"A good Hunter always has a plan. A better Hunter always has the superior firepower!"

- Jack 'Crazy Jack' Thatch.

As I skulked through the building, I found myself staring down a long and decrepit hallway. In much worse conditions than Roach's place, unfortunately for me, the place seemed to be plagued by Scout units. Most of them lying down and digesting, though, easy targets for me, but I decided to leave them alone for now.

Instead I glided into the rooms nearby. Most of them I found empty, but the last one, at the furthest corner in the dark hallway, contained three of those Scout units. Two still active and patrolling the kitchen and the balcony, with one of them seemingly...damaged? It had a kitchen knife stuck at the side of the neck, but the wound didn't seem to be very recent either. It laid down on the ground, incapable of standing upright.

I grabbed tightly onto my blade and gently crawled my way inside, heading straight for the downed creature and silently piercing its skull with my knife. A little, tiny 'crack' and the life was gone from its beastly eyes. Next target, the kitchen. I had to time my steps right since the scorn kept moving from side to side.

Using a sofa, a chair or hiding under the nearby table proved to be the most efficient hiding spots available to me. Although I didn't have the special sense from (Stealth) the information was still engrave din my mind, and I felt confident in my movements. Waiting for the perfect chance, I timed my steps with the clicks and clangs that the scorn made with its four metallic limbs, until I took position right alongside it.

Before the creature could alarm its companion on the balcony, I dropped my weight on top of the Scout, forcing its maw to close against the floor as I drove my knife into the side of its cranium. Two down, one to go.

As I turned to the balcony, I noticed the Scout unit almost doing a full 180° since it seemed to notice the other scout dead in the main room. Crawling into its blindspot wasn't hard, and soon enough the third one was down and the room was clear, alongside the right wing of the building's floor.

"Good, now for the left side." I said to myself, cleaning the blood off the knife's blade and continuing my hunt for EXP.

Speaking of which, the window came up again with some good news.

[ EXP Gained, new total: 10/20 ]

[ (Light-Footed Lv 1) Has evolved to (Light-Footed Lv 2) ]

[ (Sneak Attack Lv 1) Has been added to your Skill List. ]

"Sneak Attack?" Quite on-brand for someone like me, my first skill seemed to be related to backstabbing monsters and dealing with them in silence.

[ (Sneak Attack Lv 1) - Skill ]

[ Upon activation, the Hunter's next attack will deal 1.5x Damage against enemies that haven't spotted them yet. This Skill cannot be used against enemies aware of the Hunter's presence. CD: 6 Seconds. ]

"Useful. Really useful." I said, it was quite a nice skill, and it didn't seem to have any sort of cost or value to use it aside from the Cooldown period? I wasn't really sure what that was, but I had an idea that I wouldn't be allowed to activate Sneak Attack for every single attack I made, that would just be ridiculous.

'Unless the CD is lowered as the Skill levels up right?' Crow seemed to have read my mind again. If I could get that bonus damage on every attack, then it would be magnificent. It already took only one attack to deal with Scouts, so I couldn't help but dream of what could be possible.

"Precisely. In any case, how many Scorn are left in the building?

'Only the ones digesting in this hallway remain alive as far as my sensors can go. No sign of the Soldier, but be careful, we don't know when one of those can pop-up.'

"Roger." I concluded our little talk and walked over to the digesting Scouts.

Six in total. More than enough to get me to level up again, and get some extra points too.

Needless to say, I used (Sneak Attack) on every last one of them to start getting familiar with the skill. When I used it my knife seemed to shine a little bit with a red glint on the blade, which was going to be a problem if it happened every time. A red glint going through the darkness could give up my position after all. In any case, the Skill didn't level up just yet, but I got those sweet, sweet EXP points for my next Level Up.

[ EXP Gained, new total: 22/20 ]

[ Level Up! ]

[ You have gained access to Hunter Shop and Credits. ]

"What are those?" I asked Crow as I checked the remaining rooms, just in case really.

'The shop lets you buy skills, weapons, tools and armour from other Hunters in real-time. It uses top-of-the-line teleportation and material printing to create the object based on the specifications given by the seller, sent to the buyer through us Stigmas. The Credits are gained through the extermination of Scorn and the various other objectives you can complete when you get out of this Dungeon. So far you have, let's see....65 in total. 50 of those are a gift to every starting Hunter that gets to Lv 3 without dying. Congratulations, Raven!'

"So I get one Credit for every Scout I kill then? Great. Can you show me if there's anything I can afford? I don't think this knife will be doing much else before it dies..." I suggested replacing my weapon, it would probably be a good investment of my Creds.

'Good point. Let's see here....You can afford a grand selection of....Twelve different models, most of them cost between 5 and 10 Credits each, but then the leap in price is much more significant.'

"Alright, get me the most durable one and that should be enough for now. It's not like I can afford an entire prosthetic for my arm right?" I asked in a joking manner, of course things like that should go for hundreds if not thousands a piece.

'Actually you can. There's a model at 50 Credits, it's not the best but it should work for you while you get enough Creds to buy a regeneration pack to get your arm back, if you want that. There's no real rush for that, so you can just get the knife and keep hunting or get both and start working on healing your motor functions. Up to you.'

All of my Creds would be out the window, but I would be able to use two arms again....I really didn't enjoy using only my left, but I was slowly getting used to it. So maybe just getting the knife and saving the Creds was the best option. Then again, only having one arm was a big bother...I thought for a good minute before I let out a sigh, reaching for my stump and looking down at the stairs that went down to the ground level again.

"Let me check what my abilities look like first, then we'll talk about the arm. I'm not sure about it yet, feels wrong to just replace it like that..."

'Roger that, don't worry Raven, I like you just as you are. Mostly because you're me, but don't let that thought eat you up.'

I smiled a little, it was nice having someone or...something to talk to. If I didn't, I would've probably already gone mad. Or maybe I was already going mad, I was speaking to voices inside my head and mercilessly killing these things with no remorse whatsoever. But no matter, I sat down on top of a clean sofa and scanned through the status window in my HUD.

"Technomancy? What's that?"

'Oh, you got that option? That's a very rare one! It's like being able to move and command technology with your thoughts alone. It's just the Minor variety, but with that you can unlock pretty much every door in every building in the slums I believe. As long as they use electronic locks that is. At Lv 1 it won't do much in combat, but it's a pretty interesting option.'

"So like a wizard? That does sound quite nice....Wait, if I level that up could I build things on my own?

'Let me think for a moment....'

I waited. If I could build stuff all on my own then making my own arm and my own weapons wasn't out of the question. That meant I could save up a shit-ton of Creds! Well, I still didn't know what the fuck I would use those, but saving money was always a good thing, and being able to command technology like some sort of fucking wizard sounded really damn cool.

'Alright, found it. According to the skill's learning tree....Yes, you can access the Skill to create your own equipment with it. And also your idea is quite good. The shop also has the schematics to create food and supplies, that's another of the reasons why I urged you to start killing Scouts. Food can get pretty pricey in the Shop, and the time you will need to remain inside the dungeon is still unclear, even to me.'

"I see...So basically I get paid to kill Scorn and I get to eat actual food on top of it?" I asked, it still seemed quite surreal to me, but then again, even Low-Level Hunters seemed to be pretty happy with their job, as gruesome as it turns out to be.

'Essentially, yes. Hummm...Maybe I injected a little too much brain medication when I woke you up, you seem to be taking things much easier than I expected.'

"Crow." I said, my tone of voice changing as I decided to speak out my mind to her. She was already inside my head, so I may as well. "I lost my family when I was younger. They left me behind with a debt on my name and no money on my pockets. Bill was the only father I ever had, and even he could tell he wasn't the best at it. Roach was my only friend, the only guy that didn't try to fucking stab me in an alleyway to sell my organs or some fucked up shit like that."

Crow remained in silence, but I could tell she was listening to me. I stood up and started walking outside as I made my choice on the menu, closing the window afterwards.

"I lost my family, again. I am trapped inside a dungeon. I have to kill shit if I want to survive, and I almost died like three times already. I lost my arm, and now I am trying to get used to the idea that this all happened because I was given an opportunity to do something about it. I am not taking things as easy as it sounds, I am just really fucking good at lying, even to myself."

'....Sorry, Raven.'

"There's nothing to be sorry about, I can cry and scream all I want later. Right now, all I care about is getting the fuck out of this dungeon so I can at least try to find Bill's and Roach's bodies to say goodbye....It's the only thing I really wanna do right now. I'm tired enough as it is to be thinking so deeply into emotional stuff so let's just..."

I took a deep breath, calming myself down before I broke into tears.

"Let's just get those numbers up and get out of here alright?"

'Roger that, Raven. Remember, I am here for you.'

Then the stigma went silent, and I walked down the stairs.