The Third Day
Ethan had finally cooled off. After all the chaos, the shouting, and the borderline murder threats, he was finally calm again. Well, calm enough.
He made a decision. He wouldn't report Mary anymore. But it came with a price. The law of equal exchange, if you must say.
"From now on, you're studying," he said, like a tired brother who finally had enough. "Everything you should've learned before? You're catching up now. No excuses."
He wasn't even mad anymore. He was just... done. Not knowing about the storage thing wasn't exactly life-threatening. But Ethan didn't want to keep risking his life just to find out later that the whole mess could've been avoided if his partner had opened a textbook once. Just once.
{Author Thought: In her defense, as you'll see later, she really wasn't supposed to be deployed this early. Though, she herself was still the reason she had to leave so soon. Why? Stick around to find out.}
"Seven hours a day? Are you kidding me?" Mary shrieked. "That's worse than torture. You might as well just report me."
"Will do," Ethan replied smoothly, already opening his system window.
"Wait, wait, I was just joking!" Mary yelped, grabbing his arm in a panic. "I'll study! I'll study! No need to report me!"
Ethan smirked. "Atta girl."
Mary let out a dramatic groan but didn't argue any further.
Later that day, while exploring, Ethan stumbled upon a fight. Two Venomtail Scorpions squaring off against three Thunderback Gorillas. Maybe it was a turf war, maybe a food fight. Either way, jackpot.
The scorpions were nasty pieces of work. Quick, twitchy, and loaded with venom that could mess you up real fast. But the gorillas? Absolute units. Built like trucks, with electric-charged fur and fists that looked like they could crush boulders. (Both were D-rank beasts.)
"Who do you think will win?" Mary asked. She was floating beside Ethan, hugging a book titled Beginner Lessons on the Predator System while Ethan crouched in a bush a few meters away from the action.
"Why the sudden interest?" Ethan asked, raising a brow.
"I figured this would be the perfect time for a bet," she said with a mischievous grin.
"I don't do bets with brats," Ethan shot back, expecting the usual dramatic explosion.
But Mary stayed weirdly calm. "Oh? Or are you just scared I'll kick your ass?"
That did it.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. "What's the bet?"
"Now you're talking." She sat down next to him and pointed at the ongoing battle. "I say the gorillas will be the last ones standing. If I win, I get a week off from studying. Deal?"
"You've been studying for, like, an hour. You already need a vacation?" Ethan sighed.
"Well, not everyone is as studious as you are." Mary huffed. "So, you in or not?"
"And if you lose?" Ethan asked, grinning.
"Whatever you want. Except anything lewd, obviously." She winked playfully.
Ethan paused. Whether he was thinking or just recovering from that painfully cliché joke, nobody would ever know.
"If you lose, I get to pick the first item I buy, completely free, no matter how expensive it is. Deal?" Ethan proposed.
Mary hesitated, her expression turning calculative (not the serious kind). Then she shrugged and grinned. "Deal. But no backing out."
"I won't," Ethan said with a matching grin. They both then focused on the fight.
The fight dragged on for nearly an hour. The scorpions struck fast, stabbing and retreating, while the gorillas went full-on brawlers, smashing the ground and anything nearby. It was brutal. Blood, fur, and chitin flew in every direction.
One of the gorillas lost an eye. A scorpion lost a leg. Everyone was bleeding and limping, but no one backed down. But it was obvious the scorpion were in a worse spot because of their lack of numbers.
Mary bounced excitedly like a kid watching her favorite team win. "YES! The gorillas are hanging in there! I'm so winning this!"
"We'll see," Ethan replied with a quick smile.
Then, just as the creatures reached their limit, Ethan suddenly moved.
"Wait—Ethan?! WHAT ARE YOU—"
Too late.
He was already on the battlefield.
In a blur of motion, he moved between the tired beasts. One gorilla, sensing Ethan, raised its fists to crush him. Ethan ducked and slashed upwards. Clean hit. It collapsed with a thud.
The second turned, but Ethan was already there, blade slicing through its neck. The third tried to bolt, panic in its eyes, but he ended it with a burst of fire and a clean sword finish.
Mary stared, her jaw touching the ground like Coyote. {Don't you dare ask who Coyote is!!}
And then it was the scorpions' turn.
Ethan didn't play around here either. He switched to using his ability blaze. {Venomtail Scorpions were weak to fire}
Fire exploded forward in a tight, controlled manner. His control was miles better now, clearly his weeks of training paid off.
The scorpions screeched as they were engulfed in flames. They tried to flee, but they were far too tired. One fell because of the heat. The other, on it's last leg, tried to sting him but barely got close before Ethan's blade ended it.
Silence.
Mary's jaw hit the floor. "WHAT THE HELL?!"
Ethan casually cleaned his sword, Nightbane, with a clean cloth. "You lost. You owe me an item."
"That's cheating! You cheated!" she yelled, pointing dramatically.
"Not cheating. Just a legal loophole," Ethan said with a shrug. "The gorillas weren't the last ones standing, right?"
"Because you interfered!"
"You never said I couldn't," Ethan replied, smirking as he started gathering loot from the fallen beasts.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!" Mary shouted, her frustrated cries echoing through the forest.
The Fourth Day
Ethan spent the whole day searching for just one beast to hunt, but luck clearly wasn't on his side. From the moment the sun rose over the trees, nothing seemed to go right.
He checked all his usual hunting spots, but no luck. He even expanded his search further, but there was still nothing. The entire forest felt weirdly quiet, like something had scared everything off. No birds, no rustling, no distant growls. Just unsettling silence.
"This is so frustrating," he muttered, kicking a loose rock across the path as he scanned the woods. "Seriously, where the hell did all of them go? How could they just vanish?"
"Maybe it's karma for the trick you pulled yesterday," Mary chimed in, floating lazily beside him with her arms crossed.
Right now, Mary's endless commentary was his only company and let me tell you, that wasn't a great thing at all. All day long, she switched between whining about how Ethan had "cheated" in their bet and complaining about how miserable studying was. Though she barely studied for five minutes at a time.
{Heck, even I study for 30 minutes before complaining.}
"I mean, really! Who makes someone study seven hours a day? That's borderline torture!" Mary groaned dramatically. "You should be arrested for abuse."
{Tell it to all the schools and colleges around the world.}
"Feel free to report me. Maybe they'll give me a medal instead," Ethan replied dryly, swatting at a mosquito buzzing around his ear.
Mary puffed her cheeks in protest. "Ugh! If you'd just let me win that bet, we'd both be happy! But nooo, you had to go all 'technicality loophole' on me."
Ethan clenched his jaw. He'd tried his best to ignore her, but it was like trying to ignore a crying child. (Hint: It's impossible.)
For a split second, he even imagined duct-taping her mouth and tossing her down a stream just to get five minutes of peace. Sadly, not possible. Not because he was hesitant to do it, but because it was physically impossible.
***
By the time the sun dipped toward the horizon, Ethan was tired, irritated, and more than ready to throw in the towel.
"Let's just set up camp," he sighed, already turning to head back when something caught his eye. It was a patch of deep red flowers nestled near the roots of a thick tree.
"Bloodthorn Lilies," he said, crouching down for a closer look. A faint smile touched his lips. These were rare, valuable plants known for their healing and alchemy uses. Not exactly a beast, but it was something. "Well... better than going back completely empty-handed."
Mary peeked over his shoulder with a smirk. "Aw, look at you, getting all excited over flowers. Is this what rock bottom looks like now, Mr. Legal loopholes? Or would you like me to call you Mr. Inexperienced Hunter?"
Ethan rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut it. You know it's not that simple."
She chuckled. "Maybe if you actually listened to some advice instead of running around like a lost puppy, you'd have caught something by now."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the wisdom. I heard you the first hundred times," Ethan muttered as he gently tucked the lilies into his storage.
"But did you actually hear me?" she teased, floating ahead of him with a smug grin.
He didn't answer. Just trudged back to camp with a grumble and the sound of rustling leaves beneath his boots. The day had been a total bust—except for the flowers. And while it wasn't much, it gave him a tiny bit of hope that tomorrow might actually go his way.
Hopefully.