The Westbrook Garrison quartet stood dazed, looking at each other in confusion. "Teacher? Why are you calling him Teacher?"
Raymond wanted to proudly declare his apprenticeship, but remembering that the secret of their Warlock status must be kept hidden, he found himself at a loss for words.
Wayne spoke up: "Sit down. Did you bring the money?"
"I did, I did," Raymond replied, respectfully handing over 8 gold coins. Since it was 12:20 PM, charging 8 gold followed the rules perfectly. Wayne dropped them into the purse Lainie had just given him.
"Well, since you want to learn... ahem," Wayne cleared his throat.
Hearing the mention of "teaching," Raymond sat upright in the chair to Wayne's left, listening intently, determined not to miss a single syllable.
"Start with the novice quests," Wayne instructed. "Familiarize yourself. You must build a solid foundation."
Raymond followed the instructions meticulously. Running through maps, gathering herbs, killing flying insects—he obeyed the Village Head of Kokoto like his own father. But he soon hit a snag. As a secret recruiter sent by the Warlock organization beneath "The Slaughtered Lamb" to scout for dark magic candidates, disguised as a Mage bodyguard at the inn, he had zero experience in close-quarters physical combat.
He finally found an opening and slashed down, but the strike was weak, barely dealing any damage—it felt more like a skin rub. After being carted back to camp yet again, Raymond took off his goggles and waited for Wayne to finish hunting the Gravios before asking for help.
Wayne had already devised a strategy after his late-night bluff. He told Raymond to use the money from the novice quests to switch to a Heavy Bowgun. He instructed him to gather materials for different elemental ammo: use Flame S. as a Fireball, Ice S. as a Frostbolt, and treat every shot as a spell cast, using the intervals between "casts" to dodge monster attacks.
Raymond nodded repeatedly. Although something felt slightly off, he dared not question it. He kept Wayne's earlier words in mind: the knowledge of those legendary dark magics came from playing this game. Seeing Wayne playing with a Light Bowgun right next to him further convinced Raymond that his teacher was truly imparting wisdom. He put the goggles back on and returned to the game with renewed focus.
For a while, the net cafe was peaceful. Two people were soloing separately, while the Northshire trio played in multiplayer. The Westbrook quartet was the busiest, alternating between watching Wayne's high-level maneuvers against monsters they hadn't even seen yet and checking on the Northshire trio to see if they had overtaken their own progress.
The teamwork of the trio was exceptional. Despite two of them being Paladins who couldn't use the Holy Light in-game, Samuel and Lainie focused on drawing aggro with sword and shield, while Willem dealt damage with a Greatsword. Under Willem's clear commands, they cleared the "novice nightmares"—the Rathian and Diablos—in just over three hours. They were already farming these monsters for materials to upgrade their gear for the later missions.
This made the Westbrook group quite uncomfortable.
"We should divide our roles tomorrow," Verdan said. "I'll take the sword and shield. What about you guys?"
"Dual Blades for me," Hicks said. "I don't like shields."
"I'll go sword and shield too," Hudson added, glancing at Willem's group. Seeing how effective their two-shield setup was, he wanted to replicate it.
"I'll just try to stay alive with whatever is left," De Vries muttered, leaning over to watch Hudson's screen. He was the quietest of the four, usually content to follow Verdan's lead.
"But who will lead?" Hudson asked.
"It would be best if Mil led us... if only we could group with him," Hicks muttered.
"Let's be realistic," Verdan countered. "Mil wants to play his own game. He doesn't have time to lead us, and besides, he said multiplayer is limited to four people."
"Fine, I'll try my best," Hudson said. "Remind me of things during the hunt."
"Let's keep watching Mil's playstyle so we don't take the long way around," Hicks suggested.
The four of them continued to watch intently, like poor students who couldn't afford a PC and spent their after-school hours watching others play at a net cafe.
They watched until Wayne accepted a special quest from the Village Head to solo a unique Monoblos. This triggered the Hunter's Guild plotline, preparing him to leave Kokoto Village for the "Minegarde" gathering hall. Through this, the quartet finally learned the origin story of Monster Hunter G.
It turned out this "Old Continent" was the Schrade region, once home to a powerful ancient civilization that had mysteriously collapsed. It was now divided into East and West Schrade, separated by the ruins of the old capital. And the Village Head, despite looking like a tiny old man, was a legendary hunter in his youth who had once cut off a Monoblos' "True Red Horn" single-handedly. Since then, the tradition began: only a hunter who could face a Monoblos alone was considered a true hunter.
Wayne's solo quest was the Village Head's trial. Minegarde was the gathering hub for the Hunter's Guild. Once Wayne arrived there, the quartet discovered through the dialogue that the Guild had identified the cause of the ancient civilization's destruction—the Black Dragon. But no one knew why it appeared or when it would return.
Though one seat remained empty, the presence of the quartet kept the room lively. Soon, dusk approached.
"Aaaaaaoooo—!"
A sudden, sharp howl from outside startled everyone in the room. The three from Northshire immediately stood up and grabbed their weapons.
"What happened?" they asked.
Hudson, the most composed, looked worried. Willem also sensed something was wrong—a soldier's intuition. "The Gnolls! The Gnolls have breached the town!" someone shouted from the street.
This sentence was like a thunderclap. Though they had considered many possibilities—brawls or Defias spies—none of the seven officers expected the Gnolls from the southwest to cross half the forest to cause chaos in the heart of Goldshire.
Willem asked urgently, "How many? Where are Dughan and the militia?!"
"Unknown! The militia is defending the south and west sides to stop them from entering the town, but many of those beasts circled around to the southeast and broke through!"
"The militia is out of men! Dughan sent a villager to notify us and told us to defend the town center!"
Hudson asked, "Is Hogger here?"
"I don't know!" the messenger replied.
The hot-tempered Hicks immediately bolted for the door. "Mil, stay inside! Don't come out!" he shouted before leaving. The remaining six officers grabbed their weapons and followed in single file.
Wayne and Raymond, no longer in the mood for games, rushed to the window. Sure enough, as the seven stepped out, flickering torches and howling—a sound between a wolf's cry and a dog's bark—approached the center of town. Pedestrians scattered in panic, hiding in the nearest buildings.
Next door at the blacksmith shop, Andrew and the Steelie siblings had already locked their doors, armed with smithing hammers and tongs, watching through the windows.
Soon, the Gnolls were close. The swaying points of light transformed into visible, terrifying entities. These Gnolls walked and ran on two legs, wearing crude armor and wielding various weapons. To everyone's surprise, they weren't as mindless or primitive as imagined—they were divided into shock troops with melee weapons and ranged support with shortbows and daggers.
They quickly surrounded the seven officers. Initially, the Westbrook group and the Northshire trio fought in separate units, but as the circle tightened, they gathered back-to-back in a defensive formation.
"Major Willem! We must follow your lead now!" Hudson shouted. On the battlefield, the highest rank commands—that was the iron law.
"We can't be surrounded! We must back ourselves against a solid building and face these beasts head-on!" Willem replied. Despite their past friction, faced with a common enemy, the Stormwind soldiers reached an immediate consensus.
Willem scanned the surroundings. The Lion's Pride Inn to the east was too large; fighting there would endanger the many guests inside. The farm to the north was spacious, but the wooden buildings had no defensive value—the Gnolls could burn them down with a few torches.
That left the blacksmith shop to the west. Built of stone bricks, it could withstand the heat of a forge and wouldn't catch fire easily. "Move toward the blacksmith shop with me!" Willem yelled.
The seven retreated slowly. Lainie and Hudson held swords and shields on the flanks, with Willem in the middle of them facing the primary threat. Verdan and De Vries moved to secure the other sides with their shields, while Samuel, holding a shield and a one-handed mace, stood in the center of the six.
More Gnolls arrived. Wayne counted over twenty through the window. Sensing the officers' intent, the Gnolls growled and four of them charged in pairs from the sides. One Gnoll leaped toward Willem, raising an axe for a jumping strike.
Lainie, to Willem's left, raised his shield. Clang! The shield blocked the heavy blow. Willem then lunged forward with his two-handed sword, piercing the Gnoll's chest. The beast collapsed, convulsing before falling still.
On the right, another Gnoll swung horizontally at Hudson. Hudson blocked with his shield and thrust his sword around the edge. The Gnoll parried with its axe, the force pushing both of them back. Having pulled his blade from the first carcass, Willem raised his sword as the second Gnoll's axe was knocked back, and brought it down on the beast's head. A flash of golden Holy Light accompanied the blade, splitting the Gnoll in two.
On the other side, the two Gnolls that charged were met with similar tactics. Samuel, in the center, muttered an incantation. A flash of Holy Light appeared on Hicks, and a wound on his left arm healed at an incredible speed.
Holy crap! That's badass! Wayne watched from the window, amazed. He was witnessing a life-or-death crisis where people used real skills and spells—a feeling completely different from playing a game.
Raymond was also watching tensely, but with a hint of excitement. He hoped the seven would win, but part of him wanted them to fail so that Wayne, whom he believed was hiding his true power, would step in and save the day. Then he could finally glimpse his teacher's true strength.
"Woooo-aaoo! Wooh! Wooh!" Seeing four of their comrades die, the remaining Gnolls wailed and roared.
Despite four being eliminated, more Gnolls were drawn to the firelight. There were now over thirty. "This is bad," Willem whispered. "Either there are far more than sixty Gnolls, or Dughan's defensive line has been completely overrun!"
"Aaooo! Aaooo!" A roar sounded from within the Gnoll pack, followed by the whistling of arrows.
"Ugh!" "Ah!" "Dammit!"
Gnoll poachers with shortbows began firing at the group. Samuel and Willem immediately activated the Holy Light to heal them, but the arrows fell like rain. Just as they healed Hudson and Hicks, Verdan and Willem himself were hit. Hicks was in even worse shape; despite his frenzied parrying, an arrow pierced his left leg and another hit his right shoulder.
Wayne was startled. Who said Gnolls are stupid? Seeing they couldn't win in melee, they immediately switched to range. Idiots don't adjust that fast.
"This can't go on!"
Suddenly, a fireball flew from the high roof of the inn to the east, exploding against a Gnoll poacher's chest. Then, a warm current flowed through Willem; the pain from the arrow in his side vanished, and the wound began to close.
While this was also Holy magic, it wasn't a Paladin's healing. Surprised, the group looked up. It was the Priest trainer Jyssetta and the Mage trainer Zaldimar from the Lion's Pride Inn. They had climbed onto the roof and were casting spells from above to assist the seven officers below.