Read Part of Mine :: Chapter 10 – Encounters

When David caught up with Luci he found him surrounded by other employees. Luci was uncomfortable, trying not to act rashly.

“I have never seen such a thing!!”

“He looks like a real human, I wouldn’t realize if he walked past me.”

“We got 2 S-classes in one day. This is a once in a lifetime experience.”

When Luci became aware of David, he crawled through people and hid behind him. “Those people, they are out of their minds!! Let’s get out!” He said it using the link.

David was laughing at his actions.

When they realized David was also here, employees crowded around him.

“Omg!!! the way he hides behind his summoner, he’s so cutee!”

“S-classes are scary, but you are so kind!! Can I get a signature? I will be your first fan!”

“Hey, I was his fan even before he got ranked. I’m the first one!”

“Can we get a picture together? I want to show it to my daughter, she’s a fan of S-class hunters.”

David felt overwhelmed by the crowd. “Yes, we can. Let’s have a picture all together!!” He smiled warmly while everyone was trying to get their phones out.

While they taking pictures, a man entered the building. His hair was completely grey, indicating he’s probably in his late fifties. He took out his sunglasses and put on his normal glasses. The entire hall was empty. “This is weird.” He thought. Normally hall would be full of workers, but no one was around. He walked a little bit and heard voices. There was a large crowd. His eyes caught on a young man with red eyes walking away from the crowd.

It was Luci. He somehow managed to get out. He took a deep breath and fixed his clothes. When his eyes met the old man's, he stepped back a little bit.

<A-rank>

He looks like a researcher. So, there are hunters who work in normal jobs, huh. Luci thought. After realizing he had looked at the person for too long, he switched his gaze and started walking to the door.

“Hey, you.” It was the old man.

This is a bother. I don’t wanna get into a conversation with anyone anymore. Luci thought. “Yes?” Luci replied.

Before the old man opened his mouth, David came out of the crowd and caught up with Luci. He turned to the crowd, “I’m sorry, guys. But we need to leave now. Luci is not used to being surrounded by this many people, yet.”

“Oh, sorry, we couldn’t think of it.”

“We got a little bit too excited, sorry Mr. Blake!”

David smiled warmly at the employees. Then he realized the old man was watching him. The crowd also realized his presence and got silent.

“Can I learn what is going on here?” Old man asked.

A young man from the crowd came out. “This is David Blake. He is classified as an S-class awakener today. We get a little too excited about his never-seen skill before…” He turned to David. “This is Stephen Harrington. He’s the head researcher of the Crack Hunter Association.”

David lifted his arm up. “Nice to meet you, mister.”

Harrington was watching David during the instruction. An S-class? He’s acting like a B-class? Are we sure there’s no mistake? His eyes locked on Luci. He’s an S-class for sure. He thought.

David held his hand in the air for a while, but he didn’t receive a handshake back. He lowered his hand when he realized Harrington was staring at Luci. “This is my summon Luci. I have a monster taming style ability.” He smiled awkwardly, but the man standing before him didn’t answer. He decided to keep talking anyway, but Luci stopped him.

“Let’s get out. Or I’m gonna blow up some heads.” Luci’s red eyes were shining, and he was emitting a strong aura that created a large pleasure around them. Employees remembered that the person before them was actually an S-class, and there was no joke. Some of them stepped back while a few walked away in fear.

David was watching Luci during this. “See you guys later, since I will be around.” He smiled awkwardly while pushing Luci to the building’s entrance.

“You call yourself S-class? You can’t even control your arrogant summon. That monster shouldn’t walk around like this. You impersonating a mindless creature and introducing it like a human being. What a joke.” Harrington said.

Luci was ready to jump on that man. His right arm was surrounded by fire, getting ready to attack. But then he stopped. Took a few steps back. It was the same, the same look he saw in the crack.

David wasn’t smiling anymore. There was no emotion on his face. “Do not intervene.” His voice was cold. Luci couldn’t even move and stood frozen solid while David walked back to the crowd.

“Say it to my face.” David was standing before Harrington.

Harrington felt like his heart got squeezed in every breath of his. That wasn’t a type of skill, he was just standing before him. Doing nothing but watching him with his deep green eyes. Harrington couldn’t lift his head up. But deep down, he knew that man was watching him.

“The thing you said from my back. Say it to my face.”

Harrington’s entire body trembled after every word of his. Forget lifting his head, he wasn’t even able to breathe normally. Then he felt cold fingers around his throat. Fingers squeezed his throat and lifted him up. A face with no emotions or another, and deep green eyes. He didn’t even fight back, just waited. That was it. This is where his life ends.

“I lifted you up because you weren’t even hearing my words or looking into my eyes. Our eyes are at the same height right now. Aren’t they? I think you can hear me now.”

Everyone around just stood still and watched. Deep down, every single one of them knew the fact that S-classes are super dangerous and can kill hundreds in seconds. David’s friendly behavior caused them to forget this simple fact. There were no voices around. Just a deep silence.

Luci shook himself up and decided to step in. When he tried the take a step, he felt a deep pain in his left eye. Where his mark is located. David’s words from before they were an order. First ever order David given to him. There was nothing he can do but obey and watch.

“Say it. Or…”

Tears flowed from Harrington’s eyes, he repeated. “You call yourself S-class? You can’t even control your arrogant summon. That monster…”

David’s grip got tighter. “Keep on.”

“That monster…shouldn’t walk around…” He was barely breathing. His face started to turn purple.

David let out his throat. And he fell to the ground. Even his throat was loose, he couldn’t breathe.

“You can tell anything about me, anything you want. But don’t even dare to open your mouth about my summons. Or else, you wish to die here.” He walked away slowly and stood before Luci. “Do you want me to kill him?” He could’ve spoken through the link, but he chose to tell it out loud. He wanted everyone around them to hear him.

“No. I don’t wanna kill him either.” Luci replied.

David was returned to normal. There was even a small smile on his face. He turned to the crowd. “Sorry, I got angry for a second.” He smiled awkwardly and turned his back. He didn’t want to see other people’s reaction. David walked to the door and exited the building. Luci followed him.

...

“I’ve put up quite a show, aren’t I?”

“I bet that man peed himself.” Luci was smiling, pointing out that he’s in a good mood. “Even I'm scared of your actions, not going to lie. But it’s a good thing that showing your bad side sometimes.”

“I’m an S-class too. Even how much I try to keep my sanity together, it will break at some point. I guess?”

David’s phone vibrated. It was a message from an unknown number. The messages included digital copies of the hunter education books. “I guess it's Carter’s number.” At the end of the messages, there was a location. “Hmm… That’s interesting.”

Luci came closer to David and checked the thing David had been looking at. “Mall of Hunter’s, huh. It looks like a huge mall that sells hunter equipment.”

“Yeah. It’s pretty close, too. Wanna check it together?”

“Okay. Let’s go and look.”

...

David couldn’t help but be disappointed when they arrived at the location. The building looked like a normal mall. “Maybe it looks better inside?” David said out loud.

When they arrived at the door, 2 guards were checking hunter licenses.

<A-rank> <A-rank>

“A-classes, huh. I bet there are more awakeners inside.” Luci pointed out while taking out his hunter's license.

“Can I see your licenses?” One of the guards asked.

“Yeah sure.” David handed out both of them.

The guard who took the licenses stood speechless for a second and called the other guard, and showed him the licenses.

“Both of you are S-classes?”

“Yeah, we got our license today.” David replied.

Guard smiled and gave them back. “Good luck on your new job. We all believe in you guys.”

David smiled awkwardly and entered the building. Luci tilted his head and nodded. Followed David to the inside.

<B-rank> <B-rank> <B-rank> <C-rank> <A-rank> <D-rank> <D-rank> <B-rank> <B-rank> <C-rank> <A-rank><B-rank> <D-rank> <D-rank> <C-rank> <C-rank> <B-rank> <A-rank> <B-rank> <B-rank> <D-rank> <D-rank> <C-rank>

“Stop, please!! This was a mistake.” David cried out loud.

“Instead of activating it once, focus on a set number of entities and check their rank. It would work better.” Luci was checking David’s condition. “Looks like it overcooked your brain.”

“Maybe… But it didn’t change the fact that this place is awesome. First things first, we need some equipment for the crack hunts. I’m assuming you don’t plan to fight with everything with your punches.” David checked the signs and started climbing the stairs. “It says weapons are on the 3rd floor.”

When they arrived on the weapons floor, they saw an entire exhibit of weapons. There were swords, axes, knives, bows, and many different kinds of weapons on the tables. People around were checking them while chatting with the sellers.

“I don’t remember how I used to fight. Still, I prefer daggers over swords. I think.”

“I will look at the swords. Since I have a relatively large build, I believe that I can swing one. You can just look around and decide. You already know how much money is in my account, so you can get anything that I can afford.” David extended a credit card to Luci.

Luci took the card and examined it a little bit. “Okay, if you lose each other, we can use the engineer skill thing, so… I will be going this way.”

"Yeah, see you!" David waved his hand after Luci.

...

Luci walked around the exhibit until his eyes caught on the daggers. There was a large collection of them with various colors, shapes, and rarities.

<C-rank> <C-rank> <B-rank> <C-rank> <C-rank> <D-rank> <D-rank> <B-rank> <B-rank> <C-rank> <A-rank><D-rank> <D-rank> <B-rank> <C-rank> <C-rank> <D-rank>

His eyes locked on the A-class dagger. He held it in his hand and weighed it. It had a blue handle with a dark blue pattern on it.

“Are you interested, sir? It is one of the best-quality daggers I have. We think it’s a high C-rank, it may even be an B-rank.”

“You can’t say it's exact rank? Luci asked.

“Telling the exact rank is almost impossible by looking. There are only 5 machines that can rank weapons; ranking every one of them is impossible.”

“How much?”

“7500”

“Deal.” Luci extended the card to the seller. His eyes caught the belts at the back of the seller. “I also buy one of those.”

“Oh sure. It makes 7550.” The seller took one of the belts from behind and gave it to Luci. After he takes the payment from the card. “Have a nice day, sir.”

Luci wore the belt and put the dagger in one of the segments. While he walking, he got startled by a notification.

<S-rank>

There was a huge pile of old, rusty daggers. He searched for the source of the notification. After a bit of searching, he found a dagger in pretty rough shape. Despite all the rust, it was definitely an S-rank.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” It was the seller. He had a sinister smile on his face. “It’s definitely one of the best daggers I have. We can bargain on the price if you want. It's 300000 normally, but I can lower it to 289000 just for you.”

Luci’s eyes caught on the price tag, which said ' 50 per item’.

“The sign says something different. Are you trying to fool me?” Luci replied.

The seller took the tag and hid it. “My clumsy coworker left that here. If you are not interested, get lost. I have other customers.”

Luci looked around himself, but there was no one.

“Hey, Luci!” It was David; he was speaking through the link. “I’m around the corner, come here.” Luci left the dagger and walked to David’s location.

“Do you really want it?” David asked.

“Yeah, but it’s pretty expensive. That man wouldn’t even know it’s worth until I get interested in that item.”

“Leave it to me. Just stay here and watch. I know how to deal with predators.” David walked to the seller while Luci watched him with a confused look.

“Hey, mister! Can you give me one of those bags?” He showed the paper bags behind the counter.

“Sure. Are you interested?”

“Yeah, I’m actually a summoner-type hunter. My little slime likes eating rust. So, I’m gonna buy them all!” David showed the pile of daggers. He was smiling. The smile was fake, but it was enough to fool the seller.

“Okay, here you go.” Seller extended a paper bag.

David opened the bag and filled it with rusty blades. While doing it, he also took the dagger that Luci had been interested in. After filling the bag, he asked: “How much? I took around 50 of them.”

“500 would be enough.”

“10 per blade? Oh, I must be on my lucky day!”

“They are useless. Since they are low level, no one would try to fix them so…”

After making the payment, David returned to the Luci. Luci was both confused and impressed. David found the dagger Luci wanted in the bag and threw the rest into the nearby bin.

“Okay, I’m not gonna lie. This was smart.” Luci burst out a good laugh after that.

David was smiling too. But this time, it was a real one.

...