Chương 1: Joining The Hunt
I have already published a Chat Group story, but the story doesn't really have that much of a solidified world-build for my character. Therefore, I want to try again in this fanfic. I might return and update the other Chat Group story at some point, but not sure when.
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"Speech"
'Thoughts'
[Phone Calls/Spirits/Spectres]
『Chat Group/System』
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[Young master, did you really buy that old place?!]
"Yes, Koga. I already made my decision long ago."
[B-But, Young Master! You know that place holds horrible memories for you, there's no way I can truly believe that you'll be living there!]
"I know your worried about me, Koga. But, I've already made up my mind. There's nothing you can do to change that."
[V-Very well... However, we shall be living there with you then. We cannot leave you on your own!]
"Fine..." Toshiro sighed as he ended the call. When he did, he quickly pocketed his phone as he then stared up at the massive mansion that occupied the mountain that stood at the edge of the large city that he had been living in until now. "Finally back, it's been a long time..."
Toshiro was a young man who appeared to be eighteen years old, having slightly pale skin along with snow-white hair and a pair of striking crimson eyes. His attire consisting of sleek black long pants, white running shoes, and also a black hoodie with a simple white t-shirt underneath.
Toshiro's full name was Hagasuki Toshiro.
The mansion that he now stood in front was the very same mansion that he lived in ever since he was born until the age of five, which was when everything in his life went downhill. The reason being was that he had found his parents one day dead in their room, simple as that.
He may have been five years old at the time, but he wasn't stupid or naive. The death of his parents couldn't have been natural, their family didn't have any enemies, and there weren't any signs of a killer sneaking in or anything. There weren't even fingerprints on their bodies.
His parents had died a rather grotesque death, both their necks twisted unnaturally to the point of being threatened to have the skin connecting their heads to their bodies ripped. The strangest thing was that there was no evidence of a killer, no fingerprints, no weapon, no anything.
It was due to this that Koga, his family's head butler, had immediately issued for him to move away from the household to live in the city. The reason Koga did this was to take Toshiro away from the place that had caused him nightmares for years to come. Even now, he had a few nightmares every now and then of the scene.
However, despite all those nightmares, he had made a promise to himself that he'd return here to this very same mansion. Not only because his family once owned it, but also that he wanted to know just what happened to his parents. He NEEDED to know!
Maybe there really was a killer that was just ridiculously good at hiding his or her tracks, or maybe it was some kind of supernatural force, he didn't care which it was. He was going to find out just what killed his parents one way or another no matter what!
The entire property wasn't cheap, not surprising there. However, money was no issue to him at all, all of the wealth after his parents died would go to him after all when he was old enough. Koga had taken ownership of the wealth up until now, and had handed it all over to him once he graduated high school.
The money he now had under his grasp could easily last him over several life times, even when he needed to pay all of his family butlers, maids and more. In simple terms, his family was a very rich family, richer than your typical wealthy family.
Anyway, the mansion itself looked to be pretty well-preserved. Nothing appeared to be breaking down, and nothing looked to be decaying either. Neither was there any visible overgrowth occurring from the surrounding forest area that surrounded the mansion.
He wasn't exactly surprised by this as from what he knew, the previous family that had lived here left not anymore than two weeks ago, which was only a week after they had bought the house. The family probably had the place cleaned up and all that during the time.
They had sent reports of paranormal activity which lead them to running away from the house, in fact, a number of families had lived in this mansion ever since Koga took him away from the place. He wasn't sure if the paranormal reports were actually true or not, but he was going to find out.
Without hesitation, Toshiro pushed open the front gates before walking along the path towards the front entrance of the mansion. When he pushed the doors open, he calmly walked in before narrowing his eyes and looking around. Nothing out of the ordinary, everything looked relatively the same from what he remembered over ten years ago.
He flipped the light switch on the wall to the left as the room lit up brightly. The mansion was massive, so there was a staircase leading to the second and also third and fourth floor. There were also a few hallways that led towards other areas on the first floor of the mansion.
'Before anything, I guess I should put my stuff away...' Toshiro thought to himself as he proceeded to walk up the stairs while carrying his suitcase over his shoulder. He hadn't brought too much with him, just a few clothes and other electronic devices. Anything else he could just go and buy later on.
He knew exactly where he was going to be sleeping, and that was going to be the room that his parents had prepared for him to sleep in when he grew out of his bedroom that occupied when he was a kid. It would be a room more suited towards a teenager, his old room was more filled with things like toys and a small bed and all that.
His room was located all the way at the top floor, which was where the main bedrooms for the family members and all that to sleep in. The third and second floor consisted of the rooms for the maids, butlers, cooks and other people. Along with having rooms leaned towards entertainment and all that.
Upon making it to the room that he vividly remembered his parents telling him would be his room for the future, he calmly opened the door and looked around. It was dark, so he had to switch on the light before he could truly get a good look at the room.
When he did, he saw that the bedroom was massive and had a king-sized bed that was neatly made. The room was beautifully furnished, and there even appeared to be a personal bathroom and also a door leading to the balcony that overlooked the city.
It was a bit dusty, but nothing a simple clean couldn't deal with.
Toshiro walked on over towards the bed before placing his suitcase on top of it, unzipping it as he calmly took out all of the contents. He first took out all of the clothes before taking out items such as his laptop, its charger, and other things too.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*
"Hello?"
[Young Master, I have arrived with all the other staff. May we come in?]
"Go right ahead. You should all remember how the layout of the house works, right?"
[Certainly! Where are you right now, Young Master?]
"I'm in my bedroom unpacking my things. The bedroom that my parents prepared for me."
[I'll be right up]
With that, Toshiro ended the call. He wasn't exactly surprised by how fast Koga had gotten all the maids, butlers and such up here to the mansion. All of the staff had served his family for many generations and have sworn loyalty to them, and all the staff placed the safety and needs of the family and its members above anything else.
『Synchronisation complete』
『Booting up now』
『Please standby』
『...』
『...』
『...』
Toshiro widened his eyes slightly at the sudden appearance of the strange words in front of his face, though he was actually more startled than he was surprised. It wasn't the first time that this had happened, the first time was actually around ten years ago, which was a few years after his parents death.
The very same voice and screen had appeared to him when he was a kid, telling him about some kind of system that would take some time to synchronise with him. It hadn't appeared for years now, so he just assumed it was a hallucination. But, that didn't seem to be the case...
He wasn't naive when it came to things like systems, he knew the existence of them within things like novels and such. Though, he didn't think such things were real. Not like he really cared since all that was really on his mind over the years was finding out what happened to his parents.
『Welcome to the Ghost Hunter System』
"Ghost hunter...?" Toshiro narrowed his eyes when he saw this. When the thing first appeared to him years ago, it didn't really specify anything aside from the fact that it was a system. He certainly wasn't expecting it to be called this...
『To proceed, please think or speak 'Menu'』
'Menu.'
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『Ghost Hunter System』
● Character
● Quests
● Shop
● Abilities
● Inventory
● Chat Group [🔒]
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Toshiro just stared at the strange screen that appeared in front of him for a second with narrowed eyes. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was dealing with here, so he had to tread cautiously. Whatever this system was, was definitely something supernatural. Screens don't just appear in front of your face unless your drunk or insane.
He was neither.
Anyway, he had to explore this thing a bit. He noticed how that 'Chat Group' option was locked, so he naturally just ignored it entirely before moving onto focusing on the first option. When his focus was placed onto the option, a new screen soon opened next to the menu.
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『Character』
Name: Hagasuki Toshiro
Hunter Level: 1 [0%]
Health: 100%
Sanity: 100%
Spiritual Essence: 1,000
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"Interesting..." Toshiro muttered under his breath as he read over the few pieces of information he was given. This was definitely no Gamer System that he had read in some novels, but whatever. It was a Ghost Hunter System apparently, so it probably had its own unique features.
Similar to how a game would do for its newbie players, there seemed to be a a tip box that appeared next to the character GUI as it seemed to be explaining what each of the different sections of the menu entailed. Pretty standard stuff.
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『Character』
Name - [The name of the individual]
Hunter Level - [A special feature only available to the users of the Ghost Hunter System. This level can be increased by vanquishing ghosts, and the amount depends on how strong said ghost was. By increasing one's Hunter Level, the user will receive greater rewards from quests, but that will also mean the quests will be harder]
Health - [A gauge that measures the physical health of the individual. Whenever this gauge drops to 0%, the individual will perish]
Sanity - [The mental health of the individual. The lower the sanity level of the person, the higher chance for them to go into a state of insanity, making them more vulnerable to attacks from ghosts, spectres, and more]
Spiritual Essence - [A special essence that can be collected by the user's of the Ghost Hunter System. Whenever a ectoplasmic entity has been vanquished by the user, the entity will be absorbed into the user in the form of Spiritual Essence. Spiritual Essence can also be rewarded by completing quests. The more powerful the entity, the more Spiritual Essence the user will gain. This essence can then be exchanged within the Ghost Hunter System's Shop for different items and abilities]
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Toshiro read over the information with a blank face, though there was a hint of intrigue present within his eyes. The most interesting points that really stood out were both the Hunter Level and the Spiritual Essence. Starting with the Hunter Level, as vague as it was, he understood the general idea of its purpose.
The Hunter Level was basically like a ranking system in a sense, a personal ranking system that is. The higher he was on the 'totem pole', the better privileges and benefits he gets. Though, it was kind of similar to a situation of a double-edged sword. While he would get better benefits, the quests he would get would be harder.
Moving onto Spiritual Essence, this was probably the most interesting. It was a form of currency basically, which he could use on the shop section he saw at the start in the menu. That made him wonder just what he could actually buy. What kind of items? What kind of abilities?
From the looks of it, he had been given a starting amount of 1000 Spiritual Essence. He wasn't sure whether or not that was a good amount or not, but he wasn't going to complain.
Moving onto the next option, which was the 'Shop'. The 'Quests' section was actually the next section, but he had a quick glance at it and noticed that it was empty right now, so there was nothing important to mention about it as of right now.
Anyway, after having focused his attention on the 'Shop' section. A new screen soon appeared as both the 'Character' and the 'Quests' GUIs closed down. When it opened, he was greeted by a simple screen with a scroll down bar and search bar along with a list of items. Though, the list was rather small, he probably had to unlock more or something.
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『Shop』-『Search: ▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯』
● Seal Talisman - [A special talisman when placed against a door of a sealed room, or against the wall of a sealed room, will prevent any ectoplasmic entities from leaving. This talisman is ineffective against stronger entities and will burn away when the entity leaves the room. Do take note that the talisman must be placed on the outside surface of the room and not inside] [Cost: 150 Spiritual Essence]
● Spectre Amulet - [A special amulet that protects the wearer from being possessed by ectoplasmic entities of any kind. When placed onto the body of a possessed individual, the entity possessing the individual will be forced out] [Cost: 500 Spiritual Essence]
● Reveal Shard - [A shard that when crushed by the user will cause all ectoplasmic entities within a ten meter radius of the user to be visible to the user as well as others that are within that ten meter radius. The entity will remain visible for only five minutes. This item is, obviously, a one-time use item] [Cost: 200 Spiritual Essence]
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Toshiro nodded when he read the description of the items, these could definitely become useful if he ran into a situation involving ghosts and the like. Each of the items had their own uses that would prove incredibly useful depending on the situation. In fact, he decided to buy the second item right now.
After having bought the Spectre Amulet, he was informed that five-hundred Spiritual Essence had been deducted from him. Soon enough, a bright light appeared in front of him, to which it soon condensed before a metallic object dropped down into his hands.
Toshiro looked at the item in his hand to see that it was a golden circular metal amulet with strange runes carved into it, and the amulet had a silver thin chain attached to it that made it at like some kind of necklace. Toshiro smiled before wearing it around his neck, he didn't feel any different though.
If he really was dealing with ghosts, then he would at least be safe from possession now.
He'd hold off on buying anything else at the moment though, he wasn't sure if he needed those two items just yet. He'd only buy them when he needed to, that way he didn't waste any more Spiritual Essence for items that he may not use for a while.
The next section was the 'Abilities' section, and he wasn't surprised when he saw that it was empty. He didn't exactly have any supernatural abilities, so he was expecting to find nothing listed here in this section. So, moving onto his 'Inventory', he was pretty surprised when there was actually something inside.
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『Inventory』
● Ability Wheel - [A roulette wheel that grants the user a random ability. It can range from something simple as the ability to cook to something supernatural like the ability to fly. The possibilities are endless] [Amount: 1]
● Item Wheel - [A roulette wheel that grants the user a random item. It can range from something simple as a simple pen to something like an ancient legendary sword from fiction like Excalibur. The possibilities are endless] [Amount: 2]
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Toshiro couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise when he saw the items that were present within this inventory of his. It seemed to be like a starter package of sorts, like how some games gave people a few things to start them off on their little adventure. This was similar to that it seems.
"Young Master?"
"E-Eh? Oh, Koga." Toshiro didn't jump in surprise, but he did blink a few times when Koga's voice suddenly entered his ears. He turned around to face towards the door, and he saw his head butler there standing at the door with a confused look on his wrinkling face.
Koga was an old man, probably around his mid eighties or so, with grey neatly combed hair along with a neat moustache and pointed beard. Just like any typical butler, Koga was wearing a black butler suit, and was standing straight and had both hands behind his back.
"Apologies for my late arrival, Young Master. I had to make sure all the staff were aware of everything needed to be done." Koga apologised as he walked on over towards Toshiro before helping him clean up his clothes. "Are you okay, Young Master? I saw you just standing there..."
"I'm fine, Koga..." Toshiro responded with closed eyes as he gave a small sigh. 'The screen cannot be seen by anyone else, good to know. No wonder he took a while to get up here, was wondering why he hadn't arrived sooner while I was checking the system...'
"The chefs are preparing dinner for you as we speak, Young Master. They'll be finished in a few minutes." Koga informed as Toshiro gave him a simple nod of his head. "Is there anything you have planned for today, Young Master? Perhaps you'd like to go into the city for a bit? Or perhaps a stroll in the garden?"
"No, not today, Koga." Toshiro shook his head as he zipped up his suitcase. "I came back to live here for one particular reason. I want to investigate a bit to see if there is anything that may give me clues towards finding out what happened to mum and dad."
"I see..." Koga presented a sad look on his face as he heard this. He had known Toshiro ever since the kid was born, and he honestly treated Toshiro as his own grandson. Seeing him still stuck in the past was saddening. He honestly wished that Toshiro would have moved on from the death of his parents. "I wish you the best of luck then, just... be careful."
"Don't worry." Toshiro responded calmly as Koga nodded before giving a bow as he walked out of the room after putting all of Toshiro's clothes into the closet. Toshiro stared at the door for a second before narrowing his eyes slightly. 'He knows something...'
Toshiro was someone who paid close attention to small details, and the little wording that Koga had in his previous words were not missed. The tone from Koga seemed to indicate a sense desperation, as if Koga knew that he might be in danger if he were to try and investigate what happened.
Maybe Toshiro was just being paranoid and Koga was just being concerned for his safety, but he can't just ignore any minor detail. If Koga really did know something, then he'd have to get that information out of him at some point. He trusted his butler whole-heartedly, but that didn't mean he couldn't be suspicious.
Shaking his head, Toshiro gave a small sigh before turning his attention back to the inventory screen that he brought back up. He might as well use these roulette wheels now, right? Maybe he'd get something that would help him find something out, you never know.
After focusing on all three of the roulette wheels simultaneously, the three items seemed to disappear from the inventory before three roulette wheels appeared in front of him in the form of holograms. He honestly didn't expect to be able to use all three at the same time, how convenient.
He watched with interest as the three wheels began spinning before they began slowing down at the same time.
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『Ability Wheel』
● Spectral Analysis - [Grants the user the ability to analyse different ectoplasmic entities, giving the user details regarding the entities abilities, name, and other information as well. Entities that may prove to be too powerful for the user may be able to block this ability to some extent]
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『Item Wheel』
● Body Enhancement Pill - [A special pill that, when consumed, will grant the consumer a significant boost in physical ability. When consumed, this pill will also grant the consumer a body with enhanced natural defences against diseases and poisons]
● Ecto Gloves - [Special gloves that have properties that allow the wearer to interact with intangible entities. The wearer will be able to interact with such beings with any part of their body or extension of themselves, not just with the gloves themselves]
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Toshiro was more than pleased with the results, everything had their own uses. Starting with the ability he got from the Ability Wheel, while it wasn't something he could use to defend himself, it was something that gave him insight into what he was dealing with if he ran into a ghost or something.
Speaking of defending himself, the two items he got from the Item Wheels compensated for that. The enhancement pill would give him boosts strength, and while he may go to the gym, he wasn't a body builder or anything of the like. So getting a big boost in strength would definitely be helpful. Whether it be with ghosts or not.
Speaking of ghosts now, the next item built on from the pill. With the gloves he could fight back against any kind of intangible entity that may try to attack him. It was common knowledge that you can't attack things like ghosts since they don't have a physical body, but with these gloves, he could bypass that little issue.
He felt a strange tingling sensation in his eyes for a second before it disappeared, that must have been the Spectral Analysis ability implementing itself into him. The gloves as well as the pill soon appeared in his hands as well, the pill just being a simple small medicinal pill and the gloves were black and fingerless.
"Should I swallow it now...?" Toshiro wondered as he stared at the small pill. It didn't look like anything special, so he wasn't sure if he believed its capabilities or not. Anyway, he slipped on the gloves before shrugging. 'Might as well. Hopefully at the worst it'll just do nothing.'
Without hesitation, Toshiro chucked the small pill into his mouth before easily swallowing it. He stood still for a second with no reaction as he just blinked his eyes, he was confused as nothing happened. Was he supposed to be feeling something here?
Just as he was about to shrug and turn away from his bed, his eyes widened considerably before he felt his entire body heat up as if he was being burnt alive. His muscles felt like they were constantly pulsing, and his legs were shaking like small leaves in a thunder storm.
He tried to stay standing, but ultimately fell to the ground in pain as he was now on his knees with sweat dripping down his face. Never in his life had he ever felt pain like this. 'F-Fuck! What the hell is happening?! What did that pill do to me?!'
He soon lost strength in his arms as he fell to the ground completely and began squirming on the ground as immense pain flowed throughout his entire body, not just on the outside but on the inside as well. His lungs were burning, and his heart felt like it was going to explode.
It took everything in him to not scream right now, he didn't want to have his entire staff come running into his room after hearing his screams. He just continued to push through as best he could as he could feel the pain slowly going away.
This torture seemed to continue for around ten minutes before it finally stopped completely. He was on the ground breathing heavily as sweat rolled down his face, and during the process, he had taken off his shirt and hood to see if he could relieve any of the burning sensation. It didn't help at all.
He had almost passed out from the pain, but he had somehow managed to stay conscious through it. Whether or not that was a good thing he wasn't entirely sure.
"Fuck me..." Toshiro muttered as he forced himself to stand up. He stumbled a bit, but managed to stay on his feet as he could literally feel the sweat dripping off of him onto the floor. He placed his hand on his chest as he tried to calm his breathing. "...h-huh?"
When he touched his chest, he noticed something strange. His chest felt a whole lot more firm than it usually was, and his arms felt a bit restricted when he bent them, though not too restricted. Confused, he looked down at his body before widening his eyes.
"What the...?"
His body muscles were much more defined than they previously were, his abdominal muscles far more defined as well as his chest. His arms also felt much stronger, and his biceps had also grown in size. Overall, all of his muscles felt far stronger than they were before, and they had grown bigger than they previously were.
Not to the point that his movements were restricted though. His muscles were defined but were lean and the strength in them was compacted. Previously, his muscles were present but were not nearly as refined or visible as they were now.
'Guess that pill was no joke after all...' Toshiro thought as he looked down at one hand as he continuously opened and closed it. Doing so caused his biceps and such tense a bit with each clench. Toshiro then formed a small smile. "I wonder how much stronger I am..."
He was honestly curious to find out how strong he was. He was pretty strong before swallowing that pill, having been capable of benching around a hundred and twenty kilos. If he wanted to test it, he'd have to go to the gym and see just how much he could do now. He had a strong feeling he could do much more than simply a hundred and twenty.
For now though, he had to get down to the dining room before Koga came up again to check up on him for strangely taking too long. He used a towel from the room bathroom to dry himself of his sweat before putting his shirt and hoodie back on. The hoodie should be able to hide his new physique well enough to not cause an suspicion to rise about his sudden muscle.
The last time that Koga had seen him without a shirt was around a week ago when he decided to go for a swim in the pool at his old house back in the city. There was no way he could gain as much muscle as he had now in that short time frame, it would be far too unrealistic.
Just as he was about to walk out the door...
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『New Quest』
Objective: Vanquish the spectre that haunts the Hagasuki Mansion [⚫]
Side Objective: Discover the identity of the ghost that killed your parents [⚫]
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Rewards:
● Spiritual Essence [Amount: 5,000]
● Item Wheel
● Chat Group unlocked
● ??? [Side Objective Reward]
Failure:
● Chat Group locked forever
● Koga and the majority of the staff perish
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"What...?" Toshiro had to hold himself back from screaming that simple word when he read the quests that had just appeared. He couldn't believe what in the world he was just given. 'Is this real? Were my parents really killed by a ghost...?'
Toshiro's gaze hardened when he looked at the details of the quests, if all that was given here was indeed true, then he had a ghost to hunt down. It was no wonder no traces of a killer were found, just how would people like the police find and bring justice to a fucking ghost?
It seems like he had to take matters into his own hands, and with the help of this system and the things he had been given by it, he was capable of doing so now. He wasn't just doing this to avenge his parents, but also that he couldn't just let Koga and his staff die. He treated them like his own family, and like hell he was just going to let them die.
Speaking of Koga, did the guy know a ghost killed his parents. A thought for another time. Tightening the Ecto Gloves he had just gotten, his gaze hardened as he mentally prepared himself for his little investigation. After he finished his dinner, shit hits the fucking fan.
Taking a certain quote from one of his favourite games, a sharp smile appeared on his face as his eyes displayed a gleam of seriousness and determination.
"Tonight, Toshiro joins the hunt."
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