Training

"WHAT?" the voice continued "He killed them?"

"Yes sir, from what we got from the scene, they couldn't even fight back, he slit their throats and left one alive to question him then killed him too." a middle aged man in a suit spoke in the phone "He probably knows about your involvement, sir"

"HOW USELESS CAN YOU BE" the voice yelled "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO IT WHEN HE WAS AWAY??"

"We did sir, our people have confirmed his location to still be at the subway station. but the next moment he ran out, even when following him with a car they couldn't keep up he was too fast." he explained.

"How?" the voice started screaming again "HE JUST AWAKENED JON, AND YOU COULDN'T HANDLE HIM??"

"We got something to report sir. the harvest dungeon got reset, the party that was inside while it happened was reds party, from what we got, he managed to kill the boss and clear it by himself while protecting his team, the guild was impressed and is keeping an eye on him now, they think he's the next Marlin" said jon.

"I underestimated him." said the voice "But, the next marlin? what a joke. marlin was one of the first S rankers and single-handedly saved cities, and they're comparing him to a fucking kid?"

"Mr. Masin, They might be exaggerating but we can't deny that he's growing way too fast. he knows who sent the men, but i don't understand why he didn't tell the guild." said jon.

"He didn't tell the guild because he knows they won't do anything even if they figured it out, my rank is higher than him after all." the voice continued "He moved to an apartment in one of the guild buildings. we'll have to figure out another way to teach him a lesson, we can't let him grow any longer or it'll be a pain."

...

"Hey, i heard your brother is a ranker, that's so cool." a pretty girl in a short skirt and white blouse, pretty face, blue eyes and bright red hair. This is Nat, Liz's friend.

"Yeah, I heard about that too, your brother is like the talk of the whole school." Another girl in jeans and a blue shirt spoke, she had an average face but a curvy body. this is Nana.

"I'm a big fan of rankers, I always check the guild's ranking, did he rank up?" a boy said, "He became an E rank so fast, how did he do it? is he that strong?" The boy wore an average tall grey shirt and tight jeans, he had an abnormally pretty face for a boy, if not for the short hair and boy-ish clothes people would easily mistake him for a girl. that is ben.

The four of them sat at a cafe, talking. liz wore a brown skirt, tall black boots and a black shirt.

Since the incident with Stan's bodyguard, red has been extremely popular, people don't usually see rankers fight in public like that, so it was all what the students talked about.

"Can we talk about something else, that's all what people have been asking me, even kids from other classes have been texting me asking about red. He ranked up from clearing a dungeon that reset or something, i'm not sure." said liz.

"Yeah, I heard about that, a cleared harvest dungeon suddenly reset after a party went in. people are researching it. was your brother a part of that party, that's so cool. I heard one of them managed to kill the boss and protect his teammates, he deserved the rank up." said ben.

"Yeah, he's never home tho, he disappears somewhere every time. we used to always hang out together in our summer brakes but now i rarely see him." said liz.

"Hey, if he's free sometime why don't we all go to the beach together? it'll be fun" said Nat with a smile.

...

After the incident, Red has been training on using the sword, he couldn't buy any swordsmanship skills yet so he decided to get a hang of it by himself for now.

Level 10 ..... To next level 18 860/20 000

Red was a bit surprised after seeing that, killing the dogmen and the boss plus the reward from the system would have gotten 7800 XP in total. but when he checked it he found out that he got an extra 2000 XP, which he guessed was from killing the people that broke into his home. he was startled at first."I thought this worked only in dungeons or against monsters." red muttered.

Someone came to pick up the items like lino told him, red decided that selling the items he looted won't be very beneficial so when someone came to pick up the items, he gave him (10 lesser life stones / 1 tree branch 12%) to the guild.

the tree branch might sound like nothing, but any weapon used by a monster in a dungeon will have its life essence in it, rendering it a useful item. the guild can extract that essence somehow and use it. He got $150 for the stones and $5 for the tree branch.

The reason red didn't give them the dogmen equipment he got is because he remembered something. the recycling option in his inventory, he wanted to test it and since the items wouldn't sell for that much anyways, he thought why not.

After sword training in the nearby gym with the teacher red hired, he would go home and mess around with the system. the moment he puts one of the items inside the recycling slot, a confirmation message would pop up.

'Items will be recycled and turned into materials. Yes / No'

After pressing yes, the item would disappear from the slot and something would appear in the inventory.

For the rusty sword with 32% durability red got a iron ingot and a small wooden hilt, but from the 24% durability one, red got an iron ingot without a hilt. from what red guessed, it was because the hilt was too damaged to be extracted and reused, even the iron ingots were a bit different in color, suggesting that one is better than the other.

2 Arm guards 68% durability got red 2 leather patches and 1 string. The arm guard was simple, a leather patch, modified a little and held together by a string, a person can easily slide his arm in and tighten it with the string.

A leather chest piece 58% became 3 leather pieces and a lesser soul stone.

Red was confused for a bit, but figured out that the system can extract the essence from equipment as well, which made red extremely happy. He might not be able to keep everything he loots just in case anyone becomes suspicious, but he'll manage.

In reds inventory 25 slots ( 2 Iron ingots / small wooden hilt / 2 leather patches / string / 3 leather / Dogman king claw / 26 Life stones / 12 lesser soul stones / 2 vials of demon blood / 41 Racaom mushrooms / 42 Lesser life stones / 45 Broken ant shells / Magicians hands / Bain's sword) 14 slots taken.. the skill red got as a reward was already learned.

Regeneration : A skill created by the rankers guild, gives the user the ability to regenerate health when injured in small amounts. 1 hp per second. (Level: 1 / Passive)

Red tried messing with the system's alchemy. He had some materials but lacked vials, he could only buy 1 low quality vial for $100. ...CASH ($55.37).

He put the vial in the alchemy slot at the bottom, and grabbed all his lesser life stones and put them in the slot on the left, then filled up a water bottle and put it in the slot on the right.

He wasn't sure about how many lesser life stones he needed to craft the lesser health elixir, but he was sure about the water. He looked online for a long time before he got the hint. pressing the bottom in the middle, a message popped up.

'Lesser health elixir recipe saved.'

On the right, a small phrase was spotted, 'Lesser Health elixir'.

Red was joyous, he didn't need to keep moving all the stuff over and making a mess, all he had to do was press on the phrase and confirm.

37 lesser life stones were left. so 5 were used up. even the water bottle was half empty. when red went to his inventory, he found it. The elixir was a bit small, the size of a palm, it had light red color.

'Lesser health elixir : Restores 50 hp when consumed (Price : $ 1000)'

Red didn't like the price, the system offered less than the guild, which is $ 1500. red had no use for the elixir but he had to keep it on him for now.

...

The days passed by, red was either training his sword skills, going to the abandoned site to constantly use his magic skills trying to level them up, or testing with the alchemy and messing around with the system at home when free. Red even hurt himself and everything just to level specific skills. 2 weeks passed.

Sword Mastery : Allow the user to freely handle swords. 50% increase in attack damage. 25% increase in attack speed. (Level 5 / Passive).

Summon Skeleton : an apprentice-level Conjuration spell. It summons two Skeleton Soldiers that will fight as the caster's allies. (+35% damage dealt / +25% defense) (Level 8 / Active).

Lightning Steps : utilized by circulating mana to the ankle and synchronizing the flow of mana with the physical movement of stepping, to initiate a foot technique. Time Limit 25 Minutes. (level: 5 / Active).

Berserk : Applies a buff that grants more attack damage, attack speed, movement speed and reduced damage taken by 25%. Time Limit 10 Minutes. (level: 5 / Active).

Understanding Of Mana : Technique that allows the user to become more proficient in handling Mana. (-10%) Mana consumption. (Level 4 / Passive).

Mana Regeneration : An ability given to those of special heritage that allows instant recovery of MP, 20 MP per minute. (Level 4 / Passive).

Regeneration : A skill created by the rankers guild, gives the user the ability to regenerate health when injured in small amounts. 3 hp per second. (Level: 3 / Passive)

Physical Endurance : The body's durability increases, allowing for less damage taken. 6% decrease in damage taken by physical attacks. (Level: 6 / Passive)

Mana Bolt : A skill that attacks by emitting mana. Attack power increases by INT. Range is 40m. mana consumed -%50. (Level 10 / Active).

'Mana Bolt Max level reached. Upgrade? Yes / No'

Red was surprised by this, he didn't know that some skills can be upgraded when reaching a certain level. He did not hesitate to pressed Yes.

'Mana Bolt upgraded.'

'New skill acquired : Mana Bullet'

Mana Bullet : The upgraded version of Mana Bolt, reduced in size and mana more concentrated. Attack power increases by INT. Range is 50m. mana consumed -%20. Causes mana balance to lose control for 1 second. (Level 1 / Active).

This skill had a lot of potential, red thought. the area damage the mana bolt had might be gone but the new effect is a lot better. if leveled up properly it will be extremely useful, rendering spells ineffective or stopping enemies from using mana for a period of time.

...

"Are you ready red?" liz asked. wearing a sun hat and black sunglasses, wearing a white summer dress with small yellow roses and holding a bag "We're gonna be late, let's not keep them waiting"

Red was wearing his brown swimming shorts and a black shirt, he had a leather bracelet on his hand and wore a black cap. he's been collecting money from selling junk in the systems store. he sold a lot of things he found in the abandoned construction site and from crafting elixirs. he kept collecting money and buying the $100 vials and crafting elixirs, selling them to the guild anonymously, he found that option in his phone app which was very helpful. buying new clothes for himself and his sister and saving the rest. ...CASH($ 42011)

Liz invited Red to go to the beach, he was old enough to drive so he rented a car and is taking his sister and her friends. they wanted him to come so bad that liz had to ask red so many times, when he was finally free, he agreed.

"Hey, do I know them? You sure you want me to come?" asked red.

"Yeah, they kept asking me to invite you. i'm not sure if you remember them or not. Nat, nana and ben. I knew them for a long time." said liz.

"Oh, yeah ben. i remember him, the pretty boy." said red.

"Ben is a girl by the way, she just has her own style i guess." liz continued "She gets mistaken for a boy a lot and some girls sometimes ask her out." liz laughed.

"WAIT, Ben is a girl? you sure?" asked red.

"Hahaha, yeah, she likes dressing up like that." said liz "Ok, let's get going." then she started walking to the door humming.