-GATES-

Two fists, covered in light brown fur, swing towards my head and ribs from the left while a third hand attempts to scratch at my face with sharp claws. The fourth arm hangs above the brown creature, holding onto the branch of a tree along with its tail which wraps around the thin branch giving it a strong support for the punches.

I stumbled away from the creature, landing on my ass, and unleashed a spell, praying in my mind for something to help, lest I fire another useless spell again. If I was lucky I could have executed this group of monsters with a single spell and I nearly did but one of the five monsters survived and came charging after me for revenge. In my attempt to kill the beast before it could reach me, I used a healing spell on it. I didn't even realize I could use spells that had positive effects on my targets but now isn't the time to be amazed at the wide range of skills my ability could activate.

'Long Range Spell activated: Stone Bullet'

A small pebble forms in my hand, a black ring adorning my thumb, and it fires at great speeds, piercing the beast's head, stopping its movements for a moment, then it drops to the floor, dead.

'Experience has reached the required level. Level 10 acquired.'

'New ability unlocked'

I wipe the sweat from my brow. These beasts are similar to monkeys, about 3 feet tall and covered in brown fur. But they have 4 arms, 2 either side of their bodies and are extremely hostile towards other creatures. They often move in groups so it's hard to fight them alone. 

I've been taking my time sneaking around the jungle within this gate, hiding from groups I thought too big and fighting the stragglers I could find. This one group of beasts was blocking me from the exit portal so I had no choice but to engage the whole group. Luckily they hadn't noticed me so I managed to fire off a spell at them from behind and it seems my new luck ring was working as the spell that activated trapped them in a sphere of water that floated inches above the ground. The orb of water encased the monkey-like creatures and slowly drowned them. One of the beasts used the drowning body of his ally to push off of and escape the water which led to my previous dilemma.

I adjusted the matte black ring that circled my right thumb, wondering if the luck really was working. A silver ring adorned the index finger on my right hand too, making it look like an odd pairing.

The exit to the gate was now in front of me so without hesitating I step through, ready to sell my haul of cores I stole from the deceased beasts.

"The core of a Titan Monkey is 250 Credits. For 11 cores that is a total of 2750 Credits"

I accept the credits and leave the area of the gate. I need to go home to rest so that I can regain my mana and test out my new ability.

Crashing on my bed I check my phone to see if the credits have arrived in my account.

Balance: 16585 Credits

After buying the two rings I had about 4000 credits left but after hunting the Armored Rhinos for a few more days and selling their hides and then selling the cores of those Titan monkeys today and some more I caught yesterday ended up boosting my funds quite a bit. I think I'm earning more than enough at the moment to start helping my parents pay the bills so I should set aside some of the money I earn from now on to help support my family.

Pushing the thought of money to the back of my mind, I open my status window. A flash of emerald green fills my vision and my gaze is pulled into it. I glide my eyes across the screen and focus on my abilities.

'Buff'

This ability has another simple name like my last one so I suppose it will also give a random effect, let me look at the description to be safe.

'Buff: Gives a buff to the target'

I honestly didn't know why I bothered looking when I knew the usual unhelpful description awaited.

Still though skills which can buff allies stats are quite rare for a mage, normally only classes that specialize in supporting others would have access to buffs. I want to test it but it's not like I can go around buffing monsters. I can't really go around buffing random people either, what if a negative effect triggers and I end up harming someone. Also how do I go about joining the team as a support without revealing my abilities. People would think I'm way too suspicious.

I wonder if I could buff myself? I mean surely a buff wouldn't have a negative effect right? No, a buff is a positive effect and since it doesn't say anything about debuffs I should be safe.

Stealing my nerves, I prepare to use the ability on myself. I take a note of how much mana is remaining in my status window and cast 'Buff'.

'Buff activated: Regenerate 40 Mana per minute'

Mana drains from my body suddenly but just as quickly as it goes, a feeling of warmth and recovery fills the void it left. My mana dropped by 20 so it must cost twice as much as my first ability to cast but this effect is really good.

I take a minute to count how much my mana changes. I gained 30 mana so that means it costs 10 mana a second to keep going. I should keep this up for as long as I can. Keeping this going forever wouldn't be a bad idea but I don't seem to be able to cast another buff on myself at the same time so I suppose it's only 1 buff at a time.

My little test seems to be over so i should see what other gates are around my area. A notification on my phone takes my attention away from the status window.

'Warning! A gate has appeared in your area. Please stay aware and prepare incase of necessary evacuation.'

There's 2 types of gates. The static gates that i've been exploring so far don't contain a boss and they never disappear. They are great for training and provide a consistent supply of materials. Since there is no boss, there's no chance of the gates breaking and the monsters exiting into our world.

Dynamic gates on the other hand appear anywhere, at any time. The strength of monsters in these gates varies a lot more than the static gates. Each one contains a boss monster inside that must be defeated before a week passes or else the the gate accumulates too much energy and the monsters inside will burst out.

The energy trapped within the gate can be measured and depending on the result, the gate is given a rank. This way the System Association can stop any hunters that are too weak from entering the gates.

In a couple hours the System Association will have finished warding off the area surrounding the gate and will send out another notification to all nearby residents informing them of the level of the gate and any information about possible evacuation should they be unable to clear the gate.

With any luck the gate will be D-Rank or lower. As a hunter you are able to enter gates that are 1 rank above you. As an E-Rank i can't enter anything that is C-Rank or higher.

The notification cuts off my thoughts. That was quicker than I thought. Nice the gate is D-Ranked! I click the link that is provided with the notification for hunters that wish to partake in the raid of the gate. Most of the time the System Association will reach out to a large number of hunters in the local area to ask them to clear the gate.

Okay I applied for the gate and it got accepted right away. Now I should get a message about when the gate is going to be cleared, I just need to wait for them to decide a date and time. This is my first dynamic gate so I can't wait!

END OF CHAPTER 7