Chapter 1- Survive

  Roaarrrrrr!!! an earth-shattering roar resounds across the lush plains. Zeke stood there frozen,

  terrified by the ghastly beast before his eyes. It was over five meters tall and three meters wide. It

  looked like a boar but had the head of a bull and skin like a rhinoceros. Two sickle like horns

  extended from the top of its head nearly a meter long. The most frightening thing to Zeke though

  were its eyes.

  It was a c ranked monster, a demon boar. As he stood there petrified in horror, soaked in his own

  sweat. He couldn’t take his eyes of those three blood red eyes that were arranged in the shape of

  a triangle. As Zeke stood there trembling uncontrollably a fowl stench came out of the creatures

  mouth and hit his nose making him instantly nauseous.

  The first thought he had was. ‘ fuckkkk!! I hate you Karry. Even if I die ill still make sure my

  ghost will haunt you from the afterlife.’ He couldn’t help but think to himself ‘why did ever let

  you bring me here, screw riches, fuck treasures what use is all that shit if I’m dead?’

  ***********************************

  Early morning, the sun shone down upon the upon the nearly barren hill. This hill was situated

  on the edge of a small Village in the Leyman empire. The Leyman empire was built nearly five

  hundred years ago. It was constructed after several dozen pathfinders explored the endless forest.

  The pathfinders paved away the enormous trees with much effort and cleared away any

  dangerous creatures nearby.

  It was a giant project that took dozens of years to accomplish but eventually the Leyman empire

  rose and it has existed ever since. On a corner of the hill was a small crop field. although the

  hill was nearly void of any vegetation in this small crop field various types of grains, fruits and

  vegetables could be found.

  These crops thrived with life serving as a testament to the farmer’s great skill with plants and

  agriculture. In the middle of the field stood a muscular and sweaty youth with short curly

  hair,hazel eyes and slightly tan skin. He was around 1.8 meters tall with a fit build. The man

  walked through the fields, occasionally stopping to check on some crops.

  After making his rounds he turned towards his small but comfortable house and made his way

  over. As he was about to enter his house he heard a voice from the distance. “Zeke!

  Zeeekkkeee!! Wait up”. Zeke paused and looked towards the distance, after a while a figure

  could be seen coming over the hill. She was thin, and had short golden hair that stopped at her

  ears.

  Her eyes were a deep blue color and she had fair skin. she ran closer and closer until she stopped

  in front of Zeke with a giant grin of satisfaction. Even without speaking Zeke could tell from her

  expression what she was clearly thinking ‘I’m truly amazing aren’t I hahaha.’

  Zeke rolled his eyes and knowingly took her bait asking. “ohh Karry, what has you so happy this

  early?” Karry’s grin miraculously got wider as she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out

  a round button the size of a small fist. The button seemed to be made of bronze or copper. It was

  engraved with a picture of a forest in the center. On the left side of the forest lay a barren desert

  and on the right side was a milky white sea.

  Behind the forest stood an all-black mountain that resembled a piece of obsidian that was so

  incomparably tall it seemed to hold up the sky. Right on top of the forest was a small letter f.

  Karry suddenly spoke. “it’s pretty awesome right”? she said fishing for approval.

  Zeke starred at the button confused. “uhh, sure I guess. What is it”. Karry suddenly lost her

  bright smile. “dude, really? It’s the insignia of the pathfinders. This is the proof that I finally

  became a pathfinder” “whaaatt? A pathfinder hahaha you finally succeeded? I guess all those

  years of failure finally paid off?” Zeke said mockingly.

  “humph, let me tell you, with this a new door has opened up for me. I’ll finally be able to explore

  the desolate lands, the door leading to riches, treasures and power has finally come my way. It’s

  amazing, right?”

  Zeke let out a sigh and responded “congratulations Karry, you can finally begin your life as an

  adventurer.” “ahahaha yes yes, the road to glory awaits.” She looked at Zeke and said. “don’t

  Stolen novel; please report.

  worry Zeke you can come with me. We shall embark on the road to riches and fame together.”

  Zeke promptly shook his head. “ uhh no thank you, I’m happy with my life as it is. Bedsides I’m

  not a pathfinder how can I go to such deadly places.”

  “Zeke…you live on a barren piece of land all alone, how can you be happy? Look with this

  insignia I can take you on my adventures. Think about it, wealth, fame, glory treasures can all be

  yours. I’ve just got to register you as my helper and the rest is history” karry looked expectantly

  at Zeke.

  “come on Zeke, it’s always been us two against the world, you’re not going to let me do this,

  alone are you? Plus I promise I’ll definitely protect you so you don’t have to worry about the

  dangers.” she stares pleadingly at Zeke “ pleeease”

  Zeke does his best to stay strong but after a brief period of consideration and looking into

  Karry’s eyes he finally gives in. “you’re so annoying” he mumbles “fine, I’ll go with you but

  only after the harvest period is over, I can’t leave my babies until then.”

  Karry exciterdly yells “ yayyyy, that’s fine I still have a lot of stuff to purchase before we can go.

  We’ll need a storage sack, some weapons, The monster index and other necessities.” After

  expressing her happiness Karry looked to the skies and yelled “look out world, the greatest

  adventuring team in history has just been made. Riches, treasures, fame, here we come!”

  Zeke thought for a moment then asked, “by the way, where exactly will we heading?”

  “ah, I forgot to tell you. Once you register to be a pathfinder there are four categories you can

  choose from” she pointed to the forest on the badge “you can choose to explore the endless

  forest, the scorched plains, the nether mountain, or the milky sea. Each area has their own

  respective dangers but they also have different treasures and different reasons that make them

  attractive to pathfinders” she paused for a moment, as if waiting for him to digest all the

  information before she continued. “the f above the forest means that I’m an f ranked pathfinder

  belonging to the endless forest faction.”

  Zeke took in the information then asked “wait, f ranked?”

  “ uhuh” Karry patiently explained like a teacher to her student “ there are ranks assigned to each

  pathfinder which essentially summarizes their strength, abilities and achievements. It also helps

  in the distribution of missions so a weak pathfinder isn’t given a task that’s basically impossible

  for them to complete. The monsters and certain areas are also classified according to this rank.

  The ranks range from f, which is the weakest all the way to SS which is the strongest.

  Zeke chuckled as he heard this “so essentially you’re at the bottom of the ladder?”

  Karry proudly retorted as if she wasn’t affected by his mocking laugh. “for now, yes, but by

  exploring new areas and discovering new types of species of plants and monsters I can increase

  my ranking.”

  “ok you braggart I get it now, so we’ll be heading to the endless forest, right? Is it dangerous?”

  “of course,” she immediately responded “but compared to the milky sea which has thousands of

  different types of monsters and the nearly uninhabitable scorched plains it’s mildly less

  dangerous”

  Zeke released a depressing sigh “I see, well that being the case I changed my mind, I’m not

  going”

  “come on zeke pleaseeeeeee”

  Zeke tried to resist but after a few moments of looking at that childlike face he couldn’t help but

  give in. “fine but if I die just know that my ghost will haunt you for all eternity”

  “ yaaaayyyy” she excitedly screamed. The duo made their way over to Zeke’s house and

  continued their conversation on the way.

  And that was how the greatest pathfinder team in history began their journey, though neither of

  them realized the impact they would have on the world in the days to come.

  ******************************

  Zeke stared at the ferocious beast in front of him. He noticed the cuts on its body and blood

  dripping from its wound. It was obvious the demon boar had just been in a prior fight. As he

  was panicking and lost in thought he finally heard Karry’s voice.

  “ Zeke!..Zeke! don’t just stand there,..run!” Zeke finally managed to snap back to reality. He

  was about to turn and run when the demon boar bent its mighty limbs and leaped at him with an

  open mouth fully exposing its numerous long and sharp teeth. Zeke quickly rolled to the side. He

  reached for his waist and pulled his sword out of its scabbard. Karry watched as the demon boar

  jumped at Zeke.

  She quickly grabbed her spear and madly rushed at the demon boar “ahhhhhh” she yelled and

  thrust it towards one of the demon boars eyes. It turned its head to the side and used one of its

  horns to parry the spear knocking it to the side. “tink” the sound of metal colliding resounded

  through the forest as the spear fell to the ground.

  The demon boar released a fierce roar and shook its head. Suddenly red-hot flames blew out Its

  nose. Its four hoofs began to glow bright red leaving a fiery imprint everywhere it passed. “shit”

  Karry realized what was happening “Zeke run, it’s about to use its magic.” The duo turned and

  escaped into the distance, they didn’t make it very far when they felt an intense heat on their

  backs. Whoosh, a giant ball of flame quickly rushed towards them. They quickly dove to the side

  barely avoiding this life stealing flame.

  Zeke looked behind them to see the demon boar still chasing. He ignored his fallen sword and

  quickly searched hissurroundings for something that could help. After a moment, he spotted a cliff

  about thirtymeters away. He hurriedly informed Karry.

  “Karry look, there’s a cliff lets run over there. Maybe there’s a stream we can jump into.”

  Without a second though they both got up and resumed fleeing in terror. The more they ran the

  closer the demon boar got. “damn it” Karry spat out in frustration “why the hell is a rank c

  monster in a rank f area? This doesn’t make any sense” she reached into her storage sack and

  pulled out a metal ball.

  “this is meant for rank e or lower monsters but hopefully it can slow it down for a bit.” She

  turned around and threw the ball at its legs then continued running without waiting to see the

  results.

  As the metal ball closed in on the demon boar it suddenly opened up and split into dozens of

  small metal balls that hit its hoofs. The balls exploded upon impact. The force from the explosion

  caused the demon boar that was running to be briefly knocked of balance falling on its side. The

  demon boar immediately got up obviously unharmed by the explosion. It released a loud roar and

  continued to chase after the two.

  The brief fall of the demon boar provided just enough time for Zeke and Karry to reach the cliff.

  As they looked over the side of the cliff their hearts quickly sunk. The cliff was about twenty

  meters from the ground and below was nothing besides rocks and boulders. They’re hope of

  finding a stream to dive in was immediately diminished.

  As they stood there with their only chance of survival now gone dread immediately filled they’re

  hearts. As hopelessness and despair washed over them Karry began sob quietly. Sniff sniff

  “Zeke, I’m sorry I made you come with me, now we’re both going to die just because I wanted

  to find some treasures” Zeke looked at his friend from childhood as she silently sobbed.

  He let out a warm and calming smile “it’s ok, you didn’t make me come I choose to come on my

  own. Besides we may not exactly be dying today. If I remember correctly then according to the

  monster index the reason such a dangerous savage beast like the demon boar is a rank c and not

  higher is because it lacks intelligence, right?” as he spoke Zeke looked at the bottom of the cliff

  then observed the demon boar that was getting closer and closer.

  Karry suddenly understood what he meant she let out a smile and said “yes, that’s right its

  actually, really dumb. Could it be you want to trick it.” Zeke gave her a nod then spoke “wait till

  it gets closer, when I tell you to quickly jump towards the side.” The two firmly agreed on the

  plan and waited for the demon boar.

  Time seemed to slow down as they waited, their hearts were beating faster and faster, getting

  louder and louder until it seemed like the only sound in the world. Ten meters, eight, five, three

  as it passed the three-meter line Zeke immediately yelled “jump” the duo promptly rolled to the

  sides. Shocked the demon boar tried to stop but its fast speed coupled with its large size and

  weight caused it to be unable to reduce its overwhelming momentum.

  The demon boar stumbled over its legs as it rolled over the cliff falling head first. Bang!! The

  sound of a large impact echoed throughout the endless forest as the beast crashed into a huge

  bolder with its head immediately shattering it into pieces.

  The two stared in amazement for a moment before Karry immediately reacted “quick we have to

  find something to throw at it. we’ve got to kill it before it recovers. After a few minutes of

  searching they managed to find large rocks and several stones which they hurled at the demon

  boar.” After nearly an hour of using the demon boar as target practice the once mighty roars of

  it’s turned into desperate whines of mercy and eventually it ceased to make any sounds or

  movements. “hahahahahah, we did it, we actually managed to kill a rank c monster” karry

  excitedly spoke.

  After escaping the clutches of death, she immediately regained her carefree and cheerful attitude.

  “we have to hurry down there, the demon boar is a treasure trove. Its horns, Skin, tendons they’re

  all worth a lot of gold coins. Oh, and it’s magic core too. Zeke that’s a magic core of a rank c

  monster, do you have any idea how much it’s worth?” Zeke shook his head as he watched Karry

  loose herself in her thoughts. He was sure that her eyes had turned to gold coins as she stared at

  the dead beast. They searched the forest and managed to find some tough vines. After finding

  one that was long enough they scaled the cliff and made their way down.