The Hunters of Peril book 1

By D.W. Jackson

God has grown tired of mankind's stagnant way of life. he forces tens of thousands of people to play his deadly game. it is dangerous, but also has rewards that could change the world or destroy it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D.W. Jackson
• Release date: Jan 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463791288

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Copyright © D.W. Jackson Smashwords Edition

Names, characters, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual event, organizations, or persons, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

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Prologue

Jerico leaned against the cold metal wall and slowly slid down to the ground as the door in front of him quickly closed. The room was dimly lit by emergency lighting. Lifting his hand Jerico watched the blood drip down as it glistened in the light. He knew that he was dead. The bullet had torn through his armor and ripped a large whole through his abdomen. The fact that he was still breathing was amazing in itself even with his body enhancements.

Reaching over Jerico tried to pull himself up hoping to find some way to make his enemies follow him in his death. As his consciousness faded he felt something warm flow over his body as a mechanical voice rang in the small room.

Reset commencing.

Looking over Jerico noticed a large red gem under his hand. He knew that it was an O.P.A. or out of place artifact. He had found one before though it was only a rank 3 item. Before his mind could completely understand what was happening his body failed him and he fell into darkness.

Chapter 1

Jerico sat upright gasping deeply as his hand went directly to the mortal wound he expected to find yet his body was whole. As his mind calmed down he looked around and noticed that he was in the house he had lived in nearly 10 years before. What the hell is going on, Jerico yelled as his mind began to spend.

Getting up Jerico went to the outdated computer and turned on the monitor. 10/4/2023. Looking at the date Jerico nearly cried. It wasn’t a very memorable date itself but the next day the world would go insane. Have I really gone back in time? Jerico couldn’t really believe it at first but the more he looked through the news, the more he started to see the truth. Suddenly Jerico began laughing loudly then his face turned into a sinister smile. This time I will make sure that bastard Marcus doesn’t have a good time.

Jerico had been born in a small town and had worked hard his entire life. He didn’t go to college like many of his friends but he never thought that it mattered. He enjoyed simpler things; working on his old truck, fishing, working out, family, and friends. He currently worked at a small shop welding. It wasn’t the best pay but it allowed him to do what he enjoyed.

With only a day to prepare Jerico took a short job then went through a light workout to get used to his body. At the end Jerico felt heavy as if he was wearing weights but he expected that since he had been used to his body enhancements. By the time he had finished the sun had already began to set. If it was his previous life he would stay up until around three to four A.M. before sleeping but knowing what was going to happen in the morning Jerico went to bed shortly after the sun had begun to set.

Yawning Jerico looked at the celling of his room and couldn’t help but smile. A small part of him feared that this was only a dream and that he would wake up to the drab grey walls of the cell he had called home for over eight years. Turning his head Jerico looked at the alarm clock, 7:54. Only six more minutes. Jerico quickly dressed then headed down to the kitchen and quickly ate. When he was halfway through his bowl of cereal Jerico heard a loud ringing sound before a voice filled the air.

Humans do you not believe that your world has lost its challenge? It has become so boring that you are forced to make up problems. I am tired of watching this stagnation, so I have come up with an idea. I have currently created ten worlds and I will chose 100,000 random people to enter each world to complete missions much like in a game. You will be able to obtain riches if you are lucky, if you are not, the only thing that awaits you is death…Hunters enjoy the world of Peril.

Shortly after the words had finished speaking a watch appeared on Jerico’s arm. Looking at the watch Jerico couldn’t help but laugh. A second later his body shifted and instead of sitting at the small table in his living room he was now standing in a large white space.

Welcome, A light bell like voice echoed from the watch. You have been chosen to be a hunter. In five minutes you will be transported to the location of your initial mission. In these five minutes you may ask any questions that you want, though I may not answer.

Jerico wanted to laugh again. What questions could he have? He had gone through this ten years ago. It wasn’t like the first time when he woke up in the white room suffering from a hangover. Looking back Jerico was surprised that he had even passed the first exam though in all honesty it wasn’t that hard. No need. You can go ahead and transfer me.

Understood and good luck, the voice replied.

The next moment Jerico was standing in a small room with grimy white walls with a dark green gym bag at his feet. Opening the bag Jerico pulled out the knife from inside closed it up and slung it over his shoulder. Even though it had been years Jerico could still remember his first mission but he still checked his watch. Pressing down on the small green button on the watch a transparent screen popped up.

[Mission level: Introduction.

Survive: Stay alive for eight hours.

Location: 10766 South Harper.

Reward: 100 Cor.]

Jerico gave a slight smile. Last time he had left the room and found a class 1 mutant rat. After a hard and panicked fight he had spent the rest of the eight hours hiding in the room shaking like a leaf. Looking back it was so silly. The class 1 mutant rats were not hard to kill but it was way beyond anything he had ever seen before and he had been in shock. After that for the first six months he had only entered the world of Peril once a week when he was forced to. It wasn’t truly until he was framed and sent to prison that he started to spend more and more time within the world of Peril, though not all of it was his own choice.

Jerico tested the edge of the knife with his thumb and smiled again. This time would be different, he told himself. Looking around the room Jerico spotted a wire frame trashcan and picked it up. Opening the door Jerico saw a pair of small red eyes looking back at him. The rat was about the size of a pug with dirty grey hair and teeth that looked too big to fit in its mouth. As soon as it saw him the rat let out a loud screech then rushed toward him. Jerico didn’t blink and waited until the rat was close and slammed down the trashcan, trapping the rat. With a quick jab through the wire frame of the trashcan the rat screamed and fell to the ground. You have gained 5 Cor.

Cor was what was used to buy things from the watch, though you could only buy it when you were outside of the world of Peril. Last time Jerico had kept his job but this time would be different. He could use 1 point to buy a gram of gold, 50 grams of silver, or a gram of platinum. There were also a number of other metals that could be bought but those were the ones that he remembered the most. From looking it up the night before gold would be the best to buy and that meant that one point was worth about 40 dollars. Killing one rat was worth 200 dollars so it wasn’t a bad deal. The downside was that the Cor was also used to buy much needed armor, weapons, and body enhancements.

Looking around the room Jerico was sure that he was in some sort of office building. He was half tempted to go to the window to look out but fought the urge since he knew that such actions could bring disastrous consequences. Before he had much time to look around a second rat appeared. This one was slightly bigger but it was still only a class one mutant rat. With a simple screech the rat charged. Without the trash bin Jerico knew that it would be slightly harder to kill the rat but it still wasn’t that much of a challenge. If only I had my O.E.B., Jerico said with a slight sigh as he raised his foot before slamming it down on the rats head. The second the rat was trapped below his foot he quickly shoved the knife into its back. The rats were not that strong but they were still some of the most feared mutants as they often traveled in groups of more than a hundred and even a class one mutant rat could chew through steel. Once again the voice rang out letting him know that he had earned 5 more Cor.

After killing the second mutant rat Jerico looked around the office but didn’t find anything of use. Jerico now had two choices; 1: stay in the office, 2: open up the door to the stairwell and go either up or down. Jerico doubted that he would find and good items but every point could be used to make it more likely to survive later on. It is only a 100 Cor mission so the danger level should be low but he knew that might not be the case since he could easily pass it if he just sat down and waited. In the end he thought it was better to take the risk rather than waste his time doing nothing. He had to make at least 2000 dollars a month to be able to live comfortably. That meant that he had to make at least 50 Cor a month which was easy but he still needed Cor for other things. Jerico also knew that in three months the government would pass a new emergency laws.

All Hunters would have to register with the government.

Any hunter caught unregistered would be imprisoned for 5 years.

Hunters would pay $100,000 their first year and $250,000 for any year after in taxes per year.

Any hunter caught committing a felony would be sentenced to life in prison.

The laws seemed easy enough but there were some people in the government that abused them causing more than a few hunters to become little less than slaves to the state. Jerico had been one such person. Sentenced to life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit Jerico knew just how dangerous it could be. So he planned to make sure this time around he was careful.

Opening the door to the stairwell Jerico was happy to see that he was already at the top floor, as he didn’t like the idea having to choose between going either up or down. Looking at the plate on the wall next to the door Jerico knew that he was on the sixth floor of the building. The stairwell was dark so Jerico pulled the flashlight out of the green bag and turned it on, gripping the handle to the knife tightly as he did so. There were countless types of monsters in the world of Peril and each one was different. There were some that were very sensitive to light and would swarm as soon as you turned on a flashlight but without either the night eye enhancement, or night vision goggles, he was only left with the flashlight. When nothing appeared Jerico let out a sigh and then slowly began to descend the stairs.

The door to the fifth floor was a dull gray color and Jerico couldn’t help but look at missing sections of paint. When the world of Peril first appeared it didn’t take long for people to understand that it was a copy of earth. There was some recognized buildings and locations but it was not a carbon copy. Even between the different copies of the world there were minute differences and in some cases big ones. Reaching out his hand Jerico wondered if this world really existed somewhere. It was not the first time he had thought such things. When one spend almost all of their time surrounded by walls all that is left is thinking. Taking a deep breath Jerico pushed down on the silver lever and pushed open the door.

As the door swung open Jerico locked eyes with a small brownish creature that was hunched over. The creature was often called a goblin by hunters but its real name was a class 1 humanoid mutant, category f, type c. Like most mutants it had red eyes. The class 1 mutants were the weakest layer of mutants. If you looked at it like a game they were the mob characters. The category told what rank within class 1 they belonged f, e, d, c, b, a, s. Every hunter wanted to run across a class 1 category a or s, also known as rare monsters. If it was a humanoid they had strong melee weapons, and depending on type of beast or plant based mutant had rare items that could be used to make unique weapons. The type portion of name had little to do with the strength of the mutant and was just a way to show that goblin and zombie were different since they were both class 1 humanoid, category f monsters. The reason that hunters just called them goblins was because their real name was lame.

Class 1 goblins were not strong. The real fear came from the fact that they moved in large groups like many of the class 1 monsters. Class 1 rats would try to chew through you while class 1 goblins would simply pummel you with their fists. Jerico was stunned for a second. First rats then goblins, while it was not uncommon to run into different types of mutants during a mission it was rare to find them separated in such a fashion. It really seemed like a tutorial belonging to a game. In his past life Jerico didn’t research much about other people’s first experience so he wasn’t expecting the more relaxed pace. A thin smile spread across Jerico’s face as the goblin charged with a loud yell. He doubted everything would go this smoothly but there was no reason not to take advantage of it while he had the chance.

After killing seven goblins Jerico found that the floor was empty. Letting out a small sigh he moved back to a corner of one of the rooms so he could get a clear view of the only doorway leading in and sat down. Stretching out his arms he began to massage his arms and let out a low moan. Jerico was not small, in high school he had played football, and lifted weights, but that was little help with prolonged fighting. His current body was used to short runs not long drawn out movement. Just as his arms were not used to continued stress. I can’t wait to get a few tats, Jerico said as he looked at his bare arms. The government took 90% of his Cor in his last life because of his lack of funds he was forced to buy biological Nano enhancement. The biological Nano enhancement looked much like a tattoo, and a single one wasn’t very large, nor did it help much, but neither were they as expensive as the major enhancements. For this reason they were not wildly used by most hunters but Jerico still planned to use them. After being forced to use them he had learned that while a few of them were almost of no help but once you got a fair amount of the enhancements they proved much more useful…and a lot more expensive overall.

While Jerico rested he thought about his last life and laughed. He had only used the most hated weapons and armor and was still able to take on low level d rank missions. When he died few people had been able to break into level B and only three people had made it to level A and two of those had died. No one knew if there was a higher level than A but Jerico was determined to find out.

After his body had rested Jerico got to his feet and checked the time. The first floor was easy to pass and didn’t take up much time. The same couldn’t be said of the second. Humanoid mutants were smarter than most other mutants though there were some exceptions. That meant that when they were losing they tended to hide and attack from a hidden location. Still after clearing both floors and a short rest only a little under an hour had passed.

The fourth floor had another class 1 mutant. This time it was what was commonly called hell cats. They were the weakest mutant cats but were still category E making the more difficult to deal with than the rats or goblins. Their main weapon was their sharp claws and fast speed. Unlike rats though they were slightly