"Ahhh."
Yawning as he walked across campus to get to Magic class, Garfield covered his mouth.
His outfit was… peculiar. A black blazer, a white button down under it and a tie, as well as black sweatpants of all things.
As well, Garfield had, for some reason, taken time to use a hair straightener to get a cowlick on the top of his head.
"Ahh, I'm such an anime boy…"
He was quite white, so Jack really didn't know where he got that impression from. Garfield continued walking, carrying a blue Japanese bag with white straps over his shoulder.
"...Dude, what are you doing?" Jack asked, looking down at his friend. "We don't even need school supplies like pencils or anything, our classes are all about our bodies."
"Hm? Oh, well, I keep my dagger in here."
Jack shook his head, continuing to walk over. "The same dagger that's technically not even yours? The school just lets us rent it."
"Yes! Believe it!"
"...Sure, why not?"
Along the way, Garfield passed by a group of girls. In truth, he was actually quite a good-looking guy, so despite being incredibly weird, his clothes made him stand out.
"Heheheh, watch this."
…Hearing those words escape Garfield's lips suddenly filled Jack's heart with panic. Really, when it came to Garfield, those words meant that something was going to go terribly, terribly wrong.
Garfield walked over to the three women, leaning against the wall.
Alright, so what did that dating coach on Yiktok say to do?
"Hey, I just wanted to say I think you're absolutely gorgeous," Garfield said… to all three women at once.
They seemed… mildly flattered, then looked at each other, and finally back at him. "Oh really? But which one?"
"All of you," he confirmed. "Because all three of you are so gorgeous, would you three like to be my girlfriends?"
Their faces paled.
"Um, what?"
Shit, that's not what the coach said. Crud, um, erm, shit, shit, what do I say? I wasn't prepared for this! Wait, no, he also said—
"I asked if you wanted to be my girlfriends."
"No?"
—He said I didn't have to take no for an answer!
"Why not? I'm the best."
The women looked annoyed. After staring at him for a bit, trying to see if he was joking or not, one of them had enough, saying:
"...Okay, whatever. Go suck a big black dick."
Then, the three walked away.
Feeling a forceful tug on the back of his collar, Garfield was removed from the situation, not allowed to embarrass himself any further.
…
What does "suck a big black dick" mean?
Truly pondering the meaning behind those words, Garfield ate a hotdog.
They'd gotten through Magic class and Weapons class, now eating lunch. They sat mostly alone together in the cafeteria, Jack eating some Chinese food.
"Seriously, what's up with you today?" Jack asked, to which Garfield placed his hand on his chest.
"Well, if it isn't obvious, I'm just super cool."
After all, I survived when I should've died. The gods clearly favor me, and thus, I am immortal. As long as I have a will to live, there will never be an inescapable death.
But not ACTUALLY immortal. Hmm. I wonder how I can gain eternal life?
Dunno!
"Garfield, don't forget that wherever you're seen, I'm also seen. There's a limit to how embarrassing you can be before it starts to negatively impact me."
The white anime boy finished eating his sausage, gulping it down. "Yeah, well… I dunno. Maybe."
"Fuck you mean 'maybe?'"
Garfield once again shrugged his shoulders.
"Anyways, I'm gonna get a girlfriend," he said, standing up. Jack looked up, raising an eyebrow.
"What? Where'd this come from?"
In truth, it was partly due to the Call of the Hunter. The blessing of Eros rewarded sex, which was useful to Garfield.
The other part, however…
"I watched a romance anime last night, got so lonely I wanted to die, and have decided to get a girlfriend to compensate for my abysmal sense of self and infatuation with the idea of emotional connection on a deeper level than I've ever shared with anyone in my entire life. Plus, I'm gonna live forever, so I might as well find someone to spend it with. Other than you, I guess?"
His neutral expression vanishing, Garfield did a dumb laugh and walked over to yet another group of girls.
"'Scuse me!!"
They looked at him, wondering why this random guy was here.
"Yes?"
"So, I'm pretty awesome. I got the Survivor title yesterday, y'know, pretty sweet. You can only get it from being on the brink of death and still managing to defeat your opponent."
The girls looked at each other, then back at him. "Okay…?"
"Yep. Pretty sweet."
"..."
In their confusion, the idea of telling him to go away was absent from their mind. And so, they continued the dialogue.
"Uh, what kind of monster made you almost die fighting against it?"
"A goblin."
The woman went speechless, thinking for a few moments. Then, she parroted:
"...A goblin?"
"Yep."
"..."
"..."
"Sooo… you like anime?"
"Get the fuck away from me."
…
"Well, at least I got a little bit stronger."
Having gotten a level up to his strength after crushing some PR's, Garfield got off the bench and went to the Hunter's club.
Jack had improved as well, getting even stronger. They walked over to the Hunting club, sitting down in their seats and waiting for the president of the club to give updates and lead them to the forest.
While they waited, Garfield began to talk. Jack himself drowned out most of it, but he managed to make out the words "cultivation," "eternal life," and "becoming a god."
Instead, his attention was focused on the Water-Swordsman, who briefly snuck glances at the two of them every now and then.
Overall, there were eighty goblins in the village we took on yesterday. We managed to take out twenty, all by ourselves. Yet that man took down thirty, all on his own.
…And without even using his Ability, most likely.
"—So yeah, I'm really gonna focus on building up my speed and dagger first, cause obviously I want to kill humans and whatnot. But eventually, I'll learn how to enchant, so that I can enchant my own stuff and try to get eternal life and whatever. I mean, I'm already immortal, so what I'm really asking for is both eternal youth and undying. Kinda like Thanatos, no? Except he could be killed, but would never die of old age. I, meanwhile, can die of old age but cannot be killed. How funny! Oh, and should I get a tattoo? I was really thinking of getting one after school!"
He keeps looking at us. Is it because Garfield tried to copy his appearance, even if it was just for a joke? Well, I suppose I wouldn't take too kindly to that as well.
Garfield probably shouldn't do that in the future… Wait, what was he saying?
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," Jack replied, not giving it too much thought.
Ms. Thiena walked in as they finished speaking, and took the students to the forest once again.
"Alright everyone," she began, leading the way with a commanding presence… which Jack noticed Garfield stared at in a peculiar mix of spite, fear, and helpless infatuation. "We'll kick it up a notch today. Now, we'll be taking on an orc village."
Orcs were indeed a step-up, being somewhere around twice as durable as the goblins they fought. Though, luckily, they were at the same level of speed.
—
Shortly after, Garfield and Jack stumbled across a group of three orcs, wielding clubs as they began to approach a group of three humans. The orcs tried to sneak up on them, but were unaware of the two Hunter's presence behind even themselves.
Really, the two didn't even need to speak about it. In unison, they burst towards the large, unruly monsters and delivered powerful blows to two of the three, right off the bat.
Garfield, using a dagger which was thus less powerful against bigger opponents, aimed at the neck. Garf kicked off the ground, taking up a reverse grip and jammed his blade into the lower side of the orc's thick neck. Still imprecise, it didn't hit the carotid, but was still a devastating strike.
Jack, meanwhile, was able to plunge the sword deep into the orc's back, skewering through bone and flesh tissue alike, causing a loud growl to bellow from the beast's throat.
They turned around, forcing the young men to back away in avoidance with the counterattack.
Garfield was the first to act, going for yet another slash which rang true, ultimately slashing across the creature's neck with such lethality that its blood sprayed onto the ground.
"Woah, that's what happens when you put some points into dex!" Garfield exclaimed, having the orc's viscous red blood splash across his face.
Not one to be outdone, Jack lunged next, attacking before the orc could even swing. Its head flew into the air, creating a similar spray of blood, leaving behind just one orc.
Or rather, two orcs, with Garfield's currently right on the verge of bleeding out.
The two Hunters faced it, the orc panicking and going after Garfield. The young man, a confident smirk on his face, simply evaded and stabbed it through the skull.
…Or, that's what he wished happened.
He must've tripped on a rock or something, because the orc smashed him across the chest with its mace and sent his light body smashing into the dirt. He coughed up, wheezing as he rolled over, clenching his dagger with all his strength.
"Oughh…"
Taking up a sprinter's position from the floor, he dashed forward, slashing it across the chest in a deep gash. Blinded by pain, the orc was unable to go after the next threat—Jack himself.
The man used his Ability, Lightning Descendent, infusing his sword with lightning. His eyes beholding dark clouds suddenly streaked white, emanating electricity as he planted his feet firmly into the ground.
Then, surging forward as if Lightning itself, he plunged his greatsword into the orc's heart, running electricity through its body. The monstrous behemoth spasmed uncontrollable, losing all control over itself before finally sliding from Jack's sword.
Its body hit the ground, bloody foam leaking from its mouth.
"Aha! Knew I was immortal! Anyways… we should kill more, no?" Garfield mentioned, crouching down on the ground in pain from his chest being violently bashed.
Jack saw no reason not to, cleaning his blade of blood with a handkerchief before sheathing it and continuing to search for more beasts.
…
Though not a terrible day, and with certainly less near-death-moments than that of the former, the two Hunters hadn't killed as many orcs as they had goblins, which made sense. It was a smaller orc village than what felt like a goblin city. Even the Water-Swordsman hadn't outdone them this time, only getting to ten orcs before the rest of the classmates dealt with them.
"So, what're we doing here?" Jack asked, looking up. Indeed, they were standing outside of a… tattoo parlor.
"To get my tattoo, duh! I'm really gonna use a lot of Ice Magic in the future, so I figure it's good to just get a head-start! Besides, it's not like mana tattoos have any costs."
Garfield went inside the tattoo place, whilst Jack went off to look around the city.
While searching, he found a nice park to relax in. Taking a seat on the bench, he checked the Hunter's Association app and checked the menus…
Lootboxes?
Intrigued, he checked their menu.
A wide array of lootboxes, with prices ranging from 5,000 dollars all the way up to 100,000. And, when he checked the actual rarity system…
What the hell? They're all the same?
The rarity system held it so that one was just as likely to receive a common as they were a mythical. Of course, the prices of the lootboxes came into play, in which a 100,000 would only allow for a Legendary, Mythical, or Heroic item.
But even still, that's pretty crazy.
Jack checked his pockets, finding a few mana crystals he'd yet to turn in for money…
Well, might as well take advantage.
…
"NOOOO!!"
Blowing on the digital spinner, trying to get it to go from uncommon to rare, Jack was on his third lootbox.
Ultimately, he ended up with just an uncommon, before immediately choosing to sell it for more money, which he then spent on more lootboxes. However, in the end…
I hate materials, and I hate quests too! Fuck them both!
Having lost everything, only to sell the items for enough money to buy another, it was a spiral that wasn't even despairing. Really, if someone wanted 100,000, they just needed to get a good enough item to sell for enough money to get another good enough item to sell for that 100,000 dollars.
Going back to the tattoo parlor, Jack checked up on Garfield… who was flexing in the mirror, shirtless.
"Hoo! Hah!"
Garfield's face might've been good, but his body wasn't anything particularly impressive, so really, he was just showing off his tattoo. It was of a mana circle, tattooed onto his right shoulder.
"Heh, I'd hate to be the dude that fucks with me!" Garfield shouted.
—
Shortly after being introduced to Lootboxes, Garfield got hooked as well and ended up keeping a Rare Star quest, which he lovingly referred to as the Stargazer quest.
"Ah, it must be the will of the gods! This quest fell into my lap for a reason—I am a Stargazer!"
Jack raised an eyebrow, wondering why anyone would keep a quest when they could sell it for a chance of armor or a good weapon. "What do you mean?"
"Ah? It means I get messages from the stars, and I am bestowed a commandment!"
"...Really?"
"Nope."