Code Collector

After his conversation with Jake, Allen was taken to Jake's armormy. Apparently, the rich boy had been hiding his father's equipments for years.

Allen watched the darkness in Jake's eyes as he explained how he would blame the employees for the theft. Just when he thought the rich blonde boy was a psychopath after their first conversation, it turns out Jake was a much darker person.

They were walking in a long hallway with light green walls. Everything in the house was green and every corner and every available space always had a plant in it.

Allen saw Jake's living room. There was a giant tree in the middle that reached up to all the floors. They were now in the third and last floor of Jake's mansion and the glass dome that was made to cover let the tree get as much sun was clear as day as Allen watched it in awe.

"You have never been in a mansion before?" Jake snickeredz trying to tease the other boy.

"Actually, no," Allen scratched the back of his head. "It's my first time in a fancy place like this in my life."

"Oh," Jake said, suddenly regretting his teasing. He shook his head suddenly, trying to figure out why he felt guilty towards the boy. "We're almost there."

The next few seconds between them was filled with silence. They continued to walk the seemingly endless green hallways until Jake finally stopped.

"Here we are," Jake said, opening the door to his armormy. The large double doors was made of acacia that Jake said he himself grew. "You pick the equipment you need. Be it armor, weapon, or trinkets."

Allen gasped after he entered the mansion. It was a giant room that composed half the size of the entire floor. The equipment were placed in stands that looked like a short circular column. Each of the items was covered with a glass casing that had soft gold-covered corners.

"H-How many should I take?" Allen asked. "Like, three?"

"You can take as many as you want," Jake said. "I have to make sure my pawn is well fed. After all, you're my key to ascending."

"Why don't you just buy Codes from the black market?" Allen found himself asking. "I mean, now that I saw all these I'm more than willing to do our deal, but why can't you?"

"No company is innocent. Let me tell you that," Jake said. He found an empty stand and sat crossed legged in it. "The Summers Group has connections in all tentacles of businesses in the world. You think I can just buy shit in the market?"

"Why not use pawns?" Allen quirked his brow up. "You're good at that."

"Touchè," Jake smirked. "But no. You don't know how the market goes. I was only able to take these equipment because they're only equipment. My father knows about all these along. But Codes? He will not let anything slip past his eyes. He will do whatever he can to make sure I don't ascend."

"You're weird," Allen muttered, walking around to select his equipment.

It was at that time when he realized that he had notifications that are yet to be opened. He opened his interface and read the notification logs.

The notification logs was a feature that enables the Hunter to see the notifications in case they missed the voice. It was thoughtful of whoever or whatever was in the Otherworlds that designed the Hunters system.

'Swamp Skull Hoarder killed. +50 EXP.'

'Sunshine Lion killed. +200 EXP.'

'Sunshine Lion Code gained.'

'First Grand-grade beast killed. 2000 EXP is rewarded.'

His eyes widened. His ear was ringing after the lion's death that he didn't fully understood the notifications he heard. The lion wasn't a Rare grade after all. It was something that shouldn't be in that world.

[ Child of Pride ]

Type: Skill

Grade: Grand

Effect/s: (1) Active - Increases movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds (decreases over time)

(2) Active - The user will gain a shield that absorbs 50 damage that lasts for 3 seconds.

(3) < LOCKED > Passive - For every 10 meters of sprinting, the user will gain 0.001 permanent movement speed.

His eyes could only widen after hearing the description of his new Code. Allen anticipated an overwhelming strength, but this Code was beyond his expectations.

Among the three effects, the last one intrigued him the most. It says that it will permanently increases his movement speed. So, ther will come a time that he will become very fast. The units weren't in percentage, but he was still lucky to have a passive skill that stacks on to his speed whenever he runs.

It was just that the skill has a big yellow < LOCKED > tag in it. The skill was also grayed out, meaning it was indeed locked. He was also curious as to why this skill chose to show the description of the third effect unlike the Snake's Code that was filled with question marks.

Just when he thought he knows a lot about Codes, the world proved him wrong. There were a lot of things that were kept from them by the ones in the higher worlds.

Although he was slightly disappointed on how the third effect was locked, the first two weren't bad either. An increase in movement and a shield is something that he should be grateful for.

The EXP he gained after killing the lion helped him a lot too. It was the first Grand-grade beast that he killed so he was rewarded with additional EXP. His level jumped after that spike.

He was about to hover and check on his Inventory when Jake popped out in front of him. "What took you so long?"

"I was just looking around," Allen excused, closing his interface and pretending to look around. "I think I will decide on equipment first. What do you think fits me?"

"What's your role?" Jake quirked his brow up. Allen stared at him blankly, making the blonde boy contort his face. "You don't have a role yet?"

"A role can be selected when you reach Level 10," Allen said. "You should probably know–"

"Hold up!" Jake pointed his palm on Allen's face. "You're not Level 10 yet?!"

Allen slowly shook his head, looking away in embarrassment. "I'm sorry if I level up too slow."

"That's not what I meant," Jake scoffed. "I know we all have our own time or some sh*t, but then how come you defeated those two beasts?!"

"I got lucky," Allen lied. Although he was indeed lucky that the swamp stick beast was around to weaken the lion, it was his hammer that killed the beasts. "A question though."

Jake was staring at Allen. Although the blonde boy wasn't short, with a height of 5'10, Allen's over six foot stature made him look up. "How come you defeated those beasts? I swear those weren't ordinary Rare grades."

"That," Allen intejected. "How come there's stronger beasts than others when they have the same grade? I don't quite understand."

"Low ranks," Jake retorted, rolling his eyes. "Look, how you killed those beasts is none of my business anymore. And to answer your question, that's because like us, beasts also undero leveling up of some sorts."

"But they only have six grades total. How come that happens?" Allen asked, tilting his head to the side. He had a deeply confused face that annoyed yet amused Jake for some reason.

"How much of a Hunter are you that you don't know the grade ranks?" Jake pursed his lips. "We have a Basic, Rare, Grand, Sacred, Divine, and Celestial right? In each grade has the ranks of C, B, A, S, SSS, and X, C being the weakest and X being in the verge of Grading Up."

"Grading Up…" Allen repeated. "Like leveling up?"

"More like ascending for us," Jake clarified. "Some beasts would reach, say Rare-X grade and reaches Grand-C grade. They will stay in Haven for a bit more time before they ascend to Paradise. How? No one knows. Scientists and researches had spied on them but the beast just vanishes."

It was then that everything was clear for Allen. The lion he killed was in the verge of ascending to the Second World.

"You really don't know sh*t, don't you?" Jake gave Allen a sad, yet secretly fake, smile. "Schools and textbooks only teaches you history and all that sh*t. But experience will teach you everything else. It's the best teacher."