Hunter 4

As Jon and Dirknooth ate the giant roasted rat, Jon heard a noise go off.

*Ding* **You obtained the skill Rat Sprint**

"Nice, I just got a new skill." Jon then opened his menu to see his stats.

--Player: Jon Ramos Lv 8--

Class: Monster Mage

Job: Hunter

+1 Stat Point

STR: 4

CON: 6

DEX: 5 (+1)

LUK: 3

WIS: 0

Skills:

Gathering Lv 2 (75/100); Throwing Lv 5 (67/100); Dagger Mastery Lv 4 (36/100); Lucky Hit Lv 1 (90/100); Iron Stomach (Passive) (MAX); Goblin Language (Passive) (MAX); First Aid Lv 1 (23/100); Goblin Smash Lv 2 (19/100); Crafting Lv 1 (44/100); Rat Sprint Lv 1 (1/100)

Items:

Bread x1 (low); Iron Dagger (low) (+1 DEX); Canteen x1 (low); Goblin Dagger x4 (low) (+.5 DEX)

Status:

Priestess Believer

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*Rat Sprint Lv 1 - A skill used by rodent beast to increase one's movement speed for 5 seconds. The duration will increase with level.*

Jon was happy with his new improvements. He could tell he was getting stronger in this game. Jon also could tell his initial fear was slowly dissipating with each battle. He looked over at the hobgoblin gobbling down the king's meat. He then opened Dirknooth's stats to see his improvement.

--NPC: Dirknooth Lv 12—

Class: Shovel Knight

STR: 12 (+1)

CON: 11 (+1)

DEX: 4

Skills:

Gathering Lv 8 (23/100); Night Vision (Passive) (MAX); Cooking Lv 5 (38/100); Shovel Mastery Lv 5 (54/100); Knight's Aura (Passive) (MAX LV); Fury Lv 2 (92/100); Trapping Lv 3 (45/100); Construction Lv 2 (12/100); Goblin Smash Lv 1 (72/100); Shield Mastery Lv 2 (35/100)

Items:

Farmer's shovel (low) (+1 STR); Goblin Shield (low) (+1 CON)

Status:

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If this keeps up, Jon would never catch up to Dirknooth. In the corner of Jon's eye, he spotted something in the bush. Jon laughed, knowing exactly what was hiding in there. Using his skill Throwing, he tossed the rest of the bone and meat into the brush. Something grabbed the bone and ran off. Jon just shook his head at the monster's silliness.

"Jon, something wrong?"

"Not at all, Dirknooth. You ready to meet a bunch of humans?"

"Are we going to eat them?"

"No, Dirknooth." Jon felt exasperated. Was all this monster cared about was food? Jon thought to himself.

The two finished eating and rested at the farm for the night. Jon crafted a basket backpack for all the goblin weapons and a sled for all the rats. The next day they set off for the Grass Village. Dirknooth didn't allow Jon to carry the backpack but allowed him to assist pulling the sled. As they made their way back north, Jon heard a scream.

"Someone help us!"

Jon told Dirknooth to watch the sled and ran into the clearing to see an older man and teen girl being attacked by three RockBeaks. Jon could tell they were in trouble. The older man tried to protect the girl and ended up with several peck wounds. The three birds swooped in to finish them off, but three knives flew through the air. Two were pierced, but the last dodged and only lost a few feathers. It looked at Jon and knew he was a threat, so the bird escaped. A shadow leaped from a tree snagging the bird's neck. The creature landed with the bird in its mouth. Jon and the beast looked at each other before it ran off.

Jon walked over to the frightened duo. "Are you two, okay?"

The man's adrenaline finally tapered off, and he grabbed his shoulder, which was bleeding pretty severely. "Old man, you alright. I'm sorry I involved you." pleaded the girl behind him.

"Sit down. Let me take a look at it." The older gentleman sat, and Jon took out his canteen to clean the big wound on the shoulder. He then ripped the man's shirt to bandage the wound. Luckily Jon had the First Aid skill, and the wound would heal faster for the man.

"Thank you." The older man reached out his hand and said, "The names George, or that's what my menu tells me."

"I'm Mary, by the way," chimed in the girl watching Jon bandage up the man.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Jon. If you guys follow me over in that direction, my teammate and I will escort you back to the village."

"Sounds good," replied George standing back up. He grabbed the stick he was using as a staff and began hobbling forward with it. The girl came up beside him to help him walk. Jon followed behind them until they stopped upon seeing the hobgoblin.

"Monster!" screamed Mary.

George pushed the girl behind him, grabbed the staff with two hands. He stared at the monster, ready to accept his fate.

"Calm down. That is my friend. Dirknooth, say hi." Dirknooth beat his chest in saluting fashion. Seeing the monster respond to Jon, they both turned to look at the man. They felt it all was too surreal. The two of them watched as Jon spoke in the monster's tongue, and the two communicated like it was no big deal. "Alright, you two, keep up, so you don't get left behind."

The four traveled north while Jon asked them what they were doing so far away. He learned that they both decided to hunters but didn't want to go alone, so they teamed up. The duo finally killed a RockBeak, but its death drew more to revenge it. That is when George's staff or Mary's club couldn't reach them and ended up getting surrounded and attacked. Jon looked at the two and could tell they didn't want to be here, but if they wanted to stay in the safe village, they had to provide some trade.

Jon stopped and looked at the two of them. "Do you guys want to party up?"

"Why would you want us when you have him?" replied George pointing at the big hobgoblin.

"To help you guys level up."

"Oh, well, if you don't mind adding us, please do."

Jon opened the menu and tried to add them to his party at the same time, and he saw a message come up.

*Cannot have a team larger than four members. Do you wish to create a guild?*(Yes) (No)

Jon wondered if this would allow them to join me. Jon clicked yes, and another option came up.

*What will your Guild's name be?*

Jon didn't expect such a headache from trying to add them to his party. The girl saw his worry and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Jon looked at them and asked, "What would be a cool name for us as a team?"

"Huh?" George asked, dumbfounded.

"Hmm, I think you name it after you."

Jon didn't want anything too complicated, so he decided to make it Jon's Guild. With the name inputted, an invite went out to George, Mary, Blue, and Dirknooth. Dirknooth accepted right away. Mary laughed at the simplistic named but clicked accept. George stared at it for a bit.

"You don't have to join I just figured it would be easy to keep track of everyone here," Jon said to them since he couldn't form a team with them.

George clicked accept. This man saved his life, and he would do whatever he needed to repay it. "I guess we're now all part of the guild," George said in a sarcastic tone.

"Alright, with that done, let us get to the village."