Clicking on the result of the forums the website started loading, soon the page loaded. Now that Nathan was familiar with the website after his brief visit the night before. He didn't scroll just scroll past the threats.
Instead, he clicked the button in the top right corner, which said 'Create a New Account.' Nathan leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk reading though the required information and then he began filling it all in, the process was pretty simple.
Clicking proceed after doing that, the page refreshed, asking him to choose a username.
Seeing this, Nathan frowned slightly. "…Okay."
He typed the first thing that came to mind, his actual name. Pressing enter, a red notification popped up instantly.
'Username already taken.'
"…Figures," he signed and then tried again.
This time just putting in 'Hunter69' and pressing enter. Another red message appeared telling him this username was taken as well.
Nathan stared at the screen for a second, then leaned back in his chair.
"Seriously?" he muttered as he scratched the back of his head.
He glanced around his room, eyes drifting lazily over familiar objects the bed, the shelf with old textbooks, the corner where his bag rested.
Then his gaze landed on the spear.
It was leaning against the wall, cleaned now, the wooden shaft scratched from repeated use. It looked oddly out of place in a teenager's bedroom and yet, it Nathan had started to feel as it was now a part of him.
Nathan smiled faintly, he turned back to the screen and typed, 'Spear_Master' and hit enter, suddenly the page started loading and no error messages appeared. Instead a confirmation banner came into view.
Username accepted. Welcome, Spear_Master.
Nathan blinked.
"I guess that works," a small, satisfied smile crept onto his face.
He finished the registration process, verified his email, and within moments found himself logged in.
The homepage refreshed, and the interface subtly changed as more tabs, more categories and options opened up in front of him.
Almost immediately, a banner caught his attention.
Member Subscriptions – Unlock Full Access
Nathan clicked it. After which, a new page opened up displaying neatly arranged tiers. His eyes scanned downward until they landed on the lowest option.
Beginner Membership – $30 / Month
Nathan exhaled slowly.
'That's why I asked Elliot to send it to my bank account.'
Without hesitation, he clicked the option. The payment page opened, requesting bank details. He filled them in carefully. Soon, payment started processing and a green confirmation appeared on the screen.
Subscription Successful. Welcome to the Hunter Forums.
Nathan leaned back in his chair.
"…Alright," he murmured. "Let's see what this place really has."
He returned to the homepage and the difference was immediate.
Threads that had been blurred or locked the night before were now fully visible. Entire categories became visible showing more options for guides, rift information, monster strategies and market analysis.
One option though, stood out in particular.
Hunter Shop
"…Shop?" Nathan frowned slightly.
His curiosity won as he clicked on the option. The page loaded and Nathan froze.
Item listings flooded his screen, scrolling endlessly downward. Clean interfaces, product thumbnails, prices, seller ratings. For a moment, his brain refused to process it.
"This is literally Amazon but for hunters." he muttered as eyes widened.
Infront of him were pictures of weapons, potions and various accessories for hunters.
And on the left hand side of the screen he saw a filter panel. Several categories were listed on it, but three stood out to him.
Item Shards, Summon Shards, Ability Shards
Nathan leaned closer to the screen.
"They sell… shards?" he whispered.
He had always heard about shards in passing in form of stories, rumors, exaggerated figures tossed around in discussions on the internet. But, the one thing that he knew about them for sure was that these shards were expensive and not easy to get his hands on.
Some being hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes even more than that. To his surprise, here they were, listed and categorized for sale.
'So this is where they are sold,' he realized.
His cursor hovered uncertainly for a moment before moving decisively.
Ability Shards
He clicked and the page refreshed.
Dozens of shimmering blue crystal icons filled his screen, each one rotating slowly in its thumbnail, glowing faintly as if lit from within. Names and prices were displayed beneath them in clean, professional fonts.
For a second, Nathan simply stared, trying to understand the numbers on his screen.
"Holy sh-" he breathed.
He forced himself to focus and clicked on the first shard in the list.
Minor Endurance – $10,000
A small description box slid open beside it. 'This shard increases your Endurance stat's effectiveness by 1.2x.'
"So it's… passive," he murmured as he read through the description.
This was not an active skill as it did not require an activation. Instead, as the information explained, this just passively enhances your endurance stat.
He leaned back slightly, letting that sink in, soon after his eyes drifted back to the list.
Another shard caught his attention almost immediately.
Moderate Endurance – $150,000
His eyebrows shot up.
"What's with the price difference?" he muttered.
He clicked it as another description appeared. 'This shard increases your Endurance stat's effectiveness by 1.4x.'
Nathan stared.
"…That's it?"
1.2 multiplier versus 1.4 multiplier, and the price difference was enormous. Understanding slow dawned on Nathan.
The difference of two points sounds small but when it comes to higher level hunters the different is day and night.
Nathan leaned back, eyes unfocused as his thoughts raced.
'That's why abilities are priceless,' he realized.
'They don't just add numbers, they completely change the way you hunt and how you perform.'
His gaze drifted instinctively toward the corner of his vision, where his status window would appear when he focused on it.
'Reversal...'
The word lingered in his mind.
Nathan had seen it on his status window since awakening, listed under abilities, no other descriptions or instructions given beyond that single word.
Every night before bed, he had tried to make sense of it. Tried focusing, willing it to activate, imagining conditions under which it might activate.
'Nothing.'
He had eventually pushed it aside, telling himself he'd figure it out later when he was stronger and he had the time to think about it more.
Now, staring at ability shards worth tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, that excuse felt hollow.
'Abilities aren't optional, they are instrumental to a hunter.' he thought.
Nathan's eyes flicked back to the glowing shards on the screen.
Endurance shard were not the only listen ones, there were dozens of other shards like minor strength boosts, perception modifiers, stamina recovery passives.
And somewhere out there, abilities that didn't just enhance stats but instead changed the laws of the world.
His fingers clenched slowly on the edge of the desk.
"And then there's you," he murmured quietly, thoughts drifting back inward.
'Reversal.'
"What the hell are you supposed to be?"
The screen's glow reflected in his eyes as the weight of the hunter world settled more fully onto his shoulders.
Money, information, power, all of these had a price and Nathan had only just stepped inside the marketplace.
'Whatever Reversal is…' Nathan had a feeling it wasn't going to be simple.