Chapter 4: The Wild Hunt System
In the past, David visited Florida during holidays. There he went on a tour of Universal Studios Florida. There he saw many movie props that were used in famous fiction movies like Harry Potter, The Predator, The Terminator, etc. And after seeing those props he understood how with video editing and some camera tricks one can make a plastic costume look so real. But after looking at the creature in front of him, he instantly knew that this creature was not a work of prop costume. This was a real deal.
"Wha? Don't you like when you see me huh?" Gupalo asked looking at David dead in the eye…
"Ah… I…" David uttered some nonsensical words as he was too stunned to see the creature in front of him talk.
"Why blood? What happened to my nose?" Gupalo asked David. Hearing the sentence formation of the being, David understood that maybe this guy doesn't know how to properly speak this language.
"I fell down while coming here," David said while going with the flow of conversation.
"AH… You walk carefully next time. Now to business, follow me." Gupalo said and then he turned around and started walking. David started following the creature closely.
"Solaris, when I met you, you small boy. That too, a Siberian pop. You know I hate Siberia and Siberian. They want war blood and are savage. And there were you. A pop. I wanted you to be skinned alive. But you were so tiny that it made me change my mind. After all, having a loyal pop is better than a dead pop." Gupalo said while walking
'Pop… pop… Ah, fuck is this man trying to pup? Man, this guy's accent is so bad.' David thought inwardly.
Then that Gupalo, with a poor accent, talked about how he raised Solaris. By then David had made peace with the fact that he was called Solaris in this world. Which was not a great name. But it didn't matter to David.
Gupalo also gave David a lot of information while mumbling about him. It turns out that the previous owner of this body is supposed to be one of the men working for this creature. Solaris was a very loyal lackey and this creature liked him very much. The creature also gave some information about Solaris and his childhood. While mumbling that creature told David how Solaris was raised here when his aunt abandoned him here…
"So, there I drinking wine alone, when Buka tell, you wash ashore. I told em, go and see after you. They did their best and now see, you standing in front of me." Gupalo said.
While speaking, Gupalo and David eventually reached the other end of the warehouse. On the other end of the warehouse, there was a huge door. At the corner of the huge door was a small human-size door that was opened. There were some stairs adjacent to the big doors that were leading a small box-like room on the first floor. The windows of that room could oversee the whole warehouse. Seeing Gupalo heading there, David assumed that this must be the office of this creature…
"But you my boy, very lucky. The thing you found, very special. And I pay good money for such a thing." Gupalo said and then he went inside the room…
***
Long story short, Solaris went out for fishing in the sea, the day before yesterday. Then his boat got sank and was capsized. But due to some luck, the unconscious body of Solaris was washed ashore. And when people found him, he was holding something dearly in his hands. And the thing that he was holding is very special. And Gupalo wanted to buy that thing from him…
As David entered the so-called office of Gupalo, he was greeted with a very messy room. In the center of the room, there was a standard long table and a very comfortable chair. There was a window to his left which was letting sunlight in. While around the room were several elevated platforms on which various types of different junk were lying around.
He saw that the junk included various stacks of papers. There were also various plants and weird-colored statues and artifacts lying around the heap of junk. While the section behind Gupalo's table was solely dedicated to weapons. There were various swords, spears, crossbows, etc at the back of his comfortable chair.
There were no chairs to sit on except for the main chair that Gupalo would it in. So David went and stood in front of the table. While Gupalo went on and sat on the fancy chair.
"Now back to business… Tell, me how this thing in hand of yours" Gupalo said while putting something on the table. When Gupalo moved his hand out of the way, David was finally able to see the thing that Gupalo wanted to trade.
It was a very small pin. The pin was of golden color and from its shine and luster, David assumed that this pin must be pin made of pure gold. The pin was approximately 5 inches long. The lower part of the pin consisted of a long golden color slim rod with a pointed end. While the upper portion of the pin consisted of a metallic rose flower. The flower looked like it was very delicately carved. And in the middle of the rose was a gem. The gem was black and gave a very tasteful look to the flower.
It was very weird but as soon as Gupalo put the pin in front of him, he started feeling some sort of connection between him and the pin. It felt like they both have a very deep connection between them. It was very difficult to describe that feeling but David was certain for sure that the pin in front of him was not normal.
"You feel it… don't you?" Gupalo said while looking at the reaction of David.
"I don't.. Understand," David said suddenly coming out of his stupor.
"I know you feel it… You know, this pin special. An artifact. A mage's artifact. I don't what it do. But them very special." Gupalo said with a smirk on his face.
David then started thinking about what should he do next. It wouldn't be an understatement, but he didn't want to make any sort of deal with this guy. In the past, he had dealt with kinds of people similar to Gupalo. If they want something, they would just simply take it by force. The only reason that someone like him was showing courtesy of buying something like a gentleman, would be because he has ulterior motives.
This was a very troubling situation for David. As there was no way to know what this creature was plotting, David decided that he would just take whatever he is offered and get out of here.
"You must not know Solaris, but things like this… very special. And one of them specialty, they bound by blood." Gupalo said.
"What does that mean?" David asked.
"That mean, they work with only for their maker or master. Other people can't use it. It help not getting things stolen. But it could be overridden. By simple technique." Gupalo said.
"And what is that?" David asked.
"Killing the person, who is its current master," Gupalo said.
"Huh?" David said, but before he could make sense of Gupalo's words it was too late.
Gupalo opened his mouth wide open. And then suddenly he spitted a vile smelly green color liquid at David's face. As soon as the green liquid made contact with David's face it started melting. The green liquid acted like an acid that started burning David's face.
***
It is said that Yoga helps in anger management. It also helps people in controlling their high blood pressure. And David was a person who had both, anger problems as well as high blood pressure. That is why he started doing Yoga. For the past 10 years, he had been doing Yoga and it had helped him a lot.
Because of some Yogic exercises, David changed completely. He was a person who used to be called a hot-headed madman. But after practicing Yoga, he became a cool-headed person. But still, from time to time he gets angry. And every person in his department knew that they didn't want to make David angry…
Since he had come to this world, he had been killed once. That too by a boy who had not even grown his pubes yet. Most of the people that he came across started fighting him for no apparent reason. But when a strange monster-like being, spit a vile acidic substance on him, he lost it. And why wouldn't he, people all around him were trying to kill him. And he doesn't even have any idea why were they trying to kill him.
If David had his old face, then he would have no problem if people were trying to kill him. After all, he was an agent, he had done some things that were not ethical but essential for the country. So he wouldn't mind if someone would try to take revenge on him. But why are people trying to kill him now? He had a completely different face now.
When Gupalo, spit his vile acidic liquid on him, David lost it. He could feel his face melting and dripping on his floor. He could feel the liquid penetrating his skull and his brain. He knew that the acid that he was dealing with was very strong. And chances are that he would not be able to make it. But David didn't want to die. Most importantly he didn't want to die without doing any sort of harm to the creature in front of him.
So with his last breath, David stumbled onto the creature's table. His eyes were blurry which is why he was not able to see properly. So he moved his hands on the creature's table to find something that he could throw at the creature. He didn't know whether this would do any sort of harm to this creature, but he would at least die trying. But because his vision was impaired, he couldn't find anything that he could grab.
While rummaging through the stuff on the table, David came across various things on the table at the moment. But due to acid reaching his brain, he could not sense anything that was kept on the table. And soon he lost consciousness altogether. And just before losing consciousness, David saw some blue color windows in front of his eyes despite being blind at the moment.
{Host came across a broken shard.}
{Host died without destroying the shard.}
{As a reward for finding the broken shard, The Wild Hunt system will activate.}
{You have died}
***
David woke up again under a very familiar ceiling. This time, he was not feeling any sort of headache or pain. He sat up straight in the bed as he woke up. He clearly remembers the feeling of being melted alive. So as a reflex he started feeling his face for any sort of injuries. Sure enough, he could not feel anything wrong with his face. It was like nothing ever happened to his face.
David then stood up straight. He looked around and saw that everything in the hut was the same as he saw in his dreams. By this time he had realized that he was stuck in some sort of time loop. And every time he dies, he wakes up here, in this hut.
This was a very strange situation for him. He did not understand why was this happening to him nor did he know a way to break the time loop?
As David was thinking about his situation he saw that a blue color window suddenly appeared in front of him.
{System initializing…3…2…1…0}
{Welcome to The Wild Hunt program}
{Please think or say the word 'Status' to get the host's command window}
David read the messages in the blue boxes that appeared as though they were floating in the air. Seeing them he got even more confused. Those messages gave him the feeling that he was in some kind of game simulation or something. Still, he said the word 'Status' out loud. And as he said the word 'Status' a rather big window opened in front of him…
Status
Name- David Gonsalves
Rank of Host- Rank-1
K-13/13 D-13/13
Inventory-<Tap to expand>
Perks-<None>
Looking at the window floating before him, David started to wonder what was happening to him. He didn't understand what is the meaning of Rank. While K and D were something that he had no clue about. He then saw that the inventory option that said 'Tap to expand', so he tapped on it.
As soon as David tapped the inventory option, he saw that by his right side a small black hole appeared. The amazing thing about the small hole was that it appeared in the air. From what David could tell, this portal looked like a tear in space and time. He was flabbergasted to see something like this. He started to think about how any of this was possible. But it was then an envelope flew through the portal and landed on his feet.
David looked at the envelope weirdly. He picked it up. The envelope was a pure white color which was sealed at the back with black color wax. David then slowly opened the envelope and peeked inside. Inside he saw that there was a letter tucked neatly in the envelope. Looking at the letter, David started to think that maybe this letter will help him get some clarity about what was happening to him.
But David did not read the letter. He kept it aside and put on some clothes. After that, he tucked the letter into the back of his pants and went out of the hut.
His main purpose for not reading the letter now was because it was not safe here. And sure enough, as he got out the boy name Gori was also on his way to enter his hut. And when Gori saw David walking out, he started startled and fell on the sand.
"What in the name of Ouroboros…How… are yo… alive?" Gori asked in disbelief. David waited for a few seconds and soon, the bulky boy also came on time.
"Gori, did you burn the body?" The bulky boy asked as he came from the back of the hut. And as soon as the bulky saw David, standing in front of him he went for his knife that he had tucked in his back.
But this time, David was prepared. He lunged at the bulky boy before he could take out his knife. As he got near the bulky boy, he jumped on him. In the air, David grabbed the bulky boy's head and then smashed his head by slamming it on his knees.
The impact from the knee broke the nose of the bulky boy while also making him lose consciousness. While this was happening, Gori also got up and tried to tackle David from behind. But David avoided his tackle by stepping sideways. As the boy named Gori, fell on the sand, David launched a quick kick on his stomach.
Gori started groaning with pain. David then slowly took out the knife from the bulky boy's back and looked at Gori with pity. He was not a child abuser. But he sure was not some pushover that just about anyone could try to pick a fight with…
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone