A/n: sorry for the long wait, i couldn't think of anything.
"Pretty comfortable there, ain't ya?"
A man approached from behind, firmly placing the cold steel of a gun barrel against my head.
My previously calm and drowsy demeanour changed in a moment, now it was one of frustration and confusion… and drowsiness. No fear though, I had gone through too much at this point and I was sure I could deal with this.
I was deep in the forest, I tried to go through alleyways, I was sure no one was following me, so this guy did seem to have some skill.
"Speak, nerd." He said. "Or are you frozen in fear like the last kid I rec- killed." I frowned. The man switched his words up, what was up with that?
"I- What the fuck am I supposed to say?"
The man stroked his chin with his free hand and concentrated for a moment, though still kept the gun firmly pressed to the back of my head.
"Yeah, I don't know either- wait!" He stepped around me and pressed the gun on my forehead. "I need you to go where I go. T-to the marine base."
How much of a novice was this guy? If I was a bounty hunter - and had a blatant disregard of human life - I would've just shot myself the second I was in my sights.
A quick [Observe] on his gun revealed that there were no bullets loaded.
My chance of death was shot down to 0.
I took out my gun as quickly as I could and fired a shot aiming downwards, trying to get his thigh, following up with a powerful kick to the gut.
He did not budge one bit.
The bullet was lodged on the outside of his thigh. If he had to guess, the bullet only got through two centimetres of whatever this man was made of before stopping, a small stream of sangria-coloured blood flowed out of the wound, staining the man's jeans.
I felt as if I kicked a brick wall, my foot stung and he just stood there, confused.
Yeah, I should try and run, shouldn't I?
"Look, I'm new at t-this job, if you don't say anything, I can slip you some cash, alright?"
The man shrugged off a fucking bullet, why is he nervous? I holstered the gun, it was clear he wasn't a threat, even if nigh impervious to bullets. If he was a bounty hunter then he would've killed me or knocked me out.
"I'm supposed to test people, usually the ones on t-the back of the newspapers with the tiny bounties. You s-seem okay, so you can join our group." He ripped the bullet from his thigh and held his slightly stained hand out.
A group? What even was it? And why would he join?
"Oh, wait, I forgot," it was almost like he read my mind. "Our group is a coalition against bounty hunter s-scum who massacre people like you."
Good purpose. Shit recruiter.
"I can get behind this," I smirked. "But about this hush money, how much are you willing to pay?"
"Well, maybe-"
I interrupted. "I recently got fired from my old job. 100,000 Is a good price, no?" If he was nervous, I might as well take advantage of it. I presumed they took back money from bounty hunters, so their wallets must be chunky.
Shit, I could've gone higher, it's not hard to put a bullet in some scum brain and then start looting, their pockets were definitely deeper than I initially thought. Though I suppose I shouldn't take advantage of the poor guy, It's better to be the good guy.
He easily handed it over. Just as I expected, it didn't seem to be a vast amount.
Along with the money, he handed me a slip of paper. The man looked at his watch and back at me.
"I have to go now, my name's H-Howard, please check the paper I gave you." Howard turned and dashed away, the second he was gone I realised something.
I was not safe. I had been found here, all alone in this forest, I could've been killed in my sleep. I needed an organization to band under so that we could protect each other from these bottom feeders.
But I don't fault the people who go after big fish, to warrant a large bounty you must've done some heinous shit, fuck em. But I had simply defended myself from a psychopathic farmer.
I opened up this paper Howard gave me and saw that it was a map of an island called Ruza with a red X calligraphed onto an amphitheatre, with a date written next to it.
Looks like I was taking a trip, I hear the weather's nice over there.
-
The weather is shit, it's 26 degrees, too hot, why do people enjoy the heat, I want to live in an igloo, fuck this coalition.
I decided to take the first ferry here, it was about a week before I was meant to go to this amphitheatre, definitely the worst decision of my life. I thought I could check out the sites, eat some of the food from their up-and-coming restaurants and maybe go to a fair or a carnival, but the moment I step outside I feel as if my feet are melting into their cheap leather confines.
I will invent air conditioning. This world hasn't experienced true joy yet, not until my arrival. I am an ambassador for earth and will spread our inventions far and wide throughout this new world. Or just kill some ROBs who sent me to such a shit world and go back home.
I missed home, but to get back, I needed to focus.
I booked a couple of days at a hotel and stayed there, though while I was there, I did try to experiment a little and see how the system would reward physical training.
If my basic understanding of biology is correct, if I work out and damage my muscles, the muscle strands fuse together once healed, creating bigger and stronger muscles. With my speedy regeneration, I must be able to work out and become stronger much quicker than most people in this world.
Or so I thought.
After a couple attempts, I felt no difference and the interface didn't improve my stats, which thoroughly pissed me off as I worked damn hard, but sometimes life is a bitch.
Though I had a second plan in mind if that did not work. I started to shadowbox, trying to envision myself in new and old scenarios and seeing how I could improve. Closing my eyes did help with imagining the scenarios better, but I kept knocking into shit and injuring myself, so I decided against that.
Eventually, my [Close Quarters Combat] skill reached level 3, and I felt good about that, now I know I don't have to go through life-or-death scenarios to increase levels. Though the shadowboxing took an eerily long time to increase my level, and if it only gets harder from now on out - which it will - I'll need to find out new ways to improve that don't try to kill me.
Wiping the sweat off my brow, I stood back up after a few minutes of relaxation and made my way out of the hotel, feeling particularly ravenous.
A news coo flew over to me and hovered, holding a newspaper in its beak, I slipped a coin into its little purse and took the paper, deciding to read it as I ate my dinner.
As I sat down and ordered myself some steak with some of the 100,000 beri that I was gifted, I came across an article that caught my eye
Sommelier Battalion, Vigilante Crusaders or Greedy Mercenaries?
The Sommelier Battalion is a bounty hunter organization which has recently entered the public eye after they took down notorious pirate, Jaks Parrowe. Many skilled combatants and warriors are joining this group, seeking fortune in the form of pirate bounties.
While they do an incredibly good job at their job, taking down miscreants with surprising efficiency, could they be potentially putting the west blue marines out of a job? At the moment they don't seem to cause many problems but if they keep up this rapid growth, who knows what could happen?