3 Chapter 3: The Beginning Of The End (2)
As soon as Cale decided how to proceed with his new life, he knew he had to remain weak in this world. Any path he chose would bring him certain death, but life was an option, albeit an unlikely one.
When humans established their new civilization, the descendants of the first hunters were considered elite families and became nobles.
This world where money and power were absolute opened every door for them. In the Union, the eleven elite families were at the top of the food chain, balancing each other's power and money.
Only those eleven families had SSS level hunters, which made people both fear and respect them.
The main protagonist of this world was also from the eleven families. Damien Heart was a highly talented and intelligent man who was called a genius in his time. However, no matter how smart he was, he was constantly criticized by those who read the novel because of his nature that was easily overcome by his emotions.
Moreover, the author was criticized a lot because the romance that intervened during the fight against the monster killed the plot. After all, it was not a preferred thing for those who love action type novels like Cale.
At first, Cale thought of using his knowledge from the novel to get stronger, but this world was completely adjusted to the comfort of the main character. He didn't know how to unseal the artifact that sealed its meaning in the first place.
The real Cale Rayne had tried and died without success. So he didn't even have a way to look for an alternative. He had no money and had been abandoned by his family.
When he glanced around the room, it was simply decorated. It was furnished with the basics: a clean bed, a large old wooden table, a long wardrobe and a small bathroom.
This was the house Cale had rented for himself after his mother and sister had sold their house when they left. He noticed the tablet on the table and stood up to pick it up.
Even though his body had healed from the wounds he had sustained when he was trapped in a different dimension before coming here, the pain was still there. That's why his body trembled slightly as he walked.
When Cale arrived in front of the table, he touched the screen of the tablet and a holographic screen appeared in front of him.
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User ID: Cale Rayne
Age: 15
Place of Work: Green Claw Guild
Department He Works: in Monster Cutting Factory
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Because Cale did not use mana, he did not have a status window in front of him like other hunters. Slayers awakened their powers at ten and went to the academy at sixteen. For Cale, who had no powers, the only thing he could do was study.
Normally one had to be a low-grade hunter, even in monster slaughter. Cale couldn't help but wonder how he, a non-hunter, had gotten into this business.
''Well, at least I have a job. Even if I had read the novel to the end, it would have been useless as what I knew would have contributed nothing."
As the sun rose through the clouds, Cale got ready for work, knowing that it was almost time to go to work. When he left the house, the wind was blowing hard enough to make him shiver. Pulling his hoodie over his head and putting his hands in his pockets, he started walking towards the train station.
Cale was staying in Deshmar, a city on the eastern sea coast. The factory where he worked was one of the slaughter places for the monsters hunted by the hunters in the dungeons. The hunters sold the monsters they hunted and made a profit from it. The price varied according to the quality of the mana in the beast and the grade of the beast.
The meat of the beasts was the hunters' mana food. Quality clothes were made from their skins. These clothes even served as armor. But the most sought after, of course, were the mana cores of the monsters, if they could be found.
Even the lowest grade mana cores could fetch millions of coins here. Hunters most often wanted these mana cores for leveling up. Mana cores were not easy to come by, and the further a hunter progressed, the harder it was to level up.
Therefore, mana cores to help them level up were very important in this world.
When he arrived at the ticket office, he bought a ticket to the factory on the border of the city of Deshmar. When he boarded the air train, he took his seat by the window.
Air trains had become a convenient means of transportation with their areodynamic design, energy saving and fast speed.
Cale sighed and leaned back. It was 08:00 a.m and it was raining again as the weather closed in again. Looking out the window, he could see the crowded station and the air trains departing every few minutes.
- Dear passengers, please take your seats. Our journey will begin shortly.
The doors closed with a woman's voice in Cale's ear. Cale felt the air train take off and felt a push like in an airplane. Leaving the platform, the air train slowly increased its speed and left the station. Cale cleared his mind with the changing landscape in front of him.
- Last station Veryl
When Cale arrived at his stop, he stepped out of the train doors. It was a small town covered in snow because it was closer to the mountains than the center of the city. Cale was already regretting not dressing more warmly.
He walked through the sparsely populated streets to the huge factory on the outskirts of town. At the entrance stood two hunters with swords strapped to their waists. The pressure from the aura emanating from them made him think they were at least C-level hunters.
Cale swiped his worker ID card at the entrance and went inside. In a huge space he could see where the monsters were being slaughtered. Some were being dismembered in front of a long platform, while the whole beasts' flesh was being transported to another place to be hung.
Cale could see the newcomers and the workers who had started work. Cale changed his clothes and went to the monster slaughter area. Using the chainsaw in his hand, he began to cut the flesh of the E-rated monster in front of him.
In this way, Cale Rayne chose a completely different way to avoid interfering with the main characters and the plot in his new life. Normally, someone else would use their knowledge from the novel to make sure they got stronger or that the plot moved forward.
But Cale was not like that. He was a person who hated anything that could get him into trouble. Especially in this world of power struggles, he didn't want to be among the elite, where even if he managed to live, he could become a target for everyone.
He just wanted to live an ordinary life.
Eight Months Later June 24, 2762
Cale wiped the sweat from his forehead with the hot air from the incinerator. He was burning the remains of the beast in the incinerator. Cale had done so much hard labor since he came to this world that his lean body was muscular and fit.
His handsome features were more pronounced than before, and his attractiveness was enhanced. Yet because he was not a hunter, he was at the bottom of the food chain. Every human being who was stronger than him treated him like garbage.
In this world, people they considered inferior to them were treated as slaves, even if not openly, and everyone else accepted it as normal. Even his coworkers didn't hesitate to bully him as a non-hunter because they were level G hunters.
Day by day Cale began to regret his decision to live in silence. He wanted to live in peace, but now his life was even worse than before.
''Hey you! Don't dawdle and do your job, you bastard!" shouted the attendant, picking up his pace.
Cale couldn't help cursing inwardly every second he worked in the incinerator this summer. He wanted to quit, he wanted to be a hunter, at least at the lowest level, but he still couldn't figure out how to unseal the earring in his ear.
''Hey you, I'm talking to you, can't you hear me?'' the attendant shouted as he snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the scowling man.
''Are you calling me?''
''Since you're the only one here. The manager is calling you?''
''The manager? Why would the manager call me?''
''How should I know? Don't make the manager wait any longer and follow me!'' he followed him, confused.
When they crossed the corridors and went upstairs, he saw that it was a cleaner floor than downstairs. When they passed the white corridor and turned right, they came in front of a large wooden door with ornaments on it, with two hunters in front of it.
The man who said "I've brought Cale Rayne" and the blond one of the hunters knocked on the door and came in. Ten seconds later the man came back out and cleared the way for us.
"You can come in, the manager is waiting for you inside," he said as the man next to him turned away and Cale walked in, curious but with a calm expression on his face.
When he entered, he was greeted by a large and luxurious room. Expensive paintings hung on the walls. There was a white carpet on the floor. On one wall, various materials such as the teeth and claws of monsters were placed in glass jars.
Behind a large black table sat a man with brown hair and green eyes watching him. This man was Edward Xavier, the brother of the Green Claw Guild master. Cale couldn't help but think how old this man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, actually was.
One thing he knew when he came to this world was that people here did not age. After disasters, aging slowed down just as people's lifespans lengthened. A person at the end of his life, who had lived for 350 years, looked forty-five years old at most.
"Welcome, Mr. Rayne. Please sit down," Edward smiled like a benefactor and gestured to the seats in front of his desk.
Cale was surprised to be treated like a human being for the first time, but he sat down without showing it on his face.
''Would you like tea or coffee?
''No need. May I know why you called me here?" he looked calmly into Edward's eyes. Edward looked like a good benefactor, but Cale was not the kind of person to believe someone easily.
''You look impatient,'' he said, smiling slightly as he opened a drawer and took out a black metal box. ''I need you to deliver this box for me to someone in the city of Armageddon.''
''Why me? A skilled slayer can handle this for you instead of me,'' Cale said, taking his disinterested gaze away from the box and looking Edward in the eye to see his intentions.
"This box is very valuable to me and some pests want it badly. Wouldn't it attract too much attention if I put a hunter in charge?" he said and smiled wildly.
''I suppose...''
"That's why it would be safer to have someone deliver it to a hunter.''
''If it's so important, how can you be sure I won't steal what's in the box?''
''Ah! Don't worry, you know about mana contracts, don't you?'' Cale nodded.
Of course he knew about mana contracts. According to the levels of mana contracts, when two parties sign this agreement, they are bound to each other by their souls. If one of the parties violated the content of the contract, the souls of both parties would be damaged because the souls were connected to each other.
In this way, both parties were punished for not fulfilling the terms of the contract and the other party knew that the contract had been broken.
''I don't think I have the option to refuse this mission.''
''Unfortunately, the moment I told you about this box, you had only two options. Either you fulfill the mission with the mana contract or you die before you leave this room," Edward said and sweat ran down Cale's back.
Cale realized that whether he accepted this mission or not, he was in all kinds of trouble.
