Code Collector

The woman fluttered her eyes open. She was finally awake from her slumber, finding herself in a room.

Her name was Gwen Moore, a Level 40 Medicine Hunter. She was a support and specializes on healing.

"W-Where am I?" she asked out loud. A rustling sound made her snap to full consciousness, hearing someone beside her. "Who are you?"

Her eyes found themselves on a man sitting in a chair beside the bed. Allen was sleeping, slouching on the wooden chair and his arms were crossed over his chest.

Gwen shook him slightly, trying to wake him up. "Hello, mister?"

This slight nudge woke Allen up, making the man sit up properly. "What– who– oh. You're awake."

Gwen looked at him for a moment before her eyes widened and she leaped off of the bed. "Holy Injection!"

The woman called out her weapon. A gigantic syringe that she uses as some sort of staff. There was rainbow glittered liquid inside the syringe and it doesn't look like the tip of the needle had a hole for it to come out.

"Relax, I'm not your captor," Allen said, raising both his arms in to show that he surrendered. "I was the one who saved you from your captors, so I think a "thank you" would be nice."

"W-What…" Gwen was silent for a moment. She massaged her forehead while scrunching her face. "I thought you're one of the guys who worked for that Phantom Cunt."

"Phantom Cunt?" Allen repeated.

"The man who assaulted the twins a while ago," Gwen replied. "He poisoned the food in the camp, mainly the ones reserved for the police and the guards. Then he started kidnapping healers who could null his poison."

What he heard was bad that even his eyes twitched in anger. There was someone who is posing as him and was freely doing all this wretched things. Allen was beyond pissed.

How will he recover his reputation if the rumors that he wanted to circulate will be buried with ones like this?

The problem was worse than he had ever thought. His plan backfired because somebody was using his alter ego's identity to do crazy things.

"My name is Gwen," the woman offered her hand for Allen to shake. She had a fare skin and her hair was blonde that reached up to her upper back. It was straight and was parted in the middle. "I am a healer and I can null the poison from the Phantom Cunt."

"Does he have another name?" Allen scrunched his face. "Phantom Cunt doesn't really ring nicely in the ears."

"Whatever his name is, I will not respect it," Gwen said seriously. "He has done horrible things, and he will pay."

Most male healers were calm and reserved. Most female healers were like princesses by how they act cheerfully and femininely. This woman was neither one of those two. She was strong-willed and she talks like a soldier.

This had Allen not have any other choice but to take her hand and shake it, "Dante. And I'm a fighter role Hunter, but I don't have a specialization yet."

Gwen suddenly pulled Allen's hand, making him grip her hand tighter. This made the woman's eyes narrow as she look down to their hands.

"What level are you now?" Gwen asked, to which Allen answered. "Interesting. Your grip is strong for your level, but you don't look like a wealthy person that could afford to flush money in the Skill Altar."

"Oh," Allen chuckled. "I just work out a lot."

"Physical working out doesn't have any correlation between your Hunter status," Gwen said. "Even if you train like an Olympian, if your level is low, you're still ways ahead of yourself. Also, judging by your build and your height, you're passable as the Phantom Cunt."

"W-What?" Allen asked stutteringly. Inside him, he had already panicked. He was asking questions to himself that he couldn't answer.

"Who is this woman?"

"How is she asking all these?"

"Why did I even bother to save her?"

…

All these questions were flooding inside his mind and it was making him act suspiciously. He had to do something before Gwen could completely bust him.

"Why do you say that?" Allen asked. "If I was the Phantom Cunt, why would I even save you?"

"Because you could then say that I owe my life to you and you can watch me like a hawk," Gwen rebutted.

"This woman is a beast." Allen said inside his head.

Allen gulped while sti trying to compose himself. He was in front of a woman who looked like she had studied all things about Hunters and humans. At this moment, he was sure enough that Gwen had a PhD on Hunters, which puts him at a very dangerous spot.

For his level, he was stronger. He can't even tell her that he exchanged Codes for skill points because he can't afford a lot of Codes, and for most Hunters, Codes aren't as readily available.

You could grind a year in the forest and you'll only have a couple of Basic grades and a few Rare grades. He was losing his posture and it was worsening.

"So?" Gwen said that made Allen snap from his thoughts. "Why can't you answer me?"

"Oh, I just farmed a lot," Allen said, chuckling to ease the tension. "I am mostly in the forest and I grind every single day. I am a Hunter for years, so I compiled a lot of Codes to exchange for skill points."

"Oh," Gwen's expression suddenly changed. From a serious look with a sharp stare, to a woman who was widely smiling. "No wonder you look so stressed. Camping in the forest is hard indeed."

"Yeah," Allen smiled. "I'm actually a lot older than I look."

"Oh, you're younger than thirty?" Gwen said, making Allen's smile fall from his face.

"I-I look thirty?" Allen's right eye twitched for a second. "I look that old?"

"Oh," Gwen formed an O with her mouth. "You're twenty… eight?"

"I'm twenty-seven," Allen faked pursed his lips. He was trying to steer the conversation away from the fact that this woman almost debunked him. He was trying to act like a fool and stupid to oppose his serious attitude as The Wandering Trader.

"You don't look a day over twenty," Gwen laughed awkwardly. "I'm actually twenty five, so you're still older than me."

Watching the woman lose her guard made Allen smirk inside. It means that his plan on disarming the woman's peering mind was working, and he was slowly gaining her trust. Of course, he can't possibly make her a client as of the moment, but at least he had learned something more important than spreading his popularity at the moment.

It was to cleanse the bad reputation of The Wandering Trader, or as a lot of people would call him, the Phantom Cunt.