Chapter 53: Encounter I

The execution of men-kiriatoshi-men was done perfectly that even Reiji was impressed. However, his attention was caught by the guide's notifications.

[ Congratulations! You have completed the Duel Victory II Mission! ]

[ You have received 40 Skill Points. ]

[ New Mission Created ]

[ Untouchable III ]

[ The host must remain untouched for 30 straight days. If you were touched by any living person, the timer will restart.

Reward: 50 SP ]

Reiji first felt glad seeing an additional 40 Skill Points. He now has a total of 135 SP and although very slow, he was now getting closer to the skill he wanted to purchase.

Unfortunately, the reappearance of Untouchable mission would surely halt his constant acquisition of skill points.

'Urgh… It's impossible to start this mission now. I should at least finish the other mission…'

Reiji was referring to the Beast Duel Victory II that was still in progress… It shouldn't be difficult to complete this now that Diether had improved a lot with his swordsmanship. He also had better control of his Spiritual Energy…

'Oh right… He still needs to learn how to Repair… Should I ask to get some help from his sister?'

After he sorted his thoughts, he realized that Diether was still around the plaza and continued watching the other's battle.

Most of these battles involved swords and Arcana's Arcane Magic.

Sometimes, watching the other's sword duel would help improve their understanding of swordsmanship so Reiji didn't interrupt the young man's concentration.

Seeing different styles of handling swords may help to broaden his horizon.

Thud!

"I give up! You won…"

One of the hunters announced after getting cornered by a burning sword. He dropped what was left on his previous sword as he acknowledged his defeat.

The burning sword he fought against was only a Common Arcana but a sword that could melt his steel sword would be too difficult to handle unless he used a Magic Weapon or something similar.

The Hunter could not even parry the sword and could only dodge. At the very least, he could still fight back and threaten the student as he had a good foot technique.

"Thank you for staying with me, master…"

Diether suddenly said and Reiji wasn't confused as he understands what was in the child's mind.

This young man must've realized the importance or the gap of having a good weapon so he silently thanked him. These words that only the two of them could hear was full of sincerity.

"You're welcome… We will still have a long journey ahead of us…" Reiji replied.

The young man knows that with the unusual Arcana with him, he wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as the other Hunter who had their sword melted by a common Arcana.

The two continued watching the sparring until it was time to eat their lunch.

The sparring will continue until the afternoon but Reiji decided that it was enough and told Diether about his plans. They then went back to the Hunter's Association building.

"You came back already?"

"Ahh... Miss Han, I'm here to accept some low-ranking missions." Diether answered.

Miss Han was a bit confused but she still helped Diether select for a mission.

'It's good that he's planning to go in missions now. He must've been inspired by watching the sparring at the plaza.'

The lady allowed Diether to select some of the missions posted at the bulletin and even recommended three of them.

[ Collect 10 Sanguine Berries within the outer part of the Wailing Forest.

Reward: 2 gold coins and 50 silver coins. ]

[ Collect 20 Corrupted Daisies within the inner part of the Wailing Forest.

Reward: 10 gold coins and 90 silver coins. ]

[ Collect 5 Evasive Lizards within the inner part of the Wailing Forest.

Reward: 10 gold coins ]

Diether wasn't expecting much about the mission but he wanted to get some allowance money. He wanted to save his current earnings as he was still planning to buy a Magic Weapon as his master suggested.

That's right, Reiji wanted Diether to have a Magic Weapon with him in case they were separated.

After all, there is this Untouchable III…

In the end, Diether accepted the missions to collect the daisies and the sanguine berries. He can take these two missions since they are actually repeatable ones and they were posted by the Association itself. It seems that they were ingredients in some kind of potion that he was not aware of.

These supplies were normally being collected every week from this branch to be sent to the headquarters so it can be processed.

"Alright… I'll be heading out… Thank you for your help, Miss Han."

"You're welcome…"

The other posted missions on the bulletin don't have many tasks related to hunting a beast at the moment due to the previous disturbance in the forest. However, light missions like collecting herbs were still abundant as their demand was stable.

As he was about to leave the Association's building, a robust young man around 20 years old entered the building.

His face was unfamiliar and he doesn't seem to be from this village.

"How can I help you?"

Diether heard Miss Han asked after the man approached the counter.

"I'm here to take the license examination."

His voice was seemingly excited as he announced his purpose of coming.

Diether wasn't too interested since there were a lot of people who wanted to have a Hunter License. After all, having access to Magic Weapon's storage and mission's bountiful rewards would be something that ordinary people would dream of.

After closing the door of the building, he bought some soft bread at a nearby bakery to satisfy his hunger before he decided to go to the forest and collect the materials he needed.

It only took him about an hour to collect the sanguine berries…

However, as he started collecting some corrupted daisies in the inner part of the forest, a small but extremely dangerous Evil Beast appeared in front of him.

It was observing the young man while holding a small spear as Diether was collecting the flowers. It seems that it was looking curiously at its prey…

'Oh no! It's an Imp… It should be a High-Grade Evil Beast… Ugh, why was a demonic creature here?!'

Demonic creatures were still categorized as Evil Beasts but because of their appearance of having something similar to a bat's wing, four red eyes, and blood red skin, they were often called as such instead of Evil Beasts.

Aside from that, it was rare for Hunters to handle these types of creatures as it was normally being handled by the Holy Knights…

"What should we do? Was it previously attracted by the Rare Apple Lure and just decided to stay here after the lure's scent was taken care of?"

'Stay calm, Diether. It's not important how it got here. Get ready for a fight…'

Reiji reminded the kid. He had to stay focus as this is a very dangerous situation.

This battle would surely be tough since they were up against a High-Grade one.

So without any hesitation, Reiji activated Overload.