with his full power, till he could handle them alone without the use of his buff, Arthur deemed it unnecessary to take dumb risks.

Arthur nodded at his improvement. The constant battles with beasts was showing fruit alongside his daily training. Of course he didn't forget his precious library, reading as many books as he could in his spare time was the key to boosting his power even further in the future. 

The academy had also sent him and Leo an aptitude test, testing their knowledge of worldly matters and their base knowledge. This was also an impossible to cheat test, as it gave strikes for plagiarism and disallowed the use of the Worldnet, whilst one took the exam. This was the first step of the recruitment process, young awakened who passed this stage, would be invited for the rest of the assessments in person.

"So what mission are we taking on? Best friend!" Leo wrapped his arm around Arthur.

"or are we going on a different type of mission, if you know what I mean?" Leo winked at a few girls from a distance, causing them to giggle and blush.

"No, we have more important matters at hand. 'Friend'." Arthur pushed the blonde haired woman pleaser off him in response.

"What can be more important than having two sweet ladies by your side? You got your priorities all wrong oh innocent one. Fear not! For I, Leo, thy lord, vow to get you a girl once we get into the academy together. Hoho!" Leo tried to grab Arthur again, but the latter dodged causing him to stumble and fall. This earned more giggles from some girls who walked by. This guy and Ruben really had a striking resemblance to each other.

"You make me sick. You humans know nothing but nonsense. You call these skinny girls sweet ladies, you must be blind! A beautiful woman should have muscles from head to toe. She should have biceps and a nice muscular back!" Thorin harrumphed. 

"Eww. Yuck. Are you tryna wife an ogre or a maiden?" Leo remarked, causing Arthur to chuckle. 

"What did you say? Don't you dare disrespect the dwarf-wifing dream! I'll have you know, Leo, a woman with the strength to carry a battle axe and the charm to woo a dragon is the epitome of elegance." Thorin retorted, smiling as he imagined an axe wielding stocky and overly muscly dwarf lady.

"Yeah no thanks, I like my women without beards." Leo shook his head, crossing his arm. 

"Okay enough of this. This is our last mission together, I probably won't be going on any missions till I settle in at the academy. I also have responsibilities at my library. The mission I picked for our last mission is pretty simple." Arthur spoke, breaking up their mini argument over women and building suspense. 

"Well what is it? Spill it twerp." Thorin scoffed, folding his arms in wait.

"We have to help an elderly lady find her cat." Arthur gave a thumbs up, and smiled to tease the duo.

"Wha- Why? I wanted to kick some butt, I mean wet some. Oh wait-"

"Yeah this is dumb." Thorin replied, getting up from his seat to leave.

"I mean I already accepted the mission, the pay is big too, she's paying $3000 just to find her cat. It's a good last mission. We need to be at our physical best for the upcoming exam too." Arthur reasoned. 

Leo's mouth opened and closed as he was about to say something back. but he finally also understood Arthur's point. 

"Okay then! Let's split up." Arthur got up with a joyous tone, clearly excited about the mission. 

"Something is definitely fishy." Leo stroked his chin looking at him, but Arthur shrugged in response. 

As the party prepared themselves and split up, Arthur had other plans. He knew Leo would be able to find the cat himself, even without Thorin and him due to his sensory spell. Therefore, Arthur had enough time to himself to research about the upcoming enrolment exam and what preparations he had to take.

Arthur leapt upwards with a single jump, reaching his bedroom window, he slid the window open, managing to make his way into his medium-sized room.

'Status Menu Open.'

[Name: Arthur Grimm]

[Class: Peerless Librarian]

[Physique - 45]

[Mana - 10 (Tier 1-)]

[Strength - 45]

[Bookmarks - 1]

[Skill(s) - Mental Library (D), Sword Qi (C), Librarian's Gift (S)]

[Cultivation Method: 

None]

[Martial Arts: 

Quick Flash Sword Art ★★★★☆]

[Movement Technique:

None]

[Artifacts: None]

[Unique Items: Black Dragon Egg]

He sat down pondering on the blue system panel in front of him, he definitely needed a Cultivation Method. His mana core tier was still extremely low, he probably had the lowest mana core rating of the people that were participating in 2 days' time. The only cost-free method he had in his hands to increase his mana was via completing another story quest.

But that method left a bitter taste in his mouth, as he remembered how the plot had shifted so drastically, due to the dragon. Why did that happen? Did his performance on the first battle scene affect the plot?

Arthur rubbed his chin as he was deep in thought. Theories started to brew in his mind.

The change in the plot was due to his exceptional show of abilities beyond what the plot actually described in the story. In the story the main character actually fought a bloody and losing war. It wasn't meant to be as easy as Arthur had made it. Assuming that the plot is affected based on his actions then the 'future' he knew of from reading the story wasn't stable. It can be said that the book was only one possible future.His second theory was that he had unlocked special conditions which increased the rating of the quest; the system did show the difficulty rating increase from 2 stars to 4 stars. So did his performance unlock these special conditions, to adjust the difficulty of the quest according to his abilities?

Those were the two possible theories he devised but he assumed it was definitely a mixture of both. Arthur's over interference in the war made the battle too easy, allowing the commander to eye him out and thus led to Arthur being tasked with a whole battalion instead of a small group. Even the dragon fight over the egg wasn't even meant to happen. 

Arthur stared at the black dragon egg on his desk, he got up and brought it back to let it lie beside him. He smiled thinking of how powerful this beast would become and how much it would boost his power. Then his smile disappeared as he realised how much money he would need again to raise such a powerful beast.

Whilst his strength and physique stat were good, they were about slightly above average of the average 18 year old Hunter. Although he had no movement technique, he made up for it with his natural honed experience, that he built from young. 

His phone suddenly buzzed, with a new text message.

[Leo: I found the cat and returned it to the old lady, let's meet up and redeem the rewards.] 

[Arthur: I'm on my way.]

Arthur texted back on his phone, getting up and opening the window wide, taking in the fresh air. 

He smiled before leaping down.