Chapter 289 - Scorpion Hunter

A series of steady 'taps' sounded out on the cobblestone street as Mercury walked towards the edge of the city with the help of his cane, he eventually reached the edge of the city and was let out of the gates after the local guardsmen had a look in his backpack to check for smuggling, then when the guard that inspected him saw his hunter tag he gave Mercury a friendly pat on the shoulder and a thumbs up

"Happy hunting"

"Thanks"

Mercury stepped out of the gates and was greeted with near-endless desert, there was a track marked by flagpoles heading directly east from him

'Must be the way to the next city or town…'

Mercury looked around for a bit before he began following the flagpole track, the way proved more difficult than he expected however as he struggled to get a proper foothold on the loose sand, after a while, he began using his earth magic to solidify the sand when he stepped on it to help him regain his balance and alleviate the weight off his injured right leg

'Now for those scorpions…'

Mercury walked a little off the beaten path before he solidified the sand around him then he tapped his cane and sent a pulse through the sand, that said, given how loose the desert sand was the range was only about 200 meters still it picked up plenty of targets that were lurking just under the sand

'First ping 58 meters south-south-west…'

Mercury walked out towards the first ping stopping about 20 meters from it, from there he formed a spell and spent a few second solidifying the sand below the target before it formed a spike and shot upwards impaling the target, a scorpion about 4 by 4 meters wide, the scorpion struggled a bit before it eventually expired, the Mercury walked up to it and cut the poison barb off with his sword and put it into a small room in his backpack before he walked on towards the next ping… Around noon Mercury made a metal bowl out of essence and used it to focus the sunlight to start a fire with some tumbleweed a dried wood he had found, then he roasted some scorpion and ate it

'Tastes kind of like crab…'

As he ate he turned the metal bowl back into essence before he muttered

"Status"

Name: Mercury

Age: Error

Race: Null

Class: [Metal]

Class level: 1

Titles: [Last member of the ********* ** *** ******] [First of the ********] [Sinner of the ****** race] [Cursebreaker] [Crippled leg] [Iron ranked hunter]

Strength [10/1000] - Constitution [10/1000] - Dexterity [10/450]

Intelligence [10/100] - Wisdom [10/100] - Carisma [10/10]

Class skills: [Metal assimilation, lv--] [Essence refining, lv--] [Essence consuming, lv--] [Essence shop, lv--]

Active skills: [Earth magic, lv10]

Passive skills [Cursebreaker, lv--] [Pain resistance, lv03]

Mercury noticed the new title that read [Crippled leg] and gave a slight frown before he moved his finger over the white mist that made up his status and 'click' on the title, then the white mist that made up his status changed

[Iron ranked hunter]

You are an iron ranked hunter

No effect… yet… Keep ranking up...

[Crippled leg]

Your leg has been crippled

-50 max Dexterity

"Well fuck me sideways…"

Mercury looked down on his right leg for a bit before he gave a sigh

"Well if that's the cards I have been dealt then I might as well deal with it…"

After some time the white mist changed back to his status, after looking at it for a bit he 'clicked' on the [Cursebreaker] title

[Cursebreaker]

Cursebreaker

Gives the skill [Cursebreaker]

"Neat… But what does it do?"

After waiting for the white mist to revert he 'clicked' on the [Cursebreaker, lv--] passive skill and sure enough the white mist changed

[Cursebreaker]

Allows the user to break curses by touching the cursed object/person

"Does that make me immune to curses..? Well, I don't think curses are that common to begin with…"

Mercury looked at his status for a bit before he 'clicked' on the [Essence shop, lv--] under his class skills and then the white mist changed again

[Essence shop, lv--]

Allows use of the Essence shop where the user can exchange essence for skills and other things

"...And other things..? Well whatever"

Mercury gave a sigh and waited as the white mist reverted to his status before he chanted

"Essence shop"

Then the white mist changed again

[Essence shop]

Current essence: 1.604

Available skills: [Lesser metal weaving, cost: 5.000] [Metal domination, cost: 10.000]

Available purchases: [Metal gamble, cost: 1.000] [Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation, cost: 100.000]

Random status point, cost: 100

Specific status point, cost: 500

Level up, cost: 1.000

"Hmm… Lots of things…"

Mercury decided to check out all the things available for purchase so he 'clicked' on them one after one

[Lesser metal weaving]

Lets the user weave metal after the users will, as it's the lesser version of the skill there's an upper limit on the weaving finesse, upgradable

[Metal domination]

Lets the user dominate and control metal in a 10-meter radius controlling it at will, upgradable

"Well those look useful… a shame I don't have enough essence for them… What about the purchases?"

Mercury then 'clicked' on the purchases one by one

[Metal gamble]

Creates a random 1 kilogram of metal which then can be sold or converted into essence

[Advanced chunk of Living metal Assimilation]

Creates a chunk of advanced living metal for assimilation into a body part, permanently upgrading the abilities, endurance, and durability of set body part, can be used on others than the user

"Neat… sounds like the living metal could be used to heal my leg… What other stuff? Well, they are self-explanatory actually… The question is how to spend my essence…"

Mercury thought about it for some time and eventually decided to save his essence for now, after all, he didn't know how rare essence would be but he also felt that it would be best if he thought about it for some time first as he chewed on the soft white scorpion meat that was his dinner, after eating and clenching his thirst with a filled waterskin he had brought in the city Mercury continued hunting scorpions until the evening where he returned to the city, after the guard there checked his backpack he patted him on the shoulder and spoke

"Welcome back to Hericon hunter"

"...Thanks"

Mercury walked into the city of Hericon assisted by his cane, soon he arrived in the hunters guild where he queued up at the reception and the receptionist greeted him

"Hello hunter, what can I help with?"

Mercury showed a smile and took off his backpack and placed it on the reception desk

"I have some scorpion poison barbs to turn in"

Then he removed the scorpion poison barbs from his backpack one by one, watching as the receptionist turned paler and paler, finally when he laid the 22nd on the counter she looked about ready to pass out

"W-Wait here just a moment"

Mercury watched as she disappeared into a backroom and the other receptionists diverted the queue behind him to the other desks, soon she returned with a middle-aged man that looked the poison barbs over one by one before he looked up at Mercury's face and asked

"How did you hunt these?"

Mercury was a little taken aback but didn't see a reason to lie so he simply told the truth

"With earth magic"

"Hmm… I see… Are you perhaps the one that was registered this morning by Molly?"

"Yeah, that's me"

The middle-aged man gave a nod before he turned to the receptionist and spoke

"There's no funny business here, go ahead a count them up"

"Yes sir"

The receptionist quickly did her work before she spoke the total

"1.550 cel in total"

Mercury was a little surprised but still gave a nod and took the 1 small gold coin, 5 silver coins, and 5 bronze coins and put them into his pouch before he spoke

"Thanks"

The middle-aged man gave a smile

"No thank you for keeping the city scorpion safe, you don't know how many people die or lose limbs to the critters each year"

Mercury showed a smile before he gave a nod to the middle-aged man and stepped away from the counter and walked back into the middle of the guild

'Molly should be outside the guild by now… it's almost sundown…'

Sure enough, Mercury found her standing outside the guild a little away from the entrance

"Hey there"

Molly was a little startled by his voice but gave a smile when she saw it was him

"Hey Mercury, sorry about that I was lost in thought… What do you say we head to an inn and get some food?"

Mercury gave a nod

"Sure"

Mercury walked along with Molly in silence as the two of them walked down the streets, soon they arrived at an inn and walked inside and sat down next to each other on a bench that was lined up in front of a long table, Mercury sat at the end of the bench and leaned his cane against the table before he looked over at Molly that was sitting next to him and asked

"So what do you recommend?"

"Hmm… the meat pie is good, but so is the stew, so it's up to you"

Mercury thought for a moment before he decided

"In that case, I'll have the meat pie"

"Great choice, excuse me we would like to order!"

As Molly tried to get a waiters attention Mercury's smile suddenly disappeared as he saw someone standing up further in the inn, specifically the hunter that had been adamant about getting rid of him the night before who Mercury had punched in the face, the two of them locked eyes and then the hunter showed a nasty grin as he walked ove