Chapter 37: Introduction to Hunting Domains!

On his way to school, Frank met with Harumi in the train station today too, although she was as untalkative as ever, she asked if Frank had done his homework…

"There was more homework?!" asked Frank.

"Idiot… We are going to a very prestigious school, do you think that the teachers would not shower us with homework? And it was language this time. Sigh, I know that you go to Matsuo's place, but even then…" asked Harumi.

"You're right… Harumi… could you…?" asked Frank.

"Okay… But you will own me two then" said Harumi, as Frank managed to get the opportunity to copy her homework whenever they were to get inside the classroom.

The next trip on the train was peaceful and quite quick, and by browsing through news pages or Twitter, Frank saw more reported cases of people killed by the mysterious assassin, it was often one person per day…

In such a vast city as Tokyo, where a large amount of the population of Japan was, one death per day in a small neighborhood was nothing to care or sweat about, and the people of Japan, that was often too detached from other people's problems, couldn't care less.

However, for someone like Frank, who had gotten information of who this assassin truly was, as someone from the underworld, he could not help but clench his teeth a bit.

"How can… How can the families of the underworld around here let this guy do as he pleases…?" Frank thought as he decided to ease his thoughts by glancing at other news, such as those of games, or by watching whatever stupid video youtube recommended him.

Reaching the classroom, Frank once again greeted Matsuo, and quickly sat down on his seat, beginning to copy everything at an even more impressive speed, which Matsuo and Harumi noticed more this time.

"What?! Did he just get like three times faster out of the sudden?! This guy… is he developing every day? Perhaps his Ability is a Growing-type one?" wondered Matsuo as he glanced at Frank's superhuman feat, which seemed completely normal to Frank.

"He's fast… He was not this fast two days ago… He might be more than a simple Healer," thought Harumi.

When Frank finished copying the homework, the chemistry teacher came into the classroom as the boring classes began. Everything was just as boring as always, but Frank made sure to put some attention into them… since he leveled and awakened a Mana Core, his mind seemed sharper and clearer, and he even began to feel as if the things he learned remained on his headway longer than before.

"No way, did I get a bit intelligent? Nah, I am still rather stupid… It is more like my mind just got better," thought Frank, he was rather humble.

Frank had imagined that the increase in level not only brought increased reflexes, speed, or strength, but also a clearer, faster, and sharper mind. Although there were no 'Intelligence' or 'Wisdom' Stats on his System, he assumed that these things might be related to his Mana Points (MP) and Magic stats… As it was often Intelligence and Wisdom that increased the power of these two, so he thought that, perhaps, it might be the reverse case, having MP and Magic enhancing these traits on his head.

The hours went by as lunchtime came. As always, Harumi decided to go elsewhere while Frank remained at Matsuo's side while enjoying their lunch together.

"So, wanna come to my place now? I think I can handle time to introduce you to more facilities, we can also begin a quick exploration in a small Magic Domain where monsters appear, so you can grind some materials and Magic Crystals" said Matsuo.

"Magic Crystals?" asked Frank.

"Ah, don't you remember the explanation I gave you? Well, I guess it was quite vague now that I think about it… Anyways, Mana Crystals are the condensed Mana within a monster, it often also serves them as an inner organ similar to a heart, but instead of blood, it pumps mana across their bodies, giving the monsters all their fantastical powers, magic, or superhuman strength" said Matsuo.

"(So they're similar to Terra's Mana Cores… But I guess people do not use these to cultivate or anything like that, but as resources for magical items and many other things, I would assume, similarly to some other settings, or well, Terra itself. The difference is that perhaps on Earth, the use and application of such energy sources is way more advanced…) I see, so that is how it is. Do those cost a fortune? Are they used for like all magical things?" asked Frank.

*Reminder! Texts between these () mean that it is an inner thought, and not spoken words!

"Oh yeah, you're really smart. You guessed it right, Frank. Magic Crystals are used for a variety of purposes, the higher their grade, the more useful and costly they are. Without them, making magical items would be awfully hard… Despite the existence of many exceptional mages in the underworld, magic crystals facilitate everything… This ring of mine is also made through them, alongside many other materials and well, magic spells and such. Although they might be mass-produced and sold in batches in the underworld, they're still a work of art on their own…" said Matsuo.

"I see… Can I make money if I gather a ton?" asked Frank.

"Yeah, essentially you would be working for us the moment you begin hunting monsters. The contract says that you have to sell everything to our clan though, but do not worry, you will get well paid for it… You can choose between real money or contribution points, which you can exchange for various things in the tinker shop of our clan" said Matsuo.

"Ah… So I'm already beginning my labor, huh? Anyways, how can I know how many contribution points I will have? Are they like little coins or something?" asked Frank.

"Hey, that's quite an intelligent question too! But no, contribution points are not physical, but you can check how many you got through the crest you got from our clan, by simply touching it, a small amount of information, similar to a floating scroll, should appear in front of you, it says how many contribution points you got alongside your general information, like your age, and such, try it" said Matsuo, as Frank touched the crest as he was asked to.

Flash!

A small, magical, and transparent scroll appeared before Frank's sight. The floating scroll revealed his name, age, birth, and many other things that he did not even remember saying… this was truly some kind of advanced magic that could even extract personal information with ease.

"Woah, now this is convenient… (Although I hope I can see them in my status window later on…)" said Frank.

"Isn't it? Hehe" said Matsuo with a prideful chuckle over his family's clan.

Break time was over as the class students resumed their studies until quite late in the day when classes were finally over. Frank had contacted his family and told them that he would be getting a bit later there than other days, as he needed to be introduced by Matsuo to the special 'Hunting Domains' as he called them.

Reaching the territory of the monk clan and after entering the large tower while greeting many other clan members, Frank was introduced to the Hunting Domains by being shown a large and spacious hall inside the tower.

It was clearly a distorted and expanded space, as such space would not be possible to exist inside such a stretched tower. The hall was made of wood and decorated with many beautiful statues and monoliths, each one seemed to be near a door in the vast hall, which seemed to represent the Hunting Domain behind the door.

"Okay, so here we are. Each of these doors is Hunting Domains, we are going to the newbie one because, despite your good reflexes, you're still a shrimp" said Matsuo, opening the first door which had a monolith resembling a tiny green man with a small horn on its forehead while wearing a small loincloth and carrying a wooden club.

"This is the Goblin Hunting Domain… Well, you see, Monsters are divided into various Ranks depending on their strength. These goblins are all Rank 1, so they are ideal for a newbie like you that is still developing its abilities…. Of course, we are not in a game so by simply killing monsters you will not simply get stronger out of nowhere! But the repeated practice of your abilities will, you are a healer, but I want you to be also prepared for any situation, so here, I will lend you this thing," said Matsuo, giving Frank a short, small silver-colored spear with a yellow-colored crystal stuck into the tip.

"A spear… it looks a bit like Gwendolyn's…" thought Frank.

"That spear works both as a melee weapon and as a staff, which will enhance your magic by a bit when conjuring spells… I've wondered for a long time if you're good with offensive magic too… Oh, look at that, a little friend is right behind you, think fast!" said Matsuo, as Frank glanced behind him as a tiny, green-skinned man with a bald head and a long nose and sharp ears appeared within the vast forests of this Hunting Domain behind the doors of the hall, carrying a wooden club.

"Gyaaarrr!" it laughed maliciously, as it directed its club towards Frank's head!

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Author's Note: If you like the story please give any powerstone you could spare, if we reach a nice number there will be bonus chapters at the end of the week, it all depends on you!

Thank you very much for reading!