Chapter 18: Last Minute

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Last Minute

Jason found the bench across from the Association building, spear resting against his shoulder, and pulled out his phone to test the login slip Talia had handed him.

The portal loaded slower than he expected, a plain interface that looked like it hadn’t been redesigned since whichever decade the Hunter Association first decided cultivators needed a website.

’Function over form I guess.’

He scrolled through the main menu.

GATE LISTINGS

RAIDING PARTIES SEEKING MEMBERS

CONTRACT POSTINGS

CORE AND MATERIAL EXCHANGE

He tapped the exchange listings first, mostly out of curiosity, and found a scrolling catalogue of prices that made him do a slow, silent recalculation of everything he thought he knew about the market.

F-Rank cores, three hundred to eight hundred pounds depending on clarity. E-Rank cores climbing steeply past that. Monster hides listed by species and condition, a wolf-type pelt going for a modest sum, something labeled beetle-type carapace, cracked commanding more than he expected for what amounted to broken armor plating. Further down, a listing for bones, ground and whole both, apparently useful in certain alchemical preparations he didn’t fully understand yet but made a mental note to look into later.

’People pay real money for monster bones. Of course they do. Why wouldn’t they.’

He filed that thought away for later and moved to the raiding parties tab instead, scanning down a list of open postings sorted by Gate rank.

D-Rank parties wanted experienced members only, most of them requiring at least Second Level cultivation and prior clearance history. C-Rank postings were way too far above his paygrade. F-Rank and E-Rank listings sat lower on the list, shorter on requirements, longer on desperation.

One entry near the bottom caught his eye, timestamped less than ten minutes ago.

[URGENT: E-Rank Gate. Party of four seeking one additional member. Last-minute cancellation. Departure within the hour. Location: 1.2 miles from district branch.]

Jason stared at the listing for a long moment.

’E-Rank. Above my registered clearance. Also apparently desperate enough to take whoever shows up in the next hour.’

He weighed it the way he weighed most things, quickly but not carelessly.

’I need the money. Groceries and medication don’t negotiate on price, and neither does rent on time I don’t currently have to spare waiting for something safer to come along.’

’I also need to actually test this. All the cultivation in the world doesn’t mean much until I know what my body actually does under pressure, and a controlled dive with three other people watching my back is a considerably better place to find that out than an unregistered brawl with something crawling in through a bedroom window.’

’F-Rank clearance for an E-Rank Gate is a stretch. Not an impossible one, though. People take stretch assignments constantly, especially on short notice, when the party’s willing to accept the risk.’

He thought of Novaria, briefly, of what she’d say if she knew he was considering this less than a day into holding a registration card.

’She’d tell me to be careful. She wouldn’t tell me not to go. She’s spent her whole life doing exactly this kind of math herself.’

He tapped the listing.

APPLY TO JOIN PARTY

A short form loaded, requesting his registration number, rank, and a brief note to the party lead. He filled it in plainly, no embellishment, no attempt to oversell himself.

Jason Veryon. F-Rank, First Level, dual affinity. Available immediately.

He hit submit before he could talk himself into overthinking it further, and settled back against the bench, spear across his knees, half expecting to wait.

He didn’t wait long.

[Application accepted.]

[Party Lead: Reeve Calder has approved your request.]

[Meeting point and details sent to registered contact.]

Jason blinked at the screen.

’That was fast.’

A short profile blinked open beneath the notification, giving him a quick outline of the other three members already committed. A tank, a ranged caster, a support specialist, and now him, filling out what had apparently been a thin roster before his application landed.

’Desperate enough to take a fresh F-Rank sight unseen. Good to know standards are exactly as low as I hoped.’

He pushed himself up off the bench, spear settling comfortably against his shoulder, and pulled up the map coordinates attached to the meeting point.

A mile out. Manageable on foot, faster by taxi.

’Guess I’m doing this today, then.’

He typed a quick message to Novaria before he lost the nerve to send it, something brief and deliberately understated, meant to inform rather than alarm.

Got accepted into a raiding party. E-Rank Gate, short notice. Should be back by evening.

Her reply came back almost as fast as the party’s acceptance had.

You just registered and you’re going for an E-Rank Gate?. Explain yourself when you get home. Also, don’t die. I only just got used to having someone in the house.

Jason huffed a quiet laugh, pocketed the phone, and started walking toward the coordinates, the weight of the spear against his shoulder feeling steadier with every step.

’Don’t die. Noted. Adding it to the list of things I’m already trying very hard to do.’