Code Collector

"Mercy!" Allen moaned as he felt a pang of pain in his stomach. The impact made him cough out his own blood this time.

When the warhammer was slammed into his own hammer, the force blew him away to a tree, his back crashing on the wood and felt like it broke every single bone in his body.

Allen had no choice but to hide. He crawled behind the tree and leaped up to the nearby branches, trying to hide his presence. "Why did I even agree to do this?"

He was helplessly being slammed by a large warhammer while he was only carrying his own little hammer. His weapon could not compare to the strength of the warhammer. It was overwhelming him in every aspect.

No wonder this man could take care of the wolves by himself.

If this was the capabilities of Bernard, those beasts wouldn't stand a chance even when they form a pack.

The man had mentioned that he had ascended, meaning Rare grades were like little toy animals to him and Basic grades were ants. It wasn't a question how huge the gap was between one world and the other, Allen knew that all too well.

"Why are you spacing out?" Bernard appeared in front of Allen. "Didn't you want a hands on training?"

The boy groaned and had no choice but to leap around the forest. He was trying to lose Bernard by jumping from branch to branch, but it felt like it wasn't working. The man's speed was still greater than him.

He was about to step on one of the branch when a warhammer literally split the tree in half. The boy's eyes widened, seeing the tree fall into two different directions and Bernard appearing in the middle.

"Impossible!" Allen groaned. He spun himself mid-air, trying to reach one part of the tree so he could use it as a stepping stone.

His feet successfully landed on the right part of the tree and he didn't waste any more time and pushed himself out. He jumped to one of the lower branches of another tree where Bernard was also standing, arms crossing with a smug expression.

Allen raised both his hands in a gesture of surrender, "I do, but why are you so serious? My body is saying that it would rather be mauled by the wolves than do this."

"You're exaggerating," Bernard chuckled. "This is standard training for every Hunter. If you can overcome this, you can do anything."

"Really?" Allen felt a hope glimmer in the end of the tunnel. He looked at Bernard in the eyes to look for sincerity, and saw it there.

"Really," Bernard chuckled. "Consider me as your mentor. I will train you to the best of my abilities so you'd become a better fighter. Then you can solo farm the forests with ease."

This help was more than beneficial for Allen's part. If Bernard could teach him techniques to effectively hunt, his job would become much easier. He could hunt Codes all day, every day.

Without any more hesitation, Allen agreed. Bernard grinned after seeing the determined expression on Allen's face.

"But this is not free," Bernard said suddenly. His expression was changing again, making Allen worry. What could this man want from a boy like him?

Bernard licked his lips that made Allen gulp. He slowly stepped back on the branch and grinned awkwardly as inappropriate ideas entered his mind one by one.

"Why do you look so scared?" Bernard asked that made every single hair in Allen's body to shiver. The boy was looking away while scratching the back of his head.

"Well, whatever it is you're thinking, I don't think I can do–"

"I'm kind of hungry. Can you cook for me?" Bernard suddenly said, making Allen drop his hand and his jaw dropping along with it. "I don't know how to cook since I was kind of pampered by my parents."

"How did you hunt?" Allen scrunched his face. "How did you survive all those days in the forests?"

"I simply roast them," Bernard pursed his lips. "I want something like a mushroom soup. Or a mutton stew. Can you do that?"

"I'll have to have ingredients," Allen said. This was true since he was someone that was used to making anything from scrap, or even from nothing.

Back in his previous life, he had nothing at all. He barely made money to pay his rent. Food was something he didn't have the luxury of always having.

This made him wise in dealing with food and recipes. He made sure to know how to cook and make use of every single edible ingredient out there.

Wild herbs, wild berries, wild mushrooms, anything he could lay his eyes on that was safe to eat, he used. And cooking was his previous daily chore in his group before.

They always demanded him to cook complicated food like soups and stews that he had practically mastered cooking Otherworldly cuisine. There was also a point in his life that he considered changing occupations because he was cooking so much.

"Can you do it or not?"

Allen snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Bernard. He nodded his head and looked around to see if he can find anything. "I can, but I need to look for ingredients. I don't think I'm someone who can magically summon a plate of delicious food in the air."

"Touche," Bernard laughed out loud. He sounded like he enjoyed the joke so much that he started holding his stomach while he continued laughing. "I'll take you to hunt with me first. I told you I would hunt but I got caught up with training."

"Yeah, let's go hunt," Allen said with a grin.

"Let's got then."

–

It didn't even take three minutes since they hunted and Bernard had taken down a deer. He was right. For a fighter, he had an incredible speed. It almost felt like he was an assassin.

"Are all Hunters in Paradise as impressive as him?" Allen asked himself in his mind.

He was watching Bernard raised the deer in the air, grinning like he was a small child showing his parent his A+ report card. "Mutton stew!"