My Last Hunt

A Level Zero's Struggle (part 14)

Qiao used his weapon and cut open the wound that was already bleeding. There was only one stone placed there, emitting a blinding sharp yellow light. The worth of this single stone should easily buy a level three weapon.

Qiao looked at the stone, he has close to naught knowledge about these stones so he handed this to the leader.

"Only one? How will we divide it?" the leader was puzzled. According to the set rules between teams, the leader divides the spoils after the hunt but here they had just one stone and it was really precious such that many would lose their lives just to get it.

He looked at his chasers and then the youth.

"I ask for your opinions," he asked them all.

"I can't be taking this stone, if I was not saved on time; I would have been dead by now so I won't ask for it," the chaser who was saved at the last moment forsook his share.

If it was some other team, the situation definitely would not be so calm They would have started to battle each other over this stone and only the strongest who remained after it would take the stone for himself.

But this leader was more sensible and he quickly came up with a method.

The leader heaved a sigh, "Should we divide it after reaching guild and exchanging this stone with the Guild treasury?" he put his suggestion.

"This youth here, what do you think about my suggestion?" the leader asked Qiao.

Qiao was satisfied the way this chaser addressed him, so he finally let go his solemnness and spoke, "I don't mind after all we are all going back Guild, right?" This way he was indirectly suggesting to go back to the Guild since the evening was near.

"Alright then, we are heading back to the Guild and will also let the senior receptionist know the names of the deceased," being in a Guild meant if they happened to know that a member of the Guild was killed, they should inform.

They fixed their appearance and their bloody weapons then headed back. They kept the pace fast because night could be dangerous in the open forest.

Qiao was able to match their pace and so they were sure that he was already level one.

He could feel the increasing strength and his body don't feel the frailty of being weak. The meaning behind this was clear. Every experience point was increasing strength of his body, strangely transforming his physique. He just had to make sure to avoid the bullies and scheming people to have a steady rise now.

To rise from ashes was difficult but once accomplished, the others would only show fear.

Since he wasn't exactly a level one yet, he should continue to be careful.

The leader was no more keeping his eyes on this youth instead he was thinking to ask him if he wanted to join them as a team member.

From his decision, one could tell that he was not only rational but wise.

....

They reached the Guild and the leader informed the reception about their hunt details. He also filed for the exchange of the stone, the man sitting behind the desk closely looked at the stone and smiled,

"How did you manage to get such a precious treasure. According to your previous records you should not be able to kill such a monster. You have never ever used any unhanded means either but I must ask, who did you rob to obtain this?" The man asked. He was clearly mocking him.

"We not only hunted the monster but also lost half of the team to it, do you doubt?" the leader solemnly spoke this time.

The man nodded and stood up; he was going to exchange it at the same price for some lower level stone so that the team could divide among themselves.

Qiao sat on the same bench where he sat this morning, but the youth who gave him some information was no more here. The chasers of the team also came and joined.

They were sneaking a look towards him every now and then.

There were many other teams who had just arrived to stay in the Guild for the night. Most weak or lower level chasers chose to return back rather than to stay and be surrounded by danger.

The team Qiao had helped had many friends in other teams so they started to chat about their adventures of whole day.

They described how the monster looked and killed their teammates. Of course, they remembered not to chat about the spoils

Most of the chasers who earned even a single stone after hunt chose to deposit it in the Guild Bank. With the problem arising that hunters were looting each other's spoils, every Guild introduced Guild Bank and all the members had their separate account since nobody can steal from the Guild so the spoils were safe here.

The Guild was the responsibility of the Guild owner and all Guild owners were powerful enough to not be trifled with.

"You are only scared of your situation and over reacting. It is impossible that a zero could kill a level two peak monster in single attack, have you gone mad? This can't happen," those who heard the story straightaway denied to believe it.

Qiao was not listening to the chat, he was looking at the entrance of the Guild. Linwin had just entered, riddled with injuries. He went with a team and after passing half a day had now returned.