The building of Hunters Association was also huge, but the style was more traditional looking compared to the Adventurers Association. It had a thatched roof, though Jack doubted that the straw on the roof was real straw. Above its double door main entrance was a huge sculpture of a monster head with two spears flanking it. Several NPCs freely came in and out of the building.
Jack went into the building and found the foyer to be a large hall with a few mummified monsters on display. There was a receptionist booth directly opposite the main entrance. Jack approached the booth and asked the girl behind it, "Good day, I would like to join the Hunters Association."
"Good day to you too, sir," she replied. She then proceeded to check his status and explain to him the process of joining, which was very similar to the Adventurers Association. He got a bronze color hunter badge at the end of the process. The carving on the barge was identical to the monster head sculpture he saw at the main entrance. The grade of Hunters Association was also the same as the Adventurers Association: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond.
He went to the Bronze hall and looked around. The hall set up was also the same as the Adventurers Association, with a row of counters along the wall, benches around the hall, and giant notice boards hanging from the ceiling. Then what was the difference that Peniel had mentioned? Jack thought.
He browsed the quests on those notice boards hanging above.
Kill 50 Goblins
Difficulty: E
Rewards: 1 silver coins, 100 Experience points, 1 Hunter Points
Kill 100 Silver Wolves
Difficulty: E
Rewards: 1 silver coins, 150 Experience points, 2 Hunter Points
Kill 30 Cave Trolls
Difficulty: D
Rewards: 2 silver coins, 500 Experience points, 5 Hunter Points
'They were all killing monster quests,' Jack said to Peniel in his mind.
"Yes, it's hunting quests. That's why it's called Hunters Association," Peniel replied.
'The coin reward is fine, but why is the experience reward much lower than the Adventurers Association's quests? I might as well just take the Adventurer quests then.'
"Have you considered about the experiences you will also get from killing those monsters? The rewards from the quests here are just supplementary. Unlike the Adventurer quests, you can take a maximum of ten hunting quests at the same time. And even if other people take the same quest, you can still receive that quest, so you don't need to be afraid of someone else completing the quest first. The competition will be on the field for hunting the same monsters, but you can always team up when that happens. A kill by teammates is still considered as valid kill, and there is no time limit."
'Really? If what you said is true, then this is indeed a good system to be utilized. I can go grind for experience and get hunter points at the same time. Just need to plot out a good route so I don't end up hunting two different monsters that are too far from each other.'
"There is a small library within each Hunters Association where you can look up for which monsters are in which regions. But you don't need that. I have all that info in my head," Peniel said.
'Ain't you a treasure,' Jack complimented. 'All right, now which ten monsters do you suggest me to hunt?'
"Let's see… The Silver Wolves and Goblins are the most common monsters around this region, so those two are a no-brainer. The next most common ones would be Gremlins and Gnomes. Then you can get the Lizardman around the foot of mount Thenias in the South."
'Lizardman? Would it be the same one with that boss I killed when we first met?'
"That one is special. No worries, the ones here are common monsters, nowhere near as strong as that one. However, with your level now, you are already strong enough to go toe to toe with that boss even without Godly Might buff."
Jack breathed out a relief. Even though he was stronger now, he still had lingering jitters when he thought about his fight with that Lizardman Blood Guard.
"If you headed South, then you can also add Giant Ant and Giant Ant Warrior to the list. And in the same mountain, there are also a series of caves where you can find Cave Trolls and sometimes Ogre, tough opponent but not as hard as that Horned Ogre boss you fought. At the side of the mountain is a forest, you can find many Grey Sabrecat there. Well, for your first foray I would suggest for you to go for those ten monsters first. You can start from Siren Hill and go South to Mount Thenias before heading back via the forest. One efficient trip for all ten quests."
'All right, let's do as you suggest then,' Jack came over to the counter and applied for the quests. The process was the same as in Adventurers Association, so he was already familiar with it.
"Before you leave, you can also sell those trophy junks here," Peniel informed.
'Trophy junks?'
"That Wolf's Fur you got from the Silver wolves, remember?"
'Oh, okay. I can sell them here?' Jack said as he took out the Wolf's Fur.
"Yes, if you sell these Trophy Junks at the common markets, you will only fetch 10 copper at most, but you can get their maximum value here. Almost all monsters posted in Hunter Associations quests drop Trophy Junks, so it was another extra for getting coins."
'Sweet!' Jack said as he offered the Wolf's Fur to the girl at the counter.
The girl received them with a smile, and she paid Jack 50 coppers for each. Jack was thrilled, he was another 5 silver richer. This was like getting 50 coppers for every wolf he killed, but not every wolf dropped Wolf's Fur. Based on past experience, the probability was around 30%, so he could consider it as roughly 15 coppers per wolf.
'You are right,' Jack said. 'Joining this Hunter Associations is really a good move.'
"Yeah, and since there is no time limit, you can also take Adventurer quest that requires you to go to the region that had these monsters. So you can kill two birds with one stone."
Jack nodded.
'I need to inform Flame and Bowler about this,' Jack said.
"What's the point? They won't be able to join before they become an advanced class," Peniel countered.
'At least they don't throw away their Wolf's Fur. They can keep it for cashing in here when they join.'
Jack then opened up his Friend interface and sent the message. He soon got a reply from Bowler.
"Brother, why didn't you say that earlier. I have sold all of mine… sigh."
Flame on the other hand, still kept hers. She just replied with a message that thanked Jack for the info.
'I might need to inform SilverWing and The Man as well,' Jack thought.
"Can you just not share everything you know with everyone you know, please?" Peniel said. "It's not like you know them very well, anyway."
After some thought, Jack nodded. He indeed was too generous. Those guys had many underlings under them, especially SilverWing. Those fellows should be able to find out about this info by themselves as well in a short time.
'Okay, let's go see if there is any suitable quest in Adventurers Association before we go on a hunting trip,' he said after deciding that his business here was complete. He was just about to head to the Adventurers Association when he received a message.
"Speaking of the Devil," he said.
He opened the message from Silverwing, "Mister Storm Wind, remember when I said that we might need your assistance someday? Well, it happens that we have a matter at this time that required help from an expert. If it is not too much trouble, shall we set up a meeting?"
And he was just about to go on a hunting trip, Jack scratched his head. He did owe the guy a favor for his help with the Death Associates, it wouldn't be polite to reject it.
"Let's hear what he had to say first then," Jack said as he sent a short message to Silverwing, "when and where?"
"Now, if you are available. I will be waiting in the Raven's Den. It's a tavern in the Business District, ask the NPCs if you don't know the way."