Ascension: Online

After the incident at the Hunter's Guild, Hina-nee and I selected a variety of quests from the board. It was a lot easier getting around now, as everyone moved out of the way when we came through. It felt pretty nice, honestly. Was this why bullies liked bullying others? I would have to ask Ichigo and Horiya to know… heh.

We went up to a receptionist, who surprisingly didn't cower in fear upon seeing us. Instead, she smiled brightly… mainly because everyone who had been lined up in front of her now scrambled to other lines after seeing us. Her workload was naturally lessened by a lot.

"Good morning. What can I do for you today?"

"Uh… I just want to take these quests out, register someone, and also check how many quests we have to do until we reach the next rank," I replied.

"Sure thing! I just need your guild cards…"

The process was complete in less than a minute. She handed us our cards back with a dazzling smile on her face.

"The quests have been approved, you can set off anytime. As for the rank-up, you have seven more quests to go. There are ten quest completions needed in total to rank up to Hunter, and you have already completed three - the emergency quest last night counted as two, since it was highly difficult and dangerous. Now then, who was the one you wished to register…?"

"Her," I said, gesturing toward Aisa.

"Oh my, so little… are you sure you want to register her?"

"Can she come with us on quests as just a spectator if we don't register her?" Hina-nee asked.

"Of course! Is she… you two's child, perhaps?"

Hina-nee's face reddened up, and so did mine. We both turned away. "N-No… it's not like that…"

"Ahaha, I'm sorry… but yes, it is alright if she goes with you. She just won't receive any rewards, naturally."

I nodded. "That's perfect. One more thing, do we get any rewards for leveling up?"

She nodded. "Yes. Each rank will have different rewards, but for achieving the Hunter title, you will receive 1,000 gold. Of course, the rewards later on improve."

"I see. Thanks."

"For future reference, any information can be found within the Hunter's Handbook," she reminded kindly, waving us off. "Have a good day. Happy hunting!"

*****

We set off to complete the quests after that. We had taken seven quests all at once to save time, rather than having to return to the guild each time we complete one. It wasn't even noon yet - this should be manageable, with plenty of room to spare.

By the time it was 12 PM, lunchtime, we had already completed two of the seven quests. We returned to the city to grab some quick food to eat on the road, then set off again in the opposite direction.

The quests we had picked had been selected strategically - some in a given area, others in another given area. It just so happened that the two we completed this morning had been the only ones in Lidya Forest, north of the city. We were now heading off for Keldo Forest, south of Qilian City, to complete the other five.

Before we knew it, the sun had set. It was a little over 6 PM now, and we had managed to successfully complete all seven of the quests we took, which were registered as 'side quests' in our Systems.

"Whew… that was a long day," Hina-nee whistled, laying on the grass. A short distance away, we could see the icy floor area, a bi-product of the intense battle last night.

"How many levels did you end up gaining, Hina-nee?"

"Four," she replied. "I'm Level 19 now."

"I see… so just eleven more to go."

"What about you, Kaze-kun? You've been helping me trap my targets so I can get the kill, but… your own leveling…"

I smiled. "I'll be fine. Even if I lack behind in levels, my actual stats are enough to make up for it in combat. What matters is helping you level up as fast as possible. There is only roughly a week and a half left before the tournament happens, after all. We don't want to wait another year, now do we?"

"Hehe~ definitely not," she giggled, then turned to the horizon, grabbing my hand and lacing her fingers around mine. "But for now… let's just enjoy the view."

I smiled. "… Yeah."

*****

Over the next two weeks, everyday was spent taking batches of quests at the Hunter's Guild, heading out, completing them, then coming back to claim our rewards. By the end of it all, I had well over 175,000 gold, and Hina-nee had roughly 200,000. As for levels, I hadn't gained anything, but Hina-nee had made it to Level 30, the same level as me. Unfortunately, in this game, assists didn't provide any XP.

As for the others, Ichigo, the only one with the Inspect skill, was far too ignorant to use it on us, so we managed to sneak by easily with simple lies.

It was now the night before the tournament. The timer on the quest description read 00:11:52:09. Hina-nee and I had managed to keep up our lie of being sick so far, but that wouldn't work for long. We had to throw Ichigo, Horiya, and the others off tomorrow, or else our situation would be exposed. From the information I had gathered, none of the four were Level 30 right now, so we should be safe, but…

… Furuwa, I'm not really sure about.

She worked alone, so none of the others knew about her current status. Whether she was Level 30 or not… I would have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out.

As for the tournament itself, after doing some digging around, I discovered quite a lot of information about it from the citizens of Qilian City as well as fellow Hunters in the guild. They didn't hesitate to provide me with any information I wanted - it felt great, honestly.

The name of the tournament is called 'Annual Qilian Regional Competition.' Just like the name suggests, it occurs once a year, and has contestants from everywhere within the Qilian region. Xiyang Village and Tianyin City both fell within this region. With that massive armadillo Monster gone, courtesy of us, the route between Qilian and Tianyin was once again safe for travel. Undoubtedly, I would be seeing some familiar faces tomorrow.

The tournament is divided into three stages - the preliminaries, which lasted five days; the main tournament, which all happened in one day; and the finals, which happened the following day. This was perfect, considering this allowed for players with work and school during the daytime to join in the event as well. Since the main tournament began on Saturday as tomorrow was Monday, it allowed for everyone to have a chance to participate.

As for the rewards of this event, it was quite great. Apparently, the top four contestants would be able to enter some kind of great sect. I didn't know the details of it, but from what I've heard, being in a good sect was pretty much akin to studying at a prestigious private school. You had access to the best cultivation resources, the richest environment, and the highest status. I didn't care about the latter two, but cultivation resources would be useful for getting stronger - for example, powerful arts.

For Hina-nee and I, this would be a great opportunity - one I wasn't about to miss.

So, in preparation for the event, both Hina-nee and I made ourselves as strong as possible, spending all of our SP and AP.

My stats currently looked like this:

STR: 200 (passive increase)

AGI: 200 (passive increase)

INT: 70 (no change)

DEX: 80 (no change, as I did not use any weapons to assist Hina-nee)

MAG: 120 (passive increase)

LUC: 15 (no change)

And Hina-nee's stats were as follows, according to Inspect:

STR: 110

AGI: 110

INT: 20

DEX: 90

MAG: 10

LUC: 10

Just as Aisa had recommended, Hina-nee had not spent any SP on MAG or LUC. The 10 stat levels shown there were from reaching the Nascent Cultivator realm, which I explained to Hina-nee. It seemed that she was insistent on sticking with the Assassin path to the end.

As for skills… or should I call them arts? Active skills were all just arts, basically, just with a more 'game-sounding' name. Yeah… let's go with that.

In any case, I spent my 36 AP on a variety of things, from Intermediate hidden arts to Sonar Pulse and Reveal, both arts Hina-nee had told me about. I also began to explore the Tank class recently, since my attack power was extremely high already. If I could get a few arts to boost my defense, then that would make me a master of all trades, jack of none, essentially.

I didn't know what arts Hina-nee purchased, but I had confidence in her. When I asked, she just told me 'it's a secret'. Looks like I would have to wait until tomorrow to find out, or possibly even later.

All the pieces were in place. I was feeling relaxed and a little bit excited as well for the tournament tomorrow - I had a feeling it was going to be a slight challenge, even with my current stats. Nevertheless, I had confidence Hina-nee and I could land ourselves in the top four. As for Ichigo, Horiya, and Jim, I doubted they would reach Level 30 by tomorrow, unless they grinded really hard overnight. However, since Ichigo and Horiya both had school again tomorrow morning, there was no way for them to do that. Jim also had work, most likely.

Sure, they would find out about the fact that I was still missing from school even after two weeks of being sick, but what could they do? By the time they logged back into the game to confront me about it, all Hina-nee and I had to do was hide for five days. That wasn't too difficult.

There was just one dark cloud still looming over the horizon… and it looked a lot like a certain girl.