Code Collector

What was supposed to be a fun night turned into a state of panic for Allen and his friends. The announcement that blared throughout the entire camp was shocking needless to say. No one expected for such thing to happen.

"Who would do such a thing?" Gwen gasped. "This is so wrong. Drake Nelson is a man who's capable of obliterating an entire country. If he was killed, then the people who did that to him should have done some foul play."

"We don't know anything regariding his death, but I'm sure the other bearers would do something about this," Jack said. He took his coat off of Jeremy's rack and put it on. "I will have a discussion with my group about this. I'm sure that the other gangs would do something now that their biggest obstacle is gone."

Allen bowed slightly at Jack. He turned to his friends who had worried faces written all over their faces. He told them that he was out the other night hunting in the forest, so they told him about everything that happened.

He couldn't believe that in such a short time, he would lose the happiness that they had. They were all laughing just a moment ago, now they're panicking.

"We don't have to do anything," Jeremy said. "We wait for the Bearers' statement. We're not heroes that could do something about this anyway."

"Right," Gwen said, sitting back on the couch. "I think I should go home for tonight. We need to clear our heads about all these."

"Okay," Jeremy nodded. Gary and Sarah followed Gwen outside, leaving Allen and Jeremy in the room. "What will you do now?"

"Nothing," Allen said simply. "I'm not in a position to fight them at the moment. So, whatever happens with them, it's none of my business."

"But you do have to realize that whoever replaces Drake Nelson as the chairman of the Hunters, would directly affect us, right?" Jeremy crossed his arms. "You don't know anything about politics, don't you?"

Allen shrugged, "That thing is too far from me right now. Whatever they do, I don't care. Even if I try to care, I can't do anything about it, so why bother?"

Jeremy rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Let me tell you one thing– actually, a couple of things about Hunter politics. The chairman controls everything in the Otherworlds, and they have a strong and firm power in the actual world government."

"So?" Allen tilted his head, not understanding anything.

"The three most suitable candidate to replace Drake Nelson are the Rat Bearer, Louie Stevens; the Rooster Bearer, Remy Anderson; and the Dog Bearer Carrie Poodle," Jeremy stated. "None of these three have good intentions regarding the welfare of Hunters. All they want is to rise in power."

"So?" Allen tilted his head to the other side. "What does that have to do anything with me? So they control the Otherworlds, I don't care. I'm not someone who's dumb enough to try and fight them even when I'm still this weak."

"Oh," Jeremy paused. "You mean, you're not going to do anything about them?"

"It's not like I won't do anything or I don't want to do something, it's just that I can't do anything," Allen said. "What can I do when I face them? What happened with the Fire Dragon was completely out of luck."

Jeremy sighed again, "Okay then. But I did warn you as your advisor. You should be careful. And from now on, you should consult me for anything."

Allen snorted at this, "Why would I do that? And who appointed you as my advisor? You're merely my assistant. Jeremy, wake up."

"Nye, nye, nye," Jeremy mimicked mockingly. "No more buts and talks. You listen to me, okay?"

"Whatever," Allen rolled his eyes. He took out his phone and realized that it was the day that he was supposed to meet Hilda for the weekly deal. "I have to go for now. I'll tell you the details later, but I'm going to meet with a client."

"A client?" Jeremy asked. "Since when did you have a client that was unknown to me?"

"You're literally the only client I have that you know," Allen snorted. He left the room without listening to more of Jeremy's nagging. It was already night fall, making him late for their appointment.

"Time passes by so quick," Allen groaned to himself. He opened his interface to check out his stats when he saw that he had new notifications that he didn't see.

'Feature unlocked, Jack of All Trades.'

<Jack of All Trades>

When using two weapons at once, the combined effects would deal 12.5% more damage, and the chance of casting more than one effect is increased by 20%.

"Wow," Allen grinned at this. He just finished doing the double weapon effects, and he already have a feature for it. The additional damage would be extremely helpful to him.

The mentioned casting chance refers to the chance that the two effects would be triggered. Since not all effects have 100% cast rate, especially since there are two effects, the skill allows it to increase the chance of the cast rate.

Shoving his thoughts away for the meantime, the boy took out his cloak and his equipment as the Wandering Trader. He was in an alley and he was ready to climb the roofs to reach Hilda's store.

When he got there, the usual silence could be heard. He was in front of the store when he realized that it was empty. For a moment, he panicked, thinking that Hilda betrayed him. The boy looked around and saw the old woman sleeping by the bench near the store.

He walked over to the woman and gently tapped her shoulders, "Ma'am?"

"Whag-What? Who are you?" Hilda woke up in panic. When she saw the familiar wooden mask, her body relaxed into the bench as a sigh escaped her lips. "I'm sorry, I must've fell asleep while waiting."

"No, it was my fault for being late," Allen said. "So, why is the store empty?"

"I moved the store," Hilda said excitedly. She stood from the bench and grinned. "I can finally move into an area where there are a lot more people. The Codes you gave me were all high in demand, some even want to order."

"That's great," Allen smiled. "We can have orders now, but the price is doubled."

"They're willing to pay," Hilda said immediately. "Some of them were the sons and daughters of my late husband's comrades. He was a casino maniac, and the people there knew of him. When they heard about my small business, they visited me and they became fond of our Codes."

Allen pursed his lips, "What? Really?"

"Yes!" Hilda cheered. "Where do you get such diverse Codes, young man? Not all of these were found in the areas nearby."

"I just stroll around camps," Allen said. Although he wasn't lying, he was guilty by the fact that he couldn't reveal anything to Hilda. The woman was nothing but kind to him, and he was there, keeping his identity from her.

"That makes sense," Hilda nodded slowly. She took out an envelope from her pocket and offered it to Allen. "Here is this week's pay. I know you don't need this, but I won't be comfortable just taking the Codes."

Allen snickered and took the envelope. This made the old woman smile and nod. The boy shook his head and offered his hand so he could give her the week's worth of Codes.

"Sooner or later, we'll be going to sell a Grand grade Code," Allen said after transferring six Basic grade Codes, and four Rare grade Codes.

"What do you mean?" Hilda asked. "Are you planning on expanding more?"

"Expansion is inevitable," Allen sighed. "If you get to have a customer with a parent that has a high status, tell me right away. I'll be the one who will talk to them and see if we can negotiate for a deal."

"I don't have your number…" Hilda slowly said. "And us Hunters can only have one number, so if you tell me yours, I'll be able to know who you really are."

"I don't care about such petty detail such as that," Allen chuckled. He took the woman's wrist and took her inside her store. Even when she wasn't selling there anymore, the door was unlocked. Allen then stretched his body. "After these couple of days, I have realized a lot of things.

"If I want to build trust in people, I should be fully transparent to them," Allen said. He placed his hand over his mask and grinned. "But even my face was hidden to you, what kind of person could I be?"

Allen was about to take his mask off when Hilda placed her old calloused hands over his. "You don't have to prove anything to me, young boy. I trust you. You can just come back next week to see if I made a deal or not."

"But–"

"No buts," Hilda smirked. "I trust you, please know that."

Her words were similar to Jeremy's, and it made Allen's heart flutter. He was no happy. He had new friends that he could rely on.