Hunt

The explosion created a ball of fire which engulfed the entire Police Barracks in a sea of flames. Everyone inside scattered as they panicked and hurriedly exited the area, while those unfortunate were burned to ashes. A fierce heatwave prevented anyone from approaching as the fire raged on.

"Shit, what's going on here? Are we under attack?!"

"Goddamned it, get out of the way!"

"Look! The Town Mayor is here!"

Up above in the skies, a bearded old man clad in a white robe floated in the air. His expression solemn as he waved his hands towards the flames. Immediately, a surge of Spiritual Qi manifested and curbed the flames, preventing it from raging on as it dissipated in mere seconds.

The perpetrator of this explosion who observed from an establishment directly opposite from the Police Barracks stared at this scene with shock visible on his face. He focused his gaze and observed even further as the Town Mayor descended from the skies and fetched two bloodied figure.

The figure belonged to Ricky and the other was Commander Rickshaw. The Town Mayor applied first aid and dragged them towards the City Hall after instructing the remaining soldiers in keeping order to this place.

Dan stood up, his current appearance completely different from what he originally looked like. Now, his stature was shorter, and his visage, much younger and even indicated a hint of innocence and hot-bloodedness.

His eyes gleamed with a sparkle of youth, and if everything was combined together. One could see that he looked like a youngster that was below the age of thirteen.

After buying some clothes that suited his current appearance. Dan walked towards the Adventurer's Guild and registered himself as a Bronze Ranked Adventurer with the name, Danilo.

the Adventurer's Guild looked packed, everyone scrambled around, taking up some missions pertaining towards that fire that occurred at the Police Barracks. Most of them were recovery missions for the sake of removing the bodies of the dead soldiers.

Dan stared around and found three Bronze Ranked youngsters whose visual appearance looked the same as him. They were pointing towards the Mission Board, discussing something about each other.

"We can't take this mission. It says that a minimum of four people is needed..." A jet-black haired youngster amongst them spoke with a somber tone,

"It's okay, we can just ask some people here and they will definitely join us!" A feminine voice replied, her optimistic tone, paired with her smiling face, indicated her naivety and innocence.

"Are you guys, stupid? We obviously cannot do that! What if those adults renege and take everything from us? We have a family to feed, you know?" A youngster whose stature looked more mature than them said with a hint of cautiousness in his tone.

Dan approached them from behind and took a quick look at the mission board. Judging from the fact that Ricky survived and the jet-black robed man from the Night Ranger's Association, disappeared, it could only mean that they had their own means to survive and hide from the scrutiny of the crowd.

Since the gold coins that he had wouldn't really last for that long. He had to secure a constant source of income, and since he also wanted to train his body by experiencing life and death battles, taking up hunting missions from the Adventurer's Guild lined up with his goals.

Dan's gaze swept over these young children, each of their figures looked malnourished and skeletal. However, the determined light within their eyes indicated their desperation of securing some cash to feed their families.

Judging from the conversation that they had earlier, Dan understood that these bunch of kids that didn't even have a cultivation should've come from the Slums area of this Merchant Town.

The mission before them said that they should hunt a Fire Panther, a common beast that didn't have a cultivation base. However, it could spat out flames from its mouth, which could scorch anyone who dared to capture it.

The three children obviously looked apprehensive in taking up this mission. But since the easier missions like the search missions and escort missions were taken up by the adults, they could only risk their lives for some measly change.

Indeed, the reward for completing this life-threatening mission was just ten silver coins for each member of the team. That was one of the reasons why the other adventurers didn't bother about it.

"Can I join you guys?" Dan spoke up from behind and hearing the childish voice, the three turned around as the sole female member of their group, said, "Really? Are you gonna join us? Welcome!" A smile blossomed on her face since they finally met the minimum member requirement of the mission.

The eldest member of the group scanned Dan with his eyes. After realizing that apart from the dagger on his waist. He looked thoroughly average, his gaze softened and his guard went low.

"Welcome to the team, My name is Kasun and this is Sandra and Jacob. Where did you come from, my friend?"

As expected, as the eldest of the group, he knew his way with words and spoke politely with Dan. The latter gave a small smile and said, "I came from the Extreme Northern District!" The slums area of the Merchant Town of Kalur had the Extreme word, affixed at the start of the location of the area.

"I see," Kasun nodded his head and didn't bother about him anymore as he took the mission notice and registered it at the front desk. Sandra walked forward and embraced Dan's arm as she said, "So you also came from the Extreme Northern District? I also live there!"

Jacob went forward and stood beside Dan as he said, "I am at the Extreme Southern District, but we meet each other every day for missions, and since you're a member of us, you're considered as our family!" He wrapped Dan's waist with his arm as the latter chuckled. The three children engaged in a happy discussion towards each other.

Meanwhile, back at the front desk, Kasun who registered the mission was approached by a middle-aged man whose stature looked like a bodybuilder. His bulging muscles gave off an aura of deterrence and anyone who approached him would nod their heads in a respectful gesture.

Kasun's expression flickered, clasping his hands together, he said, "Brother Fist, I didn't notice that you were there..."

Brother Fist scoffed, "With a how big I am, you didn't notice me?"

Kasun's smile turned bitter, his expression became awkward, but the former didn't push it. Instead, he lowered his head and said, "The Young Mistress is asking me to push through the plans, the reward will also be increased since this is an urgent matter, you will take a gold coin while I will take two, deal or not?"

Kasun felt the domineering aura wafting out from Brother Fist's body, his body shivered and he didn't dare to refute as he said, "Of course, Brother Fist, I wouldn't dare to disobey..."

"That's a good boy..." Brother Fist reached his hand out and ruffled his hair, before turning away and leaving, he left these words to him, "Remember not to harm that little girl, Sandra, okay? Young Mistress gave me the okay to taste her..."

Kasun nodded his head like chicken pecking rice as he stared at the disappearing visage of Brother Fist. Returning back to his group members, the three children laughed as they talked about various topics and Dan thoroughly looked like he was a veteran member of the team instead of a newbie.

"Newbie, what's your expertise? Judging from that dagger on your waist, it seems like you're a close combat fighter," Kasun said and the other two stared at Dan with curiosity in their eyes.

"Close combat is my expertise, but I can't wield anything other than daggers, I am also fast and quite good at scouting..." Kasun nodded his head in confirmation and he explained the roles that they would play in the upcoming hunt.

Kasun would take the job in luring the Fire Panther while Jacob and Sandra would play the role of maintaining aggro while Dan would aggravate its anger by intermittently damaging its body so that it wouldn't retreat.

Dan inwardly praised, 'They're quite skilled in hunting even though they're children...' The four of them prepared the necessary items in hunting such as first-aid kits, some ropes along with grappling hooks and backup weapons.

When everything was done, the group headed towards the nearby Forest of Alexandrite, the three children focused their gazes on the ground, looking for traces of the Fire Panther while Dan activated the system's minimap function and found a surprise.

He not only found the Fire Panther, but he also found a group of adventurers approaching their area. The System judged them as hostile as Dan secretly gripped his dagger in preparation.

'It seems like this hunt won't be that simple...'