Chapter 41: Deal with the Couple

A Code weapon breaking at half integrity.

Allen has never heard of such thing. From his limited knowledge, all he knew was that Code weapons have their own HP, called integrity.

If a Code loses all its integrity, it will break, much like what happened to his Foxground Dagger. It had been worn out, therefore its integrity is used up.

But this case was different. For every weapon, whether it is artificial or not, there is an integrity indicator at the bottom of the Code. It can be seen when in the Hunter information in the each Hunter's interface.

After registering an artificial weapon in a Skill Altar, the weapon is shown in the Hunter's profile with the integrity bar.

In Allen's inventory, he can see the weapons' integrity when he places them in their slot. It was also a riddle how the Code didn't get summoned back into Gary's interface.

"What is going on in here?" Allen asked himself. He unfortunately discovered something that was obviously hidden in the public eye. Gary was hiding something, but whatever it might be, he wasn't a part of it.

Taking out the weapon, Allen placed it on the doctor's table and left the hospital. This wasn't his problem, why should he be concerned?

There's still a lot of steps Allen should take to reach his goal. He already started his momentum, he cannot detour into something else now.

The boy found himself back into the forest. He was at the part where he saw Gary lying lifeless on the ground. Allen looked around and leaned down, trying to look for clues.

"Why am I here?" Allen suddenly asked himself, standing straight and contorting his face. "And what was I doing?!"

The boy sighed in disappointment. He ended up leaving he hospital to avoid the problem, yet he came back to the crime scene to investigate.

"Allen, focus!" he said to himself. "You're not part of anything. You're a lone Hunter who's not aligned to anything except yourself. You will get stronger and you will topple the pathetic triangle of social class."

Allen heard rustling in the wood, making his eyes snap to the direction and his body to automatically conjure his dagger. He bent both his knees and leaned his body forward, trying to look for the source of the sound.

"Who's there?!" Allen yelled. "I can sense you're around!"

He heard more rustling. This time, from both sides. Whatever may be hiding amongst these woods were two or more beasts. And maybe they're not here to play.

Croak. Croak.

Allen lowered his guard after hearing a noise coming from a frog. He sighed and shook his head in disappointment, about to keep his weapon back when he heard another noise.

Achoo.

His body twitched, and he let it move. In a blink of an eye, he was behind a person who was hiding under a large bush.

The man immediately raised both his hands in surrender. Allen thought he was familiar. The man turned around to face him, and there he indeed saw a very familiar man.

"Corry"?!

–

The boy was pacing in front of the two. He was was glaring at the couple while they gulped, waiting for Allen to talk.

"Look, kid–"

"No," Allen cut Ash off. "You left me to die in the hands of that bear. How could you?"

"We didn't have a choice," Corry said. "We would've died if we stayed in there. You saw how strong that beast was with your own eyes. If you were in our position, you would've left too."

"I wouldn't," Allen said. "Because I'm not a coward. I'm a Hunter."

"Regardless," Ash stood and flattened her lips. She took something from her bag and gave it to Allen. It was a card. "This card has our life savings inside. We only have three million in that account, so I'm sorry if we lied about the reward too."

Allen sighed and lowered Ash's hand, "I don't need your money."

"W-What do you need then?" Ash asked.

Elliot smirked and offered his hand, "Three Rare grade Codes, and five Basic grade."

The couple looked at each other. They were baffled. Three million dollars was so much more in worth than the ones Allen was asking for. If the boy would simply agree to take the card, he could buy much more.

"Three million dollars is so much more than that," Corry said. "Why would you choose that over the money?"

"I don't need money," Allen shrugged. "I need Codes."

Allen was half lying. He was telling the truth when he said that he didn't need the money, but he lied when he said he needed Codes. He doesn't need that many Codes. He could hunt in three days and get as much.

What he actually wanted was trust and loyalty. Although he was doubtful that he could get these two things from the couple, it didn't stop him from starting his next move. He was now starting a deal with his third clients.

"I don't understand kids nowadays," Ash chuckled. She placed her hand over Allen's palm and opened her interface. She did selections in her interface, sending half of the Codes Allen asked for.

'Codes received.'

Allen smirked after hearing the notification. He turned to the left and offered his hand to Corry. The man was reluctant, but his wife was glaring at him, making him have no other choice but to obey.

He took Allen's hand and transfered the right amount of Codes. Allen once again received the notification and took his hand back. He opened his interface to see the Codes, and there a wide smile appeared on his lips.

< Wide Saber >

Type: Weapon

Grade: Rare

Damage: 20

Effect/s: Active - After dealing a damage equal to the target's 10% current HP, the damage dealt with the next strike is increased by 30%.

< Swift Gloves >

Type: Skill

Grade: Rare

Effect/s: Active - When activated, the user's attack speed and movement speed is increased by 40% that decays over 10 seconds..

Cooldown: 70 seconds

< Rustic Smith >

Type: Skill

Grade: Rare

Effect/s: Active - When used on a weapon, the integrity is recovered by 40%.

Cooldown: 40 hours