Life Hunter

Arima and Maria separated from Jeil and returned to the reception. Five minutes later, Maria handed to Arima a gray card with his basic information on it. His name, rank… etc.

Apparently, this card was a magic item. The guild could change the information on it at any given time. For example, if a member becomes a wanted man, then the card turns red. The most useful aspect is that the card can be altered by the guild even if the owner is in another country. And because the card is linked to the owner, if he dies the card turns black and the guild is informed.

"The card keeps the record of missions achieved and it is the proof that a mission has been accomplished. When there is a client, you hand the card to him when the mission is finished to mark the end of your job," Maria explained.

"It's a really useful thing this card," Arima admired as he played with the card in his hand.

"Of course," she smiled. "You are now an official member of the guild. You can go upstairs to look for a mission and accept it, but to confirm your success and receive the rewards, it's in this hall."

"Also, the S-quests are on the third floor where the guild branch master is. For now, you can't go there without an invitation. You have to be S-rank to go freely. And finally, to increase your rank, you first have to fill up your mission points and then go through a test. The amount of points you gain for each mission depends on the difficulty. Once you have 200 points you can apply to become an S-rank."

"Thanks for the explanation," Arima nodded and stored his card. He turned around and headed toward the stairs on the side of the hall.

"No problem," Maria said cheerfully.

Arima went up the stairs and opened a door that was at the end of it. Behind was a big saloon. There were tables and bars with a lot of mercs of different builds. On the left side, he spotted a few receptions and five boards on the wall, with some placards on it.

'Are those the requests?' He mused and approached the boards. He soon noticed that there was one board for each class. But there were missions with qualifications needed and others no.

For example, if someone was rank C and wanted to choose an A-rank mission, he could, but he had to pick a task that didn't stipulate conditions. In most cases, it was the client who would want an A-rank mercenary only. The only clients allowed to do that were those giving enough money. Usually, nobles. That's why some high ranked missions could be very easy. Merely because some wealthy people wanted to brag about an A-rank mercenary working for them.

In the end, if a rank below wants to try an A-rank difficulty mission, there's nothing stopping him. But he must then be confident in his ability, or simply a fool.

It is also possible for mercenaries to form groups, but it was quite uncommon because most of the mercs work alone for benefits and to avoid the risks of bad companions. But there are some exceptions like very good friends, lovers, or even family who obviously act together.

Arima didn't think much. There were five classes; E, D, C, B and A. He was already A-rank, so he just began to look at the corresponding tasks. As Maria said, there weren't any S-rank there. He picked a request to exterminate an Orc's nest, giving three points apparently.

'I know the Orcs from the name… but I don't know how it is in this world. I'll have to cultivate myself later. I'll visit a library after this.'

He decided and took the request to one of the receptions. He wished to try a mission to see what kind of monsters there was in this world and wanted to determine how strong they were. It was also to judge his own ability. He was new to this world after all. He had to create a completely new scale and adapt his common sense.

"I'll take this," Arima said to the receptionist.

"Certainly. Your card, please."

She grabbed the card and registered the mission on it before giving it back. "It's done. You have five days to complete this request. It seems that you are new, so keep in mind that after five days, someone else can accept this task if you haven't accomplished it yet."

"Additionally, if you finish the mission and don't report it, the next person who picks the request will take the rewards. Now then, the nest is situated eight miles to the south of the town. It should be easy for an A-rank. Don't forget the subjugation proof. Good luck."

"Thanks," Arima retrieved his card and turned around to leave. When Arima left the building, he immediately looked for a weapon shop. He chose one among many and entered. He walked to the counter and spoke to the old man behind.

"Hello, I'd want some throwing knives. At least ten of them. 12 inches in length, preferably, and there's no need for sheaths."

"Welcome. Sure, we have what you want. Wait a moment," the man went to the back-shop and returned later carrying a carved wooden box.

"Here," he said and put the box on the counter. Arima opened it and looked inside. There were twenty silver throwing knives in there. They were thin with a hole in the handle and the blades were spear-shaped.

He picked up one and made it spin with his finger through the hole before grabbing the blade with the thumb and index. "Well balanced."

"Thanks," the old man replied with a smile.

"How much?"

"Five gold."

Arima nodded, took the coins and gave it to the shopkeeper. "Thank you for your patronage. You can take the box too of course."

"No need," Arima shook his head. He took each knife and placed them in the numerous inner pockets of his coat. It was a clothing made for combat, of course there would be things like that. It was also made with an extremely resistant fabric. To the point that even bullets could barely do anything to him back on Earth.

"Can you tell me if there is a library in this town?" Arima asked.

"Hm, there is one. It's a few minutes of walk from here. More at the center of the town, to the north. You can't miss it."

"I see. Thanks for your help," Arima left the shop and headed toward the south gate of the town. He had decided to visit the library after having destroyed the nest.

When he was out of the town, he rushed to the nest's location by using Wild Spark. When he estimated that he had traveled eight miles, he stopped.

"I'm not sensing anything close," he looked around. "Well," Arima crouched on one knee and placed a palm on the ground. "[Vitae Index] (Life Index)," he chanted and closed his eyes. From his hand, a lot of white lines spread around in all directions like snakes. Each line represented an organism. He could see the figure of the organism that corresponded to each line. This was life magic, pertaining to the same category as healing magic.

"16 matches, 300 meters at 5 five o'clock," he found what looked like Orcs in an instant. He stood up and immediately disappeared into black sparks. He arrived where he had detected the Orcs in only six seconds.

"They're sleeping…" Arima muttered. In front of him, a dozen Orcs were sleeping on the ground next to a cave. He shrugged and stretched slightly. He raised his hand with his thumb and middle finger touching each other.

"[Canetis Extollendam] (Sound Amplification)," he snapped his fingers. The sound resounded strongly for a hundred meters around him.

The Orcs obviously woke up and began to stand up one after the other. They grabbed some wooden clubs as weapons, which were more trunks than anything else though.

Arima observed those Orcs. Their skin was dark green and they were at least three meters tall each. They were kind of fat but possessed an absurd amount of muscles. Finally, their faces were not like pigs' and actually looked a bit humanoid.

One of them locked his eyes on Arima and charged at him. When Arima entered his range, he raised his log, but before he could land a hit, his head was suddenly sent flying.

Arima was holding the unsheathed Karma in his right hand. Even he was startled as he looked at the blade. He just wanted to cut the carotids, but he had underestimated his own sword. He was relieved that he didn't put too much strength in his fight with Jeil. He could have killed him by mistake.

The others Orcs all roared at the death of their brethren. But the first one who made a move was Arima. He charged at the closest Orc and appeared right in front of him, he swung his sword and a second head fell to the ground.

Afterward, six Orcs rushed together toward him. He drew the same number of knives and arranged them into a fan. "[Fulgur] (Lightning)." These knives started generating electricity on their own and Arima smiled before throwing them, each piercing the head of the six Orcs.

When he threw the knives, a big Orc exploited the opening and swung his log horizontally. Arima jumped lightly to avoid the hit and while he was still in mid-air, another Orc did the same move as his comrade.

"[Propero] (Speed-up)," Arima spun in the air like a wheel and kicked the incoming log with the momentum. The trunk crashed on the ground, creating a small depression. Arima landed on it and instantly beheaded the two who attacked him.

The last group of Orcs that didn't attack was frightened and hesitating to move. They were not that smart but they knew it was the end when they witnessed a small human killing them with a chilling smile on his face.

Arima didn't care about their state of mind and continued his onslaught. He returned his blade into the scabbard and took an Iai stance. Immediately, he began to gather magic in his sword. Black strands of electricity appeared around it.

The Orcs were ten meters away as they felt the pressure and tried to follow their instincts to flee. But before they could turn their back to run, Arima unleashed his technique.

"[Aeterna] (Eternal Night)," he swung one more time his sword and a black wave was launched at the Orcs. This crescent-shaped attack cut in half all of the six remaining Orcs.

It was fast and not a single drop of blood was spilled. The attack had burnt the flesh. It also didn't disappear after cutting through the Orcs but ascended and exploded in the air like firework. Arima exhaled and returned Karma to his soul.

He looked around at the corpses. "[Umbra, Manducare]." His shadow grew darker and bigger to finally cover the whole fight zone. Soon after, the dead Orcs were absorbed by the shadow as if they were consumed by a swamp.

"Well, I suppose I have to report this now."

Arima vanished while leaving black lightning behind him. When he left, the place was as empty as if nothing happened there, not even a stain of blood stained the grass. Arima had even covered his traces by habit.

***

"What? You already finished?! An Orc's nest?!" Maria exclaimed. "It hasn't even been an hour since I saw you exit this building!"

"Well, yes… I went and returned, what's the problem?"

"There are a lot of problems…" She retorted and sighed. "Then, can you show me the subjugation proof?"

"Of course. Is there a sort of storage place in the guild? I need space."

"Yes, we have a storage. But why?" She inquired.

"Just lead me there, you'll understand soon enough," he replied and Maria brought Arima to the underground where materials were stored. Arima placed himself at the center of the wide room.

"[Umbra, Exspue] (Shadow, Spit Out)." Once again, his shadow covered the floor, and the corpses of the Orcs emerged.

"Space magic…" Maria was dumbfounded. She knew that space magic was very hard to learn and even more to master. But Arima had used it so easily and he had also managed to store something as large as the Orcs' bodies.

"That's all of it, you can check," he said.

"Oh, yes!" She recovered and began to count and check the bodies. It seems that she was surprised when she saw the six Orcs split in half. "There are 16 of them… all were in the upper class of level 4."

'Upper class? Level 4?' Arima reacted to these words. It seemed that there was a ranking for monsters. 'I'll check that out at the library.'

When Maria finished her work, they returned to the reception.

"The reward is 50 silvers for each Orc slain and since you have brought the bodies too, it will be 10 additional silvers for each. So, your reward is 9 golds and 60 silvers," Maria calculated and gave a pouch to Arima who stored it in his storage.

��Quite lucrative, that would sum up to almost a thousand dollars,' Arima thought. He bid goodbye to Maria and left the guild. After that, he headed straight to the library he was told about.