Chapter 23 – Monster raid

Once Carl went out, he saw the stream located 300 meters away from the cave and headed there.

'I must be smelly...'

Carl knew he had been inside the cave for a long time. Probably almost a day so he had been drenched in goblin stench and blood. Scrunching up his nose, he smelled like a rotten corpse.

Once he reached the stream, Carl removed his clothing, revealing his fatty statue and hurriedly dipped himself to the water.

"Ahhh," he moaned in satisfaction.

After being satisfied, Carl washed his clothes too until the scent of goblin blood disappeared. After this, he went out of the stream and looked at his clothes. His eyes were suddenly bloodshot and he started to violently shook all of his clothes to the air at a very fast pace, until the water in it mostly disappeared.

It did not become totally dry, but it was enough to be worn.

Next, Carl saw the sun set. Twilight enveloped the mountain in its embrace, and the dark started to invade.

Carl really can't continue to hunt at night. Humans can't see that well at night. Monsters usually can, and a lot of them usually goes out at night, so Carl decided to rest first.  He can't sleep at the stream so he went to the cave, and slept. From what he knew, the official gathering checkpoint for hunters was about a kilometer away. 

...

The next morning, Carl woke up at dawn. The sun hadn't set yet, and the air was still a little cold. There was also a faint mist around the mountain.

Carl headed to the stream first, peed on the tree, and then washed his face with the running water. After waking himself up, he then headed deeper to the mountain.

After leaving the cave, he finally returned to the dirt paths again and walked higher to the mountain.

After thirty minutes, he arrived at a village-like area in the middle of the forest. It was a round location with a big circle house in the center with some tents around.

Arriving, Carl finally saw how many hunters were in the place. It was full and buzzing. It was still dawn, so it was easy to walk so Carl tried exploring. People were just waking up, but at the sidelines, there was a crowd.

Many hunters were gathering so he went to see.

"What do you think? Does anyone here want to accompany us?"

A man in his forties was speaking to the hunters in the area. He had a large sword in his waist, but it suited his build and height. He had a small group behind him.

The group consisted of a tall ugly man carrying an axe, a black man with a big beard, a scrawny young man with a dagger on its waist, and an archer with a long hair.

After listening for a while, they seemed to be a party and was recruiting others for a monster raid.

Carl arrived at the place and decided to sit at a stone like the others to listen.

In reality, he has no full idea what in particular do this hunting ground has besides low-level monsters, so this was a good opportunity to learn and see to where he could go next.

"The green chasm? Wasn't that place just ruled as dangerous without a guide?" a man in the crowd asked.

"We have a guide with us, so don't worry. Anyone will do, as long as they can fight!"

The group seemed to be in a rush.

And seeing their behavior, the other hunters in the area seemed to relate and started having thoughts of joining them.

Seeing this, Carl asked the nearest stranger.

"Hey, hello, if you don't mind, can I ask what this green chasm is?"

The stranger was a tall boy in his late teens. He had slick blonde hair and big round green eyes with chiseled face and sharp jawline. His physique was lean and athletic-looking compared to Carl's obese-looking figure.

He looked like the type of person Carl used to be, the type that everyone would pay attention to, and was the type to get hated by other boys.

"Are you a newbie?" was the first thing the teen asked.

His eyes roamed over Carl's body. It was obvious he tried to peer onto his Centers of Power. It was obvious he had succeeded in looking onto him too. The fat boy was weak, the boy undestood. Plus, only a newbie hunter would ask what the green chasm was.

Seeing the fat boy nod in agreement, he then explained:

"The green chasm is a place near the mountain top, where monsters are reportedly avoiding recently. The main reason for that is that a stronger monster probably evolved. These guys are recruiting to slay that monster."

Carl was well-aware of the behavior of monsters, and now has an idea.

"Does this green chasm have a leader class monster before?"

"Oh, I didn't realize you know something like that. But yes, it's probably a leader-class monster. Wait, are you thinking of going?" asked the stranger in concern.

With just one look, he had already seen through the fat boy's Centers of Power.

The fat boy had a rank 1 body. He was stronger than the regular human, but compared to the hunters going, he was undoubtedly very weak. Most of the hunters in the lower grounds was at best those with no experience at battle and had not advanced any of their Centers of power yet, but those who were setting their eyes near the mountaintop was at best people with decades of experience in hunting. 

A rank 1 body, rank 1 mana pool, and a rank 1 mental sphere was the assurance one would not be a pushover.

The fat boy in front of him was just one of the common newbies in the lower grounds.

On top of this, the fat boy looked very unathletic, mostly having fat on him, and no matter how stupid he may be, to join a raid to slay a leader class monster with unknown abilities was suicide. Hunters weren't kind people too, they would not waste their time saving the weak.

"Hahaha."

Carl just chuckled lightly, a fake laugh that strongly conveyed his real intention.

"You're planning to," the stranger sighed. The fat boy might as well said 'yes'. "Let me just tell you this, they're not going to make sure you're safe like in the academy."

"I don't intend to." Carl said, smiling.

The teen shook his head.

There were some people like this in every hunting ground. They were weak and mostly newbies but they would try to join big monster raids and when accepted, they usually would not even be a factor in battles since they were so weak, but they would get a share of the rewards when the job was finished.

The fat boy was either just dense or shameless. Stupid was probably the better term.

The stranger stared at the fat boy's face.

He kind of lost respect, but he also admired the action. The boy must be a couple of years younger than him, yet he was courageous and shameless enough to take advantage of the situation.

"Are there anyone else willing to join us? We are still willing to welcome more."

Most of those who came to listen to the middle-aged man had already gone ahead to their own business, and the few who stayed were either only there to rest to chit-chat with the other hunters or were still contemplating to join.

"I will go."

A fat boy sitting in a stone then said.

He was wearing a black hoodie with two daggers tied on his bag, and five more daggers on his legs.

Despite weighing more than the adult man, it was very clear that the boy was quite young and wasn't as powerful as the others, so his real intentions were made very clear to everyone.

This, of course, was naturally Carl.

The leader of the group stared at him, a gaze that showed his skepticism. He did say they would need more, but a child with only a rank 1 body?

Despite being a veteran, he also never saw the fat boy's face in any hunting grounds before, and could tell he came from the foot of the mountain which meant he only started hunting, probably few days ago.

"We're not going there to pl—"

"I'm also coming with him."

The blonde teenager on his side then spoke before the leader could finish his statement and was placing his hand on the top of the fat boy's head as if they were friends.

"…"

The leader gazed at the blonde teen smiling at the fatty and remembered seeing him in particular joining several monster raids this year, and it was hard to forget what he was capable of despite being so young.

He doesn't use any weapons but his martial arts were top-tier. However his greatest asset was his mastery of the crystal element, an advanced element!

Seeing that the others that remained were still contemplating, the leader of the group decided to close the recruitment there and then. If they were so indecisive, the fat boy might be a better choice. On top of that, the blonde teen seemed to be thinking of them as a package.

"The name's Alex," the blonde stranger said as he placed his hand out.

Carl looked at Alex, and shook his hand.

"My name's Carl."

The leader looked at the duo and sighed. They don't even know each other's name.

He then approached them and spoke.

"You guys get ready, take a leak or take a shit somewhere if you had to. We're dispatching in five minutes."

After taking a closer look at Carl's face and physique, the leader then turned around and walked over to his group and was asked by his tall friend, who wielded the axe.

"Are you sure letting the fatty join? If he give us trouble and starts complaining on the way, I will not hesitate to feed him to the monsters."

The leader only stared at his friend who said that and did not reply.

The hunters in the area heard it as a joke and laughed but he knew his friend very well to know he was very capable of doing that.