《Code Collector》 Chapter 1: Code Collector Chapter 1: Code Collector The dusk was setting. The orange skies signalled the start of twilight, and the fierce nocturnal beasts were starting to wake up. But a frail young boy was still out in the middle of the woods alone. His group had left him in the First World called Haven intentionally. They saw it fitting for him to just die instead of holding their group down like he always do. His silver white hair would always attract beasts that made their hunts difficult. He was also weak, only reaching up to Level 3 after years of being a Hunter. And to make everything worse, ugly scars of what seemed to be w marks littered his throat. He wasn''t able to speak up to them, makingmunication difficult. This young man was Allen Vermillion. He couldn''t find a job after finishing high school, so he became a Hunter to make ends meet. He was still in the first of the six new worlds or the Otherworlds, and was barely surviving with the minimum ie he earns. Bing a Hunter was what makes up half of humanity''s economy after the gates to the Otherworlds opened. After humans received a mysterious system that allows them to gain abilities or weapons from the beasts they kill, most of the poption ventured in this line of field instead. Another thing that Hunters saw as light with their darkness were the abilities and weapons they gain from the Otherworlds, these are called Codes. With these Codes, the strong ruled over the weak. The Codes are earned after a Hunter deals the final blow to a beast from the otherworld. They will have a chance of getting a Code that will significantly decrease as the quality of the Code increases. Yet after all this time, Allen was unable to gain any Code because he could barely deal the final blow. The beasts needed a weapon from a Code to be killed, so even slimes were a difficult to hunt for him. It was a good thing that Codes were transferable through either trades or bought in shops. With this, he purchased a Code for a Basic grade dagger with his years of savings. Allen nced at the weapon and ttened his lips tightly. It was his first day of getting the dagger and he was excited to test it out. After all, he was only using made-up weapons that had almost zero damage on the beasts. He would only use sticks as swords or throw stones at the beasts to distract them, leaving the final blow to the ones who has actual weapons. After their hunt, they would usually sell the Basic Codes they earned or trade them. They will then split the profit depending on their contribution. Since Allen has the least contribution, he would have the least amount of money. He had lived his entire life with this same old circle. Wake up, hunt, be the pawn, earn the tip of their ie, and then repeat it the next day. It was a wonder how Allen saved up for his new dagger. His groups miraculously allowed him to hunt with them even though he''s nothing but a heavy baggage to them. He had hoped it would stay like that for a longer time, but everyone has their limits. It would seem like his group passed theirs. [ Name: Allen Vermillion, Level: 3 (EXP: 260/300) ] [ Stats ] Health: 100/100 Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Endurance: 5 Damage: 10 (+5) Defense: 5 [ Foxground Dagger ] Type: Weapon Grade: Basic Damage: 5 Effect/s: None He watched his data interface helplessly. Levels would increase the stats of a Hunter, even changing their physical appearance once they reach certain levels. The higher the level, the stronger the Hunter would be. He was only at Level 3, so his strength was nothing short from an athlete. The small EXPs he gained after all these years were a share from their hunts. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Hearing a buzzing noise from behind him, Allen quickly spun and raised his weapon. The night was approaching and he was still lost in the middle of the forest. If he can''t find a way to get out now, he couldn''t make it until morning. Stepping closer to the sound, Allen was ready to fight. The low buzzing sound made it obvious that the beast was a Basic grade beast. With his dagger, he should be able to kill it without breaking a sweat. The buzzing continued until Allen was a step away from the bush where it came from. With a gulp, the young man opened the bush with a long stick he got from the ground. He wasn''t able to close the bush back because a swarm of wasps flew out of the bush. Each wasp was the size of a fist, and that wasn''t the main problem. The number of wasps that were swarming towards him was overwhelming. "Toote to back out now!" Allen screamed in his mind even when his mouth only let out a muffled noise. His hand gripped on the dagger and found themselves performing a swift sh in the air. ''Purple Wasp killed. +10 EXP.'' ''Purple Wasp Code gained.'' ''First Basic grade beast killed. 100 EXP is rewarded.'' The voice rang inside Allen''s head like it was the sound of bells from the heavens. A grin was stered on his face as he continued to wave his hand in the air in hopes to kill more. The wasps were many but they deal little to no damage. He knew he can do this. ''Purple Wasp killed. +10 EXP.'' ''Purple Wasp killed. +10 EXP.'' ''Purple Wasp killed. +10 EXP.'' ''You have leveled up. Health replenished.'' ''Purple Wasp killed. +10 EXP.'' ''Purple Wasp Code gained.'' After what seemed like eternities, Allen fell to his knees in exhaustion. The swarm of wasps dispersed after he killed more than half of them. He would gain EXPs from killing the wasps and would level up, replenishing his health to its brim only for the wasps to slowly sting it all away again. He was lucky the wasps went away before he could lose all his health since he was far away from leveling up this time. His body felt like it was about to give up, like he was being pulled by gravity to kiss the dirt beneath him. "I need to continue," Allen said in his mind. He pulled himself up and raised his head, panting as he watched the skies turned darker and darker. nk. nk. nk. Snapping his head to the direction of the metallic sound, Allen took all the energy he got and ran. It was already nightfall and the deadlier beasts of the night will hunt him down if they see him. He needed shelter, and he needed it fast. The Codes they earn will be part of their bodies. With this, they could summon or hide a Code weapon at will. But in this situation, hiding his weapon will not be the best idea. Any moment now, a beast could step out of the darkness. He needed to have his guard up in case something happens. After half an hour of running, Allen found himself a small cave as a shelter. The cave was shallow and it provided enough space for him to hide, but at the same time it wasn''t too deep. The boy sat on a rock of the shallow cave. Putting on a fire will be too dangerous for him, especially at his condition. He had reached three levels up, but his stamina was drained because of the number of wasps. They even gave him five Codes which Allen was d he got. He can sell the Codes when he get back to Earth. It was also a mystery why he didn''t die from wasp poison. Purple Wasps are known to kill weaker Hunters considering they have weaker defense stats. A few sting should have made him kick the bucket, but Allen was still standing. He opened his interface from the system of the Hunters. Each Hunter could see their own data that was disyed in arge blue holographic box. No one can see the data except for the Hunters themselves. In the box were three tabs, the profile, the stats, and the Codes. Allen first opened his profile to see what level he is after the fight. [ Name: Allen Darkshade, Level: 6 (EXP: 10/600) ] After reading this, Allen immediately went to his Codes. The system informed him earlier that he got a new Code from the wasps. [ Foxground Dagger] Type: Weapon Grade: Basic Damage: 5 Effect/s: None. [ Curse of the Purple Wasp ] (5) Type: Skill Grade: Basic Effect/s: Immunity to Purple Wasp poison. A lightugh escaped from Allen''s lips. He shook his head and was about to close his data when he felt a pain in his back. It wasn''t long after that he heard a sound from his side. Hiss. Hiss. His eyes widened after hearing the snake. Allen looked around but saw nothing. When he sat down on the rock again, the hissing sounds came back. Allen stood again and looked for the snake. The sound was loud and it seemed close, so he didn''t want to let his guard down. The snake could be very poisonous and it could mark the end of his life. Thinking he was just hearing things, Allen sat back down. He ced his hand behind him when he felt a soft flesh-like object. It had hard scales on its back, but its belly was like it was a fragile yet calloused human skin. Allen gulped and tapped the thing again, making sure it was the thing in his mind. Hiss. Hiss. Screaming in fear, Allen conjured his dagger and spun. Without any hesitation, he flipped the snake on its back while holding its neck. He stabbed the stomach with his dagger as hard as he could, the bone de digging through the flesh that created a splurging sound. It doesn''t matter if the snake was Basic or not, he had to kill it with all he had. ''Primordial Snake killed. +0 EXP.'' ''Primordial Snake Code gained.'' His eyes widened after hearing the notification. In the Codes tab of his interface had a small number 1 icon, meaning there was something new there. [ Primordial Snake''s Blessing ] Type: Skill Grade: Celestial Effect/s: (1) For every three beasts killed, the chance of getting a Code is increased by 300%. (2) Locked (3) Locked (4) Locked (5) Locked ] ''Congrattions, you have earned a new title.'' [ Name: Allen Darkshade, Level: 6, Title: Code Collector (EXP: 10/600) ] In an ancient ruined temple, people were panicking. People with armor, people in suits, and even Hunters were running around with shocked faces. A woman with a ck ponytail hair just arrived at the temple when she pulled one man aside, "What is happening here?" "Oh, Miss Lin, t-the Primordial te" the man stuttered. "What is happening with the te?" Lin pushed the man away, and ran inside the temple. The people inside all bowed down after seeing the woman, shaking in fear that Lin didn''t understand. Not long after, she arrived at arge circr courtyard were people surrounded arge t rock. "Lin!" a man in a red suit called out. His suitposed of arge golden dragon on his chest. This man was named Drake Nelson. "Lin, the te, something had happened to it." "Sir Drake, please tell me" Lin''s eyes widened in shock after her gaze found its way on the twelve animals engraved in the stone te. She ran to one of the animals and traced her hand on the glowing figure. Lin sighed and looked back at Drake, "T-The Snake has been found." Chapter 2: Lake Swan Chapter 2: Lake Swan The shock on Allen''s face stayed for a few more seconds, the event that had been happening felt too unreal for him. "W-What?" His world stopped for a brief moment. Allen rubbed his eyes with his hands as hard as he could. He pinched his arm, his stomach, and his legs. He didn''t want to believe it, but it was real. When it was, his mouth formed a smile and a chuckle escaped his lips. When the Otherworlds'' portals opened, there was arge stone te that had twelve different animals engraved in it. The animals were believed to be the strongest beasts in the new worlds, capable of altering the course of power with their Codes. This was proven when the first Primordial Beast was hunted, the Primordial Dragon. The one who killed it gained its Code, the ability to morph into a giant dragon the size of a tower. The Hunter was Drake Nelson, the first person to ever evolve from the First World to the Second World where Codes with higher quality were found. When news broke out, Hunters all over the world searched for the other Primordial Beasts. All eleven from the twelve were hunted in a span of two years, the only missing one was the snake. Drake Nelson''s hunt happened neen years ago, and the other ten were seventeen years ago. Him and the other Primordial Beast Bearers were already capable of entering the Fourth World, that made everyone thought that thest Primordial Beast was lost forever. Allen thought so too, until he opened his interface and saw the Code there again. He looked at his data repeatedly, all of the time he made sure to rub his eyes in case he was seeing things. When the Code was still there, he could only fall down on his butt. All the thoughts were running in his head when the thought of a Primordial Beast being helpless crossed his mind. Allen sat on the ground and watched the snake''s corpse. It looked helpless and weak, something that he didn''t expect. From the rumors of the other beasts, the Primordial Beast Bearers searched far and wide for them. Some said that Drake Nelson went to floating inds up in the Northern Mountains to y the Primordial Dragon. The most incredible story was how the Primordial Rooster was defeated. It said that the beast would onlye out in between the light and dark of dawn. When that sliver of time passes by, the beast would hide until dawn breaks again. "Maybe they lied about how they got their Codes?" Allen asked himself. He was ready to go back to the cave and replenish his health when he saw the fourth tab with a nk title in his system. Just when he was about to click it, a notification rang in his mind. ''Opening Code Collector''s quests'' He sat back on the rock and stared at the loading screen. His lips were dry, his body was cold, and the stinging wounds of the wasps felt numb. Allen watched the screen load in anticipation, any pain he was feeling felt like they were nothing. [ Quests ] [ A Collector''s Start ] His hands shakily pressed on the first quest, gulping as it opened. He had never encountered something like this before. Quests were given to groups from rich people when they want something from the Otherworlds. But the system itself giving him quests? That''s unprecedented. [ A Collector''s Start ] Reward: 50 EXP, ??? New Codes obtained: 0/3 For this quest, Allen has to obtain three new Codes. It didn''t specify what type of, so he thought it was going to be okay when he gets any kind of Code. The reward for the quest was worth 5 Basic beasts too. From the six grades of beasts, Basic, Rare, Grand, Sacred, Divine, and Celestial, the Basic gives the lowest EXP and the least quality of items. Although he felt like this was cheating, Allen thought it was a good change. All his life he was nothing but a failure, stumbling to all sorts of problems and being thrown into situations where he could be nothing but helpless. "For once, I need to be selfish," Allen thought and clenched his fist. If this was the path fate wanted him to walk on, then he will wall down this road with his head held high. Thinking it was too dangerous to light a fire, Allen stayed on the cave and hugged himself. He now had extra abilities but it didn''t add to hisbat skills. The snake gave him the power to collect more Codes, not fight the beasts to gain them. Allen nced back at the corpse of the snake. It was still bugging him how he was able to kill it so easily when Sacred grade beasts could annihte an entire battalion of soldiers. He had seen it in the papers and news when the portals first opened. Everything was in havoc. The beasts escaped their world and sought destruction to the humans. It was at the same time that the humans discovered Codes and how to use them. After only a decade, humanity brought back what was theirs and earth was rebuilt into a new world. Power reigns over everything. Money, connections, even family ties. All of them could be severed by power alone. In this harsh reality, Allen wanted that power to flip the bnce of the world. The strong are only getting stronger, the rich are only getting richer, while the poor and weak are left with misery. He wanted to change the world, and if he was going to use the powers of the snake to do it, Allen will. "Let''s see how the weak thrives over the strong." Allen whispered. He suddenly felt his body sink. His energy was drained for some reason, his eyelids begged to close and his body wanted to rest. Before he could even ask what was happening, a notification rang in his head. ''The Primordial Code has settled on its owner.'' ''Body restarting.'' ''You will now experience rebirth through the powers of the Primordial Snake.'' With his eyes fluttering open, Allen touched his head. There was a deafening sound of ringing in his mind that he couldn''t ignore. Sitting up, the ringing had stopped. His head spun, feeling that there''s something different. "What''s happening" before he could even finish, he cut himself off. He opened his mouth, lips trembling as he tried to speak again. "H-Hello?" Allen covered his mouth with his hands in shock. He could hear his own voice now. Something that had never happened before. He tried to stand but fell back, once again his eyes widened when he saw that his legs were longer. Everything in him was different. He was taller, his skin was fairer, and his vision was even clearer. What''s more surprising was the voice thates out of his mouth. It was odd that he could now speak, but the scars on his neck were still present. Allen tried to stand but failed. He fell back on the floor, his mind still couldn''t grasp the new dimensions of his body. Everything felt ethereal and foreign, like he wasn''t on his body. Another thing that bothered him was how tight his clothes were. His shirt was ripped on the shoulders and his pants were ripped on the lower leg, something that was concerning. If this goes on, his movements would be constricted, making it harder for him to move if ever a beast woulde his way. Allen narrowed his eyes and looked around. Howe his unconscious bodyid still on the floor yet no beasts were around to maul him alive? For all he knew, nocturnal beasts would kill anything that seemed like it would be meat. "Was I not delicious looking?" Allen asked himself, still jolting after hearing his own voice. It didn''t taks long before he had gotten used to the feeling of his new body. The snake gave him this for some twist of fate. He will use this new life to reach his own goal and help the people. But first he needed to help himself. His stomach was rumbling with hunger. It had been a couple of hours since hisst meal, and for some reason, he felt hungrier. Quack. Quack. Quack. His head snapped to the side after hearing a flock of ducks close by. Allen needed to push his limits by standing up and walking using the aid of a stick he found. His eyes saw the snake again, the smell of the dead creature filling his nose with a strong stench. With a gulp, the boy took out his shirt that was suffocating him and covered the snake with it. He then took a from the cave and used it as a belt, tying the pouch that contained the snake carcass inside. His hunger had gotten fiercer. The rumbling of his stomach got louder as he felt the uncontroble bloodlusting from his inner thoughts. The ducks. He wanted the ducks. Allen lowered his body, leaning so close to the ground. His feet twitched before itunched itself to the direction of theke where the ducks were. The dagger found its way to his hands, he boy holding it tightly and raising it in front of him. His body was so close to the ground that it reminded him of a snake, slithering to catch its prey. And right now, he was the snake. The ducks were only about to get into the water when a swift sh on one of the duck''s neck ended its life in a sh. A smirk appeared in Allen''s lips as he watched the lifeless beast sumb to its wound. ''Lake Swan killed. +10 EXP.'' ''Lake Swan Code gained.'' Chapter 3: Rare Beast Chapter 3: Rare Beast There was a satisfying smirk on Allen''s face as he feasted on the swan''s meat. He started a fire right by theke and grilled the swan meat after plucking all its feathers. One of the seble items from the Otherworlds apart from the Codes are the beasts'' raw materials. A pound of this swan feathers would at least provide Allen a food for a day in Earth. The Otherworlds provided Hunters more sources of money to venture to, that was why it was so popr among humans. One thing Allen noticed after his body was transformed was how light it felt and how strong he was. Before, it would be hard for him to even kill one of the swans, but all it took was one swift sh from him and the beasts sumbed to the wounds on their necks. While nibbling on one of the swan''s meat, Allen looked at his interface and read the new Code he got. [ Swan Song ] Type: Skill Grade: Basic Effect/s: Once activated, the user and nearby allies will gain a shield that will absorb 10 damage for 5 seconds. This new ability sounded weak and pathetic, but ever second when fighting a beast is crucial. He can use the shield he''ll gain from this skill to charge at his opponents and strike them down. He had seen other Hunters use shields from Codes before and it was very useful in a battle. Impressed by his new ability, Allen proceeded to eat the swan. He got three swan meat from theke, and got one Code. He was only able to get a few Codes from killing hundreds of wasps, which means getting one from three swans was already a huge advantage. Considering how rare Codes are, if it wasn''t for the Primordial Snake''s Blessing, he wouldn''t even get a single ability out of the three swans he killed. He needed to at least hunt twenty swans to get a high chance of getting a Code from them. Having an ability like this was very useful for just about any Hunter who had nothing to offer. It will keep the Codes rolling in for him as he level up and collect more Codes. All he needs to do was to keep this a secret from everyone else. There are two ways of passing Codes to other people. The mostmon way was when the receiver would open their palm and the sender would ce their hand over it. This was used in transactions such as trades and sales. The other method was by death. Like how Hunters deal the final blow to beasts to gain their Codes, a Hunter can kill another Hunter to gain all their Codes. This was the biggest crime anyone couldmit. Allen was avoiding the second one. If news spread that he has an ability to increase the odds of getting a Code, Hunters from all over the world will hunt him down. If he ever wishes to even fend other Hunters from killing him, he needed to get stronger. Although the killing method was also dangerous. A Hunter are capable to have only a handful of slots for Codes. When they surpass the number of Codes they are capable of having, their minds will start to be hazy. It was said that the souls of the beasts from the victim that once owned the Codes will haunt the murderer. This was called the Penalty, allowing the killings to almost tten. The Hunters are aware of the dangers of the Penalty especially when they do not know how many Codes the other Hunters have. No one knows how to avoid the Penalty, and studying how it works was almost impossible. A group had tried to conduct a study before, making subjects kill each other but they got nothing to conclude. Once a Hunter gets the Penalty, there was no turning back. In Allen''s case, it was rather odd how he got the Code from the Snake. When a Hunter sessfully kills a beast but they didn''t have the slot for the beast''s grade, their chances of getting a Code will automatically be set to zero. Yet he was able to gain the Code of the beast. He was supposed to have ten slots for Basic Codes and three for Rare Codes. All the other slot panels are grayed out, meaning they were lock. The Celestial Code he gained opened its own slot in Allen''s interface even when the lower grades from it were still gray. This was the confusing part in Allen''s mind. It was like the Code had a mind of its own. It even altered his interface and transformed his body. This was nothing like the Primordial Codes he heard from their Bearers. The Snake had something in it that was unique, he thought. Albeit curious about all this, Allen proceeded to hunt for more beasts to level up. It would only be useless if he could have an extremely high chances of getting Codes, but doesn''t have the slots to put them. While same Codes upies the same slot, which shows the number of how many times the Hunter has that specific Code on the top right of its box in the interface. For Allen, he has seven Basic slots and three Rare slots. It was doubtful that he would meet a Rare beast, so he settled on hunting for the Basic ones. Right now, he was Level 6. If he reaches Level 10, he''ll gain five more slots for the Basic Codes. Allen''s n was to return to Earth after he fills his Basic Codes slot so he can sell them. The thought of getting a better weapon excites Allen so much. Re-evaluating his n in his mind as he walked through the woods, Allen wondered why there was an eerie silence clouding over the forest floor. Usually there were sounds of beasts roaming about, but there wasn''t any sounding out from any creature around him. With another step forward, Allen felt the world turn dark and cold. It was as if the sun was covered, turning the day into the night. The air smelled like death while a surge of intense aura reached him, making all the hair in his body erect. "A Rare beast?" Allen gulped. Taking out his weapon, he slowly walked forward. This was caused by a beast, but wasn''t a Basic grade. A Basic beast could not produce an aura as strong as this. There was an odd feeling in front of him that made Allen took a step back. Just when he did, a circle formed in front of him and exploded into a burst of blue mes. The boy ran away from the me, but felt another feeling about his path. When he knew he couldn''t stop his motion, Allen rolled to the side just in time for the ground to form another circle and burst into mes. This was what he was so worried about. Basic grade beasts are nothing but a bit stronger than animals whenpared to Earth. These beasts are mostly safe to deal with. But from this grade and the next was a gigantic gap in power. Rare beasts are capable of producing low to medium powers, something even veteran Hunters in Haven would have trouble dealing with. Allen didn''t even want to imagine how strong the beasts are in the higher worlds. In the First World, Haven only Basic and Rare beasts are found. The Primordial Beasts must be excluded from this rule considering all of them were found here. In the next world, Paradise, Rare and Grand beasts are found. The seeding worlds has stronger beasts, and it only gets harder from there. Gritting his teeth, Allen rushed forward. He didn''t know what he was doing nor does he know where to go, but his n was to escape and that he will do. "Swan Song!" Allen casted. Immediately after his body glowed with a bright orange color, the dark forest regained its light. Allen watched his damage counter and saw that he was already half in his health, and the shield was instantly plummeting. Allen took a step forward, but forgot that he now had longer strides. He tripped on a tree root, but he spun so he would fall on his back. This broke his shield and the forest became dark and cold again. On the ground, Allen felt a big lump on his back. The boy sat up and used his dagger to reach the lump. It was a soft and squishy object that was attached on him. With a flick of his wrist, Allen removed the lump and stabbed it without any hesitation. ''Illusion Mushroom Crab killed. +50 EXP.'' ''First Rare-grade beast killed. 500 EXP is rewarded.'' The forest became bright again. Although Allen didn''t gain a new code, he gained a huge amount of EXPs from the crab. This was something he was already grateful for. Chapter 4: Boar Orc Chapter 4: Boar Orc Codes rule the world. That wasn''t something anyone could deny. The more powerful the Codes a Hunter has, the more influencial they be. Sitting on top of the pedestal of power are the Primordial Beast Bearers. Drake Nelson, the Bearer of the Dragon, rules over every human with his overwhelming power. It wasn''t because he was the first person to gain a Primordial Beast Code that he was given the title, but because of the sheer power the man has. Drake Nelson''s morph ability is only one of his endless Codes that he''s not afraid to use in a right p. While Hunters are ssified into one of the roles namely, knight, mage, rogue, ranger, tank, and support, Drake Nelson could fit in all the roles. He was a Jack of All Trades, but a Master of All Things. Allen watched the skies while resting in a small clearing, imagining what life would be if he coulde back to Earth and be one of the ones to rule. He can only achieve this after getting stronger, much stronger than he currently is. His fear of dering his Code too earlyes from the incident that happened years ago when the ninth Primordial Beast Code was found. The Primordial Rat''s original Bearer was killed because he told his friend that he got the Code. The friend took the Penalty and died in her apartment unit. Incidentally, a neighbor, who was also a fellow Hunter came inside friend''s room and the Code was transferred to him. This man would beter known as the Bearer of Rat, Jim Kernel. Allen didn''t want the fate of the original Rat Bearer. If this goes out to the media, no one could protect him. He could''ve even protect himself. After all, it wasn''t just the Primordial Beast Bearers who were strong in their world. The ones in the Third World are just behind the eleven Hunters in the Fourth World are just as formidable. They are from ns and rich families that were able to get resources for the Codes and became more powerful through money. Oink. Oink. Allen was pulled out from his thoughts after hearing a sound of a pig nearby. He took his dagger out and stood, looking around to make sure that he wasn''t giving the beast any opening. The grass in the clearing he was on was short, so it was a wonder why he wasn''t seeing the beast. If it''s a boar, based on the sound it should be closer to him. But there wasn''t any creature nearby. That was until Allen saw a small hole a few meters from him. He took a closer look and saw a piglet inside. It was the size of his fist and it seemed to be stuck inside the hole. "Come here, little piggy" Before Allen could finish his word, the ground shook the pig smirked. The boy''s face was contorted in confusion, not being able to take in what was happening. Oink! Oink! His eyes widened and his jaw dropped when the piglet''s voice suddenly became deep and gruff. Allen leaped back while the earth where the hole bulged. It was cracking and arge humanoid boar came out of the ground. "Another Rare grade beast," Allen grunted. "Haven, give me Basic grade beasts, please!" The boar in front of Allen was on of the orcs in Haven. They would have small animal heads on some parts of their bodies while their real body was humanoid but has the features of that same animal. In this case, the orc had a piglet on the top of its head and a boar-like features. It stood over six feet tall and had a face of a boar with fur all throughout its body. With its muscled arms, the orc carried a stone hammer with it. Allen shook his head as he tried to take a grasp of the situation. He was going to battle a six foot Rare grade buff creature with his Basic grade dagger that was about to fall apart. In wherever angle he tries to look at, he can never win. Oink! Oink! Oink! The beast swung itsrge stone hammer. It wasn''t giving Allen the time to think ande up with a strategy as it continued to attack him. The beast was relentless as it continued to hunt Allen with its weapon. Meanwhile, Allen was barely dodging the attacks. Even when he gained a new body better stats, he was still having a hard time adjusting to the changes. It was all too sudden for Allen that his mind wasn''t fully grasping the situation he was in. While he was in deep thought, the beast leaped above Allen. It raised its hammer and roared. It was a moment away from striking its weapon down on the boy with full power. While the beast was in the air, Allen''s world felt like it was in slow motion. Just like when he was in the forest, his body twitched in ces. It was as if it was guiding Allen on how he should move. ''Primordial Beast Hidden Effect upgraded'' ''Instinct Enhancement Level 1 activated.'' The female voice spoke in Allen''s mind that it made it clear to him what was going on. This was his instincts that was enhanced due to the power of the Snake. With a smirk, Allen followed the twitches in his body. He raised his left knee and thrust it to his right side so he could spin and avoid the attack. The boar growled in confusion after seeing the swift movements of the boy. Allen felt more twitches. This time, he bent both his knees before jumping over to the boar. His body started to turn upside down while he was on air, making him think that the power he used on his leap was too much. His confusion was cleared after he saw the wide opening of the beast''s nape. Among all the fur in its body, its neck was one of those who had almost none. Allen summoned his dagger and thrust his knee in the air so he could spin. With a swift sh of his sword, the boy sessfully hit the boar''s neck. Though, the smirk on his face was instantly wiped out when his dagger cracked after hitting the beast. ''Weapon integrity too low. Damage denied.'' This time, Allen''s world stopped spinning when the boar turned around and looked at him in the eyes. It grabbed its leg, gripping it tightly before mming his body to the ground like he was a ragdoll. The pain of the attack made Allen cough blood. It felt so fast that he wasn''t able to activate Swan Song, making him take all the damage instead. Just when he thought that his life was ending, the boar gripped his leg even tightly. It raised Allen in the air before throwing him above the trees. The sounds of broken bones echoed the silent clearing as Allen fell from the tree, passing through all the trunks and grazing himself up more. Guah! More blood burst from his mouth like geyser as he fell to the ground. Allen couldn''t help the tears to flow from his eyes. He was lucky to encounter such an easy Rare grade beast like the crab earlier. It was a mental beast that targets the victims'' minds. But since all the trauma Allen had in his past made his mind tough, he was able to ovee the crab. However, this Rare grade beast wasn''t battling through mental games. It was exuding a great physical force and power that Allen couldn''t reach. Rare grade beasts are handled by Hunters with higher level. A Level 7 like him couldn''t possibly best this creature. Oink! Oink! Oink! Allen couldn''t help but look up. He was trying to see the stars when a certain trunk caught his sight. "I''m not giving up," Allen told himself. He watched as the beast readied its hammer. It was going to attack again and if Allen couldn''t dodge this, he will be done for. Oink! Oink! ''Instincts Enhancement Level 1 activated.'' The world slowed down once more. Allen watched and waited for the beast to get near him as close as possible so he could begin his n. The footsteps of the beast that shook the ground felt so slow that Allen could see well where the beast was even when his eyes were clouded with tears. The beast was in front of him. And Allen had to act. He detached himself from the tree and slithered to the ground right behind the beast. The speed of his movements was the one that was greatly enhanced by his new skill. Allen''s right leg was broken so he had to rely greatly on his left leg. When he got behind the beast, he leaped with his left leg to get himself off the ground. He then used his right leg and pushed the beast as much as he could while he used the force to push himself higher. His right hand grazed the wind and summoned his dagger, shing on a trunk before he passed through it. Allen then flipped midair so he wouldnd on another trunk in an upside down position. He used his right leg to push himself back down mming his left leg on the trunk he cut earlier. The trunk cracked and swung like a pendulum before it pierced the boar''s thick skin with a broken branch. ''Boar Orc killed. +50 EXP.'' ''Boar Orc Code gained.'' Chapter 5: King of the World Chapter 5: King of the World ''Quest [ A Collector''s Start ] updated.'' ''Codes collected 2/3'' Allen nodded after hearing the notifications. For now he got the second Code. He only needed one more so he couldplete the quest and find out what it does after itspletion. He had hoped that it would give him more power in the future. If he has any ns on surviving, what he needed to do was to get stronger. The wounds and all the broken bones in his body was healed after he leveled up. He was thankful for the crab earlier for giving him additional EXP that he was able to level up in time. If the crab did not appear, Allen would''ve sumbed to his wounds. He had a broken leg, ribs, and wounds all over his body. If any predator in the forest would hear him, he would die immediately. Sitting up and recovering from his fatigue, Allen opened his interface to check his new Code. [ Stone Hammer ] Type: Weapon Grade: Rare Effect/s: (1) When equipped, the strength will be increased by 20%. As the grade of the weapon type Code gets higher, the number of effects from it also increases. Basic grade Codes do not have any effect, but Rare grade codes get one. The number of effects a Celestial grade has is five, just like the one Allen has. He heard of locked effects before too. Some of the effects are unavable when the Hunter who got the code has a lower level. In Allen''s case, the other effects of the Snake''s Code was locked. It wasn''t clear when the effects will be avable, but for now, what Allen can only do is wait. He equipped the hammer to test it out, instantly being amazed by its almost non-existent weight. It felt as though he was only carrying a stick instead of arge hammer. ''Stone Hammer effects activated.'' ''Your strength is increased by 20%.'' The voice sounded like melody in his ears. This weapon will help Allen a lot. Not just a suitable recement for his broken dagger, this new weapon will allow him to take down stronger beasts. Now that he was getting stronger bit by bit, Allen wanted to test his new weapon out. If he was nning on encountering manageable beasts that he could also eat, his best bet would be theke. Apart from the swans, theke also had fish and other water dwelling creatures. Allen was looking forward to eating fish since fish was his favorite food. Taking his hammer with him, Allen walked to the direction of theke. Suddenly, the thought of him going back to Earth wasn''t the thing he had in mind. Back then, when he was in Haven with his group, the only thing in his mind was when he could get back to Earth. He couldn''t wait toe back to his cold aparment and sleep in his hard mattress. Sure his life sounded pathetic and pitiful, but it was where he wasfortable with. And right now, the forest felt like it was home. Even when he didn''t know where he would sleep or how he would sleep knowing there are beasts nearby, Allen wanted to stay at the moment. "This Snake must be influencing me or something," Allen joked, and shook his head in amusement. He shrugged the thoughts away and continued his path back to theke. When he got there, he saw the swans swimming on the calm surface of the waters under the blue skies. The swans looked like the ones on Earth except for the ck outlines on their wings. From where he was standing, Allen could think that the view in front of him was only from a painting. Shaking the reminiscing thoughts away, Allen took his clothes off one by one. He was wearing a shirt and pants with a long coat over it. The coat was something he whipped by himself since he can''t afford Otherworld-suitable outfits. In the Otherworlds, there are certain things Hunters must know about clothing. To mask themselves in the new world, they must wear something that was from it. This was the reason why Allen wasn''t attacked by beasts even after they felt that he wasn''t from their world. Not long after Allen stripped down to his underwear, he started to walk closer to theke. The boy didn''t know how he could hunt fish by using a stone hammer, so he switched his weapons. The dagger was low on integrity, but it''s not useless against Basic grade fish. Allen took a deep breath and kept his n on his mind before he dove right into it. Although he was weakpared to other Hunters, he was still strongerpared to regr humans. He can dive into the water and swim in the depths of theke to find his prey. He was a Hunter, and Hunters hunt. Allen sighted a school ofrge fish in a distance. He was satisfied with how they looked like, so he swam closer to them. He needed to be fast since he can''t breath underwater, but he also needed to be careful to not scared the fish. If he was careless and alert the beasts of his presence, they will swim away and nevere back. This was a scenario that Allen did not want to happen. He wanted fish, and he will get fish. The boy positioned himself as he gently raising his dagger. Nodding to himself, Allen thrust his dagger up and shed across the fish. Although the water didn''t help but slow him down, he was still able to kill two fishes. ''Gray Salmon killed. +10 EXP.'' ''Gray Salmon killed. +10 EXP.'' Satisfied, Allen pushed the bodies of the fishes on the surface with him. He got out of theke and went back to the ce where he left his clothes, carrying therge fishes on his back. He was satisfied with his hunt even when he missed a couple more and didn''t get any Code. After all, he wasn''t rushing to get things done immediately. He will let fate dictate for him as to when he would rise and get stronger. With a wide grin on his face, Allen prepared his meal. He took rocks and made a fire so he could have a ce to cook his fish. This fire will also help warding off some of the nocturnal predators when the night woulde down soon. It wasn''t long before Allen finished setting up his camp. He was nning on staying in this camp for a little while, just until he has at least ten Rare grade codes. By that time, he wouldn''t be someone who''s easily defeated in a battle. [ Name: Allen Darkshade, Level: 7 (EXP: 60/700) ] He sighed after seeing the numbers in his interface. It wasn''t much, but his level was doubled in a span of two days. He was approaching the levels of the members from his group. He wasn''t far from them now, and it won''t take long before he can surpass them. With a determined clenching of his fist and a newfound passion, Allen decided to stay in the forest for a little while. He will improve himself so much that no one will look down on him. Not his group, not society. "I''ll be the king of the world." Chapter 6: Inventory Chapter 6: Inventory The night came not long after Allen ate the fish. The twilight was approaching when he went out to hunt the fish, so it wasn''t a surprise to him that night suddenly fell. The sounds of beasts started to echo from the forest. He was beside theke which had a small area of opennd before reaching the forest. He decided to camp out here since it was better than hiding in a cave where he could be cornered. The opennd was an advantage for him since he can see any beast that would try and attack him. Bit by bit, Allen was adjusting to his new life. For a few days, the forest will be his home and if he can''t get use to it, he will notst long. The Stone Hammer was right by Allen''s side too. For now, he could only equip one weapon at once and he decided to equip the hammer so he would benefit from its strength boost. Since sleep wasn''t an option, Allen decided to roam the forest and hunt smaller nocturnal beasts. If he was lucky, he could find a nest of weaker beasts and he could gain another code for his quest. The boy fed his fire with a lot of branches so it would not run out when hees back. The fire can ward off beasts so in case he encounters a beast that he can''t handle, he can run back to his camp and stay there until morninges. With a nod, Allen decided to start his hunt. If he could remember, not only predators roam the night. Creatures like rats, frogs, and birds would also thrive in the dark. His goal n was to find a new Code that would help him see better in the dark. Right now, all he could rely on was therge moon of Haven. Haven''s moon was bigger than the moon on Earth. They called this moon Lune. It was one and a half times brighter than the moon on Earth and almost twice its size. When humans started roaming Haven, when the Second and the other worlds weren''t discovered yet, there was a lore surrounding Lune. It was said that it was connected home to the rulers of this new world, the ones who areparable to gods in Earthen mythology. Croak. Croak. Allen woke up from his thoughts after hearing a sound of a frog. As expected, frogs would be close to theke. The wind was still wet in the areas and the ground wasn''t as dry. Raising his hammer, Allen walked closer to the sound. He had seen nocturnal frogs before, and not all of them are small. Some of them wasrge enough that they are capable of eating a human toddler. He was wishing that he would encounter one that was barely the size of his fist, but what awaited him wasn''t the one he hoped for. Over arge leafy nt, a group of frogs the size of a bowling ball snapped their heads in Allen''s direction. In the ce where they were was a small pond of water. The pond had lilies on them where the frogs sat while fireflies lit up the dark area. "Oh, no," Allen whispered after seeing the frog''s eyes lit up with a red color. The frogs opened their mouths and made a loud and sharp croaking sound that made the boy cover his ears. One of the frogs spat its long tongue and managed to wrap itself around Allen''s wrist. "Disgusting!" Allen yelled. The hair from all over his body raised, goosebumps running to his spine after feeling the silky and soft tongue of the frog. He pulled his wrist that made the tongue loosen its grip. This gave an opportunity for Allen to grip the tongue with his other hand and pulled it to the ground. With a silent yell, Allen mmed the hammer on top of the tongue, making the frog croak in pain. The others seemed to felt the pain of their ally. They started to croak even louder while one by one, jumping out the pond and surrounded Allen. Before, even when weaker creatures approach him, Allen would run to his group and hide behind their backs. He was incapable of doing anything back then. But this time, it was different. He didn''t need to run anymore, because he was stronger now. "Bring it on, frogs!" ''Lily Frog killed. +10 EXP'' ''Lily Frog killed. +10 EXP'' ''Lily Frog Code gained.'' It was the fifth frog that Allen killed before he gained the Code. It wasn''t long before another set of notifications rang in his head. ''Quest [ A Collector''s Start ] updated.'' ''Codes collected 3/3'' ''You havepleted your first quest. Reward: +50 EXP, Inventory.'' "Inventory?" Allen thought. He wasn''t aware that he had an inventory in his interface. He just thought that the notification must mean the Codes list, so he shrugged the thought away. He felt another slimy tongue that wrapped around his arm that made him shudder. "What a pain." ''Lily Frog killed. +10 EXP'' ''Lily Frog killed. +10 EXP'' It was thest beast from the group and Allen smashed its body with his stone hammer. ''Lily Frog killed. +10 EXP'' ''Lily Frog Code gained.'' The boy sat on the ground with a grunt. He raised his head to the sky as he watched the moon right above him. He basked in its light before he closed his eyes and smiled. It was beautiful. The trees were beautifully opening above him that the light from the moon shone in his face perfectly. His eyes then opened and his body twitched in fear after thinking what the Code he gained must be. He had thought that maybe it was a skill that allows him to extend his tongue or make his body secrete slime, both of which was not something he desired. With a scrunch of his face and a heavy gulp, Allen opened his inteface. He had seen a small circle on the bottom right corner and it had a small bag logo inside. "This must be the Inventory the notification was talking about," Allen thought, but decided to check it outter. For now, he wanted to see what the frog''s Code was. After all, he got two of them. [ Leap of Faith ] Type: Skill Grade: Basic Effect/s: This skill allows the user to leap up to a distance of three meters (scales every 10 levels). Allen released a sigh of relief. He was relieved that it wasn''t one of his fears, something that he was grateful for. This skill could actually be useful for him. Three meters wasn''t a short distance, and he can reach new heights with this skill. There were times when he has to reach high ces, but since he was only five inches over five feet tall, he was unable to do it. Although he was a Hunter and he could jump higher than normal humans, it still wasn''t enough for some situations. It was then that Allen remembered the new Inventory feature. It was the reward for hispletion of the quest, but he was still clueless about what it does. Clicking on the new small circle, a new square tab opened over his inteface. The tab had five smaller boxes lined up on the top part of the square. [ Wee to your Inventory! ] < Click to continue. > A line of message appeared on the box. Allen clicked on it and another message appeared. [ The Inventory feature is exclusive to the Primordial Beast Bearers. Once the Code is lost, the Inventory and everything inside it will also vanish. ] < Click to continue. > Once again, Allen clicked the interface. It was new for him since the Bearers didn''t even report something like this to happen. "Those bastards. They hid this information from everyone else." [ Tomand the Inventory to ce an item, the user must touch the item with your hand andmand ''Store''. To take the items out, usemand ''Out'' + the item''s name.'' ] Allen nodded after reading the instructions. He was about to test it out when another notification rang. ''New quest avable.'' Chapter 7: A New Quest Chapter 7: A New Quest [ A Collector''s Start 2 ] Reward: 100 EXP, ??? ce 3 items in your Inventory that may be crafted into an item that will hide your identity. Allen tilted his head to the side aftee reading the quest details. The instructions were vague yet specific, and there was another one of those ''???''. This could mean another feature just like the Inventory, or this could also mean another thing. He was excited about this quest. This could give him something great in the future, something he can use in the long run. The Inventory feature alone was something that he was grateful for. This was a tool that he will use until he gets stronger and has enough power toe back to Earth. It uses spatial magic that was unknown even in the Otherworlds. No Code gave one the ability to store items in their interface. That is, if you don''t count the other Primordial Beast Bearers. Allen was starting to think that there are more to the Primordial Beast Codes than the overpowered effects. The Code itself will help its bearer to be stronger, just like what the Snake''s Blessing was doing to him. "Those power hoggers," Allen grunted as he realized how many benefits a Primordial Beast Code had. The instant alteration of his body, the Inventory, and the quests, all of these were not found in other beasts. Allen had read and watched enough for him to know that it doesn''t work that way. "They kept all these things to themselves!" Allen went back to his camp while dragging the corpses of the frogs. The beasts had thick calloused skin that he may be able to sell in the market. All he need to do was to bake them up in the sun and let it dry. While walking, his mind wandered to his new quest. He needed three items that he could use to craft something. And this item must conceal his identity, which was something that''s rming. Why would the quest wants him to hide his identity? When he arrived at the camp, he thought of the quest in his head. He was thinking of crafting a mask but it was too tricky and he wasn''t sure if it needed three items. He was d that the fire was still alive when he got back. He needed the warmth to let him think, and all he needed to do was ce another round of wood so he could enjoy the heat. He sat on a rock and ced his finger on his chin as he let the warmth of his fire envelop him. "Something to craft to conceal" Allen trailed off. After a while of thinking, he came to realize that he could craft a cloak using fleece from a sheep, a twine from a vine, and a spider web as his thread. He could use something like a cow hide, but it wouldn''t be as optimal as the wool. Allen knew how to thread wool since he had done it before from scratch. He knew howfortable it was so he was confident in his decision. The boy nodded to himself and clenched his fist in determination. "Tomorrow, I''ll hunt for the materials." Allen slept peacefully in his small camp. He slept on a rock, but the warmth of the fire and the coldness of theke breeze soothed him. He was nning to built a shelter in case it rains and his fire would die out, but was another n in mind. For now he needed to finish his quest first. He collected twigs and spit roasted the frogs there. He then made the twigs stand on the ground and let it bask in the sun. If this works, he''s going to get at least two days worth of food for the cost of the frogs. Unlike frogs from the Earth, the frogs from the Otherworlds had hide that could be used as parts of armor. Some preferred them because of their cheap pricepared to rabbit hide or cow hide. After sun baking the frogs, Allen sat down and nned for his quest. For the fleece, he had to venture out of the forest so he coulde to the field where the flock of sheep were. As he could remember, the grassy fields were up North where the camp was at. He journeyed up north, cutting smaller trees with his hammer as a trail. If he gets lost when going after the fields, at least he cane back to his camp. A few hours of walk and Allen finally saw the edge of the forest. He ran faster and went out, feeling the gentle breeze that passed through the in grassy fields. It was a wide expanse of grass and flowers that became a home for beasts like sheep, cows, and horses. It was a good thing that the beasts in the Otherworlds had their habitats like their counterparts on Earth. With his hammer, Allen sneaked up to where the sheep were. He saw a group of them eating grass, blindly unaware that it will be theirst meal. ''Enhanced Instincts Level 2 activated.'' Unlike before, the twitching in the parts of Allen''s body became natural. He let his body move and swerve through the grass as his hammer mmed on the oblivious beasts'' heads one by one. ''Chaste Sheep killed. +10 EXP'' ''Chaste Sheep killed. +10 EXP'' Allen let the other sheep go. He only need two so he could craft himself a cloak. If he killed all of them, it would all be useless since he can''t possibly make use of their materials. He also wasn''t too worried about not getting a Code from the sheep. They would only give him something like fur growing abilities that he might not sell in Earth. After tasting the tip of how much powerful higher grade Codes were, Allen found himself having a higher bar when ites to his standards. The next thing he needed was a spider web, but not just any spider web. He needed the web from arge spider, so they could give him a sturdier thread. His body froze aftear hearing a familiar trumpet. He looked from afar and saw the camp there, therge tower blowing the trumpet that signaled the start of lunch. This was another function of the camp. Since weaker Hunters wouldn''t dare go further away from camp, the trumpet could signal them for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner. Allen looked at the fortress and the tall tower where a g waved on top of it. That ce was a hell for him but he stomached it all just to survive. He had to make sure that when he returns, everyone will give him the respect that he deserves. As he walked back into his own little camp, he realized that he must be too far that the sound couldn''t reach him. He was running earlier and it took him three hours to get out, with the pace of his walk, the time will double. Allen shook his head and sprinted back into his camp. He will have to wait until dark so he could hunt the spiders but he can skin the sheep in the meantime. The sooner he''ll finish this new quest, the better for him. Chapter 8: Daily Collection Chapter 8: Daily Collection It was afternoon when Allen finished skinning the sheep to collect their wool. The boy was sitting in his camp while listening to the calm waves of theke and the gentle sounds of the beasts around him. A loud smack echoed throughout the side of theke after he remembered that he didn''t have enough materials to create his thread, and then make fleece out of it. He wanted to take a step back from his n of creating a cloak, but he hade this far. It would be a waste to just let things go. With a grunt, Allen grouped all the wool and experimented. This will be his first time to store items in his Inventory feature. He wasn''t sure how this wool would fit in his Inventory, or how the Inventory would cut it. Allen touched the wool andmanded his feature just like what the instructions said, "Store." The wool lit up with a dark orange color before it was sucked inside Allen''s palm. All of the wool that he grouped was sucked inside, leaving nothing behind. ''Chaste Wool x2 stored.'' The boy formed an O with his mouth after realizing that the Inventory would store materials ording to the number of beasts ites from. So if he had to skin three sheep, the count would be three. He then looked to the side where he left the swan feathers. It was a hassle for him to carry them since the feathers were a lot, so he decided to store them too. Allen ced his hand on the feathers andmanded, "Store." The swan feathers lit up with the same manner and light as the wool before it too were sucked into his palm. ''Lake Swan Feathers 3x stored.'' He figured that his Inventory feature uses a different spatial magic than the Codes. They have a slight difference when ites to how the items are stored. When a weapon-type Code would be stored back, as long as it is in the user''s 50-meter range, it will just vanish. If the bearer would wander too far from his activated weapon-type Code, it will automatically be stored. Allen opened his interface and opened his Inventory. He saw both the wool and the feathers there, each had their thumbnail much like in online games. The wool had a small white circr chunk with a number 2 symbol on the upper right corner, while the feathers had a thumbnail of a single father with a 3 symbol on the upper right corner. The names of the items were written at the bottom. This name would be the signal to use when Allen wanted to take out an item from his Inventory. His only dilemma now was how he would dictated the amount of the items. Clearing his throat to practice, Allenmanded, "Out, Chaste Wool, one." In front of him appeared half of the wool he stored. There was a smile on his face after he saw that the Inventorymands work. For some reason, he was d that the Snake''s Code altered his body. With his previous body, he couldn''t utter a single word and it would make his features useless. Although he only had to summom his dagger once before, he had to open his interface and click on the Code of his dagger. Commanding it out loud just like all the other Hunters were easier. He looked at the wool and theke. Theke had a soothing waves on its surface, making Allen narrow his eyes in thought. He looked up to measure the time and saw that it was still bright. "Time to get crafty." ''Weapon integrity appoaching zero. The de quality will be very low.'' Allen ignored the notifications he was hearing. It had been like this since he was skinning the sheep and it wasn''t helping him. He was on top of a tree while cutting some branches that he needed to construct a spinning wheel. "Timber!" Allen yelled as he shed on one trunk. His de reached the trunk, but instead of the tree, his de broke instead. ''Weapon integrity zero. This weapon will not deal any damage.'' Allen groaned after hearing this. He wanted to throw away the dagger but he remembered the joy after he bought it. With another groan, the boy decided to keep his broken weapon, "Store." He took his hammer out and decided to use it instead. He was disappointed in himself after seeing how this weapon performed. One strike and a tree trunk three times the size of his arm broke without any hesitation. "I''m so stupid," Allen ttened his lips and continued on his task. Not long after, the skies turned orange as the bright white sun nestled on the horizon. Allen just finished dragging all the wood back into his camp for his spinning wheel. He moved the spinning wheel construction, because now he will hunt spiders for his quest. He looked at the wood he gathered and realized that he needed the de of the dagger. "Why did I use it to cut the branch?" With a sigh, Allen sat on his camp. He already made the fire, so he wasn''t too worried about the nocturnal beasts. He tilted his head to the side and decided to read his quest again. After a lot of thought, he decided to drop the cloak. It needed a de, which was something he didn''t have at the moment. In his quests tab, Allen saw another quest above the one he was doing. He didn''t see this quest before since it was his first time opening the tab after the first quest. [ Daily Collection ] Reward: 1 Skill Point Task: Collect EXP (0/100) ** This quest will reset every day. Allen cheered after seeing the reward, Skill Points. These are the currencies used to enhance the Hunter''s stats. Skill Points are gained every five increase in levels starting at Level 15. Ten skill points would be awarded every time the Hunter reaches the five level ups. Skill Points can also be gained through hunting beasts or exchanged through Skill Altars. The Skill Altars are located right in front of the portals and it requires Codes for Skill Points. Allen was hyped after seeing this quest. Currently, he don''t have a high stats to encounter Rare grade beasts unscathed. If he sees another one, his fate will be 50/50. [ Stats ] Health: 100/100 Strength: 7.5 (+20%) Agility: 5 Endurance: 5 Damage: 20 (+15) Defense: 5 He realized that he really didn''t have much. Strength refers to his raw physical power boosted by the effects of the Stone Hammer. Agility refers to his speed, Endurance refers to how long his body canst. The damage is how much he can take from his opponent''s Health, in which case he currently have 20. The 15 points in damagees from his weapon. Meanwhile, his defense refers to the damage of his opponent that he can negate. In his case, he has a Defense of 5. If his enemy has a Damage of 20, only 15 will be deducted in his Health. Upgrading the right one of the stats is crucial for any Hunter. Mages should invest in their damage, Tanks should invest in their Defense, etc. The right Skill Point priority will make or break any Hunter. Since Allen''s fighting style had changed after his body was altered, he was eyeing on one stat that he will need to get stronger. His eyes gazed on the stat as his lips formed a smirk. Agility: 5 Chapter 9: In Three Days Time Chapter 9: In Three Days Time The night came, and Allen''s quest to find the thread for his cloak has started. He chose the three items because it was the first thing he could think of that provides a Synergy. A Synergy is a boost in stats for the Hunters using the items they crafted with the use of the raw materials from the Otherworlds. Each raw material contains one or more Emblems, and when there are three types of that Emblem in an item, a Synergy is formed. His current clothing couldn''t provide him a Synergy because it had the same material in it. He used sheep wool to craft the fleece and the same type of wool for his thread. The wool had only one Emblem, so it did not react. His current n on crafting a cloak has three materials, which means it will provide him three of the same Emblem. The wool had Beast and Grass Emblem, the spider web had Insect and Grass Emblems, while the twine had Grass Emblem. The three Grass Emblems would interact and would give him boost. To do this, he must go to the Skill Altar and register his clothing as part of his set. The altar will read it, scan the Emblem, and activate the right Synergy. Realizing that he will go back to the camp sooner orter, Allen grunted. The crafting method provided the Hunters artificial weapons. The weapons would have synergies but aren''t as effective in hunting as Codes. That was why weapon-type Codes were still preferred even when the crafting method was avable. After a while of walking, Allen reached the area where the spiders would build their nests. These beasts were very territorial and fierce that they don''t behave like their smaller counterparts in Earth. Each female spider would upy an area where it''ll build its nest. The nest was arge spider web that the males would go to. When all the males have gathered, the female would select one as its groom and they would eat all the others. This was called the Blood Wedding, which wasmon for the type of beasts with these kinds of mating patterns. Allen had never seen a Blood Wedding before, so he was excited. This time of the year is usually the time for the females to go in heat for the males toe in and start the Blood Wedding. He didn''t have to witness the bloodshed, but it will be a waste of time for him. In the back of his head, this was an opportunity for him. If there are a lot of spiders, he can hunt them all so he could gain EXP and maybe earn another Code. His daily quest was still pending, so he must act fast. Before Allen could decide, the sound of the spiders echoed around the forest. He hid behind a bush where he was near enough when he starts his hunt, but far enough so the spiders wouldn''t notice him. He watched as the nine males that were about the size of a basketball approach the female. The female spider was arge beast that was four times the size of the males. It was in the middle of its web, creating its sounds that seemed to signal the males toe closer. The boy had decided. He will watch the Blood Wedding. It was a dream of him to see such a spectacle and he will see it. The female started to make its cackling sounds and a male approached her. This must be the groom he chose. Just when the spider couple start to massacre the other males, Allen''s body twitched. ''Instinct Enhancement Level 2 activated.'' His body moved on its own, tightly gripping his hammer as he swiftly smashed the spiders like a whack-a-mole. ''Copper Spider (F) killed. +10 EXP'' ''Copper Spider Code gained.'' ''Copper Spider (M) killed. +10 EXP'' Allen couldn''t help but form a grin on his lips as the notifications rang in his ear like wedding bells. He watched the bloody scene, the green spider blood sttered across him, the ground, and the web. ''Daily Collection quest finished. 1 Skill Point is awarded.'' He couldn''t help but feel guilty for some reason. The female spider was looking forward for mating, but he stopped the only chance it could do it. [ Silk Weave ] Type: Skill Grade: Basic Effect/s: The user can generate up to 5 meters (scales with level) of silk per day. Although mortified of where the silk woulde out, Allen was still contented after seeing the Code. He didn''t necessarily have to use it, but he can sell it when he goes back to Earth. He collected the spider web with a stick, rolling the silk on the tip like an actual thread. It didn''t take long for Allen to be finished. He took the end of the stick and held it in his hand, "Store." He was surprised that both the stick and the spider web glowed. It was sucked into his palm and a notification rang not long after. ''Copper Silk stored.'' ''Beerbum Tree stick stored.'' With a pout, Allen removed the stick from his Inventory. He didn''t have any use for the stick nor does he n on using it. "Out Beerbum Tree stick." The tree appeared in front of Allen which he ignored. He looked for any tree that could provide him a twine. The tree can be a variation of a banana tree on Earth. Since Haven was a lush forest full of both tropical and rainforest trees, it wouldn''t surprise him if he find a banana tree. After a few hours of looking for a tree in the dark, Allen decided to give up. It was too dim for him to see anything, and it felt like he was walking in circles. The boy spun and followed his trail back into camp. When he got there, the fire had died. It would only mean that he wandered for too long in the forest that his me run out of wood to burn. For Allen who was the ve of his group, it was easy to start a fire. He practically made all the fire of his group when they decide to camp overnight. This was a skill set that he excels, which made his group kept him for. They didn''t have to do any household tasks like cooking and making fire because of Allen. The boy was still trying to wrap his mind around the question of why his group left him. He made sure to be of use in other aspects considering he was practically useless in the hunts. With a sigh, Allen rekindled his me and sat beside it. Once he finish crafting his cloak, he must register it in the Skill Altar as part of his stats for it to read the Emblems and activate the Synergy. This thought didn''t entertain him, not one bit. The Hunters there would question his identity considering he wasn''t the Allen Vermillion they all saw. He was now taller, more muscled, and had a more handsome face. The biggest change was perhaps his throat and his voice. No one would believe him if he said that he was simply cured in the wilderness. There wasn''t anything in the forests to do such a thing. "Three days," Allen said. "I''ll return to Earth in three days time." Chapter 10: A Lion Chapter 10: A Lion The n for his cloak wasing along. He only needed the twine that he will need to use as a lock for his cape. If he was lucky, Allen could add a dye for his cloak with natural dye from the forest. If the dye has an Emblem, it will boost his item even more. This was a really good n for him since he needed all the Synergies he could get. It was the morning of his hunt for the twine. He was putting out his me when his eye found the dead rotting snake on the side. A thought entered his mind after seeing the snake. When he ced items in his Inventory feature, it seemed like they would get preserved. It was as if the time for those items while they were stored was paused. At first, he was afraid to keep the snake that way because it might get deformed. The wool was boxed, and the other items were sorted. He might risk losing the value of the snake that way. But after he saw how rotten the corpse had been, he had no choice. Whatever deformation the Inventory might inflict on the corpse was better than it getting rotten. Allen ced the snake in his palm. The stench was unbearable, making him regret that decision. Befor he could regret even more, hemanded, "Store." The snake glowed and it went inside his Inventory. Before he continued, Allen went to theke and washed his hands there. The snake might still contain venom in its body and it was also a risk he can''t take. Using a stick, Allen carved a way on the ground for the water to flow. When it was further enough, he used a stone to block more of the water from theke from entering. With a leaf, Allen took parts of the water and washed his hands. If he would recklessly put his hand on theke, all the beasts inside his potential food, might die if there was a hidden venom in the snake. "That was surprisingly intellectual of me," Allen chuckled to himself. After finishing, he went back to his camp and opened his Inventory. With a smile on his face and a satisfied moan, he closed it. The snake corpse wasn''t altered. The stench was gone, and his problem of the snake getting rotten was solved. Now, he has to move and find a nt that he could use as a twine. He stood and walked to the forest. If he was lucky, he could find a tree simr to a banana, it would be perfect. He would weave it into the hood and make ace with it. The lock will act as a fastener so that he could open and close the cloak. Of course, the twine would only be temporary. He was just doing it so he can unlock the Synergy. When he finishes the quests, Allen was nning to change thece with a metal fastener. Having a clear n in his mind, Allen wandered the forest. The trees in Haven were mixed with different trees. It was a wonder how the ecosystem of this world survived for who knows how long. On some parts, there are trees simr to trees from tropical areas, some are from temperate, and others are from colder areas in Earth. The biomes were all mixed up, but at the same time separated. After walking for a few hours, Allen decided to rest. It seemed like he was walking forever but hasn''t seen a tree from a tropical forest yet. He was also curious as to why the forest was silent. The birds and all the matter of creatures reisiding in the forest would have usually created sounds, but all he could hear was the deafening silence. Shrugging the thought off, he looked at the trail. It was a double edged sword, and he just realized that. Indeed he could use the trail toe back, but if a Hunter would see it, they would follow the trail. And the trail will only lead them into two directions. Either they find Allen''s camp, or they find him. Either of the two options would jeopardize his ns. He wants toy low as much as he can. His return will be big. He was nning on that too. There will be press, there will be a lot of headlines, and along with them was a huge amount of respect. The thoughts entered his mind and the boy was now grinning ear to ear. All his life, he had lived in the darkness. For the first time in his life, he has a ticket out of it. Some tree will not hinder that n. Allen wouldn''t allow it. The boy stood and stood. He looked around to see if he could find any tree, until he heard a low growl behind him. His instincts immediately kicked in and the boy raised the hammer. He looked around and sought for the presence where the noise came from. The hair from his body already stood, but the notification of the instinct skill was yet to ring. The bush sounded and arge male lion came out from it. Allen gasped, unable to act immediately after the lion''s appearance. It circled around the boy, producing a low growling sound. Without a doubt, this wasn''t a Basic grade. Allen was even doubtful that this was Rare grade. The presence was too strong and too chaotic for it to be either of the two. It was now clear to him why the woods was silent. This beast must''ve eaten all of the creatures. Itsrge body that was the size of a van was capable of taking down any creature in the forest, even orcs. At first nce, it looked like a regr lion. The only difference it had from the lions in Earth was its sheer size. Its head was the size of Allen''s body, and its body wasposed of dozens of Allen. The boy shook the throughts away and focused his attention on therge beast in front of him. Any second now, it would attack him and that would be dangerous. He will get killed. His eyes looked around to see what he could use to escape. The boy had already established in his head that fighting the beast will be futile. He can''t defeat it. The beast was ways stronger than he currently was by the size alone. "Size matters somehow," Allen gulped. As he formed a n in his head and the lion was encircling him, he thought how he surprised himself. Usually, when someone was facing arge beast such as this lion, they would shake in fear. Some might even faint because of shock, but he was rather calm. When his eyes turned to the right, a scoff escaped his lips. There it was, the thing he was looking for all this time. Arge banana tree bearing its ripe yellow fruits. "You decided to show up now" Allen red at the tree. Without giving him another second to say another word, the lion roared at him. The roar was so powerful that it made Allen lose its bnce and fall to the ground. His eyes widened in disbelief. His hammer fell to the side, so he turned around and grabbed it, only for his eyes to widen even more. Just when he thought he was pathetic to lose his grip after a roar, the scene made it seem like what happened was okay. The orc had a force to be reckoned with, but this lion was in a whole other level. It was now clear to him that it wasn''t just a Rare grade. This was nothing like the other beasts in the forest. It was so powerful that a roar alone knocked down a couple of trees. Chapter 11: The Lion, the Stick and the Hammer Chapter 11: The Lion, the Stick and the Hammer Allen could only gulp in fear as he tried to stand back up and run away. Anyone in their right mind who was facing a gigantic beast would be scared. Especially when they''re not as powerful like Allen himself. His initial n was to find a tree to climb on. But since the size of this lion was no joke, he was doubtful about that. His n waspletely dismissed in his mind when the lion took down the trees. Groaning in frustration, Allen ran away. He made sure to find his trail so he coulde back to his camp. It was miles way back, but he didn''t have any better n. His speed wasn''t like what it used to be. He was now faster, running close to the ground like when he was hunting. He deliberately kept the hammer to not slow him down. Sure it wasn''t as heavy, but he needed to be as light as he could to escape. As he ran, the trees behind him fell down one by one. The lion was fast, but the wide grin on its face showed that it was only ying with him. With its size, it could reach tens of meters in one leap, but it wasn''t doing that. It was enjoying the thrill of chasing its meal. "I don''t taste good!" Allen yelled, helplessly trying to persuade the predator. "I taste really nd. Like I don''t know, a potato?" The lion mmed its front paws, making the earth shake and Allen to fall. He stood back up and looked at the lion, this time, the lion licked its lips and stared at Allen with malicious intent. "Oh, my God," Allen gasped. Before the lion could pounce on him, he spun and leaped off the ground. Hended on both legs, eyes wide in shock. He didn''t expect he could do that, nor did he think he could nail it. "I''m flexible!" Allen yelled. "Ha! See that, lion? You can''t just catch me." The lion made a low growling sound. It lowered its body, making Allen think that it was backing down. The boy immediately regretted his decision to stop running when the lion leaped off the ground and went straight for the kill. The boy took his hammer out and bent his knee, preparing himself for the impact. He didn''t know why his body was acting like this, but what he knew is that it was toote to back out now. ''Enhanced Instincts II activated.'' Closing his eyes, his hands made their move. He felt all the twich and let it do its thing. With a swift swing of his hammer, Allen shed his weapon with the lion''s ws. His body felt like it was gonna blow away, but he remained steady. He forced his feet to stand and his body to hold on. He opened his eyes and saw the w of the lion, grinding with his hammer. The sparks from the two were brighter as the friction got stronger. Allen didn''t know how long he couldst. He already felt the broken bones in his body the moment his hammer met the w, now he has to maintain his stength to keep the w from reaching him. As the seconds passed by, therge crescent-shaped nail of the beast was slowly reaching the boy''s face. His hands were giving up while his strength was long gone. How he managed tost even a few seconds against this beast was a miracle, now he was trying to hold out. He closed his eyes and was about to ept his fate when the twitching of his body started again. He followed the motion, taking a step back and letting go of the force in his hammer while spinning to avoid the w. The beating of his heart was so loud, he could hear the drumming in his ears. He was nervous scared, even. One slip up and he would be literally obliterated. A single nail was the size of his arm, the full paw would cut him like paper. His legs took him to the side of the forest where he felt a sticky substance under his shoes. He looked down and saw that he was at the entrance of a swamp. The stench entered his nose, making his face scrunch in disgust. Judging from the smell, there was a lot of dead creatures in this swamp. He looked behind him and almost puked when he saw a pole with human skulls. The thick five meter pole was covered with green goo and the human skulls. What''s more disgusting about it was that some of the skulls still have flesh in them. Apart from the goo and the skulls, the pole also hadrge thorns in them. While the sheer look of the pole was terrifying, Allen could only think what beast made this. He was sure as hell that it wasn''t just a natural urrence. Something in these woods was something horrifying that it could do something as this. The lion growled in front of him, making the boy wake up from his thoughts. He gazed back at the lion who had anger written all over its face. He raised his hands to show that he was surrendering, when he realized that the lion wasn''t growling at him. It was then that a terrifyingly ominous aura came out from behind him. Allen couldn''t turn back. He was still afraid that the lion would pounce on him when he turns his head, yet the presence of the creature behind him was saying that he should turn. Conflicted, Allen ran to the side of the lion while the beast leaped to the direction of the swamp. It let out a roar that blew away some of the goo and the skulls, showing a skinny stick insect that was a thousand times the size of the ones in Earth. It cracked its body and opened its limbs, showing its long slender arms and legs. It was now twice the size of the pole while a single limb was the thickness of Allen''s body. It cracked its body while stretching its arms, screeching while looking at the lion. Now he knew why his instincts led him to the swamp. Instead of fighting the lion, his gut led him to this beast who was as equally mortifying. The lion roared and the stick beast screeched. The two ran towards each other, shing with a powerful impact. The force from their sh sent a sonic boom-like force around the forest. "I''m too low-leveled for this," Allen gulped. He was about to turn around when he felt another sh, this time, both beasts groaned in pain. It was like a light bulb lit up above his head. He turned back and hid under a bush. Gripping the hammer in his hand and tapping himself in the back, he watched the two beasts fight. The lion raised its w and shed it across the stick beast''s face. It threw its head to the side, taking the impact fully. It returned its gaze to the lion and screeched, raising its long slender arms and mming it on the lion''s body. The lion roared in pain as the thorns from the stick beast dug in its flesh. Allen scrunched his face after seeing the blood ooze out of the lion''s body. He was a couple of meters away, but he could feel the pain of the beast. The lion returned the favor by growling and pouncing on the stick beast. It got on top of it, its paws digging on the stick beasts arms. There was a wide proud grin on the lion''s face, feeling victorious after pinning its enemy. The grin was swiped off from his face when the stick beast cracked its lege and bent them forward, digging the thorns on the back of the lion. Thetter released a painful growl. It shook its head and decided to finish the fight. It raised its head and let out its fangs, sparkling as the sunlight shone over it. Just when it was about to obliterate the stick beast''s small head, a hammer was thrown into their direction. The hammer smashed the slender beast''s head, making the lion look around in shock. Allen was in the air where he threw the hammer topletely destroy the head. Hended on the ground and dashed forward, using his speed to swiftly grip his hammer and swing it up. It caught the lion''s jaw, cracking the bones in its head. ''Swamp Skull Hoarder killed. +50 EXP.'' ''Sunshine Lion killed. +200 EXP.'' ''Sunshine Lion Code gained.'' ''First Grand-grade beast killed. 2000 EXP is rewarded.'' Chapter 12: Jake Summers Chapter 12: Jake Summers With a thump, Allen fell to the ground. He wasyin on hid back, feeling the exhaustion of his body. There was a seething pain in his leg that forced him to lift his head up to check. Almost immediately, his body jolted in shock. There was a wide and deep cut in his leg,ing from the lower end of his knee down to four inches above his ankle. The boy immediately looked around to see if he could find some herbs to disinfect his wound. He couldn''t possible use the water in the swamp, so he wanted to look for herbs so he could extract the juice from. There was a rustling in the bushes near him. The boy''s eyes widened. He looked around to see if he could see anywhere he could hide on. "Those damned beasts!" a voice sounded behind therge bush. Allen felt relieved and nervous at the same time. For all he know, this person could be one of the ones from their camp and knows his identity. If he was found alive, changed, and had a power that will alter the tide of power in Earth, all his ns will go down the drain. His hand touched the lion. He nned on hiding behind it and pretend to be asleep but he felt another twitch. This time, it was in his lips. With a single word uttered, the lion''s body glowed, "Store." The carcass went into Allen''s palm. Since the footsteps from the bushes got closer and closer, he couldn''t check what happened to it. He onlyid back on the ground, pretending to fall asleep. He didn''t notice that exhaustion caught up to him and he fell asleeppletely. Jake Summers was the son of a conglomerate. He was the second heir of an empire that was one of thepanies that held power in the new age. His father owns apany that crafts equipment made from the raw materials in the Otherworlds. Though his family was a prominent figure in the Hunters, Jake was different from all of them. While his older brother reached the Third World, Eternity, at the age of neen four years ago, and his younger brother recently reached the Second World, Paradise, Jake was stuck in Haven. Among them, Jake was the only one who had a different role. Unlike his brothers who were both Assassins, he was a Support, healer type. This made him the headlines for all news outlet in Earth. He became the clown in his family,beled as weak and useless. He was in a forest in Haven when he heard a loud roar in a distance. Jake knew all too well that he was utterly weak when he was alone, but he wanted to prove his family wrong. He wanted to make them proud of him too. Using the sword he stole in his father''s office, Jake explored the forest. His weapon was his choice. He reced his staff with his father''s most prized sword. A sword that will annihte any beast in Haven. [ Jake Summers, Level 23, EXP 1200/2300 ] [ de of Divine Justice ] Grade: Sacred Damage: 50 Effect/s: (1) When sessfully hitting a target, the de will add another sh that deals 30 damage. (2) When another Divine Justice set is within the 5-meter range, the damage is increased by 10. (3) When the enemy has ill/malicious intent, the user shall gain a 30 (+5* number of enemies) shield. Unlike Codes, artificially made equipment, including weapons didn''t have the Type disy in the interface. The Skill Altar that scans the weapon automatically registers it as a weapon since skill-type Codes couldn''t be artificially created. Though the other aspects of the weapon is just like a Code, even the effects it inherits from the raw materials used to make it. Jake held the sword tightly in his hand as he approached the presence in the middle of the forest. The aura from the beasts he was going after wasn''t a joke. It was scary terrifying. He had never felt anything like this before. He took a few more steps when he felt another rming presence. Jake lowered his body and slowly walked to the direction of the two presences. From afar, he could only hear the roaring and the screeching of the two beasts. He wanted to get closer to them as soon as possible, but he knew he can''t. There might be another beast that got attracted to the parade of auraing from the two. A few more steps and something caught Jake''s eyes. He turned to the left and saw a fresh cut on a tree. His face contorted in confusion and anger. With a scoff, he ced his left hand on the tree, "Charm of Relief." A scene like this affected Jake. When he was rejected by society, he found himself indulging in nting nts and studying them. He was one of those who were against exploiting the forests, even in the Otherworlds. When the world turned its back on him, nature held out its hand for him to take. His palm lit up with a green light. There were small glitter-like particles that fell from his palm down to the tree. When the glitters would reach the tree, it would heal the cut. "This doesn''t seem to be from that beast," Jake analyzed as he finished up. The cut from the bark of the treepletely vanished from his healing. He looked around once more, seeing another tree with the same type of cut. "Seemed to be made from a dull weapon. Like a rock." Jake closed his eyes and felt the auraing from the two beasts that were fighting. If he could make their forms, one was a four-legged predator while the other stood in its two legs but had a slender physique. He shook his head and analyzed the situation. His eyes widened, thinking there was a third beast. From the cuts in the trees that suspiciously led to where the other two beasts, there was another one approaching them. It could be an orc or something humanoid that could carry weapons. Jake brandished his sword once again. He ran closer to the beasts, making sure to conceal his aura from leaking out. His eyes then caught a series of fallen trees. "Oh,e on," Jake groaned. He always had the irk to heal the ones that were wounded. He got this resolve when he was left all battered and heavily wounded from a fight when he was young. When they said that the roles of Hunters were influenced by their mental capabilities and their emotional traits. This led to Jake having the ability to heal others. In his mind, he didn''t want others to get hurt. He always prioritized healing over everything. It took him a while to revive the trees. He heard onest roar, waking him up from his own trance. "I got distracted again. Those damned beasts!" He brandished his sword and shed them through the tall grass and bushes. He hurried out of there, finally reaching a small clearing where the forest and the swamp meets. His fingers covered his nose by the sheer stench of the swamp. For some, it wold be unbearable. The swamp smelled so disgusting that it almost made Jake leave. He examined the scene and saw a carcass of the stick beast with the destroyed head. Not far from it was an unconscious boy with arge wound on his leg. Jake''s eyes widened. He rushed to where Allen was and checked his pulse. Feeling the pulse, Jake didn''t hesitate to heal the badly cut leg, "Charm of Relief." It didn''t take long for the green light healed the woundpletely. Jake examined Allen''s face. He took a couple of steps back after realizing that this boy wasn''t familiar to him. Their camp wasn''t small, but every face of all the Hunters in that camp was familiar to him. Allen''s new face didn''t register in his mind. He checked for identity in Allen''s pockets, but found nothing. All he saw was the hammer in Allen''s hands, and this led him to believe that Allen caused the cuts on the trees. With a scoff and a sigh, Jake took Allen. He slung the unconscious boy''s arm in his neck as he guided him out of the forest. Chapter 13: The Deal Chapter 13: The Deal With his eyes fluttering open, Allen regained his consciousness. He stared at the light green ceiling for a few seconds, admiring therge circr light disy that had small flowering vines around it. His head was still spinning from the sudden exhaustion, so he stared at the light for a few more seconds. "So, you''re awake." The boy immediately sat up and summoned his hammer, pointing it on where the voice came from. He felt the pang in his head, but he ignored the pain and focused his attention on the stranger. Jake raised ced the tray of tea on the bedside table, taking a few steps back and raising his hands in defense, "I won''t harm you." "Who are you? And why am I here?" Allen asked. He got off the bed and stood, eyes trailing over his body. He was wearing a pair of green pajamas that Jake lent him. With his right hand holding the hammer and pointing it at Jake, his other hand lift the pants, "What happened to my wound?" "Lower your weapon first," Jake said. "I''m a support-type, so I can''t possibly fight you one by one. I just want to ask you some questions." Hearing this, Allen narrowed his eyes and looked around once more. For all he knew, this stranger could''ve investigated him. He was skeptical on whether he should trust the pale blonde boy. "I will answer your questions, but you have to answer mine first," Allen said. "And I''m not dropping this weapon." "That''s fair," Jake said, smiling as he finally made the other boy calm down. "Ask away." "Who are you, where am I, and how did you find me?" Allen fired the series of questions, making Jake scrunch his face and sigh. "I''m Jake Summers, son of Natan Summers. He''s the owner of Summers Corp" "The equipmentpany," Allen finished for him. "So, you''re rich. What do you want from me?" Jake''s eyes widened, he shook his head and continued, "I just saved you because you have arge cut on your leg, a lot of brusies and smaller cuts on other parts of your body, and from the looks of it you had a concussion from an impact." Allen slolwy lowered the hammer. "So, you just saved me for no reason?" "You had no ID and no other identification in you. Your Hunter Bar doesn''t work when I went to the guards, so I assume you''re from another camp?" Jake asked. "We don''t have a universal scanner as of yet" "Wait, go back," Allen cut him off. "The scanner didn''t work on me? A-Am I in a different country right now? I''m from Lancaster, Division E, District 4." Jake paused for a moment, he tilted his head to the side, and pursed his lips, "This is Lancaster. But we''re in Division A, District 1. We''re from the same country, but the scanner doesn''t work on you." He took a few steps back while still ring at Allen. He found himself brandishing his father''s sword, tightly holding it in his hands and pointing it at Allen. "Are you from Schneider? You''re from the terrorist country, aren''t you?" "I am not," Allen gasped. "I''m from Lancaster, I swear it. But I have a favor to ask of you" "No," Jake cut him off. "You already had my favor when I saved your life. You shall do what I say or else I will expose you and your Schneiderian blood." Allen could only gulp. The calm and rxed boy he met earlier was now shaking in anger. His eyes looked like they''ll pop out from their sockets by how wide they were. Jake continued to re at Allen until thetter sighed and dropped his hammer. "Let''s do it your way then," Allen sighed. "Do what you must." Jake grinned and returned the sword on its scabbard. He walked closer to Allen, taking the hammer and ced it in the corner where it was far from Allen''s reach but not far enough to recall identally. "I knew you defeat tworge Rare grade beasts in the forest," Jake said. "Do me a favor and be my guard. Give me codes so I could exchange them for EXPs. I will pay you money, and I''ll give you the right equipment to do so." Allen stared at Jake, looking for the lies in his eyes. When he couldn''t find them, he slowly nodded. "But what else will I do?" "Nothing," Jake said. "You get me more codes, I exchange then in the Skill Altar for more EXPs, and then I ascend to Paradise. You''ll do this with me until I reach Eternity." "Why?" Allen couldn''t help himself but ask. "You could hire a lot of people to do this. With your money, you can hire a hundred people to collect codes for you. Why me?" "I don''t have them wrapped within my fingers," Jake said, his aura suddenly turning murderous. Allen quirked his brow up, seemingly catching another meaning to the words. "Aw, hell no. Not like that. I mean, I don''t have something on them like I do with you. You have something that they don''t." Allen shook his head, "That still doesn''t sound right." "Whatever," Jake surrendered. "I can threaten you, but I can''t do that with them. Plus my father and brothers will always find out if I hire Hunters. Then they''ll counter my offer and make the Hunter spy on me instead." "And my case with the counter bribery is different because?" Allen narrowed his eyes. "You do realize that they can just do the same to me, right?" "And I can just expose your vulgar Schneiderian blood," Jake had fake smile. "We''re both at the same pit here. And we can only rise if we help each other out." Allen stared at the other boy in the eyes. "I have no other choice, don''t I?" "Of course you don''t," Jake chuckled devilishly. "Plus, I know you''re incredibly strong after you somehow beat those two beasts. One corpse was missing, I don''t know how you did it and I''m not gonna ask how. You keep your secrets." "What if I take all your money and equipment and then abandon you?" Allen asked. "Did you think that kind of possibility?" "I did, actually," Jake pursed his lips and took Allen''s right hand. He pointed at a small band aid and grinned. "That''s why I ced a tracker inside you. It''s a capsule of nano trackers that flow in your bloodstream. Right now, every drop of blood has the very tiny tracker." "You''re sick," Allen grimaced. "You''re so sick." "Doesn''t matter," Jake smiled. "I don''t care about humans anymore anyway." Chapter 14: Best Teacher Chapter 14: Best Teacher After his conversation with Jake, Allen was taken to Jake''s armormy. Apparently, the rich boy had been hiding his father''s equipments for years. Allen watched the darkness in Jake''s eyes as he exined how he would me the employees for the theft. Just when he thought the rich blonde boy was a psychopath after their first conversation, it turns out Jake was a much darker person. They were walking in a long hallway with light green walls. Everything in the house was green and every corner and every avable space always had a nt in it. Allen saw Jake''s living room. There was a giant tree in the middle that reached up to all the floors. They were now in the third andst floor of Jake''s mansion and the ss dome that was made to cover let the tree get as much sun was clear as day as Allen watched it in awe. "You have never been in a mansion before?" Jake snickeredz trying to tease the other boy. "Actually, no," Allen scratched the back of his head. "It''s my first time in a fancy ce like this in my life." "Oh," Jake said, suddenly regretting his teasing. He shook his head suddenly, trying to figure out why he felt guilty towards the boy. "We''re almost there." The next few seconds between them was filled with silence. They continued to walk the seemingly endless green hallways until Jake finally stopped. "Here we are," Jake said, opening the door to his armormy. Therge double doors was made of acacia that Jake said he himself grew. "You pick the equipment you need. Be it armor, weapon, or trinkets." Allen gasped after he entered the mansion. It was a giant room thatposed half the size of the entire floor. The equipment were ced in stands that looked like a short circr column. Each of the items was covered with a ss casing that had soft gold-covered corners. "H-How many should I take?" Allen asked. "Like, three?" "You can take as many as you want," Jake said. "I have to make sure my pawn is well fed. After all, you''re my key to ascending." "Why don''t you just buy Codes from the ck market?" Allen found himself asking. "I mean, now that I saw all these I''m more than willing to do our deal, but why can''t you?" "Nopany is innocent. Let me tell you that," Jake said. He found an empty stand and sat crossed legged in it. "The Summers Group has connections in all tentacles of businesses in the world. You think I can just buy shit in the market?" "Why not use pawns?" Allen quirked his brow up. "You''re good at that." "Touch," Jake smirked. "But no. You don''t know how the market goes. I was only able to take these equipment because they''re only equipment. My father knows about all these along. But Codes? He will not let anything slip past his eyes. He will do whatever he can to make sure I don''t ascend." "You''re weird," Allen muttered, walking around to select his equipment. It was at that time when he realized that he had notifications that are yet to be opened. He opened his interface and read the notification logs. The notification logs was a feature that enables the Hunter to see the notifications in case they missed the voice. It was thoughtful of whoever or whatever was in the Otherworlds that designed the Hunters system. ''Swamp Skull Hoarder killed. +50 EXP.'' ''Sunshine Lion killed. +200 EXP.'' ''Sunshine Lion Code gained.'' ''First Grand-grade beast killed. 2000 EXP is rewarded.'' His eyes widened. His ear was ringing after the lion''s death that he didn''t fully understood the notifications he heard. The lion wasn''t a Rare grade after all. It was something that shouldn''t be in that world. [ Child of Pride ] Type: Skill Grade: Grand Effect/s: (1) Active - Increases movement speed by 40% for 10 seconds (decreases over time) (2) Active - The user will gain a shield that absorbs 50 damage thatsts for 3 seconds. (3) < LOCKED > Passive - For every 10 meters of sprinting, the user will gain 0.001 permanent movement speed. His eyes could only widen after hearing the description of his new Code. Allen anticipated an overwhelming strength, but this Code was beyond his expectations. Among the three effects, thest one intrigued him the most. It says that it will permanently increases his movement speed. So, ther wille a time that he will be very fast. The units weren''t in percentage, but he was still lucky to have a passive skill that stacks on to his speed whenever he runs. It was just that the skill has a big yellow < LOCKED > tag in it. The skill was also grayed out, meaning it was indeed locked. He was also curious as to why this skill chose to show the description of the third effect unlike the Snake''s Code that was filled with question marks. Just when he thought he knows a lot about Codes, the world proved him wrong. There were a lot of things that were kept from them by the ones in the higher worlds. Although he was slightly disappointed on how the third effect was locked, the first two weren''t bad either. An increase in movement and a shield is something that he should be grateful for. The EXP he gained after killing the lion helped him a lot too. It was the first Grand-grade beast that he killed so he was rewarded with additional EXP. His level jumped after that spike. He was about to hover and check on his Inventory when Jake popped out in front of him. "What took you so long?" "I was just looking around," Allen excused, closing his interface and pretending to look around. "I think I will decide on equipment first. What do you think fits me?" "What''s your role?" Jake quirked his brow up. Allen stared at him nkly, making the blonde boy contort his face. "You don''t have a role yet?" "A role can be selected when you reach Level 10," Allen said. "You should probably know" "Hold up!" Jake pointed his palm on Allen''s face. "You''re not Level 10 yet?!" Allen slowly shook his head, looking away in embarrassment. "I''m sorry if I level up too slow." "That''s not what I meant," Jake scoffed. "I know we all have our own time or some sh*t, but then howe you defeated those two beasts?!" "I got lucky," Allen lied. Although he was indeed lucky that the swamp stick beast was around to weaken the lion, it was his hammer that killed the beasts. "A question though." Jake was staring at Allen. Although the blonde boy wasn''t short, with a height of 5''10, Allen''s over six foot stature made him look up. "Howe you defeated those beasts? I swear those weren''t ordinary Rare grades." "That," Allen intejected. "Howe there''s stronger beasts than others when they have the same grade? I don''t quite understand." "Low ranks," Jake retorted, rolling his eyes. "Look, how you killed those beasts is none of my business anymore. And to answer your question, that''s because like us, beasts also undero leveling up of some sorts." "But they only have six grades total. Howe that happens?" Allen asked, tilting his head to the side. He had a deeply confused face that annoyed yet amused Jake for some reason. "How much of a Hunter are you that you don''t know the grade ranks?" Jake pursed his lips. "We have a Basic, Rare, Grand, Sacred, Divine, and Celestial right? In each grade has the ranks of C, B, A, S, SSS, and X, C being the weakest and X being in the verge of Grading Up." "Grading Up" Allen repeated. "Like leveling up?" "More like ascending for us," Jake rified. "Some beasts would reach, say Rare-X grade and reaches Grand-C grade. They will stay in Haven for a bit more time before they ascend to Paradise. How? No one knows. Scientists and researches had spied on them but the beast just vanishes." It was then that everything was clear for Allen. The lion he killed was in the verge of ascending to the Second World. "You really don''t know sh*t, don''t you?" Jake gave Allen a sad, yet secretly fake, smile. "Schools and textbooks only teaches you history and all that sh*t. But experience will teach you everything else. It''s the best teacher." Chapter 15: Purpose Chapter 15: Purpose [ Stone Hammer ] Type: Weapon Grade: Rare Effect/s: (1) When equipped, the strength will be increased by 20%. [ Sunset Dagger ] Grade: Rare Damage: 15 Effect/s: (1) Passive - When the clock ticks past noon, the Sunset Dagger receives +10 Damage every hour that passes by. [ Fervent ive ] Grade: Rare Damage: 30 Effect/s: (1) Passive - After three sessive hit on a single target, the target will receive a burn with 10 damage for 5 seconds. Allen was sitting on a cliff that overlooked an entire forest in Haven. He calmly read the descriptions in his items with a sigh of satisfaction escaping his lips. ~ 2 days ago "Have you decided yet?" Jake asked him. He was starting to get annoyed because Allen was taking all his time to pick the equipment and weapon he needed. "I don''t have all my time for you." "I know, I know," Allen said, cing a finger on his chin as he watched a weapon inside the ss casing. It was a beautifully crafted ive that had a silver de decorated with red crystal engravings. But he was still hesitant on taking it. The sheer size of the weapon would hinder his movements. The de alone was the two thirds of his arm. The entire weapon''s length was the length of his arm. He wasn''t used to small weapons, or weapons in general. Something like this would need time to master, but time wasn''t the most abundant resources he had. "I see you''re eyeing on that ive," Jake said, leaning on the ss while crossing his arm. "You have the build to weild a weapon like this. Are you interested?" "I-I''m not sure," Allen said, voice filled with doubts. "This is the Fervent ive," Jake introduced. "Burns enemies, and is basically just a whiff under Grand grade. I don''t have any Grand grades yet, but the quality of the weapons here are at the top of Rare grade." Allen stared at the weapon and the tingling sensation of his instincts kicked in again. His body wanted to take this weapon, but it wasn''t just this weapon that it wants. On the adjacent stand, a dagger was calling to him. The dagger had an orange handle and the first inch of the de. It had an hombre effect on its de with a yellow color as it trailed down to the tip. It was slightly curved to one side and the de had sharp sharl-like fins on the outer side. The inner side of the de was thin like paper but didn''t have the eminences like the ones on the other side. "You like this weapon too?" Jake smirked, taking his side off from the ive''s casing and standing in front of the dagger. "Sunset dagger, heavily relies on time. Strong after noon, but is almost a Basic grade before that time." "One is something I''m not used to, but has incredible damage, and the other is something I could use but has its own conditions," Allen thought out loud. "Do you have any other weapons that are thebination of the good in these two?" "My father''s sword," Jake smirked. "If you can''t find peace between these two, I don''t think you''ll like the others." Allen pursed his lips as he exchange gazes between the two weapons. He also had to consider the fact that he can''t carry all the items. His Inventory currently had only no spot left after the feathers, the two materials for the cloak, the Snake''s corpse, and the lion were stored inside. His eyes widened after realizing he had the lion''s corpse in his Inventory. He was looking for an opportunity to peek in his interface''s logs, but the boy with him had his eyes stuck on Allen. Jake''s phone ringed, making him excude himself and leave Allen to drown in his thoughts. He was confused as well as excited. He was debating on what to do. A quick nce in his logs made Allen''s take a deep sigh of relief. ''Quest [ A Collector''s Start 2 ]pleted. Crafting Table unlocked.'' Just like he wanted, another feature. Beside the small Inventory icon was a hammer icon. When he taps on it, the entire interface opens a whole new screen. On the left corner were rows of tabs with the grades as its tags. When he goes to Basic grade tab, three boxes were disyed on top of the screen. Three lines woulde from each box, intersect and form one line that leads to a single box down below. It didn''t take hard thinking for him to realize that he was going to craft items in this feature. He would ce the materials on each box and the feature would craft the item. The Basic grade needed 3 items, the Rare grade tab required 5 materials, while the next seeding grades were locked. He figured out that since he was still in Haven, the First World where only Basic grade and Rare grade beasts and materiald were found, the other grades weren''t avable yet. When he went to his Inventory, a grin was stered on his lips. Along with the Snake''s corpse, the wool, and the spider thread, Allen had the lion''s mane. This must''ve triggered the quest to bepleted, that was why he got the Crafting Table feature. Heading out of the Inventory, he saw that a red exmation point marked the Quests tab. He went there and saw the new quest. With a grin in his face and an excited tab on the hammer icon, Allen tapped the box and opened his Inventory. He selected one material for each box until he filled all three boxes. The box below lit up with a dim white color before an icon appeared inside. Allen tapped the icon and the description of the new item disyed. [ Cloak of Nobody ] Type: Equipment Grade: Rare Effect/s: (1) Active - For 10 seconds, the cloak will hide the user''s presence. Allen gulped after seeing his new item. The type was new to him. He hasn''t encountered such type before. All he knew were weapon and skill types, this new one was foreign to him. It was then that the words of Jake resonated in his mind. Experience was the best teacher. Allen had to renew his thoughts. Not all he learned before were right. There was so much more to being a Hunter than what he initially thought. In his current position, he wasn''t just a Hunter to earn for a living. He has the power to change the world, and his encounter with Jake made him realize what he must do to achieve his goals. Fighting wasn''t his forte. He earned a title for a reason. One identity wouldn''t suffice him anymore. He was a collector, a dealer. He needed more than one persona. A series of footsteps woke Allen from his thoughts. Jake stood in front of Allen, scrunching his face after seeing a new kind of me lighting Allen''s eyes. "What happened while I was gone?" Jake asked, trying to ease the pressure inside the room. "I have decided," Allen said confidently. "I''ll take both items with me." Chapter 16: The Guard Chapter 16: The Guard Allen was back in Haven after he settled his deal with Jake Summers. They agreed that Jake would meet Allen in the part of the wood where they first met where Allen would give the seven Basic grade codes, and three Rare grade codes. In Jake''s end, the deal seemed great. For a regr Hunter, it will take approximately half a month to farm that much Codes. He wanted to give Allen half the month so the boy would have a time to farm for his own Codes. Little did he know, Allen had finished the task within four days. His movement, his damage, and all his stats were exponentially increased. Adding the fact that he has a one third chance to get a Code from a beast, Allen was unstoppable. [ Lime Slime Body ] [ Eye of the Owl ] [ Swift Crack ] Allen watched all the Codes in his interface. After reaching level 10, he received extra slots for his Codes. After reserving the slots for Jake, there were still room for more. It was almost sundown and Allen was back in the cliff where he moved his camp to. He wanted the view of the cliff because he could see the vast forest. It was at the top of the mountain, so he wasn''t worried too much about beastsing from above him. After the lion incident, he hasn''t seen any more lost Grand grade beasts. Maybe him seeing that lion was once in a lifetime experience. It evolved, but hasn''t ascended yet. This was something a newbie Hunter wouldn''t know, and when they encounters one, they wouldn''t get to know because then they would have died. He alsopleted the quest for the Crafting Table. It gave him five extra inventory slots, making him store even more of the raw materials and make weapons from them. The weapons made from the Crafting Table aren''t Codes. The result would be something like the artificial weapons the Hunters make and register in the Skill Altar. They couldn''t be stored in the Codes list, and they didn''t have the "Type" tag. Thinking of the Skill Altar made Allen wonder how he would increase his stats there. He could now afford to raise his stats, but since there were guards outside the camp, he could not go in. He then remembered that Jake gave him a fake identity. The man told him that he wasn''t scared that Allen would escape since he was tracking him through the nano-GPS he imnted on Allen. He also said that he wanted his pawn to work hard for him, allowing him ess to Earth and not the Otherworlds. Allen smirked and opened his Inventory. He took out the Cloak of Nobody and ced it over his shoulders. It was a ck cloak made from wool and sewn by the threads from the spiders. On its hood''s rim was the lion''s mane and was painted with a dark gray dye. How the interface made the item automatically and how it altered the colors was something Allen didn''t want to know. For him, as long as it made his item, it works. He didn''t question it. The other Primordial Beast Bearers must have this feature too. It would make sense why they got to where they are now that quick. And for Allen to catch up to them, he must exploit his privileges as much as he can. With this thought in mind, he headed to the camp. Rickon City, Lancaster. Camp number 3173. He was in Rickon City''s portal, in their country Lancaster, and was the 3173rd portal to be discovered. The camp was like any other camp in the world. It wasposed of a tall circr metal wall surrounding the inside where a small city lies. The rooms were located on the side of the wall from the inside. Four floors of units trailing around the wall. A smaller circle was formed by two-storey buildings. These were the shops, restaurants, and other establishments were. And in the center, where another thick wall of metal was built on was the Skill Altar and the portal was. It was the main reason why a camp was built, and it must be protected.. The Skill Altar is always fifty meters away from the portal in any ce in the world. This made some camps built on mountains, underground, or even in the middle of oceans. The portal and Skill altar were very important to all Hunters. "Identification," the guard spoke to Allen when he reached the gate of the camp. He handed the ID card Jake gave him to the guard. The man scanned the card with his decide that resembles a thermal gun before he looked at the information and let Allen inside. This man was Philip Little. He worked as a Hunter and ascended to Paradise. But for some reason, he came back to Haven and worked as a guard. Some said that it was because his partner in life was killed in Paradise, some said that he was sent back by the government, but nobody really knows the reason why. Allen looked at Philip, waiting for him to say something. When Philip didn''t do anything, he cleared throat and went inside. He forgot that he was a different man now, literally. When he was in his old body, the guard wouldment something like "You''re still alive? What dumb luck." But this time, the guard seemed to be down. "Are you okay?" Allen asked, walking back to where Philip was. "I''m good," the man said. Allen formed an O with his lips and was about to turn when Philip added, "Actually, no." Allen quirked his eyebrow, "Why is that?" "There was this kid who had miraculously survived all these years even when he was a wimp," Philip said. He couldn''t help but let the slight curving of his lips to form a smile. "He was small, but brave. He was weak, but the strongest boy I saw in my life." Allen gulped in shock. All this time, Philip had been looking at him like this. He shook his head and thought that it was too petty for him to think that he was the one Philip was referring to. There were a lot of small young men like him who were strong in their camp after all. "What happened to him?" Allen asked. "I heard from his group that he died," Philip sighed. "They said that a Rare grade beast overpowered them and Allen stayed behind so they could escape. I couldn''t believe when I heard that." "Me too," Allen said in his mind. He was both pissed and amused at the same time. His group even made a story for him about his bravery after they left him to die in the woods. He didn''t want to think any negative thoughts, but a hint of revenge had entered his mind. He wanted them to pay, but at the same time he wanted to thank them. After all, if they didn''t leave him behind, he wouldn''t have gotten to kill the Snake and be who he is now. "And where is this group now?" Allen asked, pretending to be concerned and sad. "After the boy''s death, they all split apart," Philip replied. "For some reason, their group was disbanded. Maybe Allen had held their group together all this time." And he was right. He was the boy Philip was referring to. Now the question was, why would Philip act like Allen was a piece of trash whenever they''d meet? "But why are you this down?" Allen asked. "A Hunter die almost every day. Why would this particr death affect you like this?" "Because all this time, I was trying to help him get strong in his own way," Philip replied. "The remarks I say to him were words of encouragement. So that he would strive to get stronger. To channel that anger and use it as a fire to light his path." "That''s some good encouragement right there," Allen whispered to himself, voice filled with sarcasm. "But it''s toote now. You''re toote." Philip frowned and nodded. "I guess, I am. I was only waiting for him toe back, but I guess it''s all in vain now." "You know what," Allen suddenly had an idea inside his mind. It was time he put his title to good use. "My grandmother used her ability in front of me every day. She even told me I had the gift simr to hers." Philip crossed his arms and and narrowed his eyes, "And this gift would be?" "She was a medium," Allen said. "She can connect us form the departed. I want you to connect with this boy you are referring to." "I don''t believe in mediums," Philip scoffed. "You''re all fake. So scram before I rip your arm off." "His name was Allen Vermillion," Allen spoke, making Philip''s eyes widen in shock. "You mentioned his name, but who would''ve guessed that I know exactly who he is. You''re always saying that how was it possible that he was alive, and all that crap. He''s standing right in front of me hand signaling me those words because he''s mute, right?" "R-Right!" Philip yelled and bowed. "Please, let me talk to Allen. I would pay anything!" Allen''s lips formed a smirk. He cleared his throat and spoke, "I assume you stayed in Paradise for a long time, yeah?" "Yes," Philip said while still bowing. "I was there for two years." "Then, I assume you have a Grand grade Code," Allen said. "I want that as payment." Chapter 17: Skill Altar Chapter 17: Skill Altar After his conversation with Philip, Allen headed to the Skill Altar. The two men agreed to meet in a cafe after Philip''s shift, which was in four hours. Allen walked inside the gate after the guards made him enter. The guards quirked their brows up after seeing the boy. They didn''t know Allen''s new face, and they always know everyone that enters their camp. "Hold up!" one of the guards yelled before Allen could enter. "Who are you and howe I don''t know you?" "Oh, I''m new," Allen said. "I''m August Skrk. I moved here just yesterday and wanted to check the forest first." "Howe we didn''t know someone was moved here?" the other guard asked. "If you really are new, there should be a notice. We can''t just allow anyone here." "You can ask Jake Summers for that," Allen said. "He''s the one who helped me move. I didn''t know there was such protocol." The guards looked at each other, both clearing their throats, "You know Jake Summers?" "He''s my friend," Allen said. "If you want, you can ask him yourself." "If you''re really Jake Summer''s friend, what''s the main feature of living room?" the second guard asked. Allen smirked, "A giant tree that reaches up to the roof." After hearing his answer, the guards were satisfied and let the boy inside. Allen nodded to them before walking in the doors where the humans built a temple around the Altar. It was arge temple that was ancient Greek in style. The columns, the colors, the flowers, and the gold features. Inside was arge open hall with the Skill Altar in the middle. The Skill Altar was a stone altar that had a circr tform with twelve steps before could reach the top. In each step, one of the Primordial Beasts are carved. On top of the altar are two small but slender cylindrical colums standing opposite to each other. In the middld were C-shaped holes in both colums that forms a circle. A dark blue orb of me lit up at center of a circle. Allen knew how the Skill Altar works. His previous group had taken him to ce when be first joined, everyone telling him that he could be the one in the tform enhancing his skills too. Remembering their words from his current state, Allen could onlyugh. He now knew how pathetic it was for him to actually think that they meant all their words. Of course, they didn''t. They just said that to encourage him in bing their ve. If they actually cared for him even just a little, they would''ve showed it to him. "Are you done?" Allen awoke from his thoughts when a man spoke behind him. He turned around and saw that it was one of the men from his previous group. He forced hismelf to calm down and stop any reaction. This man was Kyle Morgan. He was the ranger of their group before they disbanded. His skills were average when ites to rangers, but he was the one who boosts their morale. Allen could still remember that Kyle was the one who first introduced him to the Skill Altar. Thetter demonstrated how they would trade their Codes for Skill Points and distribute it to their stats. With a small smirk at the tip of his lips, Allen made a move. "I don''t know how to use this," Allen lied. He wasn''t too worried that anyone would recognize him apart from his actions since he was mute before. They don''t know his voice or how he would speak. So if he just acted more masculine and feel hisrger build, he would go under anyone''s radar. "Oh," Kyle suddenly paused. His nonchnt expression was reced with a smile as he walked forward. "You just need to hold that orb in the middle. There will be a message that pops in your screen. Just agree and you''re good to go." "Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth while nodding continuously. "Like this?" He grabbed the orb and flinched after feeling its heat. It wasn''t so hot that it could burn your skin, but it was warmer than Allen had thought. [ Skill Altar ] Open? < Yes > < No > This must be the message Kyle was referring to. With his free hand, Allen tapoed on the Yes and a screen opened. It was like the Crafting Table, but instead it had two divisions. Below was the list of Codes while the upper division had a box with an arrow pointing down below it. ''Select the Code to trade.'' The message inside his head spoke. Allen asked Kyle what to do next, and since Allen was the only one who could see his interface, Kyle just instructed him step by step verbally. "When you drag the name of the code in the box above the list, empty space where the arrow points would disy a number. Basic grade Codes gives you one Skill Point while Rare grade Codes is equal to three," Kyle said. "What about Grand grade Codes?" Allen asked. Kyle pursed his lips and shrugged. "I don''t know about that yet." "Oh," Allen nodded. "Thank you very much for helping me." "No problem," Kyle said and took a few steps back. He didn''t have much. Allen only had eleven Basic grade Codes and five Rare rade Codes. Since he had duplicate codes from the wasp, the frog, and a lizard he hunted a few days back, Allen traded them and got three Skill Points. He also experimented on his questions earlier. He selected the lion''s Code and dragged to the box. ''Only Basic grade and Rare grade Codes can be traded in this Altar.'' The notification made it clear to him that this Altar doesn''t transact what doesn''t "belong" in its world. By "belong", it means the Skill Altar in Haven will only ept the Codes that are found in Haven, Basic grade and Rare grade Codes. Satisfied with his new Skill Points, Allen removed his hand from the orb and the interface vanished. He turned to Kyle and thanked him again before bidding farewell. He was now wondering where he''ll spend his next few hours while waiting for Philip''s shift to be over. When he got nothing in his mind, Allen decided to explore the camp. It was still the same camp when he left a couple of days ago. He figured that not much will change, but something in the town was different. Physically, it all looked the same to him, but the way he feels a she steps on the brick pavement and walk past the shops and stores, it was unfamiliar to him. Maybe because he sees the world differently now that he has a new life. He no longer feels weak, he doesn''t have to be submissive. Right now, with the Snake''s Code, the world was his oyster. He can freely do what he wants. A grin stered on Allen''s lips when he remembered that Jake gave him money. The man wasn''t just interested in keeping Allen satisfied with the equipment he gave, he wanted Allen to see him as a boss and have him money. Jake said that it was his monthly allowance, but the amount was more than what Allen saved up for a year back then. He shivered at the thought of what money could do. They were in the new world, but economy still yed an important role in their lives. "What was he even thinking?" Allen grunted as he walked inside an equipment shop. "How could I spend all these money" He immediately stopped himself as he walked inside the shop. He gulped and watched the luxurious Code shop. It was like Jake''s collection, but with Codes. "So, this is how they spend their money." Chapter 18: The Code Shop Chapter 18: The Code Shop Allen was walking around the Code shop. His face would cringe at every single item he passed through. One Basic grade Code could go up to tens of thousands of dors. From the money Jake Summers gave him as an allowance for a month, he could only buy an okay Basic grade Code. The Rare grade codes weren''t disyed in the store like the Basic grades. Only pamphlets of the Codes were on disy. This was like a jewelry shop where the most expensive jewelries were hidden somewhere away. As Allen strolled around the store, he couldn''t help but feel someone staring at him. He felt chills run throughout his body as the gaze seemed to get more intense. He looked around and saw that it was a worker of the shop. "May I help you sir?" the woman asked. She was wearing a white suit with a fitted skirt paired with ck high heels. Her hair was tied to a bun and she wore a gold pin on her head. Her looks, for Allen, was average. He could see through her thick makeup that she was hiding a lot back there. Her facial expression didn''t make her prettier either. It made her look older, something that no guy likes. "I''m just looking around," Allen replied, trying not to meet her gaze. "If you''re looking for something, I could always assist you," the woman offered. "No, than you. I''m fine," Allen said politely. He slightly tilted his head down to bow before he walked away from the woman. He looked around once more and felt the gaze again. The boy turned around and saw the woman behind him. "Is there a problem, ma''am?" "No, there''s no problem here," the woman shook her head. "It''s just that you have been wandering around the shop for half an hour and doesn''t really seem to be interested in anything. So, I wondered why are you here?" "Seriously, I''m just looking around," Allen said. "Wait, did you think I would steal or something?" The woman opened her mouth like a fish out of the water. She regained herposure and cleared her throat, "I did not say such things, sir. You were the one who said that." Allen scoffed and rolled his eyes. He ced his hand on his pocket to find the card Jake gave him. It was a ck metal debit card with a line embedded with diamonds on the bottom third of the card. The card was in his name, and Jake would use someone else''s name to send money in the ount. They weren''t too worried about Jake''s father finding out about their transaction since the only files the Summers Corp''s power couldn''t prate to were banks. The banks were monopolized by the Primordial Boar Bearer and he was the greediest when ites to money. His name is Andrew Glitz, the third most powerful human, just behind Drake Nelson and the Rat Bearer. He bows to no one and only worships money. He values his customers, therefore his wall to hide their personal information and transactions were impregnable. "Well, excuse you, miss," Allen waved his card in the air, making sure to garner attention. "T-That''s" the woman trailed off, hiding her gasp with her hand. "A ck card," Allen finished for her. "You know how much the minimum amount for the ck card is. I could buy half this store with one swipe of this card." "I am very sorry sir," the woman bowed to him, making a smirk crawl its way on his face. This is how powerful people feels? Allen thought in his mind. I could get addicted to this. And the thing what amused Allen the most was how this woman blindly reacted to the card after she saw it. Jake didn''t gave him enough money yet. He only had the card, but the minimum bnce was still credited to Jake''s dummy ount. Allen barely had any money to buy three Codes in this store. With a sigh of disappointment and a shrug, Allen left the store with people still shocked after what happened. Only a handful of people in Haven has the ck card, so it wasn''t odd how they were all surprised. From store to store in the camp, Allen strolled around. What happened in the Code shop didn''t happen again, but the people around him held weird gaze. Allen initially thought it was because he looked more handsome now, but no. It was something different. One more hour until he meets Philip, an more intense gaze from the woman made him shiver. He was sitting outside a cafe when he felt the gaze almost activate his passive instinct skill. His eyes found a cloaked man right outside an alley. The man gestures his hands for Allen to follow, which Allen did. He walked out of the balcony of the cafe and went to the alley where the cloaked man turned, only to be greeted by arge phone with Jake Summer''s face zoomed in anger. "What in the hell did you just do?!" Jake groaned. "Did you know how risky the stunt you made at that shop?" The cloaked man was holding a tablet that was in a video call with Jake. The man had his face near the camera, angry for some reason. Allen tilted his head. "What?" "There are only nine people in Haven who has the same card as you," Jake said. "And all of them including me, are children of conglomerate. We were born rich and our faces are often in magazines. And you showed up, a man within any background, waving the card around like an idiot and now what will you do?" Allen stared at the void. He was so consumed of making other people kneel in front of him, that he forgot about this possibility. The ck card was reserved for the privileged. That''s why he has been getting all the stares. They were questioning his entire existence. "You have to get out of there right this second," Jake said. "When the authorities sees you, they''ll arrest you and when that happens, our deal is over. I will cut all ties with you and you''re a stranger to me." This is how the powerful acts. The thought entered his mind. Jake and him didn''t have an actual partnership or even acquaintances. They were nothing but people who help each other out by satisfying one another''s needs. Jake needed Codes, and Allen needed the connection Jake could provide. It now dawned him how easily it was for one another to bail out. Especially for Jake who has Allen by his fingers. "Don''t worry," Allen said. "Once I finish my task here, I will move to another camp." Jake groaned and threw his phone. Allen thought it was the end of the conversation but Jake picked it up again. He had an unimpressed face while looking at Allen, "That man will give you a phone that has a secure private line. I will give you the map of the forest and the route to the other camp. You''ll have a new identity which will be given by another man in that camp." "Thank you, Jake," Allen smiled. His shoulders rxed after realizing that Jake couldn''t just dispose of him that quickly. He was the only person that would save him of his pride. And from the looks of things, rich people had so much pride. "I''m not doing this for you," Jake scoffed. "I did this because I already invested a lot in you. It will be a pain to prepare reports on where the money goes, so don''t act like you''re special. I will not do this again." "Thanks," Allen grinned. "I won''t do this again. And I''ll leave in four hours." "Three," Jake said with a deadpan. "You will leave in three hours." "I actually only needed to, but I figured you''ll decrease it," Allen chuckled. "I''ll see you in a bit." Allen turned around and ran from the man after taking the phone when the voice rang inside his head. ''New quest avable.'' Chapter 19: Identity Crisis I Chapter 19: Identity Crisis I [ Identity Crisis I ] Reward: 5 Inventory Slots, Anonymous Mask Piece #1 Introduce yourself as a different person with different names, personalities, and weapons to three people who knew you before. When a person is convinced, the quest will be updated and you shall make another persona for another person. Allen stared at the quest panel in his interface. He knew he was nning to be anonymous while he conducts his Code collection, but he didn''t know the system would support his decision. If the other Primordial Beast Codes were like this too, it wasn''t a wonder why the ther Bearers became overpowered in no time. In a span of almost two decades, they reached four worlds. It was almost two times the time it takes for a regr Hunter to do. As for Allen, he was wondering how he could pull this quest off. In theory, the quest was easy. He only had to introduce himself to other people as someone else three times. But when he think about it thoroughly, he has to have different personalities three times, and he has to convince the person that way. And to top it all off, he has to convince people who knew him before. Some would definitely see simrities between the new him and the old him. He might look different and might able to talk, but his actions were still the same Allen he used to be. "How shall I pull this off?" Allen chuckled and shook his head. He was about to walk out of the alley and saw Kyle peeking out from the corner. "Hey!" Kyle''s eyes widened and his body retreated. Allen ran up to him to chase him down, but he stopped when Kyle walked inside the alley. "Who are you?" Kyle asked. "It''s odd how there are literally hundreds of Hunters here in the camp, but I always memorize the faces of everyone, even the new ones. Yet I haven''t seen you before." "I told you, I was just transferred" "And in your other camp, you didn''t have a Skill Altar?" Kyle cut him off. "Silver Bow." Kyle summoned his weapon. It was a bow made of pure silver that had a silver embedded string. It was a Rare grade Code that Kyle traded after they took down their second Rare grade beast. Allen was there when the dark brown haired boy was grinning in joy after receiving his weapon. He was there and congratted his ally, to which only gave him a half smile. He was there in their brightest times, but they left him for dead. In his mind, he wanted to return the favor. He opened his hands to summon his hammer when Kyle suddenly smiled. "You''re actually a newbie Hunter, right?" Kyle said. "You don''t have to be afraid and act like you know everything if you don''t." "I" Allen was about to disagree when he remembered his quest. Kyle knew him before, and the man practically finished the quest for him before he could introduce himself. "I''m sorry if I lied." "Aww," Kyle cooed. He walked over to Allen and tapped the boy''s shoulder. "We''re about the same height, but I guess I''m still older, so call me big brother, okay?" "Yes, big brother," Allen let out a fake relieved chuckle. He scratched the back of his head and pretended to be shy in front of Kyle. "I''m already twenty-two, what about you?" Kyle asked. "Oh, but before that, what is your name?" "My name is" Allen trailed off. He has the tendency of being forgetful, so whatever he says here should be stuck inside his mind forever. He has to introduce himself with a name he will remember. "I''m Leandro Jones." "I am Kyle Morgan," Kyle introduced and offered his hand. "Was I right about my assumption? Am I older?" "I''m only neen," Allen lied once again, still keeping the shy kid act. "But they do say that I''m pretty tall for my age." "You are quite tall," Kyle measured their height. "Only a few inches shorter than me, and I''m sure you''ll still grow." The two had continued their conversation in the cafe Allen left before Jake called him. He wanted to ask him about their group, but he was afraid he would get suspected by Kyle. The man was very perceptive among all of the ones he know. If this man would even get a whiff of his true self, he would be finished. "Kyle!" The boys snapped their heads to the door where two women were running to them. The two women were also familiar to Allen and he couldn''t help but want to roll his eyes and scoff. "Selena, Irene," Kyle stood and greeted his former group mates. "What are you two doing here?" These two were the support and the mage of their group. Selena was a boost-type support who uses skill Codes to help her teammates, while Irene was the mage who uses her skill Codes to cast long-ranged magic damage. Among all six of them, these three were the most synchronized. While Selena boosts their attacks, Kyle deals physical side while Irene deals the magic side. They were at the back lines dealing high level damage to the enemies, usually the ones who deals the most HP before their team captain, the fighter finishes off the beasts. Allen was somewhat disappointed that he met the two in front of Kyle. Now, he couldn''t make up a new identity for his quest. After all, he didn''t know a lot of people in camp, so his attempts were limited. "Guys, this is Leandro," Kyle introduced Allen''s fake identity. "He''s a newbie Hunter and I''m his big brother now." Selena skipped to Allen''s side and leaned in closer to him, "Blink twice if he''s taking you as hostage." "Hey!" Kyle pouted. "You? Big brother?" Selena scoffed yfully. "Who would want that?" Irene walked to the other side of Allen, "Is it hypnotism? Or did Kyle ckmail you?" "You''re both so mean," Kyle crossed his arms. "If you must know, I happened to have helped him in the Skill Altar as a good big brother should." "You''ve really changed in a span of a week," Selena stood properly. "You miss him that much, don''t you?" "Selena," Irene warned. "Kyle, we know you''re upset, but let''s just ept that Allen''s gone. He will nevere back." Allen''s eyes widened. There was something about their conversation that made him feel odd. The atmosphere around them seemed to be tense and sad. All three of these people looked miserable. Why are you sad? Allen asked in his mind. You left me alone. You should be celebrating! Why are all of you acting like this?! "I''m sorry, I can''t help it," Kyle dropped his arms and gave Allen a forced smile. "I have to go," Allen stood. "I''m sorry, I just remembered that I needed to do something." "Leandro, please wait," Kyle held his wrist but Allen pulled it back. "Where are you going?" "To my room. My cat needs food," Allen said before leaving. The three people he left behind looked at each other with questioning gazes. "Since when was cats allowed in the camp?" Selena asked, to which the other two answered with a shrug. Meanwhile, Allen walked out of the cafe and into a dark alley. He sighed and looked up the skies, trying to solve the questions in his head. "Why were you sad?" Allen covered his face with his hands. "You should be celebrating, so why?" "There you are." Allen forced his feelings back and looked at where the voice came from. It was Philip and he was standing in the corner. "Have you forgotten our deal?" Chapter 20: Who Are You? Chapter 20: Who Are You? Allen felt confused. He didn''t know what he wanted to feel after seeing the members from his previous group act like that. "A bunch of fakes," Allen scoffed. Philip was leading him to his room in the camp when he heard Allen rant, "What was that?" "Oh, no sorry," Allen shook his head. "I''m just thinking out loud." Philip nodded. He shrugged the topic off and continued walking. There are three floors of the rows and rows of units that was stuck on the thick metal wall of the camp. Each unit was a hundred square meters in size and there are about two hundred units on each floor. Of course, the ones owning the the apartment units weren''t the only Hunters in town. As they approached the third andst floor, Allen could see the separated units right behind the Skill Altar''s temple. It was reserved for the privileged, the Wealth Alley as they like to call it. They are the Hunters born from or ownrge enterprises back on Earth. There are only twenty units in the Wealth Alley since they can ascend to Paradise anytime with the use of their money. "We''re here," Philip said and opened his unit. Allen could still remember that he was only living in his group mates'' couches since he couldn''t afford to pay both the apartment here and on Earth. When the world thinks Hunters are privileged, Allen could testify agaisnt that. In any world, before and after the rise of the Otherworlds, privileges are reserved for the wealthy. Allen clenched his fist at the thought. He knows he wasn''t the only one who was treated like nobody by the world. He wasn''t the only one who was always hungry and cold. The thought made his passion to change the world for the better burned even brighter. He now wanted to rule over everything more than ever. Philip made him sit on the couch while he prepared for the drinks. Allen agreed since he still had about two hours before he leaves the camp. He will bid farewell to everyone in here, but not before he finishes this mission. When Philip returned, he handed Allen a cup of tea. They both sat on the couch and started their deal. "First of all," Allen spoke. "What did you think of Allen back when he was still alive." "He was a brave young man," Philip replied with all honesty. Allen tried to look for the lies and deception in his eyes, but found nothing. He was telling the truth. "Then why didn''t you act like you think of him as that?" Allen asked, reserving the intense gush of emotion inside him. If he shows that he''s affected too much of this conversation, Philip might get too suspicious. "Allen is saying that he has nobody in this camp. That he''s all alone here and that he felt isted." "Because that''s what I think would make him push through," Philip sighed. "I honestly thought I could see him get a Rare grade Code and shove it to my throat. I wanted to see him proud." "Did you know how miserable his life was?" Allen uttered. "He was all alone, and the people like you made him feel like that." "That''s not true," Philip argued. "He had Kyle, Selena, and the other members of their group. Allen was always around them, they were protecting each other." "You''ve only seen the surface," Allen said. "He is saying that he was tossed around by his so-called group and nobody wanted to speak up for him. He couldn''t speak for himself, and no one else tried to." "That''s because he wasn''t treated like that," Philip chuckled. "Are you sure you''re talking to Allen? Because I could always see him hang out with Kyle. He would often sleep in Kyle''s ce while he saves up for his own." "You''re not always with them, so you wouldn''t know," Allen scoffed. "That''s exactly what Allen said. He''s showing me things. He''s showing me memories. Of him being the ragdoll being tossed around in their group. He was" "A precious asset," Philip cut off. "His white hair attracts beasts, so they would often make him attract them. But when the beastses close, the others would do their best to protect him. Did he show you that?" Allen paused. He inspected Philip''s face once more, and it still has the same unwavering honesty in his eyes. "That''s not what he''s telling me." "Allen?" Philip stood and looked around. "Allen, if you can hear me, please listen. Your group leader Martin is the only one who sees you as nothing but bait. The others doesn''t think of you like that." "No," Allen whispered. "Martin was the worst, but they''re all the same. I was on the side throwing rocks because I was useless, they treated me like dirt because I couldn''t be stronger." "They put you to the side because they''re afraid that you might get hurt!" Philip unintentionally yelled. "Oh, my God. Allen?" "I" An trailed off. He dug his own grave by losing hisposure. He cleared his throat and looked at Philip, "It is me, Allen. I possessed this man because I couldn''t take it anymore. What you''re saying is wrong." "Allen, listen," Philip ced his hands over Allen''s shoulders. "Do you remember when Kyle and Martin had a fist fight? That was the time when you first found a Rare grade beast. Martin let the beast roam around and smack you with its tusks. Kyle killed the beast himself even when he should be in the backnes." "I didn''t remember that," Allen whispered. "You''re telling lies." "Allen, listen to me," Philip gripped his shoulders, making him look at the man. "You''re remembering things differently. You were loved by most of your group, Allen." He wanted everything to stop, so Allen shrugged Philip''s hands off of him and took a deep breath. "He doesn''t want to talk anymore." "Oh," Philip let out, disappointment evident in his voice. "I guess I made him mad." "I will try to talk to him," Allen said. "I will go now." "What about the payment?" Philip asked when Allen went straight to the door. "There''s no need for such thing anymore," Allen opened the door and was about to walk out when Philip called him. "Then tell Allen this please," the guard yelled. "I''m sorry if I couldn''t do anything to protect him. I wanted to push him to be stronger, but I was mistaken for the method I made." "Okay." With a loud mming of the door, Allen left the room. Confusion spread across his mind like a ck ink on a clear water. The memories reyed, but everything was now vague. It was unclear to him now what exactly happened in all those years he spent with his group. He passed a mirror and saw his reflection in the mirror. It was different now. He was a different man. He touched the ss and felt the cold surface in his fingertips. "Who are you?" Chapter 21: Still Far Chapter 21: Still Far ''Questpleted.'' Allen awoke from his own little trance, hearing the female voice inside his head. "What?" Allen asked himself. He opened his interface and saw the rewards there. He had already finished the Identity Crisis I quest. The boy ced his finger under his chin. The quest said to introduce himself three times to three different people who knew who he was before. So far, he only encountered Kyle and Philip. There has to be one more person. His mind immediately wandered to the woman in the Codes shop. She must''ve knew Allen before, and even when Allen didn''t introduce himself, she thought that he was a different man. Wrapping the thoughts in his head, Allen pped the side of his face and sighed, "Does it matter how I finished the quest? The important thing is that I can finally get out of this ce. "Why am I here?" Allen asked himself after finding himself in the roof of the building opposite to the Codes Shop. Dusk was approaching and some of the shood were closing. This was a typical scene inside the camp. Once the night falls, all non-essential shops would close. Codes Shops were ssified as non-essential since it didn''t have to give its service to its customers right away. Their employees were required to go home unless they apply for a 24-hour shift which requires a bigger tax. Most shops couldn''t afford the extra tax for them to operate at night, and since there weren''t a lot of customers at night, they didn''t bother applying for the 24-hour shift. The Codes shop Allen went to was one of those many shops. He was proning on the roof and watched all the employees get out one by one. There weren''t a lot of workers in the shop, only about five. First were two women who worked at the counter, next were two men who were assigned to assist customers. It didn''t take long before the woman Allen humiliated walked out of the shop. She seemed to have recovered from the shock of humiliation brought upon her by Allen. She now looked calmer than before. "Good work today," Allen heard the woman said to the guard who was stationed by the door. "See you tomorrow." "Be careful on your way home," the guard said and bowed his head to the woman. "Be careful indeed," Allen whispered to himself and followed the woman. As time goes by, he was constantly asking himself what he was doing. What will he gain after he knows how the woman knew him? Yet, the feeling irked him, making him restless. He couldn''t stop thinking about how the woman could possibly knew who Allen Vermillion was. His guts were telling him that he was doing the right thing. The woman had a handbag on her. It looked expensive with its brown leather and the gold hardware. She opened it and tooked a phone out, typing a number in and calling it. Phones and the inte was already established in the Otherworlds. Although it was only currently avable in Haven, and there was a limitation where they the ess was limited inside the camp. "Hello, honey?" the woman said with a soft and very feminine tone. "Yes, dear. I''ming. I just finished some things in the shop, but I will be there on time. Yes, dear. I will see you there. I love you." Allen smirked after hearing the woman''s call. "So, you have a husband. I didn''t even see a ring." Like a snake slithering in the roof, Allen continued to follow the woman. She was walking to the area of luxurious restaurants which made Allen doubt that he could continue following her. In that area, the roofs were all lit up with bright lights, and there were many drones patrolling the skies. After all, it was the entrance to the Wealth Valley, and the people there wanted extra protection. Allen was about to give up when he saw a shiny ck luxury car stop in front of the woman. A driver walked out of the car, making Allen follow him to watch the direction that the car would open. He saw an alley right to where the car door was, so he leaped through it andnded on the ground. He walked to the pavement just in time for the driver to open the door and the woman to walk inside. As if it was in slow motion, Allen watched the person inside. His blood boiled and toothy grin was stered on his face aftet he saw who it was. "Lewis Nixon," Allen whispered just in time before the car door closes. His body wanted to tremble but he suppressed the feeling. He kept a straight face and hid his grin and walked away, turning to a corner where he saw another cloaked man. The man walked towards Allen and pped him across the face. The man''s movements were so quick and his presence was barely there that Allen''s passive skill couldn''t activate on time. ''Enhanced Instincts I activated.'' Allen touched the side of his face and conjured his hammer. He tried to strike donw the man with it but his attack was stopped with a single hand. "W-What?" The man was silent. Instead, he showed took an object from his cloak and showed it to Allen. A tablet that had the face of a fuming Jake. "What in the hell are you doing?!" Jake yelled. "Bernard, p him again." Allen anticipated the attack. He tried to dodge it on time but he still felt Bernard''s palm graze across his face. "You told me give you a few hours," Jake massaged his forehead. "You were gone for more than five hours, idiot! What were you thinking?!" "I only" p. Jake''s voice had long since vanished from Allen''s ear. Inside his mind were new questions that sprung up after encountering Bernard. His skill was already activated. This skill predicted his opponents'' movements, yet how was Bernard able tond all the ps in his face? This man didn''t feel anything special. In fact, he barely felt anything at all. It was like he wasn''t there in front of him in the first ce. If Allen didn''t see him, he wouldn''t know that Bernard was even in front of him. It then dawned Allen how he was too far from being strong. If the likes of Bernard were able to overpower him without a second thought, he was still far. ''New quest avable.'' Chapter 22: Run Away Chapter 22: Run Away [ Run Away ] Rewards: 3 Skill Points, Anonymous Mask II // People are after you. Escape them with the distance of 300 miles for 36 hours. While reading the quest for him, Allen had know that the quests were protecting him. Jake was right. He needed to escape this ce if he even wants to seed with his ns. The identities he gave will soon be revealed when the officials would start investigating. They would track him down if he stays, and it won''t be long. When that happens, even someone like Jake Summers can''t protect him. "I don''t do jail time," Allen said to himself and wore his cloak back. Bernard had already left with a fuming Jake Summers in the video call. The best move he could do at the moment was to go back to the forest and collect items there for Codes and items. He could use his Crafting Table feature to craft his weapons with Rare grade that he could use to acquire Codes. His n was solid that he was questioning himself as to why he got distracted from it earlier. So what if the people he knew before were living good lives? The moment they left him in that forest, they were dead to him. He was all alone now. Allen picked up his phone and opened the map Jake gave him in the emails. It was a map of the forest outside their camp and a safe trail to the next camp. He assumed Jake had already left him with things in the new camp. Even when the man was angry, to Jake he was still a valuable asset. Just in time for Allen to leave, Bernard ran up to him in a hurry. He was curious as to why people were staring at Bernard. Allen watched his clothes to see if there was anything wrong, but he couldn''t spot anything. Apart from the fact that you could never sense Bernard if you can''t see him, there was nothing special about him. He was great at hiding his presence, but Allen was sure there were a lot of Hunters who could do the same. "I forgot to give you this," Bernard said while scratching the back of his head. He was arge man with ck hair that was cut short and connected to the short beard under his chin. Perhaps it was this man''s looks that made people look at him with awe. Even when Allen was a man, he could say that Bernard was a very handsome fellow. Hisrge build, his chiseled jaws, and his kind narrow eyes would make any woman swoon if he did as little as wink at them. "What is this?" Allen asked while receiving the brown man envelope. "Something Jake wanted you to have," Bernard said. Allen was about to say something but a crowd had gathered around the bear-like man. They were pushing people away and were lining up to get Bernard''s signature. "Is he like a celebrity or something?" Allen asked himself but fled from the scene. He stored the envelope Bernard gave him to his Inventory and escaped the camp. Bernard was some sort of celebrity. It would only make sense why people were fawning over him like a bunch ofi mindless moths to a fire. But then again, Bernard was working for Jake. Allen was Jake''s secret, and for Jake to do as risky thing to hire a celebrity to be his courier was a questionable move on the blonde boy''s part. Shrugging the thoughts of Bernard in his head, Allen leaped to a trunk of a tree to rest. He took out the envelope Bernard gave him and opened it. It had a new ID for him to use, a new identity, and a room key. He assumed that this room key was for a room he will stay at in his new camp, which was over 300 miles away. After realizing it, Allen opened his interface once more and reread his quest. He chuckled at himself after seeing the distance the quest required of. It was awfully coincidental that only a fool would believe that the cheat system he gained from the Snake didn''t have mind of its own. It was calcting things for him, making sure Allen would be taken care of and get stronger. Though, these were suspicious elicit actions of the cheat system, Allen barely cared. It was making him stronger, why would he go against that? Sure, there would be a time that the system wouls want something in return, but until then, Allen swore to exploit the system as much as he could. Since Allen became its master, he will make use of its service. It will be a waste if he kept asking questions when the Snake was giving him all its blessings. It even proved how powerful it was by creating the cheat in the system. That was enough for Allen to believe that this was his key to sess. ''New quest avable.'' Allen flinched at the sudden voice of the woman in his head. He was so used to the loud bustling streets of the city, contraty to the silent and serene forest. One sound would echo around a couple of times. [ Item Collection ] Rewards: 5 Inventory slots, 3 Basic grade Code slots // Collect materials and craft 3 Basic grade items and 1 Rare grade item in the Crafting Table The new quest excited Allen a lot. It was a quest for him to get more weapons just like he nned. Now he has more reasons to craft items and sellter on. His only problem now was to choose what items he could get. The Crafting Table randomly crafts items out of the materials he put in it. He got lucky when he ced his three materials and got the cloak, but who knew what he could get in the future? With a grunt, Allen decided to test the feature out. He now has weapons and better equipment, so the forest wasn''t as scary as before. He could freely collect materials and explore the forest without worrying about his life. "Beetle Horn, Butterfly Wings, and Silver Mantis Arm," Allen dictated the raw materials one by one as he ced them in the three slots of the Crafting Table. As usual, the boxes where the materials were glowed. The lights trailed down to the lines that intersected in the middle and down to the empty box. It glowed for a couple of seconds before revealing the item it crafted out of the three. [ Buttefly Whip ] Chapter 23: Butterfly Whip Chapter 23: Butterfly Whip [ Butterfly Whip ] Grade: Basic Damage: 7 Effect/s: (none) Looking at the weapon he had in his hand, Allen remembered his first weapon. The Foxground Dagger only had 5 Damage points while this weapon had 7. This would mean that the Buttefly Whip was in a higher scale than the former, making it more powerful than the other. "Weapons of the same Grade, doesn''t guarantee the same quality," Allen said to himself. He kept the words in his mind like a set of quotes for him. He was nning on portraying a mysterious character that deals with Codes and weapons. He was sort of a mercenary, a collector, and a trader all at once. The n he had in mind was to go to different camps and deal with all sorts of people. They can hire him to hunt Codes, trade Codes or weapons, or even buy Codes. To start his own little business, he first needed to gather his own "stocks" aka the Codes and weapons. He has a lot of slots for his Codes and Inventory, the goal was to maximize those slots. Storing the Buttefly Whip in his Inventory, Allen leaped from the branch of the tree andnded gracefully on the ground. Leveling up meant that his body had undergone changes improvements that made him more durable. Compared to the whimpy Allen, their punches alone differ by a lot. Before, he could barely sessfullynd a punch on a moving object, but now he could swiftly bruise beasts with a single punch. He was excited to get even stronger to crack beasts'' bones with one attack. Allen opened his map on the phone Jake provided. Human advancements in technology using Otherworld materials created almost unbreakable cellphones with batteries that wouldst for weeks. Charging it was even easy since most devices captures the energy from the Otherworld sun. Humans really provided ease with their lives after exploiting as much as the Otherworlds as they could. After only three years of being under attack by Otherworld beasts, humanity gained its upper hand. And it all started when Nelson Drake found the Primordial Dragon. His map had a GPS on it and he was then sure that Jake was really watching him. He tried to stick his phone in a tree and take a step back, trying to see if his position would change, and it did. The GPS didn''t track the phone, but he himself was being tracked. "I think that man will be a problem in the future," Allen sighed to himself, shaking his head and walking to the direction of theke. He saw his camp back. The frogs leftover he had there were already rotten. Their stench were so bad, no other beast dared toe close to it. Theke still looked calm, but Allen knew there were beasts underneath, waiting for a prey. He was eyeing theke since water-based Codes were in high demand in the city. He was also studying how economics worked in camps. It wasn''t too hard to study and master how everything worked. Celebrity Hunters would dictate what Codes were in or out. They endorse specific Codes that would then be the trend and raise the demand. The shops and other markets had already pre-nned with the celebrities so they could prepare what stocks to increase and what to dispose of. It was like that all year round, just mindless ever changing business deals. Allen''s introduction to the market would be a huge impact in the supply and demand of the Codes and goods. If he creates a small leak in the constant flow of the supply/demand circle, the leak would get bigger and bigger until he will have a specific flow to himself. At first he needs to be as easy and as open to anyone as possible. He needed the clients and he needed the connections in order to get a certain pool of clients. As the pool gets bigger, he would slowly get rid of the ones who has low social ss. His alter egos, yes he needed to create a lot but pretend as if they''re working for the same person, would climb up thedder and soon enough, he will serve the ones at the top. He already has one client, but Jake couldn''t be part of his n. If he tries tomunicate with people with Jake, the man would know and everything will be exposed. It''s easy for Jake to drop Allen''s service if an inevitable leak would indeed happen. If something as a huge irreversible revtion would be put on to the world, Jake can simply get rid of hismunication with Allen. Or even dispatch him using people like Bernard. That man was way above Allen''s level. Even his fame was high on top. If Allen would deal with clients in Jake''s circle immediately, all hell will break lose. And he can''t have that. He needed to start small, simple, but effective. Clients who he chooses that are at the bottom but will connect to the ones on top through several links. Shoving all the thoughts under the rug at the moment, Allen braced himself for a day of hell. He needed to hunt, he needed to craft, he needed to collect. He needed to do a lot of tasks, but he wasn''t in a hurry. He has all the time in the world in his hands. "The world is my oyster!" Allen yelled andughed loudly. His voice echoed the calmkes several times until he felt somethinge up the surface. The water from theke boiled and something ominous was approaching. Allen walked closer to feel what it was but instantly leaped back when he saw that it wasn''t something. It was a swarm of beasts. One by one, jets of water exploded from theke. Short humanoid beasts with fish heads leaped out of the water carrying spears made of fish bone that were sharpened. The beastsnded on the ground right in front of Allen. They were only half his height, but their numbers weren''t something to be reckoned with. Their appearance alone, and even their weapons looked dangerously horrific. Allen sighed and took out one of the weapons he got from Jake. He didn''t know he would survive tens of these creatures, but he knows he will. He survived a swarm of wasps when he was nothing. Now he is something, "I can survive anything." Chapter 24: Hyper Regeneration Chapter 24: Hyper Regeneration ''Lake Warden killed. +10 EXP'' ''Lake Warden killed. +10 EXP'' ''Lake Warden Code gained.'' The voice of the woman repeated in Allen''s mind like a broken record. While he kills more and more beasts, the other remaining ones would screech louder. Right by thekeside, a deafening collective war cries of the beasts echoed. The woman''s voice would slowly be overtaken by the loudness of the creatures that after Allen sessfully kills a beast, he couldn''t hear anything anymore. He had finished half of the beasts, but they didn''t show any signs of backing down. He now started to worry about his safety. The boy was afraid that his stamina wouldn''tst long. He didn''t even know what triggered them. Screaming in front of theke, or any otherke for that matter, couldn''t possible anger these beasts. They were part of a colony of freshwater dwellers. From Allen''s very limited knowledge of beasts, colonies protects their queen from threats. They group together and form arge team agaisnt the intruder and would not stop until either the threat was killed or everyone would be ughtered. Allen didn''t even know why but guilt had consumed him after he saw the pile of dead creatures in front of him. He was afraid that he unknowingly provoked them and now they were dying because if the misunderstanding. With a heavy sigh, Allen switched his weapon with the stone hammer. He raised it right above him, making the beasts step back from him. They were now murmuring unknown words to each other while watching Allen lift his weapon. When they were at a safe distance, Allen screamed and mmed the hammer into the ground. It created a powerful shock that made the earth around them shake. Crack. Allen gasped after hearing the sounding from him. The feeling of fear swallowed him after he heard the bones in his arms break. His eyes widened. He didn''t feel any pain, instead he felt a numbness that he couldn''t exin. Maybe that was why the creatures could only take a step back as they watched the boy charge himself with the power from the hammer. They knew how powerful it was, and judging by how they were only Basic grade beasts, they knew the capabilities of a Rare grade. But this hypothesis was also uncertain. His first weapon was also Rare grade, but the beasts still charged at him. They didn''t even fear the hint of fire in the de of the weapon. "Fire," Allen whispered to himself. The reason why they were so confident on his first weapon was because of their elemental advantage from it. They had the water element, meaning they could easily overpower mes. This was one of the basic principles of bing a Hunter, elemental advantage. The thought slipped in Allen''s mindpletely. Though, since they were only beasts after all, they couldn''t distinguish the wide gap between the powers of the elements. As long as they have the elemental advantage, they charged mindlessly. "Damn it!" Allen cursed after waking up from his thoughts. He stored his weapon back, and tried to find a way to escape while the creatures were still stunned by the hammer''s disy of power. When he saw a small path in the woods, Allen ran straight to it. With onest nce at his previous camp, the boy bid farewell to it. Growth requires saying farewell. "Thank you." Even though his job requires him to kill a lot of beasts in the future, his conscience didn''t allow him to ughter an entire colony. Plus, his arm was broken and his stamina was running low. It was a dangerous spot for him if he tried to force it. Allen reached the deep forests not long after. He took a nce at his map and watched the path he took. He was still going the right way to reach the next camp. If he just followed the map for a few more days, he will arrive there without any more worries. Now, he has to focus on recovering his arms. It was baffling for him how he wasn''t able to feel anything even after his bones cracked. The adrenaline rush from the fight had long since passed, but his awaited painful sting didn''te. Allen lifted his right arm, gasping when he didn''t feel any pain. He gulped and used both hands to pinch the opposite arms. He didn''t feel any pain either. The boy immediately went to the logs in his interface. There, a smirk formed in his lips before it formed an O. ''Primordial Snake Exclusive Ability unlocked.'' ''Hyper Regeneration I activated.'' Allen couldn''t help but p his thigh in amusement after reading the notification. It was ridiculously overbearing of the Snake to even provide him an ability to heal instantly. Broken bones, even a slight crack, would take months to heal and function like it previously does. But Allen just took a couple of minutes run, and his broken bones of both his entire arms, were healedpletely. A feat like this was incredible. Now it was very clear to him how the Bearers became overpowered. They were pampered by the Primordial Beast Codes, treated like kings and queens. With the thought of him ascending quickly, Allen got too excited. In his interface, he moved to the Codes tab. [ Lake Warden Spear ] Type: Weapon Grade: Basic Effect/s: (none) [ Freshwater Gills ] Type: Skill Grade: Basic Effect/s: Active - When activated, the user can breathe under fresh water for 10 minutes. "Wow," Allen whispered to himself after seeing the description of both Codes. From his logs, he killed about twenty-nine beasts. That was a lot. From the twenty-nine beasts, he got eight new Codes, five for Freshwater Gills and three for Lake Warden Spear. Repeating Codes would still upy one Code slot, so he wasn''t too worried about having duplicates. But what intrigued him was the small icon on the side. Allen was curious if the Crafting Table would also work on Codes, and since he has so many, he grinned and opened it. "Time to experiment!" Allen cheered excitedly. He dragged a Freshwater Gills Code on each of the boxes in the Crafting Table. It had five slots, so the number of Codes he had was just right. Putting in the final Code on the final slot, the boxes glowed. The light passed through the lines and reached the bottom box where it glowed like it usually does. When the light died down, an icon appeared. The icon for the Freshwater Gills was of a fish''s gills that was in a close up photo. After the merge, the icon on the bottom box was of three bubbles stacking on top of each other that were decreasing in size. [ Underwater Bubble ] Type: Skill Grade: Rare Effect/s: (1) Active - When activated, the user can breathe underwater for thirty minutes. (2) Passive - When the user is sumberged underwater, the speed and strength is increased by 8 (activation of Effect 1 is not required). Chapter 25: The Deal Chapter 25: The Deal It had been two days after Allen faced the beasts on theke. He had hunted day and night, sorted the best the items and materials as best as he could and now, he was ready to go to the next camp. His destination was called Camp Tw. It was one of the first camps to be ruled by a woman when the portals had opened. Tw Aberdeen was a wealthy woman who earned her pride in sports. Albeit she was rather young when she became a Hunter and led the camp, she was powerful. She was at Emerald rank. Hunters, other than levels, are rated by power. Levels determine the rate a Hunter can ascend to the next world, but rating measures how effective someone is at hunting. Stone, Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald, and the highest is Diamond. It was given that all Primordial Beast Bearers were rated Diamond rank since they have the overpowered advantages like what Allen had at the moment. They must''ve utilized all of these and climbed up the ratings with ease. Allen could do just that only if he were from a powerful family too. It was no question that the Primordial Beast Code will catapult anyone to Diamond rank, but connections are still a must. Bearers like the Boar, Dragon, Rooster, and Ox were from prominent families. They had businesses already established, and it wasn''t hard for them to transition to the new era using their status as Primordial Beast Bearers. The others were from decent middle-ss families that could provide them enough connections to be safe while they level up and get stronger. Technically speaking, they didn''t climb the ranks alone. They have their families with them. Allen''s case was different, however. He was a nobody, and he had no one. Connections? He has none of that. He only had himself. And if he tries to seek help from the outside world, from powerful families, he''ll end up dead. He knew that all too well. He reminded himself of all these thoughts all the time, so he could go through the struggles of starting from the bottom. Currently, he was at Stone rank. If he takes a test in a Hunter center at Earth, he can measure his current rating. But that was for another time. There''s a series of trials to be finished when testing for a rating, including the logistics. They will see his Codes list and if they see the Snake, his n will go down the drain. While walking near Camp Tw, Allen had heard a series of cries nearby. He looked around but saw no one there. When he was about to shrug it off, thinking it was just his mind ying with him, the noise came back. "Hello?" Allen called out. He waited for a few seconds for a respond. "Help!" he heard a woman yell. Allen instantly leaped from the ground and into a tree so he could get the vision. "Please help us!" a voice yelled, a man this time. Allen closed his eyes to feel the presence in the area. He took a deep breath when he suddenly heard a loud roar. The boy immediately got off the tree and into the sound of the beast. He took out his hammer, leaped from a bush and mmed his hammer on the ground. It was much gentler than the one at theke, but it was enough for the ground to shake a little. In front of him was a giant ck bear with a skull of another bear as its helmet. The bear was about the size if a van but had twice the width. Its ws were sharp and mettalic that it can pierce through the ground without any problem. The bear turned around after feeling the shock from the attack. It looked at Allen dead in the eyes and started to growl in anger. "Oh, damnit!" Allen grunted after seeing the terrifying beast in front of him. "I love bears. Why do I have to fight one now?" "Here!" the female voice called out from behind the beast. "We will give you millions of dors. Just please save us!" "How much are we talking about?" Allen smirked. He initially didn''t want any money, but after the mention of the money, and his new ideals to be greedy and selfish, a lightbulb lit from inside his head. "Any amount!" the man yelled. "We''re from a wealthy family. Just save our lives!" Allen''s face contorted. He was teasing them to raise the price for their lives. "I don''t know an amount that''s called "any amount". All I know is a million, two million." "Five million dors if you can save us!" the woman yelled. "We can arrange that immediately, just please save us." "Deal," Allen smirked and switched his weapons. "Fervent ive, here we go!" The boy leaped above the beast and shed his weapon. He had already trained himself for the three weapons he had in his arms. The hammer was the easiest to learn since all he need was power. All he had to do was overpower his opponents. The dagger was hard to learn since he had to get close to the opponent to hit them. But it was the lightest and Allen could easily move around with it. Then the ive. The weapon that was the trickiest for him to learn. It was a pole arm weapon meaning it has a long ranged weapon. The de was basically arge knife attached to a wooden pole. Although the pole was wooden, it was covered with red colored runes that was responsible for the me aspect. Among the three, it was the most effective. The burning effect from the weapon was very useful in a fight. It was a damage over time effect and it can stack for up to three times. All Allen needed to do was hit the opponent three times and prolong the fight. About how he holds the ive, it was still a work in progress. The pole was a tough feat for him to master since it needed control. But since the weight of the weapon was perfectly bnced, he was sure that he''ll learn how to master it in no time. "You said six million, right?" Allen smirked as he slowly got closer to the bear. "I said five" "Yes!" the man cut the woman off before she could finish. "Six million, and you must ensure our safety." "Deal." Allen said and shed his sword. Chapter 26: Big Black Bear Chapter 26: Big ck Bear Unlike the hammer, the ive didn''t give Allen a stat boost. While the hammer gave him extra strength, the ive did not. It has a damage over time effect, which looked advantageous for him at the moment. Rare grade beasts, especiallyrger ones were known the exhaust quickly. Though he didn''t have that huge damage boost, he could just prolong the fight until the bear loses stamina. The beast raised its ws and mmed it on the ground to which Allen avoided easily. With its size, it had less speed than him. Though, he had to be careful since the damage of the beast wasn''t a joke. One strike from its ws and a crater marked the ground. Each of the metallic nails of the beast dug deep into the soil, forming holes that made Allen gulp. "This beast is no joke," Allen sighed. He leaped off of the ground and spun in the air. He aimed himself to the direction of the bear while continuously spinning. If he couldnd one single blow, he can snowball this and finish the fight. His de was so close to the beast. Just one more spin and he can hit it. A smirk had formed in his lips, only for it to get wiped out when his ive did not cut the skin of the bear. "What?" Allen gasped. He immediately retracted his pole and backed off. He was sure that he could injure the beast, or at least form a small cut to activate its passive skill. Yet, the skin of this bear was very thick. "You think we haven''t tried that?" the man spoke beside Allen. When the bear was distracted, they found an opening and escape the dead end. Now, the both of them were beside Allen. "Our weapons should''ve prated its skin," the woman spoke. "By the way, my name is Ash and this is my husband, Corry. We were camping near here when this beast appeared. It appears to be a higher level in a Rare grade to resist the C rank - Rare grade weapon Codes we have." "My name is A" Allen stopped himself. He almost forgot that he shouldn''t reveal his name to anyone. Allen Vermillion was dead to the world, and he got the new ID. Then again, since he was so dismissive of Jake, he didn''t bother look at his name in his new ID. He honestly didn''t expect to meet people so soon. He wanted to have a day for himself before he starts his plot. "Introductions will be continuedter," Corry said with a rushed voice. He grabbed Ash''s arm and dragged her to the side. "w iing!" Allen didn''t have to wake up from his thoughts and rolled away from the attack. His passive skill, Instinct Enhancement I was activated. He can trust his body to swerve its way from danger while he thinks on ways to deal with this beast. Its skin was impregnable. It was easy to get close to it since it has low speed, but if they fail to attack, it will be harder to get away. And even if it was a tier higher than the Rare grade weapons of the couple, there should be at least some damage. Even for him that has a B rank - Rare grade weapon, but it didn''t even budge. "Unless" Allen trailed off and ran to a tree. He used his speed to run up the tree and leap over the bear, narrowing his eyes to see the ce he attacked just a moment ago. "Gotcha." When Allennded on the ground, on the other side of the bear, the couple had vanished. He looked around to try and look for them, but their presence had been gone. They have fled, letting him to deal with the beast alone. He doesn''t even know how to im his reward after defeating this beast. He decided to search for them in Camp Tw, since it was the only camp nearby. If the couple doesn''t want any more trouble, they would run back to camp. A roar from the bear made Allen sigh. He raised his ive spun it, gripping the upper shaft with his right hand and holding the middle pole with the other. This way, he could have a much better control of the weapon, but still maintained a good distance from the beast. "You better give me your Code," Allen snickered and dashed straight to the beast. After his inspection by flying over it, he had found out that the skin of this bear was made from metal. It was a shining grey under the thick ck fur, that was why their weapons weren''t effective. When Allen got closer to the bear, he leaned forward in his attack mode and let his body get close to the ground as much as he could. With his instincts, guided by his knowledge, beasts with armor like this bear would always have a soft spot in them. And since the couple attacked parts of it before and had no effect, there was only one area left. With a smirk, Allen spun himself and slid under the beast using his back. His ive was held by his right hand with the de pointing his feet. It felt like slow motion as he got underneath the beast and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. "Die by my hands!" Without knowing why he said that, Allen shed his ive and sessfully ripped the bear''s guts open. He was still gliding underneath the bear with the help of the slippery leaves. Wherever his ive reaches, guts poured like rain. The blood from the beast soiled the forest floor as it roared in pain. The nature of these beasts with hard backs was a very soft stomach. He had noticed this when the bear didn''t stand to reach him when he was on a tree. Instead, it only looked at him. This was why. When he finally passed through the beast, Allen leaped off of the ground and spun, raising his ive against the beast in case it survived the attack. A few secondster and the bear fell. With onest roar, it sumbed to its death and let its insides pour. ''Giant Iron Bear killed. +50 EXP'' ''Giant Iron Bear Code gained.'' [ Iron Armor ] Type: Weapon Grade: Rare Effect/s: Active - For 3 seconds, 15% the damage received will bounce back to the enemy. Has a 30 seconds cooldown. Chapter 27: Ox Guy Chapter 27: Ox Guy Allen couldn''t believe his eyes. What he got was actually an armor that had a damage effect. This kind of effect was umon even for higher grade Codes. With a grin, Allen looked at the metal bear. He pursed his lips and went to its side. He thought of taking the bear''s ws with him, but he wasn''t too sure if the ws were valuable. Remembering the lion from before, Allen ced his hand on the side of the giant beast. "Store." The bear glowed. It lit up entirely before entering Allen''s palm where it directly went into his Inventory. He didn''t know what happens to the leftover parts of the beast, nor did he cared. The only important thing was the raw materials of the beast. Opening his interface, Allen went straight to the Inventory. There, he saw the ws of the bear with the number 20 on the bottom right. This meant that there are 20 ws from the bear. They were long, curvy, thin, and sharp that was made of metal. He could make w weapons out of these. Another new item in his Inventory was the fur, but it didn''t have a number in it. This on the other hand meant that he can only use this item once. Bear fur looked like a damage resistant item. Maybe if he add a cow hide and a thread to fasten it, he could make a decent tank armor from it. While he was inspecting the equipment in his Inventory, he saw small symbols on the upper left corner for thr Rare grade items and Codes. He wanted to ask Jake about it, but he remembered that he was avoiding the man. He didn''t want to sound so dependent on Jake. Allen was afraid that if he relies too much on Jake Summers, thetter will decrease his value as a mercenary in his eyes. The man was an enigma himself and he didn''t look like he was easy to break. While shaking the thoughts away, Allen had walked out of the forest. He finally found the grass ins were Camp Tw was at. Like his previous camp, Camp Donovan, Camp Tw was located in a grass ins. The only difference was this camp had more flowers than the other, and there were more harmless beasts around the metal walls. He took out his ID and read his new name out loud, "Dante Foxx." The name sounds pretentious in itself. Allen had tough lightly after reading it. "What the hell? The name sounded like he was a tallrge man with tattoos all over his body that carries an axe around just to show off. Or a tall buff forest hunter that looks like an ox with a shotgun." "Got a problem with a tall buff forest hunter that looks like an ox with a shotgun?" Allen turned around to where the voice came from and saw a man he just described. Tall, buff, wears a brown nnel shirt and khakis paired with a boots, the buttons of his chest were opened that showed all the hair inside, in his right hand was a shotgun and in the other carried a boar that he swung on his back. It was this man. The man Allen said what Dante Foxx would look like. Every single word of his description. This man was Gary Graving. A Hunter with a Ranger ss and carries a shotgun with him. He just came from the forest from hunting a boar that he nned to eat and sell to a butcher. "Oh, no," Allen shook his head and raise his hands in surrender. "I admire people like that. Because their name suits them." Gary spat on the side of the road, "My name is Gary. It sounds like I''m a pathetic office worker that''s a fairy. Still admire that?" "Gary sounds awesome," Allen grinned awkwardly. "But I believe that we don''t control how we are named but how we live up to" He was shoved to the side by Gary, who was muchrger than he was. The man continued to walk down the brick path and into the Camp Tw where the guards immediately let him in. It seemed like Gary was a famous guy in this camp, famously notorious by how the guard was shaking after seeing the ox-looking man. "What a weird fellow," Allen pursed his lips. He went to the side of the road to find a cow that was valuable. He needed its hide to fortify the bear fur to create a better armor. He wasn''t too sure if a raw material from a Rare grade beast and a Basic grade would mix but he needed to try it at least. Keeping all the thoughts in his mind, Allen started his hunt. It was almost dusk, so the sky was orange and the world was darker. This would mean that cows could barely see, making his hunt easier. He roamed the ins and finally saw a cow. It was red and had a short hair. Its skin looked tough, but since it was still a Rare grade, he could hunt it with ease. Allen dashed around the grass and summoned his dagger. It had a peak passive effect, making it easier for the hunt. "Die!" A swift but deep sh on the cow''s stomach secured the kill. The guts of the cow burst out of its body without giving it a chance to cry in pain. ''Red Grass Cow killed. +10 EXP'' "No Code," Allen pursed his lips, but didn''t bother getting upset over it. What would a cow Code give him? Grass eating skill? He opened his interface while opening the Crafting Table. He still had rolls of thread from the spiders he could use to create the armor. Allen ced the fur, the thread, and the cow hide. He waited for the boxes to glow but it didnt. There wasn''t even a note on the side or anything like that. This only meant that the three items with different grades were ipatible. The boy sighed in disappointment. He scratched the back of his head and remembered the encounter with Gary just a few minutes before. On the man''s back was a dangerous looking boar that Allen was sure that it was a Rare grade. "Time to make friends with an ox guy." Chapter 28: The Butcher Chapter 28: The Butcher Camp Tw looked almost the same from Allen''s previous camp. The tall andrge metal walls protected the camp from the beasts outside while the rows of apartments were attached to it, encircling the entire camp. Garry had mentioned that he will go to a butcher to sell the boar. If Allen could find out what ughter house he will sell it to, he can buy out the hide or trade it with something. He has plenty of stock in his arsenal, so he might make his first actual deal. Speaking of deals, the couple he saved from the bear was nowhere to be seen. Their faces didn''t appear in the streets and when he asked about them, all the other Hunters couldn''t answer. He was quite upset about the couple scamming him, but if it wasn''t for them, he wouldn''t be able to get the bear''s Code. A Rare grade could with such an effect would fetch him even higher prices if he can sell it to the right buyer. But since he was operating underground, he can''t just sell it to just anyone. He needs to have a trustworthy client he can sell the Code to. If not, he can just use it to put under his cloak. While walking around with all the thoughts running in his mind, he saw the familiar ox-looking man. Garry just left a ughter house at the side of the camp where not a lot of people go to. It was the part where most factories were at. There weren''t as muchmercial buildings in this area, therefore there weren''t a lot of people in the streets. Allen hid in an alley and watched Garry walk away. He didn''t have to encounter the man now that he had sold the boar, Allen can just befriend the butcher instead. When he saw Garry walk away, Allen stepped out of the alley. He looked around to see if anyone was there, but the street was totally silent. It was the perfect opportunity for him to get inside the ughter house and take the hide. "What are you doing here?" Allen froze after hearing Garry behind him. He slowly turned around and saw therge man crossing his arms with his right brow raised. "Were you following me?" Allen grinned awkwardly. He regained hisposure and cleared his throat to try and look intimidating, "Yes and no. Was I following you? No. Was I following the boar you were carrying? Easy, yes." "So, you were following me?" Garry started tapping his foot that made Allen almost lose hisposure again. "I stand with my answer," Allen replied and turned. He walked to the counter of the ughter house without minding the man ring behind him. "Okay, fine. I was interested in the boar you were carrying earlier. Was that Rare grade?" Garry snickered before he smirked and nodded, "Indeed. That beast was ferocious. Almost had a hard time catching it. Good thing my aim is spot on and my Swift Iron Boots carries me from one ce to another without worrying about any sound." "You''re surprisingly" Allen trailed off. "Talkative. You did not sound like this earlier. Do you have a secret twin?" It felt like though Garry was a deer caught in headlights. His expression hardened and hisposure was easily destroyed. "What in the hell are you talking about? What do you want with that boar?" "I was trying to see if I can get the boar hide," Allen said. "If I can, that would be wonderful. I''ll pay for it too." "Go talk to the butcher then," Garry said. "It''s theirs now." "That was what I was trying to do before you ruined the moment and scare me," Allen scoffed. With just a few exchange of words, Garry had let his walls down. Therge man who looked like an ox was starting to feel embarrassed around Allen. He was winning this conversation. For the boy who had everyone look down on him, it felt good. "Whatever, kid." With that, Garry fled the scene. Allen could still see the slight flushing of his cheeks after getting embarrassed. "It is true what they say. Rock hard on the outside, soft like marshmallow inside," Allen said to himself before chuckling. "Now, let me get that hide." "It''s not for sale." Allen could feel his world crumble after the butcher spoke the words. His eyes twitched and he tried to reason his way into getting the hide, but it seemed like the butcher would stand by his words. "I''m sorry kid," the butcher, Shawn, said. "Beasts like this would fetch a way higher price after being processed. We can''t just let it go." Allen pursed his lips in disappointment. When Shawn turned and was about to walk away, Allen couldn''t help but blurt out a lie, "I''m that Hunter''s friend. He sold you the boar, didn''t he? I''m his friend." "Oh, yeah?" Shawn crossed his arms. "What''s name then? And if you''re really his friend, what''s his biggest secret?" "Garry," Allen said confidently. "Easy." Shawn deadpanned, "Everyone knows that. Now, go." "Wait!" Allen raised his arms up. "He''s a Ranger that seemed to love his shotgun way too much. His shotgun was err, given to him. Yes! It was given to him by a very important person that I cannot disclose." The butcher''s face immediately softened. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Allen up and down. Currently, he was wearing clothes that Jake lent him. It was a ck button down shirt with a pair of ck pants. There were harnesses on his shirt made with high quality leather, as well as leather shoulder, elbow, and knee pads. His boots were also made with high grade leather with metal soles thay would nk every time he takes a step. "You look rich," Shawn said. "Do you really know Garry? Was that actually his secret?" For a moment, Allen stared at Shawn. He wanted to scoff after realizing that Shawn didn''t actually know Garry''s secret. He was just trying to milk information out of him. "Yes," Allen lied. "That was Garry''s secret. Wait, you didn''t know?" "No," Shawn shook his head. "That was why I was asking you. No one really gets close to Garry. He''s a man with a few words." "He gave me plenty," Allen whispered to himself. "But anyway, will you sell me the hide or not?" Shawn sighed, "Fine. We have a deal. Give me fifty thousand dors, and the hide is yours." Allen frozed after hearing the price, "You''ve got to be kidding me." Chapter 29: Opportunity Chapter 29: Opportunity Fifty thousand dors was no joke. It was a price of his monthly allowance from Jake Summers. With a sigh of disappointment, the boy walked out of the ughter house, leaving Shawn behind. "No, wait!" Shawn called out. "It''s a waste of chance for the information you gave. If you want, you can have the fangs of the boar for free. Take it to the weaponsmith and he''ll craft you a sword. Though, he needed the hide for his craft, he don''t need to spend ridiculous amount of money for it. He has Rare grade weapons, he can hunt beasts and take their materials for free. Besides, spending fifty thousand dors meant hat he still need three more Rare grade materials. It wasn''t worh it. But now that this offer was ced on the table, Allen couldn''t help but smirk. "Really?" Allen turned around to look at Shawn. "Yeah," the man nodded. "I am a curious man, there''s nothing that would satisfy me more than answers to my questions. Come back here in two hours. I should be done by then." With that, Shawn went back to his station, leaving Allen with a wide grin on his face. "It seems like fate favors us today," Allen said to himself and looked at the sun. He closed his eyes and basked in its light when his stomach growled. He was now hungry. Going back to themercial buildings to find food, Allen bought his food and decided to go to his room in Camp Tw. After being in the forest for days on end, a soft bed for his back wouldn''t hurt. Just a couple of minutes of nap, and he can go back to Shawn to take the boar fangs then go venture to the forest to hunt. He still hasn''t found a valuable client, so he''s going back to stock up more materials and Codes. On his way there, his peripheral vision caught three people inside an alley. He looked around and saw that no one was seeing them, and his curiosity got the best of him. A woman kneeling in front of two other women. They were looking down on her as if she was dirt, with one foot stepping on her head. It wouldn''t be a question if they were Hunters or not since only Hunters were allowed to go to the Otherworld. But not all Hunters, like Shawn, would continue to hunt. The two women wore ck tight bodysuits that were made of leather. On each of their waist was a belt filled with pouches. The woman on the right had a ponytail on while the other one had shoulder length hair. It wasn''t a question that these two women were beautiful. Their skin was white and soft, pinkish even. Their outfit looked expensive, but their expressions were a big turn off for Allen. In front of them was another Hunter. However, this woman was far beneath the other two in looks of social ss. That wasn''t a question. She wore a dress that were dirty, almost like rags. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, and her skin weren''t as soft. "Please," the kneeling woman cried. "I would pay you back twice the amount. I just need the money to save my son." "It doesn''t matter if your son is sick or not," the woman with the shoulder length hair yelled. "We''re not letting you have our money." "I will pay you back," the woman cried. "Please. You know what happened to my family, just please let me borrow" She couldn''t finish her words after the woman with a ponytail pped her across her face. This made the kneeling woman stumble back and hit her back on the ground. The power gap between the two and the other woman was huge, if they decided to end her life, they could. After hearing them, Allend didn''t want anything more to do with the woman. She looked like she''s a nobody, so he couldn''t make her into his client. It was brutal for him to just leave her be, but if he would offer his services to just anyone just because he feel pity for them, his ns would all be in ruins. He needed to be picky among who to serve, and who to not serve so he could climb up thedder and eradicate situations like this woman was facing in the long run. The ones on top doesn''t care about the situations of the ones at the bottom. The Otherworlds should''ve been a key to the betterment of all life in Earth, but they all hogged the power to be more powerful. Turning back, Allen''s ears tingled after hearing the words of one of the women. "Give us your family''s Code first. We know you''re hiding the Spider Bow, give it to us!" she yelled. "If not, then your son won''t worry about life anymore." Hearing a Code''s name, Allen''s interest immediately spiked up. He was grinning after hearing the name of the Code, a bow. He wanted that bow and create another alter ego. But as to how he will get it, he doesn''t know yet. "I told you," the kneeling woman cried. "I do not know. My husband was the only person who knows where it is and he had gone missing before I became a Hunter. He couldn''t have possibly gave it to me." "Oh," the woman with ponytails said. "I think this is goodbye then." The two women turned around to leave the crying woman alone. Thetter gripped her hands on their legs and continued to plead, making them mad. "How dare you touch me?" the woman with shoulder length hair growled. She kicked the other woman in the chest, making thetter fall to the ground again. "You dare touch us when you''re now nothing but filth? Pathetic." With that, the two women left the alley, leaving the crying woman alone. She wasying on the ground, eyes staring at the skies as she watched a shadow loom over her face. The woman blinked a couple of times until she saw the masked man standing in front of her. "Do you want to make a deal?" Chapter 30: First Client Chapter 30: First Client Allen was technically working illegally. He''s an underground dealer who wants to prey on people he can make connections on. But he''s not just working on just any person, he has to make sure that he''s dealing with three things. One, people must have the connections that he can use as adder to climb up the society. They doesn''t have to be rich, but as long as they have the right price on their heads, Allen would go for them. Another one would be desperation. He wanted to be a figure who these people could turn to in their most trying times. If he can find desperate cleints, he will surely be a beacon for the poor and unprivileged. The second ingredient would lead to the third ingredient which would be trust. He operates his business of Codes, weapons, and items without paying taxes, therefore there''s always a risk. If he finds clients with desperation, they would then be a faithful customer. They would keep him as a secret along with their transaction. This woman right in front of him has all three. After listening to the two other women who treated her like sh*t, Allen had found his first client. "W-What deal?" the woman asked, slowly lifting herself up. "I don''t have any money with me." Allen was in his first Alter Ego. He wore a wooden masked and the Cloak of Nobody with him. The cloak had a hood attached to it that he used to cover his hair. The mask he was using was from when he was in the forest. It was an oval mask that had an upside down V shape for his mouth and for the bottom of his nose. He carved this mask from wood using his Sunset Dagger. It took him a couple of hours to do it since he had to measure the curve of his face so it would fit in the mask. "But you have a Code," Allen said. "If you can get me that Code, I''ll surely give you money. How much do you need?" "Fifty thousand dors for my son''s operation," she said. "But I cannot give you the Code. It''s my husband''s most prized possession." "So, you have it then," Allen chuckled. "You told the other women that you don''t have it. Why would you lie?" "Their father was responsible for my husband''s bankruptcy and death," she grit her teeth. "If I could just take my revenge on them, I would." Her words were like an energy booster in Allen''s ears. It was like there other voices whispering to him, asking for blood. Allen tried to suppress the voices, but as he continued to feel the woman''s anger, the voices got stronger. "Do you want me to kill them?" Even Allen''s eyes widened after he blurted those words randomly. He immediately recovered hisposure, but didn''t speak any more words after. "I''m not a murderer," she said. "I don''t kill." Allen smirked and leaned closer to the woman, "You''re not a murderer if I''m going to kill them. Your hands are clean and your conscience is going to be clear" "No," the woman immediately shut the conversation down. "I-I only need to borrow money. I don''t want blood to be spilled." "Then I''ll use your Code as a coteral," Allen suggested, making the woman''s ears twitch after hearing it. "I can lend you the money and give you three months to pay it back. You can easily earn money back from hunting." Desperate times calls for desperate measure. "I''ll do it," the woman spoke with confidence. "But I don''t know if I could trust you with such Code. Fifty thousand dors for a Rare grade Code" "There''s no other offer in the market like this," Allen said. "You can''t expect to lend money asrge as that and use a Code for coteral. As much, you can get around ten thousand." Allen was telling the truth. Along with the rise of businesses was the rise of greed in people. Most lendingpanies have shut down, turning themselves intopanies who deals with Codes. Since they control the market, they control the price. Fifty thousand dors and a coteral of as single Rare grade Code would be impossible. Allen studied all of these after stealing some of Jake Summer''s books. Hisst statement made the woman thought deeply. She looked at Allen and her hand, contemting. "How am I sure that I can trust you?" "Because I trust you," Allen said. "Ma''am, I am someone who operates illegally. This would mean that I''m always at risk. If you want, I''ll give you time. We should meet here in two hours. By then, I wish to have an answer." "No," the woman shook her head. "I''ll give you my Code, not as coteral, but I''ll sell it. But I have to make more requests." Allen had already known where this is going. This woman was angry, and she was willing to give all her belongings for revenge. "Tell me your conditions," Allen said. This made the woman smirk and nod. "First, I want the price to be seventy five thousand. I know Rare grade Codes could fetch up more, reaching up to two or three times that price." This took Allen aback. He didn''t expect her to raise the price. Currently, he only has less than fifty thousand dors. He will have to sell three Basic grade Codes to make up for the money. The good thing about his business was that he doesn''t need to just operate underground. He was a normal Hunter on the outside, his alter egos does the illegal businesses. Using his Hunter self, he can sell Codes like any other Hunter would. "And the other one?" Allen quirked his brow up, fully knowing the woman doesn''t see it. "I want you to hurt those two," she said. "The reason for my husband''s ruined name was those b*tches. They used their pretty faces to get what they want." Allen hummed, "So, what do you want me to do then?" "I want you to destroy their faces." Chapter 31: Ruined Chapter 31: Ruined It was nightfall. The streets were filled with light, and the alleys were dark and cold. Allen was in a roof of a building while remembering his conversation with the woman. She was Mary Leonard. Her husband was a sessful business man before his empire fell into ruins just because of a huge misunderstanding. And it involved the two girls that bullied Mary not long ago. Mr. Warren Leonard was a known business Mogul and a Hunter. He was on top of the ranks in Haven, making a name for himself with his ultimate weapon, the Spider Bow It was a rainy night when Mr. Warren Leonard, Mary''s husband, rode his car toe home. He saw two women by the rain, drenched and cold. He offered his driver to give them a ride while he take another car. Then, the disaster happened. The two women, Felicia and Donna, told the media that they were kidnapped by Warren. They also told them that they were seduced and molested by the man in that rainy night. Warren had tried to defend his name, clearing all the misunderstanding, but all evidences pointed against him. Turns out, their father was a senator. Warren did not know, and only a few had known about their existence. With the senator''s power and influence, Warren couldn''t clear his name and his business went to ruins. He was imprisoned, leaving his wife and son with no money. When he couldn''t bear everything that had happened, Warren took his own life, using the weapon he was so proud of. The story made Allen shiver. Albeit he didn''t have as much resources in him, he was able to collect some information about the two. These two used the fame of the case to get discovered by various agencies. Their father was against them being Hunters, but they wanted to be celebrity Hunters. With their selfish desires, they sacrificed a man and his life just to get what they want. Allen despised these types of people. They used their power to destroy others without any valid reason. This was why he wanted to change the world. Exactly because of people like them. While he wanted to kill then once and for all, Mary told him not to. She said that it would be their easy way out of everything if they have instant death. She wanted them to suffer slowly and steadily. Thinking about it, Allen thought he was already viinous, but Mary was much more. It was amazing how anger can anger people so much that they wish for their ultimate destruction. He watched the two women roamed the camp, unting their figure and beauty. These women were model Hunters. They were always hired for magazines and ad campaigns, using their beauty as their most effective weapons. He was following them all throughout the camp, trying to find a perfect opportunity to hunt them down. He had his dagger out, using it since it was his strongest weapon at nighttime. When the girls turned to a corner, the boy didn''t waste any time and chased them. He was still wearing his cloak and his mask to hide his indentity, and was running in the roofs of the buildings while following his target. Allen leaped off the alley and the girls weren''t there anymore. He was about to turn around but a sword was pointed in his neck. "Who are you, and why are you following us?" Felicia, the one with the ponytail, asked. Donna walked out from behind a dumpster and pointed a wand at Elliot, "You think we didn''t notice? You''re underestimating us just because we''re model Hunters, right? You think we''re dumb." Just by the details of their weapon, Elliot had known that these are Rare grade. It was easy to point this thint out considering these two were also rich and can afford such Codes. Their outfit also looked durable and in high quality. It was easy to mistaken them for higher rank Hunters if not for their lousy positioning. Allen spun to the side, getting closer to Felicia and mmed his elbow in her back. The woman gasped in shock after her breath left her body, stumbling forward. "Felicia!" Donna yelled. Her wand glowed with a bright blue color and she shot a small ball made of water. "Water Ball!" Rare grade staff, wands, and other role exclusive weapons have attacks embedded on them aside from their effects. A Common grade has one, Rare grade has two, and so on. After the thought entered Allen''s mind, he had just figured out wha the symbols on the upper left corner was. Those specify the roles the weapons belong to. Each Hunter has a role to y in a fight, and not all weapons are universal. Melee weapons like swords and hammers were exclusive for their own roles and cannot be as effective when used by other roles that uses long ranged attacks like mages and rangers. For him, he could use different weapons effectively. He doesn''t have to fit into one role, because he was all of them. He can fulfill all the roles by himself. Waking up from his trance, he saw Donna shooting the ball to him. Allen spun his danger with his fingers, turning around and shing the ball into two before it could reach him. "W-What?!" Donna gasped. "But the shop told me that this was a very strong weapon for mages. Why isn''t it working?!" And just like that, Allen figured these two out. They were one of those basic people who only has looks in their arsenal. Effectiveness of weapons is highly affected by how efficient a Hunter is. Like Donna who had a very strong weapon, her stats as a Hunter must be trash. That was why her attack was easily blocked by Allen. "I''ll tell my father about this!" Donna yelled. She take a couple of steps backward, shaking as she watched the masked man approach her. "Donna, help me," Felicia cried while she was still crawling on the floor. "Help me, Donna." "You''re on your own!" Donna yelled. "I''m also in danger here, can''t you see?" "Is this how you always act?" Allen asked, trying his best to deepen his voice. "You only think about your own goals, even sacrificing other people just to get it." "I don''t know what you mean," Donna shrieked. "I have never hurt anyone in my entire life. Never!" "Warren Leonard, Choi Tae Sung, Vanness Johannesburg, just some of the people that were involved with you two," Allen said. "And all of them were destroyed by the same method, over and over again." "No!" Donna cried. "I didn''t do it. Felicia did it." Allen ced his hand on Donna''s cheek. He rubbed his thumb on it, "Such a pretty face." The girl kept on shaking. She was looking at the hand on her face, feeling its heat that was radiating with anger. "It''s funny how this face destroyed so many lives," Allen continued. "It would be bad when it gets ruined, yeah?" Donna was shaking her head, her eyes widening after she saw the boy raise the dagger. "Please, stop." Allen smirked as he ced the tip of his dagger to the woman''s other cheek, "The Snake feeds on anger and resentment." "No!" Chapter 32: Reward Deduction Chapter 32: Reward Deduction It was a pleasing sight to see Donna and Felicia''s faces ruined. He dragged the tip of his knife in their cheeks, huge enough to leave ugly scars but not deep that it will kill them. "You monster!" Felicia yelled. She crawled right to the side of her unconscious sister who Allen scarred first. "I''m just returning your favor," Allen said. "You took a lot from people. It''s time the people to give them back." The boy was about to turn around and leave when Felicia spoke, "It''s Mary, isn''t it? She did this." Allen turned back to her and grinned, his mask exposing his white teeth under the bright moonlight. "And if she is? What will you do about it? That woman couldn''t even afford medications for her son, let alone hire a hitman." Felicia was speechless. She opened her mouth to try and say something but close it right back after no words woulde out of it, "Whoever is behind this, I''ll make sure they''ll pay!" Allenughed maniacally, walking away from the alley. "They already did." With a dramatic waving of his cloak, he activated its skill, disappearing in the sight of the woman. His presence was gone, but the echoes of hisugh lingered. He leaped off on the roofs just in time for the cloak''s effects to deactivate. Allen crouched and leaped down to the other alley where he took his disguise off and ced them back in his Inventory. Talking to Mary, nning, and hunting the sisters took him about three hours. He needed to go to Shawn to get the tusks the man promised him. That was a Rare grade tusk, and he wasn''t letting it out of his grasp. "About time!" Shawn scoffed as he watched Allen walk up to him. He sighed and was carrying a small bag of the boar fangs they agreed on selling. "Sorry, I got caught up with something," Allen said. "And thank you, for giving me this." The butcher immediately retracted his hand and narrowed his eyes, "Who says I''m giving them out for free?" This made the boy''s face contort with confusion. "Uh, you did." "Did I?" Shawn scratched the back of his head and finally have the bag to the boy. "Take care of those bad boys. Those tusks can get you a good dagger or even an arrowhead." "Arrowhead," Allen whispered to himself and nodded. "Okay, I''ll make sure to take note of that. Thanks!" With that, the boy left the ughterhouse and went straight to an alley. He opened the bag, looking around to see if there was anyone else there. When no one was, he took out the tusks and examined them. The boar that Gary killed wasn''t regr-sized. It was a Rare grade, meaning it''s twice the size of the animal on Earth. With its body''s size,es the tusks. Its length was almost the same as Allen''s forearm, but a third less thin. Shawn was right when he said this would make a good dagger. But then again, Allen would need five more materials for it. He then pursed his lips and tapped his head. It crossed his mind how ridiculous the Crafting Table would need more materials for a higher grade item. He can''t even select the item he wants to be crafted. There must be a hack for the Crafting Table that he didn''t know. He wanted to try and find it as easily as he could, but he was upied at the moment. He still hasn''t paid Mary and the woman still hasn''t given him the bow. He headed out to a Codes shop where he ns to sell some of his Codes. One Basic grade Code would give him at most of twenty thousand dors. It was that expensive. Though it was much less than a Rare grade, it was still pretty expensive. He walked inside the shop and went to the woman by the counter. She had red hair that was tied neatly to a bun, her neck was adorned with a pearl ne, and she wore a tight suit with a skirt that reached just above her knees. "Excuse me, may I ask where I can sell Codes?" Allen asked. The woman looked at him and pursed her lips, "Sir, I''m sorry. But we have partnered with Hunters to provide us with Codes. I believe I cannot help you with selling them here." "Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth. He asked the woman for more details, to which she willingly told him. It turns out, Hunters cannot just sell Codes in shops. They needed to be a partner of the shop, an exclusive partner. Allen didn''t know this since he hadn''t sold any Code in his group before. "May I ask if I can be your exclusive partner?" Allen asked. "That is if you want to." "I''m sorry," the woman smiled at him like she pitied him. "But we''re full at the moment. We had signed off ten Hunters, but I can refer you to a brand new store my friend has." "Oh, that would be amazing," Allen grinned. The woman, whose name was Pam. She gave him a piece of paper that had the name and address of the store. After that, Allen thanked her and went to find the direction of the shop Pam gave him. He was using the phone Jake gave him, looking at the map when a notification rang inside his head. ''Quest < Run Away > Completed.'' ''Due to the dyedpletion of the quest, the rewards are deducted by 33%.'' Allenpletely forgot about his quest. He went straight to his interface and saw the rewards there. With a grin, he closed his interface and ran in the direction of the store, excitement boiling in his stomach. He turned to a corner and his smile was wiped out instantly. He looked around but didn''t see another opened establishment on the site. A few people were walking around, but the area seemed like it was void of people. The boy looked at the card Pam gave him and his phone, switching a couple of times to confirm that he was at the right ce. "Well, this is not good." Without any choice, Allen walked inside the rundown store in a rundown building. Chapter 33: A New Client Chapter 33: A New Client In all the camps, or any city even in Earth, the rich and the poor will always be separated. There will always be the ce for the rich, like the Wealth Valley, and for the poor. There''s always a Wealth Valley in all camps, and its corresponding area for the poor and unfortunate was called Rundown Street. It wasn''t an official name of the street, but it was the mostmon thing called to the areas where the old buildings are and the poorer Hunters try to start their businesses. In this entire street, only three stores were open. One was a bar where women dressed in overly provocative clothing while waiting for their customers, one was an inn where the building looked like it was about to copse, and the other was a Codes shop. They all looked bad, but the Codes shop in particr was old, like it was as old as time itself. Just by pushing the wooden door, the rusty metal hinges would groan and the bell on top of the door would ring but it had a different noise, as if it was a tone deaf person. "What the hell," Allen whispered to himself. Inside the store was a small room filled with empty stands. There were only wooden cubes in the hall of the store, the part where the weapon Codes should''ve been showcased. There were four bulbs in the ceiling, but only two were functional. One was blinking, while the other waspletely busted. Basically, this store was a huge empty wreck. Thinking he was in a different store, Allen tried to walk out but a woman cleared her throat, making the boy turn around. There, by the light of one of the functional lights by the counter, an olddy was looking straight to his eyes. "U-Uhm, hello?" Allen tried to speak, but heard no response. "I was sent here by Pam to sell my Codes. She said I could sell it here?" The woman''s face changed from a stoic, to a warm gentle expression. "Oh, you must be Dante. Come here." "Dante? Oh, yes. I am Dante," Allen scratched the back of his head after almost forgetting his new identity. "Yes, Dante. That is me." The olddy narrowed her eyes and slolwy pursed her lips. She was examining Allen''s reaction, suspiciously eyeing the boy. "You look oddly familiar." "I do?" Allen tilted his head to the side. "I don''t think I''ve ever met you before. I''m actually new here. I''m from a different camp, but then I transferred here." "Oh," the olddy chuckled. "I must be thinking random stuff. Well, young man. My name is Hilda. What can I do for you today?" "Hi, Hilda. I''m selling my Codes," Allen said. "I have three to offer right here, all Basic grade." "Basic grade," Hilda repeated like it lingered on her mind. "Do you have a Rare grade to offer? I mostly deal with Rare grade and up." Allen was taken aback. He was baffled, and his face looked baffled. He turned around to see the poor state of the store, and then turned back to Hilda to make a point. This store was a catastrophe, yet she''s here demanding for a Rare grade. "Oh," Hilda chuckled, then she started to tear up. "I know. But without a Rare grade, I can never promote my shop. I have lost everything due to my husband''s gambling. Now I only have myself and this store." Allen pursed his lips and did his best to suppress wrong words toe out of his mouth. At the moment, he didn''t want any drama to enter his mind. He was a sensitive person, and people like Mary and Hilda would easily make his resolve crumble. Hilda continued to sob, "Even my son who had already reached Paradise left me after his father spent all our money." Then, as if there was a lightbulb lightning above his head, Allen had an idea. Ascending to the second world was already an incredible feat, only half of the Hunters in Haven could ever ascend. The others would either die trying, or settle down. If someone has a connection to Paradise, it means they are connected to the government. It was aw imposed to protect the Hunters, since they were valuable assets. Reaching Paradise means you multiplied your worth to ten. He smirked and leaned closer to the counter. "I know someone who can help you," Allen whispered. "He''s a mysterious traveler who deals with Codes and items, but you have to keep this a secret." Hilda''s face lit up slightly, "Can this person really help me? But how?" "Let''s start by selling my Codes, and I''ll refer you to him," Allen offered. "But his methods are unorthodox, so you have to be very careful." "What kind of method?" Hilda asked. "And I''m not doing something illegal. My son''s pride would be at stake." "Just buy my Codes and you can make, or not make, a deal with him," Allen said. "I''ll even give you a discount. Three Codes for fourty thousand dors." "T-Three?" Hilda couldn''t believe her ears. "Okay. I can do that. Three for fourty is already a huge bargain. Plus your little friend will help me." Allen shook his head, "He''s not helping you. He''s just doing his job. He will try to use you as much as he can, so use him too." Hisst statement was his cherry on top of the icing. Egging Hilda to use his alter ego''s services as much as she could meant that Allen too can exploit her connections. It was a win-win for him and for her. The momentum for his rise was slowly starting, and he had never been this excited before. "Are you game?" Allen asked, quirking his eyebrow up. Hilda slowly nodded, making the boy smirk. "You can wait for him tomorrow night. He wille here when it gets dark." "Tomorrow night, when it gets dark, okay," Hilda nodded. She was so excited that Allen could feel the adrenaline pump in her veins. This old woman might die if he keeps hyping her up, so he left the shop and went to the bank. After taking the money to fill in the seventy five thousand payment for Mary, Allen went to the alley where they agreed to meet and wore his disguise. After this, he will rest for a moment ande back to Hilda. He now has his second client, and he wishes for this to continue. Not long after he arrived, he heard footstepsing close to him. Allen looked at where it was, and there, he saw Donna and Felicia. "That''s him!" Felicia yelled. "That''s the *sshole who ruined our faces!" Behind them was a man who wore the blue and ck uniform of the Hunter police, an organization sent by the government to regte the Hunters'' behavior in each camp. "Oh, so you''re the bastard, huh?" therge police man said. "Let me teach you a lesson on how to treat women right." Chapter 34: Policeman Chapter 34: Policeman It was a good thing that he was wearing his disguise. The policeman couldn''t possibly know who he was. Tracing his fingerprints would also be impossible since he wasn''t actually registered. The fake ID that Jake gave him didn''t have his actual information. It was just something Jake made in that day. Rich people can do stunts like this and can get away with it. That''s how unfair the world is. "How dare you do that?!" the policeman said. "My name is Jeremy Jackson, and I am thew! And by the power vested in me by our governing body, I am hereby catching you!" In front of him, the chatty police officer was holding his gun. Behind Jeremy were Donna and Felicia, their faces covered with bloodied bandages. Allen could see how good his work was on these girls judging by how thick the bandages were. And it amazed him how they were able to go back to the scene of the crime even at their state. These girls aren''t just normal Hunters. They must''ve leveled up a lot using the EXP they got from the Skill Altar, therefore raising their stats. It was lucky for Allen that they only had the EXPs and not the actual experience. If they did, he wouldn''t stand a chance agaisnt two Level 30s. He was barely half that level, and if there were two of them, it would be impossible. "I-I didn''t do anything, officer," Allen lied from underneath his mask. He lowered his voice and made it huskier, just like the one he used to talk to the girls. "They were the ones that attacked me. It was just self defense that their faces got ruined." Jeremy scoffed, "They had traces of gripping in their wrists and their neck. How can you say such tant lie?" Allen felt like his world had stopped for a moment. Gripping on their wrists and neck. But he didn''t hold them in neither of those areas. He was kneeling right beside their head as they willingly showed their faces. Or was it? His mind suddenly became hazy. There were unrecognized scenes ying in his head. shes of events that he didn''t seem to remember. In those vivid memories, he was straddling the women. He wasughing while scratching their faces with his de. They were screaming for mercy, helplesslyying on the ground while he ruined their faces. "It''s not true," Allen whispered. "I merely made a scratch on their faces. Officer" He wasn''t able to finish when he felt something went past him. He looked to his side and saw Jeremy beside him, the police officer''s gun was pointing in his chest. "Don''t move, and we''ll get over this soon," Jeremy said, earning a scoff from Allen. "As if," Allen smirked pushed the gun away with a swift strike of his hand. He then kicked the officer in his stomach and elbowing his back, making Jeremy m his body against the floor with a loud echoing thud. "How dare you do that to an officer?" Donna yelled. She raised her hand, pointing it at Allen and conjured her weapon. It was a pink harpoon gun and it uses energy from the Hunter to create the harpoons. Judging from the details and theplexity of the weapon, it must be a high tier Rare grade weapon. It can produce harpoons out of nothing, that''s not something an ordinary Rare grade can do. He didn''t stand a chance agaisnt them right now. He lost his surprise attack, therefore he lost his upper hand. Plus it would be risky to fight them even when he could par their strength since Jeremy might wake up any time soon. If that happens, it would be game over. "Not today," Allen said. He looked around and saw that he had no other choice but to go up. With a sigh, he dashed towards the girls, prompting Donna to shoot before he jumped to the side. He leaped on both the walls in the alley alternatively until he reached the roof. He had to make Donna shoot her harpoon so she would have to take a couple of seconds more to reload it. If he didn''t bluffed earlier, he could be shot while he was reaching for the roof. "Stop!" Felicia yelled. She still didn''t bring out her weapon, but waved her hand to try and catch Allen''s attention. "Stop it, you monster!" Before he left, Allen leaned on the alley and watched the girls re at him. With a wave of his hand, he ran away. If there''s anything he learned when hunting, it''s that to always show the beast that you''re scared even when you don''t have the upper hand. They will lower their guards down and that''s when you find the perfect opportunity to strike. That''s what he did to Jeremy earlier. The girls knew that he was strong, but Jeremy didn''t. The police officer let his guards downpletely, earning him the knockout from Allen. Allen entered the alley right next to the one he was at. He stored his cloak and mask in his Inventory before walking out like nothing had happened. He can''t risk getting caught for now. Instead of waiting in the alley, he decided to decipher where will Mary enter the small street. Her spot when she was begging was closer to the street Allen just exited in. If he was right with his guess, this street is the one Mary used to get there. He will just have to meet Mary before she enters the street. Conveniently, there was a coffee shop right across that same alley. Allen positioned himself there, waiting for Mary to pass. It shouldn''t be long before she does. It''s almost time for their meetup. And speaking of the alley, Jeremy and the two girls had fled just a few minutes after he escaped. Allen was thinking that they were still looking for him around the area, trying to find who he was. With a smirk of his lips, he waited for the woman toe. It was time he finishes his business with his first client, and get the Rare grade code she had. Chapter 35: Such Fame Chapter 35: Such Fame Minutes have passed. Minutes turned to an hour, and Mary was still nowhere in sight. Allen started to worry that the woman had bailed out on their deal. He was afraid that his judgement on people was still wrong. It happened two times already, one was the couple and now this. Just when he stood and about to leave, Mary walked past the street. He immediately sat back down and looked at the woman who seemed to be in panic. She looked around, looking suspicious before entering the alley. With a sigh, Allen returned to the alley right next to it. He wore his disguise and leaped to the roof, running to the next alley so he could talk to Mary. "You''rete," Allen said as hended down from the roof. He had to show an aura that wasn''t happy about the tardiness of his client. "I don''t like people that arete." Mary offered her hand, "Take it." "What?" Allen narrowed his eyes. This woman looked even more desperate. It was just a couple of hours since theyst saw each other and her look had changed drastically. And not for the better. "My son is dying," Mary cried. "If I don''t return to Earth in an hour and pay the hospital, the doctor won''t perform the operation on him. Please, just take it." Allen took her hand while Mary opened her interface. She didn''t even looked hesitant as she transferred the Code from her list to Allen''s. This woman was desperate to save her son, and she knew all too well that Allen was the only person who could help her. "Done," Mary announced. She wanted to let go of Allen''s hand, but the boy tightened his grip. That was until he received the notification that he finally let go. ''Code transferred.'' "That was a fairly easy deal," Allen said. "Just think that your husband had saved your son. His most prized possession was the thing that was able to make sure your child get to live another day." "The money?" Mary muttered. "I saw the sisters already. The reason why I''mte was because I was interrogated in the police station. Good thing the hospital called, giving me an alibi to get away." Allen nodded and took out the envelope filled with money from his Inventory. He had to make sure Mary gets to see this so she would look up to him even more. "What kind of Code is that?" Mary asked. "You were able to take something out from thin air." "This is just one of my many powers," Allen said. "Call me The Wandering Trader. And should you seek help or knows anyone desperate enough to ask for my help, go to the forest and leave a note on arge nest by the tree in the clearing. I will be there for you." Thest part was a lie. Allen could never deal with the same person twice. One was enough to create a connection, twice would be dangerous. He was the hero for everyone, and if he takes a second deal with the same person, that person will be dependent on him. They would want his help over and over again. The woman counted the money from the envelope. Allen knew she was just skeptical about the deal. After all, it wasn''t legal. "The amount is right," Mary said with a relieved sigh. Allen could see the rxing of her shoulders as her face softened and her eyes were filled with hope since the first time they met. "I''m afraid I have to go now," Allen spoke. He didn''t want to linger for much longer. "May your son get well, and the heavens bless you with more grace in the future." Mary bowed at a ny degree angle, "Thank you, The Wandering Trader. I will never forget this." "Don''t thank me," Allen said. "Thank fate. For she had brought us together." With that, the boy leaped to the roof where he switched alleys and store his disguise. He could use the skill effect of the cloak, but he never know when to use it. Besides, he have to impress Hilda with its ability. The cloak was his trump card into letting clients into his own quicksand. When they see his abilities, they wouldn''t doubt his power. It would be then that he strike his deal, like a snake going after its prey. The minute he stepped out of the other alley, he was met with an intense gazeing from behind him. When he thought it was Jeremy, Allen spun and conjured his weapon, raising it at the person behind him. "What were you doing in the roof?" He felt his world spin again. The person was only the none other than ox-guy, Gary. He was narrowing his eyes while looking at Allen suspiciously. "You know, there was a bounty hunt for a man," Gary said. He took out his shotgun and pointed it at Allen. The boy gulped as he watched therge gun being pointed at him. His eyes were wide, not able to look away from the weapon. "W-What do you mean?" In his mind, he was already panicking. He was just suppressing his scared aura as much as he could, but he didn''t know if he could hold it for long. Gary knew. He had no excuse after the man literally saw him jumping from the roof where the crime had been. It was the end of the line, and he just barelypleted his first deal. "I should be the one taking the head of that maniac," Gary said, lowering his weapon. "The police said he assaulted the Watson Sisters. After he satisfy himself with their bodies, he scarred their faces while saying they only belonged to him." "That''s not what happened!" Saying that would be a really dumb move to say at this point. Allen had to hold back his words, listening to the lies being spat right in front of him. "So, what does it have to do with me?" Allen said to quickly finish the conversation. "You''re trying to get that culprit, aren''t you?" Gary asked, raising his gun again. "You were trying to get him, but let me tell you something. That maniac''s head is mine. I will get the one hundred thousand bounty." Wow. Allen thought. I didn''t know my first deal would bring me such fame. Chapter 36: The First Leg Chapter 36: The First Leg Gary left, leaving Allen lone with his thoughts. He walked to the side if the road, thinking of two ways to deal with the new problem he was facing. The first would be to get out of the flow, and the other was to ride it. Since Jeremy and the police had already spread the name of his alter ego, he will use that as his weapon. Whay they know is that some random maniac had attacked the sisters, but they didn''t know the reason why. If he was going to spread a talk about what the sisters had done in the past, and why they deserved it, his poprity will only rise. Not only that, many people from the highest ss will seek for his help. The only thing left for him to do as of the moment was start the rumors. He doesn''t know anyone in Camp Tw, therefore he can''t be too sure where to start. Shoving the thoughts away, Allen hid to wear his disguise. It was almost nighttime, and he was betting that Hilda was waiting for him. He told her his alter ego woulde at nightfall, and it was already past that. And old woman in an old poorly managed store. Hilda was left alone in the world. Her husband died after acquiring hundreds of thousands of debts, and his son turned away from them after knowing this. The other Codes shop mocked Hilda''s store. Among the dozens of shops in town, only Hilda''s shop was in the Rundown Street. The other ones were in the brighter side of town, having all partnerships with strong Hunters and having great rtionships with clients. When Pam gave Allen the address of Hilda, she was insulting both Hilda and Allen. She knew the olddy couldn''t provide Allen the money he wanted, and as far as she saw, Allen couldn''t bring good quality Codes. For Pam, this was her biggest mistake. She unknowingly stirred a mixture of two people in the lowest of low, who had a good chemistry together. It was dusk, and Hilda had prepared herself. Her store was dark in the nighttime considering the lights were barely functioning. As she looked at the mess in her store, she clenched the phone in her hand. WANTED Masked Assaulter Height: 182cm, Wears a Wooden Mask and a ck Cloak, Estimated Level: 40 The bell of her door opened, making Hilda look up to see the exact same person on the notification she was reading. She gulped as she let the man walk into the store. "So, you''ve heard about me," Allen spoke with his deep scruffy voice. "Will you report me now?" Hilda took a deep breath and shook her head, "I want to know the reason why you did that to those girls. I know them. They were the same women who invite my husband into gambling. I also know that we''re not their only victims. But why?" Allen was taken aback by the woman''s words. Actually, he had expected for the police to be hiding in her store, waiting for him to enter and attack him right on the spot. But what he was seeing was nothing out of the thoughts running in his head. He tried to look for the truthfulness in Hilda''s eyes, and there he saw that what the woman''s telling him and what she feels were authentic. She had hate in her eyes, mixed with grief and relief. Allen didn''t know, but seeing Hilda like this made him feel warm. He wasn''t a hero that everyone wants. He wasn''t a hero that will do good. He was a person that everyone needs for revenge, help, and live a new and exciting life. For his first job, he had already made two people feel better with themselves. "It was an order from a client," Allen responded. "The sisters also did something bad to her." Hilda''s face softened. She walked out of the counter and touched Allen''s face. "Young child, but do you have tomit such heinous crimes? The poster said you assaulted them." "I merely did something irreversible in their faces," Allen said. "I lived without parents, but I know where to not touch garbage when I see one." Hilda chuckled, "Actually that was the only thing I would like. I never really wanted anything more but to get justice for my misery. Now I have, thanks to you." Allen took a deep sigh and gently removed Hilda''s hands on her cheek. This wasn''t good. He was going to use this woman to get to her son, but she was already done with him. He had to think of another way to lengthen his deal with Hilda. He then looked around. He saw how miserable the state of the store was. The flickering lights, the cheap broken stands, the dirty ss. If he needed to get Hilda''s son toe to her, he must find a way to rekindle their mother/son rtionship. Like a lightbulb lighting up over Allen''s head, the boy got an idea. He snapped his fingers and smirked, looking down to face the stout old woman. "Do you want to stop here?" Allen asked, making Hilda contort her face in confusion. This made Allen smirk. "Your son. Do you not want him back? I know a way to make hime home. Once we''re done, he wille here crying to see his mama." Hilda''s eyes widened. She looked at Allen in the eyes and saw that the boy was serious. "A-Are you sure?" "Yes," Allen said. "But you have to do something for me too." "A-Anything," Hilda stutteringly spoke. "I will do anything just bring my son back home." "When you get a flow of customers, tell them that a The Wandering Trader is your exclusive Hunter," Allen said. "But you have to be very picky on who to tell this information to. Only those who are desperate enough to do anything are the ones who are qualified. The onesfortable with their lives are not." "Where are you going with this, young man?" Hilda asked. "What do you mean customers? I don''t even have any Code to sell." Allen chuckled, offering his hand for the woman to take. "But I do." Chapter 37: Emergency Quest Chapter 37: Emergency Quest Allen decided to scrap his ideas from before off. He wasn''t going to be used one time big time by every client he will meet, no. He will nt his legs from the bottom of the social ss pyramid while he rises on top. He realized this after he saw the potential in his deal with Hilda. He can provide her enough Codes to improve her store while maintaining their deal using her son. This will make the old woman trust him even more, giving him a leverage as to where his extra Codes will go. By having a thirty percent chance to obtain a Code, it won''t take long before Allen''s slots would be filled. It would also be a waste to just throw the Codes away, so Hilda was the key. She was going to be his leftover bin. Allen transferred the initial Codes to Hilda. He gave her the duplicate wasp, frog, and two more Codes he got from the forest. He told her she should open her store back properly, disy her items and rise again. "My husband was the owner of this store," Hilda said. "I''m afraid I don''t know how to manage it." Allen was also unaware about business, but he didn''t show this to Hilda. He had to make sure that the woman thinks that he''s an all knowing man. "The only thing you have to do is sell and list everything. You have to redecorate, study what the other stores are doing so you''ll improve your own," Allen instructed. "I wille back to collect my thirty percent of the ie next week at dusk." "You''re giving me" Hilda trailed off, her lips seemed to be having trouble saying the next words. "Seventy percent? But sir, that''s too much." "Madam," Allen ced both his hands on the woman''s shoulders. "I do not need money. You need it more than me, and when partners are in dire help, the partner helps them with all they can." The woman started to tear up. She was nodding while smiling, unable to believe what was happening to her. "Sir, you''re so kind," Hilda said. "But how will this make my sone home?" "When he sees that you''re already doing well, and that you can manage your life on your own, he wille back," Allen said. "You can trust me on that. No son wants to see his mother suffer, maybe he was just pushed too far that he did that." "My husband used to beat him up," Hilda said. "He said that Kevin was too useless, but he was not. Kevin was the Hunter who provided us with products to sell. He was the leader of our partnered Hunters, but my husband" "You don''t have to say anything more," Allen said. "You can trust my words, he wille." After leaving Hilda to recover her life back, Allen decided to go back to the forest. He will now need more Codes to provide Hilda, and himslef. The boy kept his disguise and hopped into one of the trees. With he help of his map, he wandered around the forest to explore the areas where most Rare grade beasts were seen. He can''t just have a dozen of Basic grade to sell, he needed Rare grades too. While exploring the forest, Allen had felt an eerie feeling. There waa something in this part of the forest that wasn''t just an ordinary beast. He was sure enough that it was a Rare grade. Taking one branch of the trees at a time, he leaped to travel until his foot missed one. It was a good thing that he had a great reaction time. While falling, he flipped midair andnded on one knee. He then looked up and narrowed his eyes. He was sure that he took the right step. Why did he suddenly missed the branch? Oink. Oink. Allen''s eyes widened. "Is that another orc?" The tree he fell out off suddenly shook and tilted right to his direction. It shook a couple of times before it was falling, making Allen roll to the side to dodge the iing tree. "What the hell?!" Allen gasped. One by one, the trees around him shook a couple of times before falling t on the ground. Allen had to leap into the trees, but every time he stepped on one, the tree would fall. This got him realizing that the beast responsible for this was eyeing him. It was already nighttime, so the forest was dark. His eyes weren''t used to such darkness, that was why he was having a hard time dealing with his opponent. With a frustrated sigh, Allen acted like he would go to one of the trees. His eyes narrowed to the ground and saw a shadow move towards the tree he was going tond on. He then flipped and went to another tree instead. The forest was silent for a couple of seconds. It seemed like the beast was trying toprehend what just happened. Not a momentter, however, the tree he was on started to shake. He jumped off of the tree, and went straight to the direction of the source. He brandished his ive and shed it forward, creating a ming trail that lit up in that area. The de of the ive was ignited with a red zing fire. In ces that are dark like this forest, the ive would stand out like a torch, lighting up its surroundings. Oink. Oink. Allen fell back after seeing what the beast that was hunting him was. It was a giant boar, the size of a minivan. Its tusk were huge, and its head was the size of the smaller Allen. Its fur was red and it had dark orange details on its legs, neck, and forehead. Its dark yellow eyes were also glowing in the darkness as it red intensely at the boy. Though, it looked unique, one thing was for sure. This boar was awfully familiar. He gulped as the beast and him stared at each other. It breathed out angrily, shaking its head and preparing tounch its attack. ''Emergency quest.'' Chapter 38: Mother Boar Chapter 38: Mother Boar < Mother Boar > Rewards: 3 Skill Points Defeat the Mother Boar. The task was fairly simple in theory. He only had to defeat the beast in front of him. However, in actuality, it was rather difficult. Firstly, the boar was incredibly tough. It took down multiple trees continuously, and it was able to follow Allen''s movements. He tried to lose it but it only took a couple of seconds before the boar found him again. The next problem was its size. It was twice the size of an average Rare grade boar. A lot of Rare grades were huge, but they were slow. This one was gigantic, but at the same time quick. "It was like" Allen trailed off after a memory shed in his mind. "Ox guy." The reason why this boar was familiar to him was because of Gary himself. The boar he was carrying the other day must''ve been a cub of this Mother Boar. And since a human took her baby, a human would be taken in exchange. It just so happens that the boar made a huge mistake of challenging Allen. Even with his low stats, he wasparable to twice his level. He had seen the description posted on the Camp Tw Hunters'' website. He was estimated to be a high level Hunter. The thought alone made him excited. It was thrilling to be hunted just like this, to be known for something. Oink. Oink. "Thoughtster," Allen said to himself. "I have to deal with this boar first." The boy bent his knees and lowered his ive to the side. He narrowed his eyes at the boar who returned the expression. "Do you want to fight?" Allen smirked. "Then let us fight!" He rushed forward, the boar doing the same. His body started to lean forward as he felt the activation of his passive skill. ''Enhanced Instincts Level 1 activated.'' His chest almost meet the ground. The boar raised its body forward and stood on both its hind feet. It roared before mming its front ws back down before Allen could reach it. This made him back stop from his tracks. The boar roared and leaped forward, prompting Allen to flip his body to the left to avoid the attack. The boar roared once more, making Allen pierce the de of his ive to the side. He then took it out and continued to roll to the side while the boar was following his movements. This beast was incredibly smart. It wasn''t letting Allen to stand back up by following his movements with speed and uracy. It was showing superiority by making Allen run for his life. Meanwhile, the boy was running low on stamina. He was rolling for a couple of times more, until he found an opening and create a ming sh to distract the boar. He flipped off of the ground,nding on both his feet and distanced himself from the boar. He raised his ive at it and smirked. "You big bad b*tch!" He rushed forward once again. Allen was holding his weapon to his eye level while he saw the boar smirk as he approaches. It scratched the ground with its right front leg, breathing out loudly, and shaking its head. Higher tier beasts like the lion and this boar were smart. They know their weaknesses, and their strengths all too well. However, humans are way smarter than them. He gripped his weapon and red at the beast who was smirking at him. The boar was provoking him even more. ''Fervent ive Exclusive Skill unlocked.'' The notification made Allen loosen his grip slightly. He knew that each weapon whether it is a Code or artificial had an exclusive skill in them. What he didn''t know was how to use these skills. He only saw the effects when he inspects the weapon in his interface. < zing sh > Fervent ive Exclusive Skill Cooldown: 120 seconds Deals *170% Damage to the enemy, burning them with 10 damage that decays for 5 seconds. An exclusive skill can only be unlocked using a Bond with the weapon. The Bond is the duration of the time the user had held the weapon, and after a specific duration, the exclusive skill is unlocked. For the Fervent ive, the Bond it needed was sixty hours. After days of training and hours of fighting, Allen had sessfully unlocked it. It was a good thing that he was focused on mastering the ive that he was able to unlock its exclusive skill. Allen leaped off of the ground and into the air. He couldn''t believe he would be doing this, but he was going to use the exclusive skill of the Fervent ive for the very first time. Its damage was already high, and this attack would make his damage even greater. "zing sh!" His body moved on its own. His hands led themselves to raise the ive over his head and swing it forward, firing a ming sh right against the boar. The beast growlef and opened its mouth. Allen didn''t know what it was doing until the boar mmed its teeth together when the attack reached it. "It swallowed my attack?!" Allen gasped, seeing the boar gulp the mes down. It roared, but not like the roars it made before. Now, this beast was roaring in pain. "Of course it couldn''t." Allennded on the ground and narrowed its eyes to the pained boar. He rushed forward and struck his ive right on its skin, making the green blood of the beast ooze out of it. He continued bashing his ive until the beast wasn''t able to move. It fell to the ground with a loud thud, its eyes slowly closing and a puff of smoke came out of its mouth. ''Mother Boar killed. +50 EXP'' ''Mother Boar Code gained.'' ''Quest < Mother Boar >pleted. The rewards are awarded sessfully.'' Allen fell to his knees, panting. He watched the corpse of the beast and ced his hand on its stomach. It was warm. The effect of his attack must still be active, but it was even more effective after the beast ate it. He opened his mouth to store the beast but something in its hooves caught his eyes. Allen immediately ran to the front legs and saw red blood on it. His eyebrows met, and he looked back at the wounds the beast got. Its blood was green, so howe it had red blood sttered all across its legs? Allen then inspected his body. He looked out for any wound that he might have, but he didn''t see anything. He was clean. When he looked to the side, the moon was cleared from the clouds. Allen gazed at the part of the forest where the trees were taken down. He stored the boar in his Inventory and walked to the path. Right by the fallen trees were, a small clearing was created. The light of the moon shone under the tree leaves and Allen saw a person lying on the forest floor. Blood was spilled everywhere and a shotgun was broken in half right beside the person. "Ox guy!" Chapter 39: The Flashbacks Chapter 39: The shbacks When everything got clearer, that Gary''s hunt for the boar had brought him peril, Allen rushed to the fallen man. He kneeled right beside him, checking the pulse in Gary''s neck and waited. His eyes widened when he felt nothing. He touched the man''s arms to confirm something. "He''s still warm," Allen whispered. He then closed his eyes and ced his hand on Gary''s chest, trying to feel the heartbeat better. Lub dub. Lub dub. Lub dub. Allen opened his eyes and not waste a second more. The man''s heartbeat was faint, and if he lingered longer, he won''t make it. He had to bring Gary to an emergency room right that moment. The boy was oblivious as to how to carry around. He was so used to the one being carried after their battles. He smirked when he remembered something from his past. Then, his eyes widened. He touched his head as the unfamiliar scenes of his previous group helping him yed in his mind like a movie. The shes were too strong that he felt his body weaken. "What are these?" Allen asked out loud as he felt tears stream down from his eyes. "They left me all alone. I was the one helping them." "No, they were the ones helping me all along." "You''re wrong! I''m" Before Allen could continue, his head was filled with a single memory. It was a woman offering her hand to him. She wore a white fitting cloak and a small headdress. On her clothes were light gray detailing, and on her chest was a cross. This outfit wasmonly used by the support-healer roles. White clothing enhances their healing capabilities massively, so they has to wear as much as they could. She was also pretty. Her eyes were blue like the ocean and her hair were blonde that was tied to a ponytail behind her head. Her teeth were white, and her skin was pale. As allen watched the woman, he couldn''t stop his heart from beating faster. His lips went agape as the woman winked at him. "Allen, let''s go," she smiled. Behind her were the other members of their group. They were all smiling while looking at Allen who wasying on their ground. The tears from his eyes flowed stronger. He was now sobbing as he reached out his hand to take the woman''s own hand. Just a few seconds from touching, the woman vanished. Allen''s eyes widened after everything went pitch ck and cold, as if he was inside a dark freezer. "Hello?" Allen called out, only to have no response. He walked aimlessly around the darkness, trying to look for an exit. Not a couple of secondster, right in front of him, he saw a light. He could also hear the voice of the beautiful woman he saw just now. "Allen" she trailed off. The boy smiled after hearing his name. He walked towards the light, but his eyebrows met when he felt an eerie feeling. "Allen, run!" The light mmed itself onto Allen. He was now in the middle of a red battlefield. There were mes, blood, and dead bodies. He was sitting on arge clearing. Therge trees that surrounded the clearing were on fire. Blood was everywhere too, drenching the dead bodies whom they once belong to. Allen looked around, gulping when he didn''t know what was going on. He tried to look for anything, but there wasn''t any clue as to what was going on. "It''s here!" a man yelled. "It came back!" Therge burning trees shook. Allen stared at the trees as they parted, making way for a giant lizard that breathes out mes like it was air. "It hasn''t ascended to Paradise yet," a woman cried. "This campaign is hopeless." Right after he said that, five people appeared in front of him, three men, and two women. It was nighttime, but with the white light of the moon and the bright red light from the mes, he could see that these people were the ones from his group. "Let''s go finish this," their leader, Lewis Nixon , said. He opened his palms and conjured hisrge blue sword. It was called the Ocean Diver. A sword capable of splitting small rivers in half. Kyle Morgan kneeled and assumed his position as the archer, "I''ll cover you." "Me too," Irene added, being the long ranged mage. "Let''s go!" Lewismanded. He was the first one to run to therge ming lizard, the other member was following him with an equal speed. Selena didn''t follow them. Instead, she kneeled in front of Allen and let her hands glow. "You''re going to be okay," she said. "What''s going on?!" Allen yelled. He tried to stand, but he felt something in hisp. When he looked down, he saw a headless body. The clothes were simr to the blonde woman before. Taking out a sharp breath, Allen awoke from his nightmare. He was back at the forest, and Gary was groaning beside him. "Oh, right," Allen said, shoving the thoughts away. He kneeled beside Gary and pulled the man to sit up. He then ced both therger man''s arms around his neck before he stood. "Why are you so heavy?!" Allen groaned as he carried Gary on his back. While the man was dying behind him, he leaned down and touched the broken shotgun. "Store." The weapon glowed, sessfully entering his palms, and into his Inventory. It turns out the Inventory feature also store broken items. There must be some reason why it did, like because it was a weapon from the Otherworlds. And one more thing was clear, the shotgun wasn''t a Code. It was an artificial weapon that Gary carries around while hunting. What Allen said to Shawn somehow might be true after all. The ox-looking man carries this weapon around like it was his oxygen tank. If this was a Code, he could''ve stored it in his interface so it would be safer. Shaking the thoughts away, Allen looked around in case a beast was waiting to pounce on him once he lets his guard down. When there was none, Allen continued to carry Gary back to the camp. Chapter 40: The Gun Chapter 40: The Gun It was a good thing that Allen didn''t wander too deep into the forest. This part of the woods was infamous for being a den for Rare grade beasts, and seldom Hunters go here even when it was near the camp. Only groups of at least five were brave enough to enter here. And if they do, they would go even deeper into the forest to find the higher quality beasts and materials. Not long after Allen''s walk andins on how heavy Gary was, he found the path to the camp. "Help me, please!" Allen yelled. A group of three people saw the boy pleading. They went out to help him carry Gary inside the camp and into the hospital. "My hand!" "My leg!" "My eye!" Allen got to the hospital with the help of the trio he met. When he got there, he was met with several cries of injured people. The beds were filled with unlucky Hunters who lost a part of their limbs, while some beds were upied with even unluckier ones lost their entire limbs. Allen gulped. If he wasn''t careful, he could be one of these people. He had hyper regeneration, but he didn''t know exactly well the full extent of the ability. Maybe it was limited to bones or internal organs. He decided to test the skill when he gets back to the forest. "For now," Allen turned to therge man in his back. "You first." He walked to the counter of the hospital and asked for help. The healers who were working there immediately helped him, taking Gary into the ICU. "Excuse me sir," a woman called before Allen could leave. "Are you this person''s brother?" "No, I''m just a Hunter passing by," Allen answered. "I just happen to see him injured, so I brought him here." The woman formed an O with her lips. He then looked around and gestured her finger for Allen toe closer. The boy did as was told, leaning closer to the woman. "Between you and me, this doesn''t happen often," she said, making Allen baffled. When he was about to ask what she meant, the woman continued. "Usually, when Hunters see one having an injury this serious, they just leave them there." "What?" Allen gasped, unexpectedly receiving a p from the woman. "Ouch." "I''m sorry," she squealed. "You scared me. Keep your voice down, please. Let''s talk in my office." Allen nodded and followed the woman around the hospital. It took them a few turns before she stopped in front of a door with a name on it. DR. JACKIE P. LIGHT So this woman is a doctor. Allen thought. Jackie opened her door and let Allen enter first. She then looked around before following the boy, closing the door gently behind her. "Is it this serious?" Allen asked. "I just wanted to do something good, that''s why I helped Gary." "And you said you two weren''t close," Jackie chuckled. "Well, actually, I came to talk to you because I personally know this man. He is a mercenary, and his name is Gary. He is a Meat Hunter." Allen knew what a Meat Hunter was. When a Hunter is a mercenary, they have their own specialty. Allen was what''s called a Code Hunter, a Hunter who dedicates himself to look for Codes. Gary on the other hand specializes on hunting beasts who could provide meat such as with beasts in the wild. These beasts, such as boar, sheep, and deer were considered exotic and had much more vor than the animals on Earth. "But what does this have to do with me?" Allen asked. "I''m not close to him. I only talked to him twice." Jackie sighed, "You see, Gary''s wife and unborn child was killed by an attack two years ago. He was hunting a beast with his wife and their squad. What they didn''t know was that she was pregnant. And I was there with them. "It happened unexpectedly. The report said that the beast was a Rare grade at the lowest tier. We were let our guards down considering Gary was a Level 50 at that time. Low tier Rare grade beasts were nothing to him," Jackie continued. "But then, what we saw" the doctor trailed off and she started to shake. "The beast we saw was nothing like a Rare grade beast. In fact, it was actually a Grand grade. A giant lizard that breathes out me like it was its air. Just the thought of it makes me shudder." Allen''s eyes widened. The memories from before. They shed before his very eyes. Frame by frame, it yed like an endless slideshow. The burning forest, the blood, the beast. The headless woman. "What does this have to do with me?" Allen asked. "I''m new here, so I don''t know why this is rted to me." "That''s the thing," Jackie said. "You''re not from this camp. And that ident also didn''t happen here. It was in your previous camp. I searched for your files because I wasn''t sure that someone from that camp would just bring Gary here." "I don''t really understand anything," Allen said. "Miss, I''m sorry, but could you exin for me what''s my connection with Gary, please?" "The ident brought the poption of the Hunters in that camp by an eighth," Jackie muttered. "Every Hunter in that camp had a connection with one or more of the victims. And all of that happened because" The door mmed open and a healer walked inside, "Doctor Jackie, Gary''s blood pressure is going down." "But I just stabilized him," Jackie gasped. "No time." She turned to Elliot''s direction and tapped on the younger boy''s shoulder. "Please wait for me here. Let''s finish our talk when I stabilize Gary again." Allen could only nod as his response. He didn''t know what or who to respond. He was so lost, and none of the doctor said made sense. It was obvious that she was going in circles, but the reason was unknown. "What did happen to Gary two years ago?" Allen asked himself. He decided to open his Inventory, his eyes widening after he saw the description of the weapon. < me Dragon Shotgun > Type: Weapon Grade: Grand "This weapon is a Code." Chapter 41: Deal with the Couple Chapter 41: Deal with the Couple A Code weapon breaking at half integrity. Allen has never heard of such thing. From his limited knowledge, all he knew was that Code weapons have their own HP, called integrity. If a Code loses all its integrity, it will break, much like what happened to his Foxground Dagger. It had been worn out, therefore its integrity is used up. But this case was different. For every weapon, whether it is artificial or not, there is an integrity indicator at the bottom of the Code. It can be seen when in the Hunter information in the each Hunter''s interface. After registering an artificial weapon in a Skill Altar, the weapon is shown in the Hunter''s profile with the integrity bar. In Allen''s inventory, he can see the weapons'' integrity when he ces them in their slot. It was also a riddle how the Code didn''t get summoned back into Gary''s interface. "What is going on in here?" Allen asked himself. He unfortunately discovered something that was obviously hidden in the public eye. Gary was hiding something, but whatever it might be, he wasn''t a part of it. Taking out the weapon, Allen ced it on the doctor''s table and left the hospital. This wasn''t his problem, why should he be concerned? There''s still a lot of steps Allen should take to reach his goal. He already started his momentum, he cannot detour into something else now. The boy found himself back into the forest. He was at the part where he saw Gary lying lifeless on the ground. Allen looked around and leaned down, trying to look for clues. "Why am I here?" Allen suddenly asked himself, standing straight and contorting his face. "And what was I doing?!" The boy sighed in disappointment. He ended up leaving he hospital to avoid the problem, yet he came back to the crime scene to investigate. "Allen, focus!" he said to himself. "You''re not part of anything. You''re a lone Hunter who''s not aligned to anything except yourself. You will get stronger and you will topple the pathetic triangle of social ss." Allen heard rustling in the wood, making his eyes snap to the direction and his body to automatically conjure his dagger. He bent both his knees and leaned his body forward, trying to look for the source of the sound. "Who''s there?!" Allen yelled. "I can sense you''re around!" He heard more rustling. This time, from both sides. Whatever may be hiding amongst these woods were two or more beasts. And maybe they''re not here to y. Croak. Croak. Allen lowered his guard after hearing a noiseing from a frog. He sighed and shook his head in disappointment, about to keep his weapon back when he heard another noise. Achoo. His body twitched, and he let it move. In a blink of an eye, he was behind a person who was hiding under arge bush. The man immediately raised both his hands in surrender. Allen thought he was familiar. The man turned around to face him, and there he indeed saw a very familiar man. "Corry"?! The boy was pacing in front of the two. He was was ring at the couple while they gulped, waiting for Allen to talk. "Look, kid" "No," Allen cut Ash off. "You left me to die in the hands of that bear. How could you?" "We didn''t have a choice," Corry said. "We would''ve died if we stayed in there. You saw how strong that beast was with your own eyes. If you were in our position, you would''ve left too." "I wouldn''t," Allen said. "Because I''m not a coward. I''m a Hunter." "Regardless," Ash stood and ttened her lips. She took something from her bag and gave it to Allen. It was a card. "This card has our life savings inside. We only have three million in that ount, so I''m sorry if we lied about the reward too." Allen sighed and lowered Ash''s hand, "I don''t need your money." "W-What do you need then?" Ash asked. Elliot smirked and offered his hand, "Three Rare grade Codes, and five Basic grade." The couple looked at each other. They were baffled. Three million dors was so much more in worth than the ones Allen was asking for. If the boy would simply agree to take the card, he could buy much more. "Three million dors is so much more than that," Corry said. "Why would you choose that over the money?" "I don''t need money," Allen shrugged. "I need Codes." Allen was half lying. He was telling the truth when he said that he didn''t need the money, but he lied when he said he needed Codes. He doesn''t need that many Codes. He could hunt in three days and get as much. What he actually wanted was trust and loyalty. Although he was doubtful that he could get these two things from the couple, it didn''t stop him from starting his next move. He was now starting a deal with his third clients. "I don''t understand kids nowadays," Ash chuckled. She ced her hand over Allen''s palm and opened her interface. She did selections in her interface, sending half of the Codes Allen asked for. ''Codes received.'' Allen smirked after hearing the notification. He turned to the left and offered his hand to Corry. The man was reluctant, but his wife was ring at him, making him have no other choice but to obey. He took Allen''s hand and transfered the right amount of Codes. Allen once again received the notification and took his hand back. He opened his interface to see the Codes, and there a wide smile appeared on his lips. < Wide Saber > Type: Weapon Grade: Rare Damage: 20 Effect/s: Active - After dealing a damage equal to the target''s 10% current HP, the damage dealt with the next strike is increased by 30%. < Swift Gloves > Type: Skill Grade: Rare Effect/s: Active - When activated, the user''s attack speed and movement speed is increased by 40% that decays over 10 seconds.. Cooldown: 70 seconds < Rustic Smith > Type: Skill Grade: Rare Effect/s: Active - When used on a weapon, the integrity is recovered by 40%. Cooldown: 40 hours Chapter 42: Metal Stag Chapter 42: Metal Stag All three Codes were good and useful. Allen was satisfied after receiving such Codes instead of the money. "I don''t need the Basic grades anymore," Allen said, offering his hand to give all five Codes back. He was waiting for the couple to give their hands so he could transfer, but no hand came in contact with his. The boy looked up and saw that he was now all alone in the forest. He looked around to find where they are, but they truly vanished. "They must have a vanishing Code with them," Allen said to himself and sighed. He looked at the Codes and find that the Codes he received from the couple were rather odd. < Fertile Gun > Type: Skill Grade: Basic Cooldown: 36 hours Effect: Active - When used, the user can grow a special Otherworld fruit. "Special Otherworld fruit," Allen rubbed his chin as he was deep in thought. He was skeptical on the fruit. It was a special fruit just like the description mentioned, but he couldn''t be too confident in its quality. After all, it was still a Basic grade. Whatever this fruit may bear, maybe it could only boost his stats for a bit or increase his speed. But the cooldown further baffled him. Most Basic grade skills have small cooldowns since they have minimal effect, however this one has a very long one. It was longer than average Rare grade skill. When Allen tried to use the skill, it showed that it was still under cooldown. The couple must''ve used this skill before giving it to Allen, and since Codes have their own independent memories, the new user of a newly used Code couldn''t activate it until the cooldown ends. ''Code in cooldown. 30 hours'' Allen sighed and moved on to the next Code. It was another skill Code, like the previous one. < Feather Boots > Type: Skill Grade: Basic Effect/s: Active - Increases movement speed by 25% for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds This one was rather overpowered for a Basic grade. An increase of twenty-five percent in the movement speed that doesn''t decay was a Rare grade in itself. It doesn''t decay over time too, so this means that the speed is constant for that duration. And the best of it all was the cooldown. A thirty seconds cooldown is a very short cooldown for a skill like this. In a battle, two minutes is already a short time. Allen imagined himself gaining twenty-five movement speed every thirty seconds. He would be invincible along with the other Codes he got. His alter ego, The Wandering Trader, is now a person fully equipped with powerful Codes. The other two Codes were rather on the low end of Allen''s expectations. After getting two powerful Codes, the final three were like the ones he''d normally get. Just a small boost with long cooldowns. The boy sat on the forest floor and decided toy down. He was tired from all the running and thinking. A whole day of it was too much, but at least he got new useful Codes. ''Enhanced Instincts I activated.'' Allen felt his body leap into the air. He fluttered his eyes open, only to see a stag right in front of him. It was a giant stag, about twice the size of the ones on Earth. Its body was packed with muscles that were covered with a light gray fur. There were small and white hexagonal patches on its fur on several ces around its body, its neck, front legs, hind, and on its forehead. Attached to its head was a metal horn that were like three-sided pole metals welded into one another. It looked unnatural, yet it looked amazing. The stag in itself looked like it came from a fairy tale. It was moving majestically as it swerved its metal horn towards Allen. It was running at full speed and Allen couldn''t react right since he was in the air. He was at a great disadvantage and he didn''t know what he would do. The boy relied on his passive skill and conjured his ive right before the metal horns struck him. He crashed his weapon against the horn, putting enough strength so he wouldn''t be blown away by how strong the stag was. After their collision, the boy used one horn of the stag to leap. He mmed his foot on a horn and pushed himself away,nding on a thick branch of a nearby tree. "That was so close," Allen whispered to himself. He watched the stag look at him, staring like it had ill intentions. "What? You attacked me first!" The stag seemed to sigh and grovel one of its hooves at the ground like a horse. With one more sigh, it turned around and ran deep into the forest, leaving Allen deeply confused. "Okay, say what now?" the boy''s face contorted. He looked at the path where the stag exited, trying to see if it returns. After a couple of seconds, when the stag didn''t, Allen leaped to the ground. He ran to the direction where the stag went, trying to look for it. It was walking to the deeper side of the forest, right where the stronger Rare grade beasts were. The stag was strong, so maybe he was one of the strong ones. But what was the reason it attacked Allen when he was literally doing nothing. He was onlyying on the ground, trying to rest his mind when the beast approached and attacked. That in itself was a riddle that''s so hard to answer. What mysteries do that stag contains? And why does Allen seem to be attracted to it? That stag was surely a high-tier Rare grade. Its drops were surely high quality. Something he could use to craft more weapons. Maybe it would drop its hide that Allen could use for his cloak. With that thought in mind, the boy ventured deeper into the forest, looking for more Codes and materials so he could finally be an invincible The Wandering Trader. Chapter 43: Preys are Trembling Chapter 43: Preys are Trembling The sound of the creatures in the forest was soothing at the same time scary. The constant noise from the crickets, the hooting of owls, and the sometimes howling of wolves from afar. Allen was exploring an area that was rarely explored by Hunters. The aura seeping from the ground was indeed eerie. It was really a ce where the strong beasts were. "What''s wrong with this ce?" Allen asked himself. He looked around as he walked deeper into the dark forest. He had been wandering for a long time, but not one single beast had attacked him. He knew they were around just watching him silently. The trees in these parts were tall and their leaves were thick, so it was hard for the moon to pierce through them. It was almost aplete darkness, prompting Allen to use his ive. He paused and looked at his weapon. The red light from the de was bright, lighting up an entire path like a group of torches. Allen scratched his head and decided to hide the weapon to try something, "Store." Almost immediately after the light was gone, several sounds of beasts echoed around him. Allen''s eyes widened after feeling several beasts looming from the darkness. Their piercing eyes were glowing in the darkness, wathing Allen like he was a piece of meat. "No." He whispered. "I am a piece of meat for them!" Four dark figures pounced from nowhere. Allen couldn''t react on time. Their movement were too quick for them to react in the darkness. "Sh*t!" The boy ended up rolling behind him. He felt one of the beasts graze their w on his leg, but the pain was bearable. He can still run. ''Emergency quest.'' < Dark Panther > Rewards: Mask of Nobody III, 3 skill points In the darkness lies for beasts. Find the panther and kill it. A Code will be gained. The quest was tempting. If he can sessfully hunt the panther, he can get the third piece of the mask, skill points, and a Code. He didn''t know how many shards he needed to get toplete the mask. When he finished the previous quests, one small shard of something was stored in his Inventory. When he got the second mask, the fragments fit with each other. From those two pieces, he could think that he still needed about six more pieces. That is, if the mask only covered half of his face like his current wooden mask. For the skill points, he could use more for his stamina. He has Codes to increase his speed, and weapons for great damage at his disposal. What hecked was the ability to sustain himself. He realized this after fighting the ck bear when he first met the couple. When only a few minutes into the fight and his body already felt like giving up, that was when he realized it. Considering all these three, Allen decided to take on the quest. He took a deep sigh and conjured his Sunset Dagger instead of the Fervent ive. He couldn''t risk the bright ive for this. The light ould only scare these beasts away if he chose the ive. The dagger on the other hand only has a thin glowing orange line on the sharp end of the de, so it was safer to weild. "Let''s do this," Allen said, bending his knees and preparing for another round of the beasts. The dark figures leaped into the air, making Allen look up. "One, two, three F*ck! Where''s the other one?!" Allen looked around to see that one of the beasts was running towards him in full speed. He grit his teeth and raised both his hands to block the attack, just in time for the beast''s fang to reach him. When his dagger and he beast''s fangs met, the boy was knocked into the air. His eyes widened when he couldn''t believe the strength of the impact. It only took it one swipe for him to fly back. "What the" Three roars made him look up. Allen gazed at where the sound came from and saw the other three beasts. They were nownding right at the spot where he was going tond. "They nned this?!" Allen gasped. He mmed his body down to the ground to reach it sooner. When he did, before the beasts could attack, he flipped behind him a couple of times to get away. His flips were just at the right moment. The beasts reached he ground right on his first flip, and they reached out for him on his second and third flip. But the boy had already made enough space so they couldn''t get him. "You" Allen red at the beasts. They nned this from the start. That was why they were leaping high into the air, higher than should. The fourth beast would tempt their target to back away, just at the spot where the three wouldnd. This n wasn''t just a work of a basic grade. These beasts just be high tier Rare grade beasts. The boy chuckled and raises his dagger. The four beasts were walking closer to him, and they seemed to be more excited that their prey could fight back. Allen was feeling theplete opposite of that, however. He was running low on his stamina, and he was feeling his movements get sloppier. He was getting slower and he knew the beasts know it too. Allen was at a dangerous position and he was worried he won''tst long. What he needed to do was kill the Dark Panther and leave. The big problem was that he was yet to know where the beast was hiding. The darkness were concealing their colors, and it seemed like the other three had dark coats on them too. "What shall I do?" Allen asked himself. He gripped his dagger, closing his eyes to take a deep breath. "I know what I''ll do." He openes his orbs, revealing a bright crimson color. It was like the eyes of a serpent, but was painted with red. He then felt the beasts tremble in his presence. Allen chuckled and raised his dagger to his eye level. "My, my, my. My preys are trembling." Chapter 44: Nest Chapter 44: Nest His movements were swift and urate. Allen had reached a euphoric feeling after seeing the dark beasts tremble in his presence. Four beasts with red glowing eyes were lowering their stances in his presence. They were lightly whimpering after the boy released his killing intent. His dark aura that was pulsating all throughout his body. All he had to remember was to finish the quest. The beasts were also silent form their fight so far. There were asional growls, but he couldn''t pinpoint what exact creature they were. He raised his dagger and ran towards the beasts with his signature move. His body was close to the ground while his hand was right in front of him, ready to strike. When he got to one of the beasts, he mmed both his feet on the ground and shed his dagger up. The swift movement of the line from the de trailed in the air like an afterimage, making Allen smirk. There was yet a notification to be received. The beast he just killed wasn''t the panther. He looked around to see the three beasts ready to lunge at him. His passive skill kicked in and he easily dodged all the attack that came his way. He was stepping left and right, all attempts of the beasts were being evaded. Allen was proud of himself. His feet no, his entire body felt so light. It was as if his limbs were the weight of feathers but his muscles were lean as a bull. He barely felt his footsteps, but he could feel the sharp air whenever he moves. Never in his life he would have thought he could be like this. From a whimpy boy who could barely run, to someone who was fast and strong. After a couple of minutes of just avoiding the attacks, Allen decided to end it. He secured two critical shes on each of the beasts, one on the head and one on the chest. The glowing of his dagger was seen through the darkness. He was grinning at himself after remembering how beautiful the afterimages of the light were in high speed. He also realized that even when he''s still at Level 14, he was able to keep up with several Rare grade beasts at once. "Maybe it was because of the Snake," Allen thought. He chuckled at himself and looked around. Then, his world stopped. The forest floor that should be littered with blood was clean. The four bodies of the beasts he just in should be lying lifeless on the ground, drenched with their own blood. "What?" Allen asked out loud. He started to hear whispers in his head. They were different voices and all of them were saying incoherent words. The flooding of the voices were making him dizzy. "What''s happening?!" Allen yelled, and the voices stopped. He sighed in relief after he felt safer. That was, until his eyes cleared and he found himself knocked up in the air. Allen shook his head and the memories yed in his head. What happened just now, was just all in his imagination. The beasts didn''t actually tremble, they were attacking him. It was all so surprising and shocking that he was having a hard timeprehending everything. "W-What" Allen trailed off. He saw one of the beasts pounce at him. It mmed both its front paws on Allen''s shoulders, making him crash his back to the ground that made him spat blood. "Blergh!" Three beasts howled as the moonlight pierced through the thick wooden leaves. Its light showered over the forest floor, showing four gray wolves surrounding Allen. He was now wondering why the quest said to kill a panther when all the beasts here were wolves. The thought was baffling him so much that he hadn''t realized that one of the wolves had bit his leg. The boy screamed in pain. The fangs of the beast was digging through his flesh, making him feel an almost unbearable pain. The wolf shook his head as he continued to bite through the boy''s flesh. "Stop!" Allen pleaded. "Please stop! It hurts. It hurts!" Out of nowhere, a giant figure appeared. The creature rushed straight to the wolves while Allen slowly lose consciousness. It was bad. He was passing out due to the loss of blood. While lying on the ground, the boy raised his hand in the air as if he was going to reach the skies. The light of the moon was slowly vanishing as the darkness consumed him little by little. It was his death, he could feel it. All his efforts wasing to an end and he had no other choice but to ept it. "I''m still too far away after all." Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Allen awoke from the soft singing of the birds. He opened his eyes and found himself in a bed of grass that was ced on therge roots of arge tree. Green grass and multicolored flowers were twirled and was formed into a nest. It was ced on the roots of a giant tree right by a hollow part that it looked like it was a shelter. He looked around, eyebrows meeting as he examined the unfamiliar ce. It was a bright area of the forest and there seem to be no sign of any strong creatures. A sign that an areacked Rare grades was the sound of smaller and weaker beasts. When there were birds chirping peacefully, most likely there would be no predator that would hunt them. But how he went from the dark forests with the wolves and into this nest was a huge question. He could swear that he was going to die not long after one of the wolves bit his leg. It was practically chomping it off, one more bite and it woulde off. He decided to thank the person who brought him there. Allen owed his life to that person. "d you''re awake." Allen snapped his head to where the voice came from, right behind him. He looked at the person and his eyes widened after he saw the familiar bulky man. "Bernard?" Chapter 45: Saved Chapter 45: Saved "Why are you here?" Allen asked therger man. Bernard was staring at him right in the eyes, face stoic like stone. "W-What" Allen trailed off and looked around. "Bernard?" The man sighed and shook his head, as if he was disappointed with something. "Why are you in this part of the forest?" "I should be the one asking you that," Allen said. "Why are you in Camp Tw?" "You''re not in Camp Tw," Bernard said. "You''re in another camp, Camp Franco." "That''s impossible," Allen snorted, like Bernard said a hrious joke. "I didn''t wander too far from the forest. I could have not gone to another camp." Bernard showed him his phone, "It seemed like you ran two hundred miles in just a night. That''s pretty expressive. Look at this speed in your GPS." Allen raised his hand as a sign for Bernard to hold, "Why do you have my GPS?" "Jake told me to keep an eye on you," Bernard said. "And there''s something about you that I saw." Allen felt his world froze for a moment. He slowly gulped and waited for Bernard to continue while his body trembled and his eyes were wide in anticipation. "You''re really good atbat," Bernard said, chuckling at the boy. "Why did you look so tense?" For a moment there, Allen had thought that he was caught. He had been switching identities from time to time, and if Bernard was indeed following him, the man should''ve seen him. "How long has it since you were watching over me?" Allen asked. "Oh," Bernard formed an O with his mouth. "When you went out of camp is when it started. Good thing I was also in Camp Tw when it happened. I easily" "You just watched me," Allen whispered, cutting Bernard off from continuing his sentence. "I was almost killed a bunch of times and you just watched me?" "I did," Bernard said, the smile on his face vanished like a bubble in the wind. "But that was until when I know that you can''t handle it. I saw your movements, your attacks, and your techniques. I saw a great potential in you." Allen slowly rxed himself. "What does that mean?" "I''m going to train you," Bernard offered. "And you can''t decline because I know you want it too." As his identity The Wandering Trader, Allen had to have a wide pool of weapons and skills. He had to make sure to master everything like Nelson Drake. From all the roles, to all sorts of weapons, to all sorts of elemental affinities of the weapons. Bernard could help him with one of that. The man had a fighter role, and he was excellent in his role. His footsteps were barely audible like an assassin, and his damage output was high like a fighter. The only downside of this was his defense. Bernard confessed that he had a lower defense for an average fighter in exchange for his overwhelming speed and stamina. His main weapon was arge battle-axe that he holds with a single hand. He said that he had to fortify his speed since his weapon was rather heavy and it would slow him down if he would not invest in speed. Allen understood everything that Bernard was telling him. The man was exining the foundation of a good fighter and Allen was more than willing to listen to every single word. "Okay, here''s a lesson for you," Bernard said. "Since I have high speed, what other attribute could I sacrifice for it apart from defense?" Allen thought for a moment. Bernard was asking him all sorts for questions, and he was learning after Bernard was exining every reason behind the questions. "I think you can sacrifice stamina?" Allen asked, making Bernard purse his lips. "You can lower your damage," Bernard said. "But through this method, you have to have a high damage output weapon, like an axe or a mace." Allen narrowed his eyes. He doesn''t actually need to sacrifice anything. He could finish missions and get skill points to enhance all his stats. What he needed was a lesson on how to effectively maximize the potential of a role. "When you''re usingrger weapons, the damage being dealt is already expected to be high," Bernard said. "So, basically it neutralizez your higher speed but lower stats." Allen nodded as if he was interested. In actuality, he couldn''t wait for Bernard to finish and teach him actual techniques that he could use in a battle. "Another question," Bernard announced. "If the tank protects the support and mage, who does a fighter protects?" Allen paused. He pursed his lips and tried to think of the time he was in a group. His role was unknown, therefore he couldn''t have known who protected whom. His role was to distract beasts or be used as bait. He didn''t have the time to check on everything that had been going on in the foreground since he was too busy maintaining the background. "I don''t know," Allen replied. "Maybe fighters provide backup to the main damage dealer?" "The fighter is the main damage dealer," Bernard chuckled. "He is protected by the ranger, mage, and assassin. You must know at least that fighters are the ones in the lead. They give out themand most of the time. "Although there are groups that the other roles as their leader, fighters calls the shots in most fights. They are at the front, taking damage like a tank and dealing damage like a ranger and assassin," Bernard said. "Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth. "I get it now. So, when will we actually train?" Bernard pursed his lips. He looked at the boy and sighed, "You have a weapon don''t you?" Allen nodded. "Conjure it and let''s start." Allen excitedly opened his mouth, almost conjuring the weapons in his Inventory. Then suddenly, he gulped and stopped. This man doesn''t know that he has an Inventory feature. And if he revealed his other weapons, he can''t use it as The Wandering Trader or else he''ll get caught. Allen froze as he was lost for a moment. What will he do? Chapter 46: Another Deal Chapter 46: Another Deal Allen had no other choice if he was confronted like this. He couldn''t possibly show Bernard his Inventory feature. That would only make him even more suspicious. The sisters had already set their eyes on The Wandering Trader. Every Hunter in the camp, or maybe even the neighboring ones, were looking for him. Bernard wasn''t different from those people. After all, he was still a Hunter. If he knows Allen was the Wandering Trader, he would turn him in. There was ni doubt about that. With a sigh, Allen conjured his hammer. It was the only decent Rare grade Code weapon he had. The others were weaker Codes or artificial weapon. "So, you use this hammer," Bernard hummed. "That''s good. Since we kinda have a simr weapon, I can teach you a lot." "And why is it exactly that you''re helping me?" Allen quirked his brow up, questioning the man. "Did Jake Summers also pay you to do this?" Bernard chuckled and shook his head, "In his eyes, you''re worth tenfold than you think you''re worth." This made Allen scoff, "So, he did. It seems like our millionaire friend here''s willing to just throw money for his guinea pig." "That''s where you''re wrong," Bernard muttered with a serious expression. He tends to turn from one expression to another a lot, like he couldn''t decide for sure what his face would show. "Jake is a man who values his partners. Even I, who just run small errands for him, I feel valued. He gives me everything I need without any question, as long as he knew that I am positive of my every decision," Bernard finished with a sigh. "He''s a man without doubts when he knows you''re capable." "You seem to know him a lot," Allen smirked. "Do you two have a special rtionship? Forbidden romance, perhaps?" "Excuse me, sir, I am a married man," Bernard chuckled, his expression switching again. "And I am expecting a child soon, so what you''re saying is very wild." "I" Allen paused,ughing at Bernard''s reaction. "I was only kidding. I''m sorry." "But you''re not a kid anymore," Bernard sighed. "Anyway, let''s get on with the training. First you have to master the weight of your weapon. Weight can make or break a fight. If your movementsg because your weapon is too heavy, you''re doomed." Allen wanted to say that the hammer only looked heavy, but it barely weighs anything at all. It was only like was holding a stick with a hollow insides. The same goes for the other weapons he had. Even the ive who was long felt like it was only a fraction of the actual size. "Codes doesn''t work like the weapons in Earth," Bernard exined. "If you hold the handle at a disadvantageous angle, it''ll weigh heavier. If you hold it on the right part, you''ll have a better grip and it feels lighter." Allen nodded, changing the position of his grip in the handle three times but it still weighed the same. He was just thinking that it''s the work of the Snake, giving him as much boost as he could. Speaking of the Snake, the quest was still in the list. He thought he had to hunt one of the beasts he encountered the day before, but it turns out that the quest was referring to another beast. But what could it be? Dark Panthers are nocturnal beasts who hunts mostly boars and cows. The fattier the prey was, the more favorable it was for the panther. "Should I use a bait?" Allen asked himself. He felt a metal slowly tapping his head, making him look up to see a Bernard with a deadpan. "What are you thinking back there?" the man asked. "I thought you want to train?" "Sorry," Allen whispered. "I was just thinking about the beasts the other day. I was almost killed. If it wasn''t for you, it would be the end of it." "That''s why you need to train harder, buddy," Bernard ruffled Allen''s hair. "You have to be stronger in order for you to grow. If you''re as strong as me, you can take down as many beasts out there." "Thank you," Allen smiled. "Even when you''re just doing your job, thank you." "May I ask what promted you to run so far?" Bernard asked. "If you could see how fast you were, I almost couldn''t keep up. And your stamina was amazing, even then wolves'' stamin were amazing." "I don''t know what happened," Allen confessed. "Everything just cked out and I was in a trance. I didn''t even realize that the surroundings had changed. Maybe that''s why it was brighter on where I was at when I woke up from the trance." Bernard pursed his lips. "I think youck vitamins and minerals. Come with me. Let''s hunt something so you can eat and learn techniques from me." Allen couldn''t resist the offer. If this man was able to take down the beasts whom made him look like he was a ragdoll, he should see him in action. When Bernard was fighting the wolves, Allen had already cked out. "Also, what is this ce?" Allen asked. "It seems like it came from a fairy tale or some sh*t." "This is my own private garden," Bernard said. "Whenever I am in Haven, I stay here to calm my mind." "Whenever you''re in Haven?" Allen''s ears twitched at the words. "So, you have ascended?" "Yes, just a small while ago," Bernard replied. "Ie here from time to time for a clear mind. This ce is serene and it makes my mind at ease." That exins the overwhelming strength. He was already in Paradise. That was why he could easily handle multiple Rare grades at once. This man was a man of great stength and power. And Allen had already nned a deal with him. Chapter 47: Mutton Stew Chapter 47: Mutton Stew "Mercy!" Allen moaned as he felt a pang of pain in his stomach. The impact made him cough out his own blood this time. When the warhammer was mmed into his own hammer, the force blew him away to a tree, his back crashing on the wood and felt like it broke every single bone in his body. Allen had no choice but to hide. He crawled behind the tree and leaped up to the nearby branches, trying to hide his presence. "Why did I even agree to do this?" He was helplessly being mmed by arge warhammer while he was only carrying his own little hammer. His weapon could notpare to the strength of the warhammer. It was overwhelming him in every aspect. No wonder this man could take care of the wolves by himself. If this was the capabilities of Bernard, those beasts wouldn''t stand a chance even when they form a pack. The man had mentioned that he had ascended, meaning Rare grades were like little toy animals to him and Basic grades were ants. It wasn''t a question how huge the gap was between one world and the other, Allen knew that all too well. "Why are you spacing out?" Bernard appeared in front of Allen. "Didn''t you want a hands on training?" The boy groaned and had no choice but to leap around the forest. He was trying to lose Bernard by jumping from branch to branch, but it felt like it wasn''t working. The man''s speed was still greater than him. He was about to step on one of the branch when a warhammer literally split the tree in half. The boy''s eyes widened, seeing the tree fall into two different directions and Bernard appearing in the middle. "Impossible!" Allen groaned. He spun himself mid-air, trying to reach one part of the tree so he could use it as a stepping stone. His feet sessfullynded on the right part of the tree and he didn''t waste any more time and pushed himself out. He jumped to one of the lower branches of another tree where Bernard was also standing, arms crossing with a smug expression. Allen raised both his hands in a gesture of surrender, "I do, but why are you so serious? My body is saying that it would rather be mauled by the wolves than do this." "You''re exaggerating," Bernard chuckled. "This is standard training for every Hunter. If you can ovee this, you can do anything." "Really?" Allen felt a hope glimmer in the end of the tunnel. He looked at Bernard in the eyes to look for sincerity, and saw it there. "Really," Bernard chuckled. "Consider me as your mentor. I will train you to the best of my abilities so you''d be a better fighter. Then you can solo farm the forests with ease." This help was more than beneficial for Allen''s part. If Bernard could teach him techniques to effectively hunt, his job would be much easier. He could hunt Codes all day, every day. Without any more hesitation, Allen agreed. Bernard grinned after seeing the determined expression on Allen''s face. "But this is not free," Bernard said suddenly. His expression was changing again, making Allen worry. What could this man want from a boy like him? Bernard licked his lips that made Allen gulp. He slowly stepped back on the branch and grinned awkwardly as inappropriate ideas entered his mind one by one. "Why do you look so scared?" Bernard asked that made every single hair in Allen''s body to shiver. The boy was looking away while scratching the back of his head. "Well, whatever it is you''re thinking, I don''t think I can do" "I''m kind of hungry. Can you cook for me?" Bernard suddenly said, making Allen drop his hand and his jaw dropping along with it. "I don''t know how to cook since I was kind of pampered by my parents." "How did you hunt?" Allen scrunched his face. "How did you survive all those days in the forests?" "I simply roast them," Bernard pursed his lips. "I want something like a mushroom soup. Or a mutton stew. Can you do that?" "I''ll have to have ingredients," Allen said. This was true since he was someone that was used to making anything from scrap, or even from nothing. Back in his previous life, he had nothing at all. He barely made money to pay his rent. Food was something he didn''t have the luxury of always having. This made him wise in dealing with food and recipes. He made sure to know how to cook and make use of every single edible ingredient out there. Wild herbs, wild berries, wild mushrooms, anything he couldy his eyes on that was safe to eat, he used. And cooking was his previous daily chore in his group before. They always demanded him to cookplicated food like soups and stews that he had practically mastered cooking Otherworldly cuisine. There was also a point in his life that he considered changing upations because he was cooking so much. "Can you do it or not?" Allen snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Bernard. He nodded his head and looked around to see if he can find anything. "I can, but I need to look for ingredients. I don''t think I''m someone who can magically summon a te of delicious food in the air." "Touche," Bernardughed out loud. He sounded like he enjoyed the joke so much that he started holding his stomach while he continuedughing. "I''ll take you to hunt with me first. I told you I would hunt but I got caught up with training." "Yeah, let''s go hunt," Allen said with a grin. "Let''s got then." It didn''t even take three minutes since they hunted and Bernard had taken down a deer. He was right. For a fighter, he had an incredible speed. It almost felt like he was an assassin. "Are all Hunters in Paradise as impressive as him?" Allen asked himself in his mind. He was watching Bernard raised the deer in the air, grinning like he was a small child showing his parent his A+ report card. "Mutton stew!" Chapter 48: Awake Chapter 48: Awake Pop. Pop. Pop. Allen was turning theddle on the soup while Bernard was hammering down wood. The boy couldn''t exactly call it as "chopping" down, because both ends of the warhammer were t surfaces. Yet, one strike from the hammer and the wood would split into pieces. This would make Allen flinch every time he hears the cracking sound, realizing that Bernard wasn''t giving all his strength when they were fighting. "If he used his entire damage points, what would''ve be of me?" Allen asked himself, shivering at the thought. "Do you need anything more?" Bernard asked while cing the wood he just cut into the bottom of the firepit. "Yes," Allen sighed. "Howe you have all these cooking equipment when you can''t cook?" "I had to at least show my parents that I can survive on my own," Bernard said with a pout. "Even when I have ascended, I''m still under them." "Your parents must be Hunters too," Allen guessed, but received a shaking of the head in return. "They''re just regr humans. But since I''m not old enough, they handle my finances" Bernard stopped for a moment. His eyes widened, looking like he just said something he shouldn''t have. "Aren''t you old enough already?" Allen askes suspiciously. He didn''t want to dwell on Bernard''s state, but his curiosity got the best of him. Bernard sighed in defeat. "My parents have a tradition that adulthood is at thirty. It''s been like that in my family for generations." With the suspicions still lingering in his mind, Allen just nodded. Something about Bernard''s reaction earlier made it clear that this wasn''t the actual reason. Whatever it may be, he will know once he meets this man as The Wandering Trader. The thought of knowing what Bernard was hiding was exciting him slightly. Now he knew what Shawn was feeling. Not a couple of momentster, Allen finished the stew. He called for Bernard to eat and the man took a pair of mittens and carried the cauldron of stew. "Come follow me." Allen didn''t know the reason why they have to change ces. It was still noon and it didn''t showed any sign that it would rain soon. "Where are we going?" Allen asked. "Just somewhere," Bernard responded. They walked silently for a couple more minutes until Allen saw a white stone path. He narrowed his eyes and followed the direction of the stone, raising his head and gasped when he saw a small cottage in the middle of a clearing. Everything looked so magical, straight out of fairy tale. The entire clearing was filled with trimmed grass and flowers, surrounded by an electric fence that was as taller the trees themselves. It will take you about four stepping stones from the electric fence. These first four were stuck to the surrounding trees, from its roots to the leaves up above. "These keep the wild beasts from my garden," Bernard said. He put the cauldron down and gripped a branch. He then twisted the branch that made the gate of the electric fence slide to the side. "Wow," Allen whispered. "This is amazing." "Right?" Bernard chuckled. "I made this for a year. Every single thing here was handcrafted by yours truly." Just when Allen was about to think that Bernard only got this through his money, he was proven wrong. It did look like an amateur made everything since not all parts of this small private paradise was perfect. Compared to him, Bernard was resourceful and he had a mind thag was focused in the future. Just by looking at everything in the clearing, it was obvious that Bernard didn''t have a regr mindset. He was a goal driven person. "Compared to my camp, this is nothing," Allen gasped. "That''s the thing," Bernard said. "I don''t see this as my camp. I treat this as my home, my own ce." Then, the thought hit him. Allen narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "Why did you let me sleep in that nest if you have this cottage?" "I like to impress people," Bernard grinned. "Pretty childish of me, but that''s what I am. It''s how I roll." Allen only chuckled and nodded. They continued walking down the stone path until they arrived at the cottage. It was a long journey from the fence to the wooden cottage. The clearing was huge. "Err, wee, I guess," Bernard said. He opened the door and weed Allen in, the boy gasping after he saw the interiors of the cottage. It looked like it was one of the cottages ripped out from a magazine. Although it wasn''t perfect to every single measurement, it was obvious that Bernard put a lot of effort in this. Everything inside was wooden. The walls were made of logs stacked on top of each other and was tied with thick twines. The colums were made of thicker logs that were connected to the walls with holes that fit every other stacked log. The roof of the cottage was made from lumbers that were attached together. Allen was yet to know how they were connected, but he was guessing it had to do something with the exposed beams that ran from one side of the room to the other. The only stone thing in the cottage was the firece. It was made of stones that seemed to be cemented with y, forming a firece that ran up to the ceiling. "This ce is awesome," Allen grinned. "And it has rooms?" "Of course," Bernard said proudly. "I didn''t use up a year of effort to make this and settle on just a room." Allen grinned. "How about we eat now? I''m getting kind of hungry." "Hey," Bernard narrowed his eyes. "I''m the master here. And I say, we should eat." While Allen was eating with Bernard in thetter''s cottage, a certai Hunter woke up. The nurses were running around him, the man baffled as to why he was in a room filled with white everything. "He''s awake!" the nurse yellee. "Gary is awake!" Chapter 49: Copycat Chapter 49: Copycat "This is not an exclusive skill for my weapon, but I developed this technique through my years of practice," Bernard said. "You have to hold your hammer to the heaviest angle, and swing it around like this." He repositioned his hand on his warhammer''s shaft. He was holding a third to the head of the hammer while the rest of the shaft rested behind his arm. Bernard took one step back with his right foot, then bringing it forward. His body started spinning. He took a couple more steps, still turning around until he mmed his foot on the ground, his hammer mming into the air that made the air itself shake. It created a force that like a storm, making the flowers dance and the fence to rattle ever so slightly. "That was one," Bernard said. "That move has one of the highest damage outputs from my techniques, but it was hard to charge since you''d be in a vulnerable state for a couple of seconds." Allen nodded, "Yeah. I could see how you would lose all your defense when you''re turning." "Exactly. I don''t often use this technique unless I am sure that my opponent is immobile. This is like a finishing blow rather than a normal attack," Bernard said. "Now, let''s move on to the next technique. This one is rather handy." Allen watched Bernard hold the shaft of his hammer into the upper middle part. He said that this was the area that makes his weapon the lightest since it was bncing both ends. "This technique is one I stole from assassins," Bernard chuckled. "They call it sh Step, and it basically what they use to disappear and reappear. Like so." In a blink of an eye, Bernard was gone from where he stood and appeared right in front of Allen. The former was grinning after seeing the surprised expression of the younger man. "sh Steps," Bernard chuckled. He disappeared again and continued doing so until he was far away, disappearing and reappearing in all ces. The man was filled with fiery passion with whatever he does. He puts a lot of effort into his every move and that what made him the Hunter that he is today. Allen could see that clearly too. The way Bernard would train him with his endurance and how he teaches him the techniques, Bernard excelled in it in every aspect. If all the people in Paradise was as good as him, it wouldn''t be a wonder why they could survive such a ce. Rare grade dens in the forests was already hard to survive three days in, imagine all of those beasts and even stronger ones were at your midst. How the lion overwhelmed Allen and even the Rare grade swamp monster before. It was just horrifying if you would be in a world filled with those beasts. "You''re spacing out again," Bernard said, swinging his warhammer. Allen''s eyes widened, but his reflexes were much better. He rolled to the side and used his hammer to stop the momentum by mming it on the ground. "Oh, crap." The boy cursed after he smashed one of the flowers from Bernard''s field. They have decided to train in the garden since it was much more spacious than the forest. Bernard hummed from behind him, making Allen shiver in fear. "You seemed to have made a mistake." Allen turned and grinned, trying to hide the smushed flower, "I-I didn''t do anything. No problem here." "You smashed a flower, didn''t you?" Bernard chuckled. "Don''t worry about that. I decided for us to train here because it''s much more spacious and everything is clearer. By doing so, I have already epted that some of my nts are going to die." Allen didn''t want to make a fuss about this. After all, these are just flowers and they can be easily reced. What made him very guilty was when he saw Bernard talk to some of them like they were actual people. He took care of them slowly, gently trimming all the dead parts. "I think we should train somewhere else," Allen said. "I think if we could" m. Spark. Spark. Their heads snapped to the direction of the sound. The north side of the fence was dented by a beast. The culprit was arge wolf and it was angry. It looked very angry. "W-What is that?" Allen asked. "I know it''s a wolf, but that''s gigantic!" His reaction was eptable. The wolf wasrge indeed. It was the size of a bus, and was almost reaching the top of the fence. "That fence has very high voltage," Bernard said. He took a rock and threw it to the fence, the rock stopping before it could reach the fence and was covered entirely with the blue electric sparks. "Woah," Allen gasped in amazement. If he had tried to touch the fence, he would be charred before his hand could even get to the metal fences. "Howe this beast can survive after that?" "It''s almost at its Ascension," Bernard muttered. "Stay here." "No," Allen said. "I''ll watch you. I want to learn how you deal with the beasts like a fighter." The man hummed. "Okay, then. But you must keep a distance from me or else you''ll be killed in an instant." Allen nodded at this. He knew that this wolf was very dangerous, but he wanted to see Bernard in action. When he was saved by the man when he was attacked by the wolves, he passed out and couldn''t see the action. But this is an opportunity for him to see Bernard fight. The man was teaching him the techniques, but it was very different when he was fighting with an actual opponent. The damage output, the speed, and the will to hunt were too different from just sparring. Everything was so immersed when he watches, even when the man hunted the beast they just had for a meal. Before Allen knew it, a notification had rang. ''Exclusive skill unlocked.'' < Copycat > Chapter 50: Wolf Chapter 50: Wolf < Copycat > Exclusive Skill effect: Active - When a Hunter uses a special move, the user can copy the move by 60% up to 99% (scales with level). Just when he thought that he had everything he needed, the Snake gave him this. The Exclusive Skills were definitely useful for Allen and his future projects. If he can copy skills, it would be hard for them to find out his identity. He can just use multiple techniques whenever he encounters people. That should stir them up just right. "Why do you keep pacing out?" Bernard asked from the front of him. The man was opening the gate by pulling a lever that was disguised as a flower. "You need to be very careful. Keep your distance, and make sure you run when I tell you to." Allen nodded, "Okay". With that, the two ran to the forest and to the direction of the wolf. Bernard watched his fence get dented by the beast, deforming the part where it mmed its body on to. "That beast must be really strong," Allenmented after seeing the damage it dealt. "It could do that to this fence. Bernard, are you sure you can handle this?" The man chuckled and shrugged. "Let''s just see." In the forest was a path filled with destruction. The beast had been in here since the branches of the trees and the bark were damaged, as if a storm came just to wreck havoc. "That beast is the parent of the wolves I hunted," Bernard said. "It''s notmon, but a lot of beasts have bonds with their parents that when they''re killed, the parents step up anotherdder to ascension. "This was called Blood Link, and this had been observed since the beginning of humanity''s exploration to the Otherworlds," Bernard continued. He stopped in front of a tree and traced his fingers on the scratch marks. "The more children is killed, the stronger the Blood Link is." "How many ascensions does a beast gain through a Blood Link?" Allen asked. Bernard looked at him with nothing but seriousness in his eyes, "One per child." The answer sent shivers down to Allen''s spine. The wolves were high tier Rare grades, the parent must be one too. If that beast ascended four times, it will surely reach Grand. "Do you get why I was skeptical into bringing you with me?" Bernard asked. "Even the highest tier Rare grade beast couldn''t touch the fence without exploding. This beast in particr mmed its entire body to the electric fence and lived. Who wouldn''t worry about that?" Allen gulped but slowly nodded in understanding. He knew that they were in a difficult position, but only his level was low. He believed that if Bernard would need help, he can provide that. Bernard narrowed his eyes and looked around," Do you hear that?" The boy looked around but heard nothing. His passive skill did not activate yet, so he was sure that he''s safe. The skill had never failed him before. "Look out!" Bernard yelled and grabbed Allen to the side. Not a second after they dodged, the giant wolf pounced on the area they were at. "That wolf is fast." ''Enhanced Instincts I activated. !Enhanced Instincts I is dyed due to the level of the opponent.'' Allen gulped after hearing the notification. The only skill he was relying on was failing him, and that''s not a good sign. "Go back a bit," Bernard ordered to which Allen obeyed. He didn''t want to get caught up in the fight for now. He will wait for Bernard to ask him for help befor he acts. At the moment, there wasn''t much that he could do. He was inexperienced in battles, and it seemed like his luck had ran out after he saw the beast. "Starling War Axe!" Bernard raised his right hand in the air and a sh of light rained upon him. In a split second time, his hand had gripped on a giant axe with long shaft and two sharp des. The axe was long. It''s shaft measured the height of Bernard, and one de was half the size of its body. Each de was fan-shaped with the small corner attached to the shaft and the wide side were sharpened like they were made for killing stone golems. "I thought that axe was your weapon?" Allen asked, to which Bernard answered with a chuckle. "I have a lot of weapons in my arsenal. Perhaps that''s why I''m an effective fighter. I can fight in many ways." Just by looking at the axe, Allen knew that this was built for damage and taking downrge beasts. Each side of the des were long, about a forearm'' length, and they were sharp. The wolf saw the weapon, but it didn''t even flinch. Instead, it growled even more and slowly stalked in front of them. "Your children were the naughty mutts," Bernard said. "They''re nothing but pathetic scum." It was like there was a glowing brown auraing from Bernard. The aura looked like it was a colored mist that seeped through his skin and hovered over him. "What''s he doing?" Allen asked himself. Bernard heard this and he shrugged at the boy. "Fighters are versatile roles," Bernard said while spinning his axe like a fan. "When a group has no tank, or the tank is unavable, fighters take the damage. You should learn that so you too can be an effective fighter. "I-I" Allen paused and pursed his lips. "I guess so." "Good," Bernard said. He stopped spinning his weapon and he cracked his neck to prepare his body. "Watch me fight this beast and we will have a small quizter on, okay?" The boy nodded while preparing something on Bernard''s back. When thetter rushed to the wolf, Allen had spoken the words and activated his skill. "Copycat." Chapter 51: Crown Breaker Chapter 51: Crown Breaker The axe was sharp, Allen knew that from the start. But when Bernard shed the weapon through a tree and it went past through it, he knew that the axe was powerful too. His skill, Copycat, allows him to copy the exclusive skill of a weapon. Although he didn''t know how to assign the copied skill or how to unlock its Bond, he was still excited to use it. The description didn''t exin how to use the skill thoroughly, so Allen just activated it at the beginning of the fight. And it had been a couple of minutes, but Bernard''s skill was yet to be revealed. The man was just dashing around the wolf, avoiding the beast''s fangs and ws that were aimed to him. It was sure enough to hold a grudge for Bernard since the beast only had its eyes on him. It didn''t even bat an eye in Allen''s direction, even when he was standing close to them. Blood Link must also tell which one killed the offspring of the children. The skill was very dangerous to face. Allen had also connected the Blood Link to Gary''s ident. The skill must''ve activated on the boar. Perhaps it''s also the reason why its name was changed too. Such beasts are registered as Orange Boar in the interface, but Mother Boar was disyed. "Stay back for a bit," Bernard whispered. "This beast isn''t as weak as I thought." Allen nodded in understanding. He ran back to a tree and leaped above it. He just realized how he was hindering Bernard''s movements. The man needed to fight the beast without having to worry about everything else around him. He watched Bernard fight the beast as if he was dancing with it. It was a wonderful sight to see. Bernard was moving so swiftly and gracefully. His every step and sh were calcted and it was hitting the beast on the right spots. Another thing Allen noticed from their fight was how the beast had a very thick skin. The axe was incredibly sharp, yet the wolf remained standing after taking all the blows. The Copycat skill was also still active. In a Hunter''s vision, without opening the interface, there is an small area at the left corner that shows all the current active skills. It was located below the health bar that shows how much HP is left for the Hunter. Currently, it was disying the Copycat skill and the Enhanced Instincts skill. The two were currently active and Allen didn''t know how to stop the former''s activation. Thetter skill was passive, meaning it automatically activates and deactivates. Once his body finds a threat, it will activate and try to eliminate the threat. After the elimination of the threat, it will automatically deactivate. For the Copycat, maybe if his target uses their exclusive skill and his own skill finishes copying, Copycat will automatically deactivate. Of course, this was still Allen''s guess, but if he thinks about it, he could be right. "Crown Breaker!" Allen awoke from his thoughts after hearing Bernard yell. The Copycat skill detected its activation and a bar was shown right in the center of his vision. The bar was slowly getting filled by a light blue line. It came from left and slowly was running to the side. This made Allen anticipate its arrival, his hands clenched at the thought of copying a skill. Bernard leaped from the ground. He opened his palm and shot a strong wave of aura that made the wolf kneel to the ground. The man then raised his axe behind him, yelling while he mmed his axe. The weapon went straight past the giant wolf''s skull. This made Allen''s jaw drop, he couldn''t believe he would witness such disy of power. ''Copyplete. Crown Breaker skill copied, 60%'' "If everyone in Paradise is like this, I don''t know if I can start my business there yet," Allen chuckled at himself. He will start to deal with clients who were more capable than him in every aspect. It didn''t take long for Bernard to finish the wolf off. His axe split the wolf''s skull into two, making it fall to the ground with a loud thud. "It''s safe now," Bernard called. "You cane out here." Allen leaped from the tree and walked beside Bernard. They watched the wolf with its eyes wide open and its tongue to roll out of its mouth into two different directions. "This beast is really annoying," Bernard sighed. "It has ascended to Grand after the death of its children. It wasn''t even in the low tier Grand. It was pretty strong." "I could tell," Allen spoke. He walked close to the wolf, kneeling in front of its face and turned to Bernard. "Can I have its fangs?" Bernard had a confused look for a moment, but he epted it. He let Elliot collect all the teeth of the wolf while he just watched him do it. "That''s a rather odd habit," Bernard chuckled. "Do you collect the beasts'' materials after you hunt them?" "Yeah," Allen nodded. "I like to collect stuff and send it to the weaponsmith. Maybe I can get a good weapon out of it." "Did you get a weapon before? I don''t think I see your weapon," Bernard said, making Allen feel like his world stop. "Didn''t you get some from Jake? Because I could''ve sworn he said he gave you some." What will he say? He couldn''t possibly show Bernard his Inventory feature, it will blow his cover. The image of him being executed in the middle of the camp shed in his mind. Allen shook the thought away and told a more reliable and safe excuse. "I left it at my room," he said. "You know, the one Jake lent me." "Oh," Bernard nodded. "You should show me your collection sometimes. I''m also quite fascinated about artificial weapons." "O-Of course," Allen lied. When Bernard gave him a satisfied nod, the boy felt all thorns in his heart jump out. He could never let Bernard find out who he is. Never. Chapter 52: My Life is Yours Chapter 52: My Life is Yours Allen spent four more days at Bernard''s cottage. He trained non-stop while the man supervised him. Bernard also revealed that Jake sent him extra to train Allen, making Allen worry. Jake had been nothing but generous to him. If timees and their acquaintanceship gets rocky, he''s afraid he''ll have the shorter stick. He needed to even out his deal with Jake fast. Once he shows that he has a higher value than the man thinks, it will save him in the long run. While he was nning on how to increase his value for Jake, he left the cottage and went back to camp. He had copied the Crown Breaker skill and learned techniques from Bernard. That''s already enough for a five days worth of effort. What he ns to do now was to continue spreading the rumors about The Wandering Trader. He still needs clients after all. His small nt, Hilda, was still on its early stages so he can''t make use of her at the moment. Allen reached the camp not a dayter. He was sprinting through the woods since he did ran far from Camp Tw. When he looked at the map, he couldn''t believe his eyes. "ID," the guard said. Allen looked at him in the eyes, his eyebrows meeting in confusion. "Show me your ID." There was something odd about the man. He looked pale and by the looks of it, he was going to pass out soon. "Sir, are you okay?" Allen asked as he took out his ID to show the guard. "I''m fine," the guard said, but his facial expressions contradicted his words. He looked at Allen''s ID. When he was satisfied, he let the boy inside. "What in the hell happened here," Allen whispered to himself. He got inside the camp and saw more people in simr state as the guard. Their skin was pale and their eyes were almost lifeless. Their skin was chaffed and some even looked really dehydrated. Though not everyone looked like this, there was a lot of them who do, and that was enough to make him feel rmed. It wasn''t usually like this. There were some people who looked bruised and some has wounds on their faces, but never like this. It was almost as if there was an epidemic in the camp. The thought of it was scary. Allen walked into the city centre and found less and less people in the zombie state. He was curious as to what could''ve happened, but he barely knew anyone in town. So he went to the ce he thought would provide him information. ''CLOSED FOR INSPECTION'' The sign on the ughter house said. Allen scratched the back of his head. What could''ve happened here that made the ughter house close? He gazed at the other establishments, and they all showed the same sign. All the meat shops were closed. In the market ce where the produce was sold, vegetables and fresh products were also banned. A man was passing by, and Allen took the chance to ask him, "Sir, what happened here? Why are these shops closed?" "Alleged food poisoning," the man replied. He wasn''t one of the pale ones, but he looked like he could be. His features were neglected. It looked like he hasn''t showered in days and the stub on his chin was getting wild. "Food poisoning? On the fresh goods?" Allen asked. The man sighed. "Remember when the girls were assaulted about a week ago? The suspect thought it would be nice to poison everyone in the camp so they''d stop the hunt." It was like Allen''s world froze. Someone was using his name as The Wandering Trader and they were trying to frame him. It must be the work of the twins, Allen just knew it. "Okay, sir. Thank you." Allen left the man and went straight to the area of his apartment. He needed time to think. How will he bounce back if he''s threatened like this? He needed his reputation to serve justice and equality for all. With this incident, it was like he was the viin and he can''t have that. He can''t ascend if he can''t move. Allen was about to step inside his room when his name was called. He looked to the direction of the voice and Gary was running up to him. "Hey." He couldn''t move. Just a couple of days ago, Gary was angry at The Wandering Trader. His killing intent could be felt meters away from where he was. Does he know who I am? Allen thought. He had to shake the thoughts away, seeing the man get closer and closer. If things go downhill, he can always escape using his cloak. Then he''ll live in the forest, hiding until he''s strong enough. "Where will you go?" his voice rang in his head. Allen''s eyes widened and he gulped, nervous. "You don''t have a ce you belong to. But you can always make one. Get stronger and rule the world yourself. That''s the easiest way out." It was like he was in a trance. Allen was silent as he let the voice speak, telling him tomit things he didn''t want to do. "In this world, the weak has no ce," the voice whispered. It continued to utter words that one by one started to make sense. He just served justice. The twins did things that are inhumane. It was just normal to punish them for their crimes, so why is he in this situation now? He didn''t do anything wrong. Instead, he did the right thing. "Kill" "You like to space out, huh?" Gary said and waved his hand in front of Allen. "I''m sorry, but I have to talk to you." The boy was silent for a moment. He didn''t know how to respond. "A-About what?" This was it. Gary is going to confront him about his identity. He didn''t want to do it, but he had prepared his hands to summon his cloak and ive. "About what happened in the forest," Gary said, making Allen drop his hands in releaf. He sighed deeply, making Gary''s eyebrows meet. "Is there something wrong?" Allen shook his head, "Of course not. But what about it? I only took you to the hospital" Gary suddenly kneeled on one knee and lowered his head. He took out his shotgun and held it with both hands as if he was offering it to Allen. "My life is yours now. Sir, please use me at your disposal." "What?!" Allen gasped. Chapter 53: Skill Assignment Chapter 53: Skill Assignment Allen couldn''t believe it. What was Gary mean by this? He did save his life, but this seemed too much. "I have wandered this life aimlessly, waiting for another purpose for living," Gary said. "And just when I tried to gave up, you held out your hand for me." "Err" Allen was speechless. He did wanted to befriend Gary since the man was quite interesting, but not like this. On the other hand, he needed Gary''s experience. The man had years and years of experience of being a Meat Hunter, and that skill could be useful for him. "I mean," Allen sighed. "You''re free to do whatever you want." "I am?" Gary asked, to which Allen answered with a nod. "Okay, then. I choose to repay my debt and be your guard." "No, that''s not" Allen pauses and sighed again. "You''re not bound to me. You are free, but if I ever need help. I''lle to you, okay?" Gary nodded, "Yes, sir." "That''s good," Allen said. There was a moment of silence right after that. The two of them only looked at each other, not saying anything at all. When Allen had enough, he cleared his throat and opened the door to his room. "Just give me your phone number next time. I''ll give you a call once I need help." With that, Allen entered his room. His shoulders rxed after hearing Gary''s footsteps leave his front door. Among all the people he knew, Gary was the least person he''d thought would do something like that. The man looked like a typical trophy hunter Earth. A man who has nothing better to do but ride horses while chase antelopes and deer. For their first encounter, the man didn''t really looked fond of him. Gary was cold as ice, yet now he wants to serve him. "That''s so weird," Allen chuckled to himself. He entered the room and flopped himself in the sofa. It wasn''t long since he felt something asfortable as this since Bernard''s cottage was filled with furniture. From the inside, it didn''t look like it was a cottage in the middle of nowhere inside a different world. For some reason, it feltfy and homey. It was clear why the man can spend days there. It wasn''t as bad as anyone would think. And speaking of Bernard, Allen checked his interface for the skill he got from him. It was called Crown Breaker and it had a dash attack. < Crown Breaker > Exclusive Skill (unassigned) Effect/s: The user will leap into the air with their de. One dash up right above the target''s head and one swift sh down, shing through the target. This effect deals 20 + 2*1 per 10 Damage units of the user. Cooldown: 10 mins This skill was overpowered. It deals massive damage to the target. No wonder Bernard could cut the wolf''s head wide open. This attack was enough to do that. And to think that this was only at sixty percent. There''s so much to this skill than meets the eye. If Allen would have fifty Damage units, the skill would add 10 Damage after the 20 initial one. Overall, it will give him 80 damage, enough to critically hit a Basic grade. Of course, there''s also other factors involved such as elements, and levels, even Shield. But if he could assign this skill to a good weapon, he can have the upper hand in any battle here in Haven. After reading and admiring the description, he was now thinking how he could assign the skill. Skills are innate to a weapon. When they reach the required Bond, they will unlock itself. Since this skill was copied, Allen didn''t know how to use it. He couldn''t also just ask anyone. There were only twelve other people who has this level of power, and he wasn''t even sure if the othe Primordial Beasts give this kind of skills. Maybe they have other effects on them, and Allen wasn''t curious. He had his own problems to deal with. ''New quest avable.'' Allen looked at the screen. He still haven''t finished the Dark Panther quest, and he barely finishes the Daily Quests. Now, another one has showed up. [ Skill Assignment ] Rewards: 3 Skill Points, 50 EXP Assign a copied skill from Copycat to any of your weapons. The quest was easy enough. In fact, it even reminded him of the copied skill he had. He couldn''t believe he almost forgot about it. The boy went to his interface to check the skill. He tapped on it, and nothing happened. He tried long pressing it, and a message popped up. SKILL UNASSIGNED ''Assign skill?'' < Yes > < No> Without any more hesitation, Allen tapped the Yes. He was going to choose the ive for this skill so that the ive can have more powers. It will now have two skills that it was like a Grand grade weapon. For the hammer and the dagger, he will find a way that he can unlock the Bonds for them so he can use them efficiently too. But for now, he has to have a signature weapon so he could have the upper hand in the future battles he''ll encounter. After pressing Yes, a window popped up in his interface. This time, it was a window that''s filled with the list of his Rare grade weapons. < Stone Hammer > < Sunset Dagger > < Fervent ive > The boy pressed thest selection and one more notification popped up. ''Assign skill < Crown Breaker > to weapon < Fervent ive >? < Yes > < No > Allen tapped the Yes and the window glowed. All other windows closed, leaving the ive and the logo of the skill, which was a broken skull, hovering in the middle of his vision. It looked like the two interacted, starting to spin together and got closer and closer. When the edges of their circr borders met, both of them glowed. The glow died down, leaving the ive in the middle of his vision. ''Congrattions! Skill assignment done.'' ''Quest < Skill Assignment >pleted.'' Chapter 54: Benefits from Gossip Chapter 54: Benefits from Gossip [ Name: Allen Vermillion, Level 17: (210/1,700). ] [ Stats ] Health: 100/100 Strength: 8 Agility: 9 Endurance: 9 Damage: 12 Defense: 8 Just by raising a couple of units, Alled had improved himself by a lot. The state of his body was more than what it used to be by tenfold. He was thinking of investing more skill points in the Skill Altar. When he was at Camp Donovan, he couldn''t sell a lot of Codes in exchange for skill points. But now that he has so many, he can use as many of them at his disposal. One Basic grade Code is equal to one skill point, one Rare grade Code is equal to three skill points, A Grand grade Code is nine, and the the seeding grades will be multiplied to three by the preceding grade. He has the damage, he has the speed, and endurance. What hecked was the defense. Perhaps he was too careless considering his body can hyper regenerate, but it doesn''t mean he could only rely on it. At the moment, he currently have six extra Basic grade Codes. When he started hunting, it was euphoric for him when he got all the Codes easily. But as time goes by, he got bored of them. He wanted more powerful, higher quality Codes. Because in hunting, the quality will always surpass quantity. It was the next day, when the boy walked out of his room, looking around to see if Gary was outside. When he wasn''t, Allen went to the Skill Altar. The line was long, and the day was hot. It was only morning yet there were about fifteen people waiting in line. Since he had nothing better to do, might as well wait. "Have you heard about the guy who assaulted at b*tch Felicia?" He couldn''t stop himself from eavesdropping the people in front of him. They were like the pair in line that waits side by side instead of front and back like normal people. They''re usually couples or stubborn duos of friends that will take the most time in line. The one on the left, the one who just spoke, had a mullet on. His clothes were denim like he was in the neen fifties or something. He has one of those pants that has like an upside down umbre at the bottom that felt oddly ufortable in battle. The other was more emo. His hair reached up to his shoulders, straight as hell. He was wearing a lot of ck and piercings all throughout his body. With his ck coat, his ck thorned jeans, and boots, he might as well be a rockstar in the neen eighties. "Malcolm, your voice is too loud," the emo guy said. Malcolm turned around and saw Allen looking at them. Thetter was much taller than the other two, but these two were quite intimidating that Allen, even with his height, could only look away. "There''s no one here listening, Graham," Malcolm said, narrowing his eyes while ring at Allen. "But listen, that b*tch deserved that. She was h*eing around the camp for months. When she finds someone her type, she would force him or her, to be in bed with her." "She''s into girls too?" Graham, the emo one, asked. His eyes looked like they lit up in excitement after hearing this. "But didn''t she sleep around a lot? That''s too disgusting. I mean, I don''t mind if my girl has more body count than me but she sleeps with married men too." "Not just married men," Malcolm said. "Rich business married men. Old, young, almost dying. She don''t choose as long as she can get money from them." Allen couldn''t help but snicker a this. Those girls really deserves what he did to them. They were having too much fun that they were stepping on other people just to get what they want. Though at the first nce, Allen looked like he was doing the same. He was using other people for his own gain. But it was a lot different when you read between the lines. He use people but helps them at the same time. What he was doing was business, so his client and him could rise together. Be it financially, emotionally, or with Codes. What he was doing was business, not just for personal goals. It was almost his turn when the men in front of him continued their talk. They had been going around among which men Felicia and her twin had slept with, and Allen could barely take how many they are. From what he could count, it was more than fifty. Their topic had finallynded on the culprit behind the incident. This was the part Allen was waiting for since the beginning of their conversation. He was waiting to hear their opinion on his alter ego and how much he can improve his poprity. "I heard the man that assaulted those b*tches was a masked man and he escaped from Jeremy," Malcolm said. "This is the Jeremy Mr. Hot and Popr Cop himself. He escaped from that dude." "This person must be strong," Graham muttered. "If he can escape from Jeremy, then he must be at least Level 55. That''s almost enough for himt to ascend to Paradise." To be honest, Allen got lucky when Jeremy was about to catch him. He had the Enhanced Instincts, and he had the upper hand in that scenario. If it was any other way, it was impossible to escape to a cop. The minimum level requirement for police officers were fourty-five, and all their stats should not be lower than thirty. Allen wasn''t even half of that. If he would make even one slight mistake when Jeremy encountered him, he would be done for. "I know, right? It''s so sick," Malcolm said excitedly. "Maybe we can have more justice with this guy. There''s been a lot of crimestely. There''s an underground ve market that sells people, there''s the illegal prostitution with kidnapped victims, and then there''s the butchers." Allen was d that he decided toe to the Skill Altar that day. If not, he wouldn''t have heard of all these rumors. Although he knew that there were a lot going on underground, he wasn''t too sure on what it was or where it is. But the two in front of him were talking about everything regarding these. This was like a oil reserve that he could use as fuel tounch his poprity. Soon, the world will know the name The Wandering Trader. Chapter 55: Kidnapped Woman Chapter 55: Kidnapped Woman It didn''t take long for the rumors to spread like wildfire. Allen had barely have to do with everything that''s going on. All he did was said something to Jack somewhere between the lines of, "I heard that if you go to a random alley and whisper "The Wandering Trader", and your heart wants something really bad, he wille." It took one small word from him to the old man and all the alleys of the camp was filled with hopefuls. It seemed like the rumors got twisted so many times that a lot of these people were kneeling, praying like The Wandering Trader was some sort of a god. To Allen, this was amusing. But to the police, this was a major problem. They have several Hunters praying to an unknown god who was used of assaulting two women. It wasn''t a very good god if you asked anyone. But to the desperate, any god is good as long as they could provide them with what they want. Allen didn''t exactly know how he would do this. He meant to tell Jack that as a joke and a test to see if it works, and now that it was happening, he doesn''t know what to do. It was also bad for him to just wander around the alleys while waiting for a potential client since he might get a suspicion from the police. If there''s anything he doesn''t want at the moment was jail time. He was strolling around town that day, just waiting for anything when he remembered his quest. The Dark Panther quest was still in his interface. It did not disappear even after almost a week of being in there. He wanted to go to the forest and see what it meant but he thought that it would be a hassle. It barely gave him any clue as to which darkness the quest was referring to. If it meant the dark forest, then it was toote. Bernard already killed the wolves that were chasing him. The quest should be invalid if this happens, but it was still lighting up, meaning it was still avable. "In the darkness lies a beast," Allen whispered to himself, trying to break the riddle of a sentence. "Darkness. Darkness." "Help!" His head immediately snapped to the direction of the sound. He was in the middle of the street when he heard the girl scream. "Please, help!" she screamed again. The boy didn''t waste any more time and headed to the alley where he heard the noise. There, he saw tworge men dragging a woman with them. The woman looked hepless. Her arms were being gripped by therge and muscled hands of the men. She was dragging her heels on the floor, trying to stop them or at least slow them down but anyone could see that it was pointless. The men were just too strong. Allen didn''t even want to do something heroic using his own identity as Dante. He wanted to disguise himself, but it seemed like there was no time left. He had to act. The boy brandished his hammer and ran to the men. Bothrge suspects saw him approaching, making them smirk smugly. Compared to them, Allen looked rather thin. Or course, he wasn''t just skin and bones, he had muscled with him. But standing side by side with these two made him look as though he was a stick. "What are you going to do, young man?" the guy on the right chuckled. He had a dark skin and ck hair that was tied to his back. The other one had lighter skin and his blonde hair was made into a buzz cut. The buzz cut man threw the woman''s arm off and ran straight to Allen. He was lowering his head like he was going to brace the boy with it. Allen wanted to slow down, not wanting to hurt the man, but a thorned helmet suddenly appeared on his head. It was arge iron helmet that had a big thorn on the tip. From the looks of it, it seemed like the equipment can withstand an impact. But Allen wasn''t too sure if his hammer can. The boy didn''t have any other choice but to slid down. He bent his knees so that they would reach the ground. He then leaned back swinging his hammer from the bottom of the ground and up. The man saw this but it was toote. He was already approaching Allen at full speed and vice versa. Even if he stopped, Allen was already on the ground. Whoosh. "Hiya!" Allen yelled, swinging his hammer up. His metal hammer hir the man in the face, exactly where the opening of the helmet was. "rgh!" the man groaned, feeling the pain travel all throughout his body. Allen wasn''t done yet though. He extended his right leg and spun, swerving the man''s legs and making him stumble to the ground. He fell with a loud thud, his metal helmet nking after hitting the ground. "Felix!" the other man yelled. He pushed the woman off of him and grit his teeth. He was clenching his fists as he watched his fallenrade while Allen was walking up to him. "I have defeated him," Allen said. "Surrender now, or else you''ll suffer the same fate." The man chuckled. "As if." He grabbed something in his jean''s pocket and mmed it on the floor. It was only a small orb but when it hit the ground, it exploded into a bright colored smoke. "Hey!" Allen yelled, running after the man. When he arrived at the spot where the man was, he was gone. "Damn it!" Allen turned around to see the woman still sitting on the ground. She was panting while fanning herself with her hands. "I-I feel tired." "Ma''am, please don''t fall asleep," Allen said. He leaned right front of the woman andid her head in his thigh. It didn''t take long for the smoke to clear up but both men were already gone, much to Allen''s dismay. He missed the chance to interrogate those men and ask for their intentions. Who was this woman and why were they trying to take her away? Chapter 56: Stalls Chapter 56: Stalls Poprity is essential. Allen had carved those words in stone. He was going to gain poprity by any methods he can. After he traded Codes to the Skill Altar, he now felt even stronger. His body was light, his grip was strong, and even his facial features looked like they were carved by angels. A huge factor in his strength was therge amounts of skill points given to him by the system. His level was below twenty, but it was as though he was twice that level by how many his skill points were. Normally, you''d only get a few by leveling up a couple of levels or exchange some with Codes, but that was it. Unlike him who could have a Code in a lot of beasts he hunt, the other Hunters didn''t have that luxury. Even the rich people wouldn''t easily exchange Codes for skill points considering a couple of Basic grades could already buy yourself a house in Earth. For them, it wasn''t worth it. That is, if your family was really wealthy that you could invest millions of dors for Codes and skill points. "Rumors," Allen whispered to himself while he was sitting at the coffee shop. He wanted to know where most of the rumors in town would breed. If he can find the source, then he can slid The Wandering Trader''s rumors into that breeding den and let it flow around the camp like a river. Allen was thinking so much. He was thinking on a lot of ces. The city centre, the Skill Altar temple, even the social groups in their camp. Just when he was about to randomly choose one of these ces, a thought came inside his head. "The farmer''s market." Albeit the town was almost in istion due to the food poisoning case, the flea market was still flooded with people. Though the vendors weren''t selling fresh produce, they were still selling counterfeit brands from earth and fake Hunter equipment. The police couldn''t catch them all because they all pays underground taxes to the police in exchange for their freedom to sell. This was one of the many changes Allen wants to do. To cleanse everything. With the number of people here, he could let a little word from one vendor, and they will do the rest. In ces like this, the vendors doesn''t have much to do other than gossip. Their jobs was sell, and it''s not all the time that they have customers. What would they do while the don''t have anyone to sell to? That''s right. Gossip. This made Allen excited. His n was to buy a clothing or essory simr to the rumors of The Wandering Trader. The mostmon would be the mask, so he looked for a vendor who has the mask. "The butchers definitely did it this time." "I heard the poison was from a pesticide." "What are the police doing? There''s a lot of people dying!" As he walked across that one single street filled with stalls, he could hear every rumor that goes around town. Some were pathetic like pregnant women while some were serious like missing Hunters. A couple of minutester, he saw a vendor that was selling what exactly he was looking for. Masks. The stall had a folding bed that he used to disy counterfeit clothes while there was a stand on the back. It was a wooden frame covered with a ck cloth where he hungs the mask. The stall of this person looked just like most stalls in this street. And they all have almost the same products that they sell. It was a marvel how they still earn from it. He walked over to the old man who was reading a newspaper upside down. He stared at him, clearing his throat a couple of times, but it seemed like the man couldn''t hear him. "Uhm, excuse me sir," Allen tried to speak, but he was ignored. He could only scratch his head and wonder why this was happening. "Sir?" He ced his hand on the newspaper, and it dropped to the ground. The man was snoring loudly, his eyesses falling to his chest while his head fell in front of him. "Sir?" The man jolted awake, scurrying to fix himself up. "Oh, s''rry young man. What can I do for ''ya?" The old man had a thick ent on him that Allen could barely understand what he was saying. "S''rry. I fell asleep. See, there''s not a lotta customers at this time aft''r the poisonin'' incident." He just looks old, but he was updated on the gossips in town. Just what Allen needed. "Oh, is that so?" Allen said innocently. "Well, I''d like to buy one of your masks." "Masks, eh?" the old man nced at his stall, looking at the masks disyed. "Oh, danggit. Where''s my manners. Me name''s Jack, and I am the owner of this li''l ol'' stall. But it ain''t Halloween, ain''t it? Why buy a mask?" Allen paused for a moment. He knew the man was talkative, but he never anticipated for him to ask such question. "Oh, I just want to scare a friend. That''s all." "Ah, the power of friendship," Jack snorted. "Y''know what else is scary? A man in the streets assaultin'' youngdies." This was the moment Allen was waiting for. He was about to ask Jack about The Wandering Trader when he gets the mask, but it seemed like the old man beat him to it. He was really in a breeding den for gossip. "Oh," Allen faked formed an O with his mouth. "I have heard of him, but it wasn''t all clear." "Then you''re in luck, my boy," Jack grinned. "I know everythin'' ''bout that masked man." "Yes, old man. You''ll be my vessel to gain poprity," Allen said in his mind. In the surface, he just leaned in as if he was interested in hearing what the man has to say. "That man is a pris''ner from Earth that became a Hunt''r here," Jack whispered. "From what I heard from my li''l birdies, the man was a high-profile ex-convict." "That''s really interesting," Allen wanted to snort inughter after hearing this. He was really amused by how much gossip travels, and how many times they morphed from one person to another. You could say that a girl was seen with her boyfriend and the gossip that returns to you is that the girl was pregnant. It was so silly, but amusing. "He became a Hunt''r ''cause his wife died and the wife said somethin'' in the lines of wanting him to do good," Jack continued. "So, he started doin'' justice work from the streets, startin'' from the Smith Girls who''re known as the sluts who sleep ''round married men." It was then where Allen saw how much The Wandering Trader''s reputation will rise. All he has to do now was make one single move, and his clients will flood to him. Chapter 57: Third Wheel Chapter 57: Third Wheel A couple of minutester, someone was banging on Allen''s door. He was about to answer it when Gwen stopped him from doing so. "It''s my colleague," she said. "I told him I''m in your ce and he immediately found it. He''s a police officer, and so am I." No wonder she had first hand information about The Wandering Trader, and her rather different personality from the other support roles. She was a police officer. Gwen must''ve received the details of how Allen''s alter ego looked from the witnesses, that included the famous police officer Jeremy. The door opened and Allen could had the worst luck in the entire Haven. Jeremy himself was standing in front of his door, smiling after seeing Gwen inside. "There''s my beloved friend," Jeremy chimed. "Come here, you." "Shut up, and give this man a reward or something," Gwen said. "He saved my life from the goons of the Phantom Cunt. He should at least get a meal." "Perfect," Jeremy smiled. "I reserved us a table at the Luxx." "Let me guess, a table for two?" Gwen crossed her arms, making Jeremy lose hisposure. "I-I think I can get us an upgrade or something," Jeremy shuffled for his phone and walked out of the room to make a call. While watching the two exchange their words, Allen had regretted every single decision he had made so far. He was so lucky that he didn''t disy the Cloak of Nobody in the rack like he usually does. It was like a statement to him that he watches every time. His life had changed and he felt proud. Thank heavens the so-called statement was hidden in his Inventory, or else it would be the end of the world. "Uhm, Gwen, you don''t have to," Allen started his move on getting out of this mess. "I don''t need anything at the moment. Maybe I can just call you if I do?" "No, we insist," Jeremy walked back inside with a wide smile on his face. "You''re the savior of my friend. You should celebrate her life with us." "That sounded exactly just like you," Gwen snorted. "Let''s go. What time is it anyway?" "Just before dinner," Jeremy answered. Gwen suddenly looked lively after her friend came. She walked with him out the door, the two just talking to each other while Allen stood inside his room, not believing the situation he was in. "So, I was in the street, off duty when I saw these mene up to me. No one expected what happened next. I was suddenly being dragged into an alley and I was sure that they were gonna take me with them," Gwen said. She was talking about her experience when she was almost taken away. After she took her first bite of her food, she had started bing talkative. Her entire character changed. "You met hungry Gwen, haven''t you?" Jeremy asked Allen while his friend continued to talk in the background. "She''s usually like this, unless she''s hungry which makes her look like she''s amander of a battalion of soldiers or something." Allen snorted and nodded, "She does look more lively than when I first talked to her." "Yeah, that''s because you met the hungry Gwen ouch!" Jeremy had received a smack on the back of his head from Gwen. She frowned at him, returning to her chair. "Were you not listening to me?" "Of course, I was," Jeremy smiled and settled back in his seat. "I was just teasing our new friend, Dante here about your alter ego, Hungry Gwen." "That girl is sleeping right now," Gwenughed a bit. "But she is also mad because her best friend is not listening to her." Allen don''t understand the rtionship of these two, neither did he want to intervene. His only priority as of the moment was getting out of the restaurant, fast. On the other hand, he could just stay and collect more information about the one who''s trying to imitate him and ruin his reputation. He can''t have just anyone pretending to be him and destroy what he wasn''t finished creating. He had to make a decision whether to stay or leave. And he has to decide now. "So," Allen cleared his throat, making Gwen and Jeremy turn their gazed to him. "How did you know that the men that tried to take you were working for the Phantom Cunt?" "A man who assaulted helpless girls can do crazy things, even try to eliminate a cop who''s also someone who can stop his rampages," Gwen replied. "I told you, I am capable of nullifying his poison. I am slowly healing the victims a couple of the a day." "Didn''t you mention that the skill required for it takes on a lot of energy?" Jeremy asked, cing his elbows on the table and his chin on the back of his hand which he crossed. For some reason, this small gesture of the man irked Allen. His eyes almost twitched after he saw Jeremy''s movements. "It does," Gwen replied. "It also takes a lot of time to channel, so I''m trying really hard to do it. That time when they tried to take me away, my body was already weak from healing seven people." "Only seven?" Allen gasped. "Does it take that much energy and time?" "Unfortunately, yes," Gwen sighed. "The Phantom Cunt got a hold of this information and he had take to eliminate those who can heal his poison." Whoever was behind this Phantom Cunt persona was a powerful man, and they also had connections. Gwen is a police officer, someone that even on her bad days could still fight off a bear one-on-one. To hunt her, the Phantom Cunt had to n his move and take her at the time she was most vulnerable in, when she''s weak after healing. For Allen, this case was bigger than he actually thought. But one question lingered in his mind like the taste of cigarette after. What''s the Phantom Cunt''s purpose into doing this? Why go this far? Chapter 58: Healers Chapter 58: Healers The woman fluttered her eyes open. She was finally awake from her slumber, finding herself in a room. Her name was Gwen Moore, a Level 40 Medicine Hunter. She was a support and specializes on healing. "W-Where am I?" she asked out loud. A rustling sound made her snap to full consciousness, hearing someone beside her. "Who are you?" Her eyes found themselves on a man sitting in a chair beside the bed. Allen was sleeping, slouching on the wooden chair and his arms were crossed over his chest. Gwen shook him slightly, trying to wake him up. "Hello, mister?" This slight nudge woke Allen up, making the man sit up properly. "What who oh. You''re awake." Gwen looked at him for a moment before her eyes widened and she leaped off of the bed. "Holy Injection!" The woman called out her weapon. A gigantic syringe that she uses as some sort of staff. There was rainbow glittered liquid inside the syringe and it doesn''t look like the tip of the needle had a hole for it toe out. "Rx, I''m not your captor," Allen said, raising both his arms in to show that he surrendered. "I was the one who saved you from your captors, so I think a "thank you" would be nice." "W-What" Gwen was silent for a moment. She massaged her forehead while scrunching her face. "I thought you''re one of the guys who worked for that Phantom Cunt." "Phantom Cunt?" Allen repeated. "The man who assaulted the twins a while ago," Gwen replied. "He poisoned the food in the camp, mainly the ones reserved for the police and the guards. Then he started kidnapping healers who could null his poison." What he heard was bad that even his eyes twitched in anger. There was someone who is posing as him and was freely doing all this wretched things. Allen was beyond pissed. How will he recover his reputation if the rumors that he wanted to circte will be buried with ones like this? The problem was worse than he had ever thought. His n backfired because somebody was using his alter ego''s identity to do crazy things. "My name is Gwen," the woman offered her hand for Allen to shake. She had a fare skin and her hair was blonde that reached up to her upper back. It was straight and was parted in the middle. "I am a healer and I can null the poison from the Phantom Cunt." "Does he have another name?" Allen scrunched his face. "Phantom Cunt doesn''t really ring nicely in the ears." "Whatever his name is, I will not respect it," Gwen said seriously. "He has done horrible things, and he will pay." Most male healers were calm and reserved. Most female healers were like princesses by how they act cheerfully and femininely. This woman was neither one of those two. She was strong-willed and she talks like a soldier. This had Allen not have any other choice but to take her hand and shake it, "Dante. And I''m a fighter role Hunter, but I don''t have a specialization yet." Gwen suddenly pulled Allen''s hand, making him grip her hand tighter. This made the woman''s eyes narrow as she look down to their hands. "What level are you now?" Gwen asked, to which Allen answered. "Interesting. Your grip is strong for your level, but you don''t look like a wealthy person that could afford to flush money in the Skill Altar." "Oh," Allen chuckled. "I just work out a lot." "Physical working out doesn''t have any corrtion between your Hunter status," Gwen said. "Even if you train like an Olympian, if your level is low, you''re still ways ahead of yourself. Also, judging by your build and your height, you''re passable as the Phantom Cunt." "W-What?" Allen asked stutteringly. Inside him, he had already panicked. He was asking questions to himself that he couldn''t answer. "Who is this woman?" "How is she asking all these?" "Why did I even bother to save her?" All these questions were flooding inside his mind and it was making him act suspiciously. He had to do something before Gwen couldpletely bust him. "Why do you say that?" Allen asked. "If I was the Phantom Cunt, why would I even save you?" "Because you could then say that I owe my life to you and you can watch me like a hawk," Gwen rebutted. "This woman is a beast." Allen said inside his head. Allen gulped while sti trying topose himself. He was in front of a woman who looked like she had studied all things about Hunters and humans. At this moment, he was sure enough that Gwen had a PhD on Hunters, which puts him at a very dangerous spot. For his level, he was stronger. He can''t even tell her that he exchanged Codes for skill points because he can''t afford a lot of Codes, and for most Hunters, Codes aren''t as readily avable. You could grind a year in the forest and you''ll only have a couple of Basic grades and a few Rare grades. He was losing his posture and it was worsening. "So?" Gwen said that made Allen snap from his thoughts. "Why can''t you answer me?" "Oh, I just farmed a lot," Allen said, chuckling to ease the tension. "I am mostly in the forest and I grind every single day. I am a Hunter for years, so Ipiled a lot of Codes to exchange for skill points." "Oh," Gwen''s expression suddenly changed. From a serious look with a sharp stare, to a woman who was widely smiling. "No wonder you look so stressed. Camping in the forest is hard indeed." "Yeah," Allen smiled. "I''m actually a lot older than I look." "Oh, you''re younger than thirty?" Gwen said, making Allen''s smile fall from his face. "I-I look thirty?" Allen''s right eye twitched for a second. "I look that old?" "Oh," Gwen formed an O with her mouth. "You''re twenty eight?" "I''m twenty-seven," Allen faked pursed his lips. He was trying to steer the conversation away from the fact that this woman almost debunked him. He was trying to act like a fool and stupid to oppose his serious attitude as The Wandering Trader. "You don''t look a day over twenty," Gwenughed awkwardly. "I''m actually twenty five, so you''re still older than me." Watching the woman lose her guard made Allen smirk inside. It means that his n on disarming the woman''s peering mind was working, and he was slowly gaining her trust. Of course, he can''t possibly make her a client as of the moment, but at least he had learned something more important than spreading his poprity at the moment. It was to cleanse the bad reputation of The Wandering Trader, or as a lot of people would call him, the Phantom Cunt. Chapter 59: Alleys are Dangerous Places Chapter 59: Alleys are Dangerous ces Allen was nning on investigating the Phantom Cunt''s case privately. He was sure that he didn''t do it, so whoever was responsible must have a close connection to the police. In his room, in the middle of the night, he had listed all the possible figures that would want to take over his persona. He divided them into ie brackets, genders, and purpose. For the most part, he was sessfully into categorizing the first two easily. The third one was rather challenging. He didn''t know any one of these people, so he couldn''t possibly know their purpose into riding the incident. From this point on, he was lost. His investigation could only go so far considering he had basically nothing in his hands. He didn''t have any private vault of profiles for these people. What he holds is a couple of words passed on from one gossip to the other. From his investigations, he had found three major suspects for the Phantom Cunt case. Two of which were males and the other was a female. His first prospective suspect was a man named Joseph Kennedy. Allen frequented his visits in the market, and Joseph''s name would oftene into the conversations. He was a man who was part of the meat business. He was previously a Meat Hunter, but decided to shift paths and became a businessman. So far, he produces one of the highest grade of meat in the camp and the surrounding camps. From the gossips, his motive would be his slolwy dwindling business. Meat was essential in the camps, but so many have started and they were reaching out to him. Just from thest five years, three major ughter houses had boomed and attracted many investors to their side. This would mean that the ones who previously supported Joseph were slowly pulling out from his business. Adding the fact that he was facing criminal charges for inside trading, his business was in deep jeopardy. The words were saying that Jospeph wanted to sell his business, but due to the fact that there were a lot more business that were cheaper than his, many buyers wouldn''t buy them. When he figured out that he really can''t sell, he had decided to find a poison and infect every fresh produce. Allen was thinking that this wasn''t a great move from Joseph, but then he heard that this was because Jospeph can then im on insurance. He had put on his safety before he jumped off the cliff, saving himself in the process. His products were insured, and if he can tell the insurancepany what happened to the camp, they will pay him a hefty amount of money. Allen checked all three criterias for this man. His second prospect was a man named Geralt Grant. Geralt is a man living in the Wealth Valley and is known for the most famous chain of restaurants. His motive for doing the incidents weren''t as different as Joseph''s, but he had a much more dangerous ce. His chain of restaurants had been closing, investors had been pulling out, and his life was falling into the deepest bottoms of life just because of an issue. He was caught being a cheating partner by a man. This issue was released by the man''s wife who told the news outlets in Haven, and in Earth, that her wife was cheating on her. This angered Geralt and he wanted to run away with the man. When he knew that his business wasn''t as valuable as what he initially thought, he decided to do something horrendous by poisoning the supplies for his restaurant for insurance money. Geralt and Joseph were in simr boats, and Allen was just choosing which is which, who had a deeper motive. Going into the third prospected suspect, it''s the wife of the man Geralt had been cheating on with, Sofia Edinburgh. A royalty from Earth, albeit not a Hunter, but she has connections. Her motive was to one by one make Geralt''s business rot by poisoning the supplies. This way, his restaurants couldn''t serve their food and his life would be miserable. Among the three, Allen was too skeptical about Sophia. She was the least likely tomit the crime since she had to know that Geralt insured his restaurant. It didn''t make sense for a powerful woman to miss this fact. Nheless, her name was one of the most mentioned names in the market. Allen was too happy that he was a daily patron at the market. He just didn''t get to discover new things, but he could also collect all the gossip circting. It was night when he just left Jack''s store. Jack was the most frequent gossip supplier of Allen. He had gone closer to the man as the days of his investigation went by. From their conversations, he had learned that Jack was a widower and he had no children. He became a Hunter at the old age of sixty and was one of the first generations of Hunters. From his third year of hunting, he decided to stop and sell instead. The market was filled with opportunities, and Jack was a visionary. At first he wanted to build arge store but, his exact same words, "The world was unfair and it didn''t look like what I had expected." He ended up selling counterfeits and fake equipment in the market alongside antique items. The man was old and he had epted his fate. He was already a close to seventy-five, the final year of bing a Hunter. If he reaches this age, he was forced to retire and he will live in Earth. The man was both excited and scared by this but he said that it''s more scary than thinking decades ahead of you. At least he was in his final years and could only care so much. Grumble. Grumble. Allen touched his stomach after hearing it growl in hunger. He stretched his body and stood from his chair, walking outside to get something to eat when he heard people whispering in an alley. One sounded scared and the other was rather angry. "Alleys in camps are more dangerous than in Earth," Allen whispered to himself. He was close to the alley, and the voices got clearer and clearer. "Give me your money!" a younger man yelled in anger. "Sir, please," a familiar old voice spoke. Allen ran to the corner and took a peek. There, he saw old man Jack being lifted into the air by a younger man through his cor. "Sir, I have no money. Please let me go," Jack pleaded. Chapter 60: Gangs Chapter 60: Gangs New clients are always exciting deals. And this situation was no different from when Allen was doing business with Mary or Hilda. This was more of the deal with the couple where they had to rush into the agreement. It was a matter of life and death and what this old man was facing right now was not far from that. One of the men that surrounded him had already lifted him by the cor and had him pinned on the wall. The old man was struggling and even when Allen was far from them, he could see how Jack had started shaking. He was afraid, and it shows. However, Allen didn''t want to help Jack right away. He had to know as much as he can in this situation first. What were these men''s intention in hurting the old man. From what he knows so far, Jack is supposed to give them money. For whatever reason, Allen doesn''t know yet. Most likely, these people are loan sharks that Jack owes money to. But this would be doubtful in a way that Jack didn''t mention any debt before. "Please don''t kill me," Jack pleaded and that was when Allen''s body moved on its own. He ran inside the alley without his disguise, ramming his head and his arms into one of the guys that made them stumble to the side. Allen got on top of the man and conjured his hammer, pointing it above the man''s head. "Who are you and what are you doing?!" the man he was straddling on growled. "Are you from Verta Carta too?" The man Allen was pinning on the ground was a bald man with arge X scar in the side of his head. He wore ck suit and tie that was loosened in every buttons. The other one wore simr in clothing but he had red hair and dark orange eyebrows. "Verta what?" Allen scrunched his face. "I don''t think I understand." "He''s getting away!" the other man yelled. "What are we going to do?" "You bloody idiot, go after him!" the first man yelled. "Once his peers will know, we''ll be dead." "I think it''s toote for that." All their heads snapped to the direction of the voice. It was Jack, standing in front of the alley, crossing his arms while four more men stood behind him. All of them wererge and buff, their ck coats were waving in the air while they wore ck tinted visors. These men conjured their weapons, arge sharp sword, and ran to attack the guys who were hurting Jack before. Allen on the other hand crawled out of the skirmish and saw Jack smiling at him. The old man gestured his hand, signalling him toe. The boy didn''t know what else to do, so he just crawled closer to the man. "Young boy, what brave soul you have," Jack snickered. "Let me properly introduce myself, I am Jack Roberts, leader of Verta Carta Gang." A gang. For anyone on Earth thinking that life on the Otherworlds are much more peaceful and organized, they are wrong in many levels. When you group strangers into one camp, give them powers, and almost no authority, many problems would arise. Starting from gangs, thieves, and even serial killers, camps are only glorified diator rings. It''s not for the faint of heart but these people inside had no other choice but to survive. One percent of the people in camps hunt in the Otherworlds to gain power, fame, and some are for fun. The rest are inside one for the money. Especially the bottom fifty percent, the ones who are at the brink of hunger and thirst. The other fourty nine percent areposed with middle-ss Hunters, small business owners, and organizations like the one Jack was in. Or as they liked to call it, gangs. These gangs aren''t like the ones in Earth where they litter around the street and steal money or fight with each other. Gangs in the Otherworlds are much more organized, but are less than the mafia. They do illegal transactions with buying and selling codes, equipment, and this includes the illegal nts that are located in the Otherworlds. These gangs are doing everything they can for the money. "But you''re" Allen trailed off in disbelief. That was why Jack had all the information that wasn''t in the market as often. He was part of this group where they can get much more credible than the others. This would only mean that Allen''s three primary suspects for the Phantom Cunt case is right. He was going into a right path. "Child,e with me," Jack said. "My men will take care of these good folks." "Please, Boss Jack," the first guy pleaded. "We were only doing it because our boss told us to. We never really thought of you as the Phantom Cunt." "I would never stoop as low as that miserable fool," Jack said. Allen flinched after the man said those words. His voice wasced with venom. The anger that was intended to convey those words were clear that only a fool would miss how Jack felt about the Phantom Cunt. "I know your gang wants him as much as us, but this is just under the belt," Jack added. "So forgive my men for doing what they must do. They''re just doing their jobs." Jack and Allen left the alley, hearing only the muffled screams of the men. Jack''s thugs must''ve put rags in their mouths to prevent them from garnering attention. "You are such an interesting boy," Jack chuckled while leading Allen somewhere. "Do you know why my stall in the market has barely any customers?" Allen slowly shook his head, "I''m sorry, sir but I do not know." "Because everyone else there knows that I''m not just from any group," Jack said. "Verta Carta is a gang that specializes into using moles and we''re famous for our human trafficking. I took interest in you because you look like a trustworthy man." "Sir, I don''t understand" "Do you really think that you can get away with the eyes of an expert liar," Jack turned around to face Allen. "Tell me who you really are, Phantom Cunt." Chapter 61: Good Luck Chapter 61: Good Luck Allen froze after hearing the old man''s words. He tried to shake his head in case he misheard it, but Jack continued. "It''s not often that people woulde to me to ask for gossip," Jack said. "And you made it quite obvious by how interested you were in the case." "Sir" Allen trailed off. "I think you''re misunderstanding it. I am not the Phantom Cunt. I am just someone who''s interested in his identity." "Then why were you in the alley?" Jack narrowed his eyes. "There''s a lot of alleys in this camp, and it just so happened that you were right in the alley I was in." Allen pointed at his apartment that wasn''t too far from where they are, "That''s where I live." "Oh," Jack formed an O with his mouth. He pursed his lips and snorted. "I guess I was mistaken. This doesn''t happen very often." Allen felt a thorn in his heart being removed. He was so nervous when Jack confronted him, that he was going into hiding again. Good thing his apartment was near where they are so he had an alibi. "Well, anyway," Jack cleared his throat. "I''ll be off. Goodbye, young man. Don''t expect me in the stall tomorrow. Verta Carta will move to Camp Rudolph because we''re done with our business here." Allen wanted to ask what their business was just when the group of men that followed Jack came out of the alley. They were carrying two bags that must''ve contained the bodies of the ones that tried to hurt their leader earlier. "Yes," Jack said without even letting Allen ask. "Those are the men." "Oh," Allen only whispered. "I don''t I think I''m gonna go." "Not yet," Jack walked up to Allen, making the boy gulp in fear. "I was bored by having my day-to-day life here just being repetitive as hell. When you started asking questions, I started my own hobby of collecting information." "Sir" Allen trailed off. He knew where this is going, or at least he knew two possible oues. Either Jack is gonna ask him for a favor, or Jack will kill him. It was either of the two, he was just so sure of it. Allen waited for his fate. Jack lifted his right hand, making the boy flinch. "Rx, child. I''m not going to hurt you." One of Jack''s men walked up to them and gave the old man a small USB shdrive. He offered the shdrive to Allen, "If you want more gossip, this shdrive contains the database to information regarding everyone in this camp. We have no use for such information anymore, and it would be a waste if I just throw it. "The information includes the names, family, blood type, affiliations, even debts, and registered Codes of these people. From the top of the social pyramid, down to the bottom," Jack said. "Even the missing people are in that drive, so if you ever see anyone in the forest you can see them there." Allen bowed and took the shdrive, holding it tightly in his hand as he received what''s going to be one of his greatest weapons as The Wandering Trader. This small device contains information regarding everyone in this camp. This also means that this will contain every potential client he will have. But wait. Allen asked himslef. How did Jack knew that he was frequently at the forest. The boy looked up to ask the old man, but he found himself alone in the side of the street. He tried to look around but saw nothing there, only him. Grumble. Grumble. Allen looked at his stomach and remembered why he got out of his room in the first ce. He was hunrgy. cing the shdrive into his Inventory, Allen walked to the restaurant. Tonight, he will study everyone in the camp. "I don''t want to do this anymore," Allen groaned. He was on hisputer that he brought, ssifying potential clients. He was doing this at the same time continuing his investigation on the Phantom Cunt case. Doing two tasks at once was more than exhausting for him that he just wanted to give up. "I swear to god," Allen groaned. "If I know who the person trying to hold The Wandering Trader liable for their actions, I''m going to stab him in the face." Ding. Dong. Allen snapped out of his thoughts and cleared his desktop. He also cleared his table where the files and papers regarding the case was. He knew who the person at the door was too so he didn''t have to hurry. Ding. Dong. "Coming!" Allen yelled. Hezily ced everything to their rightful ces and ruffled his furniture a bit, trying to pretend that he was doing something else that''s why he couldn''t answer the door right away. "Allen, you have a visitor," Gary said. The boy sighed after hearing the man. After the incident, Gary had always visited Allen almost every single day. The man''s character went from serious and cold to almost submissive and cheerful. "I know it''s just you," Allen yelled. "Wait a minute, okay?" "But I''m not here alone," Gary said, making the boy purse his lips. "Someone''s here to see you too." "Allen, can Ie inside to talk?" Gwen called out, making Allen gasp and hurry with the scene he wanted to convey. He groaned after realizing that a girl was going inside his room, so he cleaned everything once again. Gwen was the first girl he ever brought to his room since this was his first room ever. He wanted to make sure she wasfortable and doesn''t think that Allen was a slob. "Please, wait for a couple of minutes," Allen yelled, rushing to clean everything. "I''m almost done." "The pizza is getting cold, Allen," Gary yelled. "Hurry up or we''ll eat this right here in the hallway." Allen groaned and hurried as fast as he can. Not a few minutes more, he was opening the door and the two people outside was grinning at him. "Hi," Allen waved his hand to the police woman. Gary handed him the box of pizza to which he took. "What brings you here?" "I just have a couple of questions," Gwen said, looking around the room. "I don''t really intend on staying much longer since I have people to heal back at the station." "Of course, of course," Allen said. "What can I do for you?" "What''s your connection between Verta Carta Gang?" Gwen asked without any hesitation. Gary was at the background, eating the pizza while looking at the both of them. "I have CCTV footage of you talking to their leader yesterday night before they disappeared, and a couple more when you were at the market." "I" Before Allen could continue, Gwen took out a small harpoon gun and pointed it at Allen, "Remember that everything you say or do can be used against you in the court ofw." "I didn''t know he was in a gang," Allen said honestly. "Yesterday night, I was going out to eat because I was hungry when I heard Jack being attacked. When I tried to go in the middle, Jack''s men came and he said that he was in the gang, but I swear I''m not part of them." Gwen didn''t lower his gun neither did she dropped her expression, "Then what was the thing that Jack handed you before he disappeared together with his men?" Allen wanted to gulp or do anything because of fear, but he had to stop himself. He was just going to tell Gwen a little white lie that was believable but stupid at the same time. He can''t get caught in the middle of their ruckus like this. He had more ns in the future. "Oh, that thing," Allen said, raising his finger like a lightbulb lit up above his head. He turned around and took something in his drawer, holding it out on top of his palm. "He gave me this little pendant. He said it was for good luck." Chapter 62: Most Wanted Chapter 62: Most Wanted Allen almost didn''t blink when Gwen''s state got intense. He wanted to gulp and look away but he had to stand his ground. One wrong move and he could be toasted. "Is that so?" Gwen pursed her lips. "Well I guess you didn''t know anything about his double life, but yes. He was part of a gang." "I don''t think I should listen to this," Gary said, clearing his throat. "This sounds like a serious matter. I just don''t want my name involved." "Verta Carta has pulled their men out in Camp Tw," Gwen informed. "It''s no use talking about them now since they won''t care." "I''m curious," Allen said. "What does their gang do or what did they do in this camp? Then why did they suddenly disappear just like that?" Gwen sighed and started to tell both men about the gang Jack was leading. Trading in the Otherworlds are much moreplicated than in Earth. In the Otherworlds, you have to prepare twice the amount of contacts needed just so you could buy or sell goods in the mainstream market. The mainstream market refers to the buying and selling of goods from Haven and into Earth. Allen had undergone this process when he sold a couple of tea leaves from Haven, so he knew exactly the frustration of a lot of people. Along with the tons of processeses the cost of these processes. One simple trade from Haven to Earth would be taxed to up to forty-five percent of the profit, that made frowns in all traders'' faces. That was until gangs like Verta Carta started to rise into power. Their gang allowed people to smuggle the goods and money from the Otherworlds directly to Earth at a fraction of the price. The forty-five percent tax would be decreased to only ten percent. Of course, they had to operate underground and they got into more dangerous goods. Illegal drugs. Substances and nts in the Otherworlds were undoubtedly more potent than the ones in Earth. This opened the eyes of a lot of traders and made them venture into these products, trading them through the gangs for much less tax and huge amounts of profit. There were three main gangs in the country that lead this illegal transactions. Verta Carta was one of these gangs. "But wait," Allen asked. "If Verta Carta was just a smuggling gig, why were they here? And why didn''t the police do anything? People knew he was from Verta Carta yet I didn''t see no officer arresting his ass." "Child," Gwen sighed. "Verta Carta is much more powerful than the governing body in this camp, or any other camps in this country. You just don''t know but Verta Carta is the one financing the police along with the other two gangs, Saint Olive and Rock Flux." "T-That''s" Allen trailed off. He knew there was something going on underneath the police ranks, but he didn''t know that the influence of these gangs were rooted much deeper than he thinks. "Wow." "I know," Gwen snickered. "That''s exactly my reaction when I got the hint of it. But after a while, I just got used to it. What can I do? I don''t even have the capability to raise my rank since I''m only a support type. If I was a fighter or even a ranger, I could rise to the top and fix our broken system." Allen clenched his fists and grit his teeth. Days goes by and he had more and more reasons to change the world they live in. The justice in both Earth and the Otherworlds seemed to be inexistent because of theck of proper power from the ones on top. "What is Drake Nelson doing?" Allen found himself asking. He could still remember how much he looked up to the Dragon Code Bearer. The man could practically beat everyone else in a one-on-onebat, that was why he was given the opportunity to lead the world. "Allen," Gwen called out. "These gangs aren''t really doing anything wrong except for underground trading of goods, so you don''t have to worry that much." Allen scoffed, "I think this is why these people can just do what they want. The police officer themselves just let them. Who knows what the gangs are trading in their own private transactions? What if they''re smuggling people? What if they''re trading children?" "And that''s why Jack came to Camp Tw," Gwen said, making Allen''s body rx slightly. He tilted his head to the side, face filled with confusion. "Saint Olive and Rock Flux were investigating the cases of missing Hunters in this camp and their investigators also went missing. "It wasn''t until Jack himself came to investigate and found that another gang was kidnapping people from Earth and trades them as ves into the Otherworlds. Camp Tw was one of the main channels of this gang, so Verta Carta had to act." Allen''s jaw drop in shock and disbelief, "You mean" "Yes, Jack saved a hundred women and children from being sold as ve just from a single visit in this camp," Gwen finished. "These main gangs may operate illegally, but they have their own principles and since their inception, they have lived by them." "Still," Allen muttered. "It doesn''t change the fact that they''re gangs." "They''re antiheroes," Gwen snickered. "I just read the full case of the Phantom Cunt and this man is not an example of that." This made Allen gulp. Just when he thought that he was getting away with this topic, he was caught by again. If only he could ask Gwen for help, it would be better. But since the woman despised the Phantom Cunt figure all her life, Allen couldn''t possibly make a move on clearing his name at the moment. "This man" Gwen rubbed her forehead, the stress was evident from her facial expression and her voice. "He''s just vile. I know the twins weren''t the best people out there, but he didn''t have to do that to them." "Again," Allen started to say, trying to swerve their conversation away. "Are you allowed to talk about this?" "Only if you didn''t say anything," Gwen sighed. She cupped her whole face and groaned. "I don''t have anyone to talk about this and this case keeps on getting worse and worse. There wille a time that I''ll explode by how evil the Phantom Cunt is." "What did he do this time?" Gary asked, his voiceced with anger. "He threw the bodies of the healers he caught," Gwen said. "Right by the riverbanks where we get the supply of water from." "What?!" Allen and Gary both gasped in shocked. Gwen snickered in amusement after hearing the boys, but she shook her head to get the smug out. "There were also traces of poison in their bodies, and if we didn''t get them out in time, the poison could''ve spread and everyone would be infected." "Oh, now that I think about it, I have information regarding this," Gary interjected. "I was near the crime scene when it happened well, the vendor at the market was. And he said that it was gore." "H-How gore?" Allen gulped. "The bodies were already rotten and it seemed like they were drowned in the poison," Gary said. "Their bodies were also mutted and shredded like chicken breast on a sd." Gwen smacked the back of therge man''s head. "That''s a disgustingparison." "Sorry," Gary whispered. "But it''s not far from the truth," the woman sighed. "It is time that the police office of Camp Tw to dere this Phantom Cunt as a criminal. He''s the current number two in the Most Wanted list." Chapter 63: Minister of Defense Chapter 63: Minister of Defense It felt like Allen was going to fall face first on the floor. He once thought that the police would look for him, but he didn''t once thought that they would go as far as letting the Phantom Cunt into their list. There were people who did much more than what he did, but then he realized that someone was adding fuel to the small spark of me that he lit. The figure he carefully constructed was ruined just because someone took over the figure and used it to their own gain. The person behind this scheme was also incredibly smart. He used the figure because he wasn''t the original person behind it. If he can just ride the flow, achieve his goal, he can always abandon it. He just went with the flow and used as much as he could. And if everything goes downhill and the original person was caught, he can just bail out easily. He can abandon everything just like that, only because he wasn''t actually the one behind it. It was easier to construct an alibi with his n. Everything about this irked Allen to his core. This person was really making him angry to the point that he just wants to cheat and kill this person. "Hello?" A hand was waving in front of Allen''s face. The boy blinked a couple of times and he saw both Gwen and Gary looking at him with concerned looks on their faces. "What''s wrong?" Allen asked. "You seem to doze off a lot," Gwen said. "Are you okay? Is something brothering you?" Allen was going to take a big leap of faith with what he''ll say next. He gulped and looked at Gwen in the eyes. "Something is bothering me with this Phantom Cunt figure," Allen said. "What seems to be the connection between the Smith twins and the poisoning of the guards? He didn''t even leave the camp yet, so why bother?" "I think it''s oddly connected too," Gary added, taking Allen''s side. "If this person wanted something from the guards or what they were guarding? Why bother the Smiths?" "Exactly my point," Allen grinned after what Gary said. He was sure now that this man was going to be loyal to him. He also wasn''t aware of Gary''s motives, but at least he knows that this man was on his side." "Well," Gwen paused. "Now that I think about it, I also don''t see any connection. It''s like they''re two separate cases merged into one." "Maybe the person who attacked the twins was a different person, and the one who poisoned the guards is another," Allen thought out loud. "If the twins were connected to the guards in some way, then we could''ve draw a line between the two, but it just seemed so random." "No," Gwen breathed out, shaking her head. "I am not in charge of this case, so I don''t know how they were linked, but now I see. The twins'' father is a powerful person. They can''t just get away with everything they''ve done so far if they didn''t have such strong connections." "What?" Allen asked. "What do you mean?" "Their father is the Minister of Defense," Gwen grunted. "I just remembered. He deploys all the guards in all camps, therefore poisoning the guards like this is provoking to him." "So, the Phantom Cunt''s target is this man?" Allen asked. "He targeted his daughters first and now his men. He''s doing this because? Do you have anyone in your mind?" Gwen shook her head, "I don''t know. There''s a lot of people that the minister angered. He''s known to be a righteous man who does everything he do with integrity and pride." "What happened to him?" Gary snorted. "I-I mean, is he like an antihero right now or something? Can''t he see his daughters are psychopaths?" "Not really," Gwen sighed. "He just loves his daughters so much that he''s willing to turn a blind eye from their actions." The three of them discussed even more after. Allen learned a lot of things from their discussion and now he has even more criteria in who to point fingers to. He just needed to set the connection between the Minister of Defense and a person with enough power and money. He can cross everyone else out of the equation. Whatever this person is nning, he wanted to get even with the minister in whatever ways he can. The only question left unanswered now was what was their motive? It was the day when Allen delivers Codes to Hilda''s shop. He couldn''tprehend how fast time goes by. It was already a week since he talked to the old woman, and now he was rather excited on how much his investment grew. He went to the shop as Dante at the morning, smiling after seeing everything getting improved. The stands for the Codes were now much better, the lights were fixed, and everything was tidy. "Wow," Allen grinned as he entered the now more beautiful shop. "Your renovations are great. Did you talk to The Wandering Trader? What was his offer?" Allen grouped his clients into investment clients and one-time client. People like Mary was a one-time client since she didn''t need constant help from The Wandering Trader. Hilda on the other hand was an investment client. He needs to regrly pull in Codes just so his deal would grow. His n was meeting his invested clients with two personas so he could get two different aspects into what the client was thinking. He first meets them as Dante, get their opinion, and then let them meet The Wandering Trader. If both of their attitude with the deal matches, he will pour his heart and soul into them. But if they don''t, he will cut their connections just like that. An example of their attitudes not matching was if the client would talk shit about The Wandering Trader when he talks to them as Dante, and then be polite and respectful when he disguises himself. His business was risky and dangerous. He can''t let another two-faced person in his ns, only he himself was already enough. "Child, I am so grateful to you," Hilda cheered, running from the counter and giving Allen a hug. The boy wanted to break free at first but when he felt the warmth surround him like a warm nket in a December night, he let the arms wrap around him. He closed his eyes and inhaled the woman''svender scent. She smelled better than how she did a week ago. Allen would''ve never thought that one help would change a person like this. Hilda''s case made him want to help more and more people. "I think The Wandering Trader gave you a big favor," Allen chuckled, slowly removing Hilda''s arms. "And you look happy. That''s great." "I''m not just happy," Hilda smiled. "I''m also getting by well. You see, we made a secret deal that I cannot definitely tell you, and then my business boomed. They said the Basic grades that I sell were high quality and wasn''t easily found in these forests." "That''s because they''re from another forest," Allen wanted to answer but he kept his mouth shut and let the woman continue. "My Codes were sold in just three days," Hilda said with a joyful tone. "I also wanted to partner with another Hunter, but I don''t want to break The Wandering Trader''s deal, so I just kept the money and brought improvements from my share of the deal." Old people are either wise or easy to fool. Hilda was a little bit of both. She was wise enough to do something with the remaining days from their deal, and at the same time she''s easy to be fooled that she was so loyal to their deal. These two aspects of the woman was what Allen needed from his investment clients. They were going to be together for a longer time, so he had to make sure that he could trust them. How Hilda chose to hide their deal even when The Wandering Trader didn''t tell her so, and how she was sure to keep her store exclusively for The Wandering Trader made Allen''s heart filled with glee. He finally was starting to have a leg as he rose up. All he needed to do now was to make sure this leg grows well. Chapter 64: Youre Not Seeing Chapter 64: You''re Not Seeing Allen left Hilda''s shop as Dante and waited in a nearby cafe while he waited for nighttime. By then, he will disguise himself and use the ten seconds of the Cloak of Nobody to enter the shop. He doesn''t need to be too wary of his surroundings since there were barely people outside. The brothel had already closed down, leaving Hilda''s Code shop and the nearby cafe the only establishments open in the entire street. "Hi, my name is Tina and I''ll be your barista for today. What can I get you?" the woman from the counter greeted. Allen paused for a moment. He looked up to the menu and looked for a coffee he wanted. The boy sighed, trying to figure out what he wanted to get. "Why are you still not ordering?" a woman behind Allen groaned. "I''m really in a hurry. If you will just waste your time here, can I order first? I need to go now." Allen nodded and stepped out of the line. The woman silently thanked him and went to the counter, ordering what she wanted. Tina, the barista, prepared her iced coffee and gave it to her in no time. Allen understood that Tina, as well as the other workers, were using Codes to speed up their movements. This particr Code intrigued Allen since he could use this to enhance his attack speed. "Iced coffee for Demi," Tina announced, giving the cup to the rushing Hunter. Demi smiled at her and mouthed a thank you before leaving the cafe. "Your turn again," Tina smiled. "What can I get you?" "Uhm, icedtte please," Allen ordered. Tina nodded at this and proceeded to do her work. The boy couldn''t stop his mouth, blurting out a question, "Is that a Code you''re using? That''s so cool." "It is," Tina smiled, finishing thette. "Name please." "Dante," Allen replied, making sure to not forget his name. "Just write Dante or whatever." Tina looked up to Allen and smirked. "Okay then." She wrote on the cup before handing it to the boy, "And yes, it''s a Code that thepany let''s us use. It''s called Hands of Haste and it increases the hands'' speed by thirty percent for five seconds. Cooldown is twenty five seconds. "Forty percent?" Allen awed. "That''s huge. Is that a Rare grade?" "Yep. A high-tier one," Tina replied. "I believe it''s from a big cat. I don''t know which cat or what type of cat it is. Maybe a tiger or a lion." Allen nodded slowly. He thanked Tina and left the cafe, walking into a nearby bench near the Rundown Street. It was the afternoon. Just a bit more and he can go to Hilda to water his seed so it could grow right. The boy found himself looking at the cup of coffee in his hand. He read the name Tina wrote, earning it a smirk from him. ''Dante or Whatever'' That was the words written in the cup. Allen chuckled after the barista''s joke was filled with humor for him. "So, this is life?" Allen asked himself and rested his head on the backrest of the bench. He sighed and closed his eyes, deciding to take a short nap before he enter his work mode. "Allen." A woman whispered in his ear. Allen scratched it, thinking it was just another dream since he was now Dante. The Allen was dead. "Allen." The woman called out again. This time, Allen opened his eyes and he found himself in the familiar burning forest. He looked around and there was blood everywhere. Right in his arms was a heavy thing that he knew all too well. He gulped and lowered his gaze, his eyes meeting the headless woman in white robes. Allen screamed, wanting to throw away the corpse but his body was too frightened to move. "Why am I here again?!" Just like what happened when he was previously there, his previous group arrived. Selena walked over to him and healed him, while the others tried to find the giant fire-breathing lizard. It was the same scene from before and Allen wanted to wake up any moment now. He doesn''t like to see this event that he couldn''t even remember. "Allen?" Selena called out. "Are you okay?" He looked at the woman as if she just asked the dumbest question in the world. Allen opened his mouth and was about to answer when a voice beat him to it. "I want to rest, Selena." His eyes widen, as if his world took a sudden pause. Allen looked behind him, there he saw his previous body staring at him. It also had the headless woman in his arms but its eyes never left Allen. "How about you, Dante? Are you okay?" Allen grit his teeth. He tried to raise his arms to punch the man in the face, but he couldn''t do it. It then dawned him that he wasn''t able to move not because of fear, but because he wasn''t permitted to by whoever was trapping him inside this illusion. "Who are you?!" Allen growled. "Answer me now or you''ll regret itter." "Oh, so fierce," his doppelganger faked gasped. "But I am you, Allen. I was you. A fragment of your soul that wasn''tpletely altered by the Snake. I have your deepest memory that yoh held so dear." "I know this is just an illusion," Allen growled. "Let me out now. None of this had ever happened. I do not remember such thing." "Oh, Allen," the doppelgange smirked. "You''ll know. But I made a deal with the Snake. Once you solve out your first case, I''ll let you in on a secret that someone close to you is hiding." "I have no one close to me," Allen said. "If you''re really me, then you know that I work alone." "Oh," the doppelganger grinned from ear to ear. "Then you''re not looking. You''re just seeing." "What?" Allen then felt his body get heavy. It was as if he was being lulled to sleep. He felt something cold in between his thighs, making his eyes snap and him waking up in the bench. The boy gasped for air as if he was submerged underwater for minutes on end. He looked around him and saw that it was already nighttime. He had to go to Hilda right that second. Allen stood and felt the sticky wet and cold liquid in his pants. He flinched after seeing that it was the icedtte from Tina. He must''ve dropped it in hisp while he took the nap. Shaking the thoughts away, the boy ran to the nearest alley. He spread the rumor of The Wandering Trader appearing in the alleys but he never really came to them, and he had no intentions of doing so. He wasn''t dumb enough to go to a ce where the police could trap and corner him. He just told Jack that to test the credibility of the rumors. He memorized the exact words he said to Jack and waited for another source to tell him. When he received the rumor, it wasn''t too far from the truth, therefore he could trust the words that were passed on from the market''s stalls. The rumors he received from jack wasn''tpletely inurate, therefore he could make use of them. Allen put on his cloak and walked to the corner of the street. He has ten seconds to walk inside the street and position himself in front of Hilda as if he didn''t lose hisposure by rushing. At first, he really didn''t want to impress Hilda. He can just walk around the street and no cop would try to catch him. The scene of the crime was at the centre, the guards were stationed far from the Rundown Street, and there was barely anyone here. Those three fators made Allen confident. The police wouldn''t have time to go to this ce when no one was going to be the victim. The doors opened and the bell rang, startling Hilda. She looked at the closing door and heard footsteps approach her. Hilda grabbed the nearest weapon she can raised it against the area where she could hear the footsteps. Chapter 65: Rumors are just Rumors Chapter 65: Rumors are just Rumors The door closed, making Hilda''s head snap to its direction. "Who''s there? I have a weapon!" "It''s just me," a low scruffy voice spoke right by the counter. Thedy sighed after seeing that it was The Wandering Trader. "It''s you," Hilda smiled. "Finally, you''re here. There I thought you got caught by cops." "They can''t catch me that easily," Allen said, walking close to the woman. "How was business here?" "Booming," Hilda grinned. She ran to the counter and openes the drawer. "I sold all of the Codes and I''m expecting more orders toe." She ced a folder, a notebook, a pen, and a calctor on the counter. "I have the receipts here in the folder. We can discuss how we''ll split the money and what you''d like me to do next." "I don''t have much for you to do except do well with your business," Allen said. "Once your son notices how your life improved, he wille back." "Right," Hilda nodded. Thedy was writing down all the total cost for all the Codes sent to her. She would then go to the notebook to split the cost into the seventy/thirty deal they have. "There were some prices that varied because of fluctuations in the supply," Hilda said. "But don''t worry. I will deduct the lowered price in my share" "And why would you do that?" Allen asked, shaking his head while walking right in front of the counter. "We''re business partners. You don''t have to do such lengths for me." "But child" "No buts, Madam Hilda," Allen chuckled. "I told you. I don''t need the money at the moment. You can have the money to yourself." "Wow," Hilda breathed out as if she just let go of a breath she held for so long. The woman nodded and recalcted everything. While she was doing that, Allen took the time to appreciate the renovated shop. It looked better at night by the dark and luxurious theme Hilda went for. "You seem to be doing well with redecorating the store," Allen said. "Did you hire a designer?" "I did it all myself," Hilda said. "I was a Hunter too, you know. Although I started rather older, I still had an edge back then. My husband and I would always be a duo and we became really strong. We also saved enough to start this store." "That''s good," Allen said with a smile. It didn''t take long for Hilda toplete her calctions. She gave Allen his share and Allen gave her new Codes. This time, she got ten Basic grades and two Rare grade Codes. Allen had to give up two Rare grades because he was now sure enough that he could trust the woman. "Okay, our deal here is done," Allen said. After he stored the money in his Inventory, he stood right in front of the counter, as if waiting for something. A moment had passed and there was no words that came out from both their mouths. Only a deafening silence could be heard. "Aren''t you going to ask me something?" Allen asked. Hilda smiled and slowly shook her head. "I don''t need to ask you anything." Allen was taken aback. He was sure enough that Hilda would at least ask him about the rumors. But it seemed like he was mistaken. The sincerity in the woman''s eyes and the trust that she holds in them was true and overwhelming. Allen could cry at the sight. For the first time in his life, someone had trusted him. "Rumors are just rumors," Hilda said. "What''s important is that I know who you really are and how much kindness and help you had given me for all these days. I was at my worst and you were the hand that pulled me out of the waters that almost drowned me." "How poetic," Allen chucked. "And thank you. I''ll make sure to clear my name." "You should," Hilda said. She walked out of the counter and held Allen''s cheek. It was amazing how she could do so considering Allen was a foot and a half taller than her. "I know that underneath this mask is a man who has dreams and aspirations," Hilda said. "Your eyes. I''ve seen that look in my son''s. He promised himself and he promised me that we would get out of here. Although he didn''t fulfill his promise to me, I''m d he''s in a better ce." Allen clenched his jaw and gripped his fist. "That bastard son of her." He said in his head. All this time he thought that he wanted to escape the hell he was in with his mother. It turned out he was only thinking of himself. He left his mother under the care of his also bastard father. "I can sense your anger," Hilda said. "But it''s no use to be angry. The past is the past. I''ve grown old and I have epted that. My son that I used to know, I used to tell stories too, and the one who I cared for the most was a different man now. He had grown his wings and he can fly on his own. And I can never get prouder." "No," Allen whispered. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Let''s change the deal." "Change the deal? Why?" Hilda asked. Allen looked at her in the eyes, making the woman shiver in fear after seeing the burning fury in the eyes that gazed at her. "Let your business grow into a hugepany," Allen said. "I''ll provide you as much Code as you need. When your sones back, make him eat your dust." "But child" "No buts," Allen said. "I have made up my mind. I know you love him with all your heart since he''s your son, but your feelings will get in the way for what''s right. He took something, now it''s his turn to give." "What do you mean?" Hilda asked. Allen shook his head and held the woman''s hands, "Madam, just let your shop grow and prosper. I will do the rest." "The rest child, I do not know what you mean," Hilda said. Her voice almost cracked after she started panicking. "You''ll see." Were Allen''sst words before he walked to the door and disappeared into the darkness. Another agenda was added into his list. He started to look out for his legs, and he''ll treat them as his family. And this bastard just made his family member suffer. Chapter 66: Adopted Chapter 66: Adopted Allen sat inside his room, nning on how to expand his name as The Wandering Trader. The first step was to clear his name off with any of the bad record the impostor imposed on to the name. The second one would be garnering more clients to his side, so he can easily reach the top of the food chain. Finally, he would build an empire to overthrow the one they have now. His world would be perfect. Hunters would have zero power in the beginning, regardless of their connections. His ideal world would be systematized and clean. He will leave no stone unturned until this happened. "But for now, I have to find the one responsible for tainting my name," Allen whispered to himself, slouching on his coffee table. He had been observing the people that Jack gave him, but they were all oddly innocent. He tried to make any connections with them to the case, but their motives were too low or too shallow. He examined his interface, looking for something to help him when he found one of the Codes he got from the couple. The description said the Code will give him a special fruit, but it didn''t say what the purpose of the fruit was. Without having any more thoughts, Allen decided to cast the Code. In his palm grew a small bush that looked like it was a bonsai nt. The flow of energy from his hand continued to seep into the nt until an apple grew from it. The fruit was smaller than the average apple, but its skin had little engravings on it. The engravings shows curves and symbols that Allen do not know of, nor was it familiar to him. After about three minutes, the casting of the Code ended and the fruit fell from the bush. The bush snapped and aged, rotting away as if a long period of time had passed. "What is this?" Allen asked himself as he watched the an apple on the table. With his index finger, he rolled the apple towards the edge, just for the fruit to barely hold on the wooden table. "Should I consume it?" With a sigh, the boy took the apple in his mouth and took onerge bite off of it. He felt the power of the fruit gush through his system, as if he was in an adrenaline rushbined with a series of stats boost from a Support Hunter. ''Instinct Enhancement Quintupled'' The world felt like it was passing through Allen. It was like he was traveling across the globe with his vision getting hazier as seconds ticks by. His mind got clouded, his thoughts were slolwy copsing. His entire body tingled and was flinching. It was like he was vibrating from the inside. He couldn''t stop shaking while his mind was brutally being flipped up and down without stopping. "What''s happening?!" Allen groaned. He was screaming to the top of his lungs until he saw a small hint of light up ahead. The light was getting bigger and bigger. It was approaching him. The boy could only stare at the light as it swallowed him whole, making him reach a newfound climax. He then closed his eyes and almost immediately, Jeremy''s face shed in his mind. He opened his eyes again and everything was clear. There wasn''t anything disoriented in the room. All his things were in their right spots and his mind was clear. He looked at the apple. He took a few more bites until there was nothing left off of the fruit apart from its core. While he was eating the fruit, Allen had seen the light again and again for several times. His instincts were enhanced for only a few seconds, and the time when he was flinching and shaking uncontrobly, his mind was assessing the case he was facing. His main goal was to catch the culprit who used his identity tomit crimes, and his enhanced instincts answered exactly that. It was showing him probabilities and scenarios where Jeremy was the one who exploited his alter ego. Allen was still not too sure if it was true, but everything was too realistic to ignore. He took out his phone and was about to call Gwen when he thought of the woman. She was Jeremy''s colleague, and even when she wasn''t shown in his enhanced instincts state, she still wasn''t clear of any suspicion. She and Jeremy could have worked together, and everything that had happened to her could just be their ploy to gain the people''s trust. Allen nodded to himslef and sighed. Now he doesn''t have anyone to lean to, but he realized he doesn''t. He was going solo so far, and that won''t change anytime soon. "Alright," he said to himself. He prepared all his necessary items to catch Jeremy and investigate him. He crossed the possibility of following him since he was a police officer and he has eyes everywhere. "What shall I do?" As if a lightbulb lit above him, Allen grinned and went to hisptop. He opened the files Jack gave him and immediately searched for Jeremy''s name. Not a few monentster, he saw the man''s name. "Jeremy Cruz," Allen said out loud as he read the description in the screen. Jeremy Cruz was a twenty-five year old man that lived in a little country down south called San Antonio. He was the first of four sons and graduated in San Antonio Police Academy at the top of his ss. After graduating, he became a Hunter and rose the ranks until he became a police officer and was stationed in Camp Tw three years ago. There wasn''t much information about what happened in Camp Tw in the three years of his duty but there was one scandal that he was involved in. As he skimmed through the rows and rows of words, Allen''s interest came at peak. The scandal Jeremy was involved in was the exploitation of goods and tax from the Wealth Valley in the camp. The reports stated that he was taking bribes from rich clients and he would allow them into restricted zones to hunt. Restricted Zones were the areas of the Otherworlds that was being monitored by the police. The resources from these areas were too short that it can''t sustain the Hunters that go inside it, so they would be regted. The areas would be shut down to Hunters for a few months, just until it recovers and bes avable for hunting again. Restricted Zones could also be the areas where the resources would rarely regenerate. These areas would often be sighed by the rich Hunters because they contain collectible Codes and materials that wasn''t easily located in any other part of the Otherworlds. The type of area that Jeremy opened to his clients weren''t included in the data, but Allen was sure that it was thetter. Jeremy led people inside the Restricted Zones for them to collect rare Codes and materials. What doesn''t make sense was how the was still able to keep his job when this was grounds for him to get fired and imprisoned. His records were clean and he didn''t have any police record of him being in jail. Though there was a catch for his freedom. Even when he was popr among the people of Camp Tw, he wasn''t able to promoted into higher ranks and would be stuck with his Police Officer III rank. His ie was also deducted with five percent for the damage and he was on probation for ten years. Allen had his eyes on Jeremy now. His case seemed to suspicious just to be ignored. He was sure to get fired, but he didn''t get fired. Now, he was going to be punished but his punishment were too clean, as if someone was backing him. If that would be the case, then this would throw off the suspicion on him. Why does he need to use the Wandering Trader''s identity and attack the twins and the guards if he had a backer? The clues would make anyone walk in circles and that''s where Allen was exactly at right now. "I''m missing something here," Allen whispered. "What could it be?" There was still the aftereffects of the enhanced instincts that made Allen scroll up Jeremy''s files and read everything about it again. Jeremy Cruz. Born in San Antonion. Graduated at the San Antonio Police Academy and was the top of his ss. At the bottom of this paragraph, there was a small plus sign that Allen missed before. With narrowed eyes, he clicked the sign and it opened a new window to him. The window contained several photos that were attached to Jeremy''s files. His birth certificate, report cards, diplomas, and one particr file that caught Allen''s eyes. His eyes widened after reading it. He was shaking his head in disbelief but at the same time sighing in pure joy at his discovery. Jeremy Cruz. Born in San Antonio. Graduated at the San Antonio Police Academy and was the top of his ss. Adopted by John Smith, the Minister of Defense. Chapter 67: Jeremy Chapter 67: Jeremy Jeremy lost his parents when he was neen. Just before he graduated from the police academy, they died from a car ident. That''s when John Smith entered the fray. He adopted Jeremy, but was never close to him. He also hid the fact that Jeremy was his son, making him stay at a different house and have his own identity. The only time that the two would have any sort of interaction was when John woulde to the weekly assessment of Jeremy. He trained the boy non-stop so that Jeremy could be his sessor in the future. As years passed, Jeremy became more and more distant to his adopted father. He became a man with different values and different principles, even denying that John was his father. When Jeremy graduated in the academy, he moved to Lancaster to be a Hunter. This angered John because he had other ns for the boy. He was trying to win over San Antonio''s camps through Jeremy, and since his son moved to another country, his ns became a wreck. Meanwhile in Lancaster, six months of training had passed and Jeremy became a police officer. He rose through the ranks without anyone knowing of his identity. He became a a Hunter with the Assassin role as well as a senior police officer in Camp Tw. However, John didn''t ept defeat. He framed Jeremy and made him y in his palms. He made his son fall into a pit but he reached out for a rope that was the only way out. He was trying to swallow Jeremy so he could achieve his own goal. Allen gulped after reading the full timeline of Jeremy''s files. The fact that the information gathered by Jake was spot on made him even wonder how powerful Verta Carta actually was. Soon, he wanted to make them his client so he can ascend to higher grounds. Meanwhile, he has to go back to reality and search for clues. Since Jeremy used his identity, allegedly, he will make use of the police officer''s asset the Minister of Defense. Once he will get acquainted with John Smith, Allen will have more power in his arsenal. Though, the only problem he was facing now was how to get close to John. "Am I going to sell Jeremy out?" Allen asked himself. Heid himself on the floor and stared at the ceiling. He don''t have anything of value that would interest John Smith at the moment. And the fact that he even framed his own adopted son so he could get what he want was a red g. Allen was sure enough that once he finishes his end of the deal, John will frame him too. After all, he was at a dangerous spot. He was the true persona behind the Wandering Trader and the one who attacked the twins. If he would partner up with John, when things go good or bad, he''ll surely get the shorter end of the stick. The boy closed his eyes and thought for a moment. He opened them instantly and he sat up, grinning to himself after realizing something. "I could use Jeremy instead!" - The market slowly recovered from the impact of food poisoning. People started to gather again, and the vendors opened their stalls once more. The ughterhouses also reopened after the government issued a stricter health protocols. Allen wandered in the bustling streets to look for Jeremy. If he could have a chance to talk to him as the Wandering Trader, that would be good for him. He had already prepared his deal and he was sure enough that Jeremy would ept it. He also prepared andmine for his client just in case things would go south. A couple of minutes of walking and he had found his target. The man wearing his blue uniform with arge dagger on his back was walking around the street and was checking every alley he could find. They were still not done searching for the alleys in case the Wandering Traderes back. When the suspect isn''t caught, no one was safe. That was what the police office told the Hunters in the camp. For Allen, it was a pile of BS. The police aren''t doing their absolute best to catch the criminal, even when they have strong personnel with them. They are just trying to make way for more crimes to arise. And for Jeremy, someone who is one of them, to have the audacity to do such heinous crimes, it was a whole level of bullsh*t. He was the biggest clown of them all. Yet he''s the key for Allen to clear his name. "Hello." Allen woke up from his thoughts. He looked to where the voice came from and it was Jeremy himself. He was grinning at him while looking like a fool. "You''re Gwen''s little friend, right?" Jeremy asked. "I know you remember me." "I do," Allen said with a smile. "You''re here for your duty?" "Yes, actually. I''m looking for the alleys in case the Wandering Trader woulde," Jeremy said while looking around. "Do you have anything to buy here? I could rmend you the best stores around here. I was stationed here for two years now." Come to think of it, Allen looked around and realized that this was near the ce where he attacked the twins. This particr street was focused on selling seafood as well as raw ingredients for cooking. "I''m looking for a ce to buy the best crawfish," Allen lied. Jeremy grinned at this, "Ohh. I love crawfish." The man pointed at the store a few blocks away from them. "That store sells the best of the best. They have their crawfish imported from the other camps near the sea. And their products are always fresh, so you don''t have to worry about quality." "That''s amazing," Allen said with a fake smile. "I''m going to go there right now. Do you want to eat dinner at my ce tonight? We can have a dinner party." "I would love to," Jeremy sighed. "But I''m on duty until tomorrow midnight. We''re short on staff these days due to the Phantom Cunt''s food poisoning." Allen wanted to scoff in Jeremy''s face after he put the me on his crimes to someone else. He really had the audacity to do so. No wonder John Smith chose him as his adopted son, they have the same quality with them. "That''s too bad," Allen fake frowned. He gave a few seconds of silence before he sighed. "Well, I have to go now. My crawfish is waiting." "Okay," Jeremy said. "Take care on your way. And please don''t go to any alleyway. We can''t have the Phantom Cunt chase you down or attack you." "I''ll stay on the streets," Allen reassured. He waved his hand goodbye before walking to the store where Jeremy rmended. Now, he knew where the police officer would be at tonight. He just have to cook this to prepare to go out and make a deal with Jeremy as the Wandering Trader. In any case he would be in their radar as one of the suspects, he would have the perfect alibi. "I was making crawfish stew." - It was nighttime. The crawfish stew was done, and the time for Allen to make his deal with Jeremy was getting closer. He got out of his apartment room and leaped to the roofs of the buildings to get to where Jeremy was. He looked at the alleys, one by one searching them for any sign of the man he was looking for. A few minutester, he saw Jeremy looking bothered while looking around him. He looked panicked as he entered one of the alleys. There was something that''s going on with him and this made Allen''s interest peak. He went to the building of the alley Jeremy entered and prepared his disguise. Allen was about to leap down and make the deal when he saw that Jeremy wasn''t there to search. He was waiting for someone. Not a minuteter, a man came to the other side of the alley. He was wearing a ck suit paired with a pair of dark shared that covered his eyes. He had a buzzcut hair paired with scars of his face and neck. Three more men followed him, although they weren''t as big and as intimidating as him, they still looked dangerous. They were all wearing dark shades and they have scars all over their faces. "You have sessfully made Verta Carta pull out," the man said. He pped his hands a couple of time and suddenly, Jeremy was on the ground. He hadnded a fist on the police officer''s stomach in a sh even Allen almost missed it. "But that''s not enough," the man said. "There''s still one more wall for us, the Scarrs, to achieve our ultimate goal." "Chen," Jeremy recovered himself and stood. "I know you have a grudge against my father, but please leave him out of this." Another punchnded straight to Jeremy''s stomach. This time, he was prepared and he only flinched after being hit. "He had already abandoned you," Chen said. "Why still protect him?" "He''s my mother''s first lover," Jeremy said. "And my biological father." Chapter 68: Three Wishes 1 Chapter 68: Three Wishes 1 Allen had to cover his mouth after hearing the words from Jeremy''s lips himself. He was the actual son of John Smith, the actual brother of the B*tch Sisters. The revtions between them are getting more intense that Allen couldn''t help but listen intently. This was useful information and he was going to gather as much juice as he can to use in the future. Who knows, he might get a deal with the men with scars. Chen on the other hand had no expression on his face. He didn''t look surprised nor impressed by the revtion. The man simply shrugged and turned around, looking back at Jeremy onest time. "You have three days to give me the files," Chen warned. "If you fail to do so, you and your family will get it. I''ll start by taking your sisters and make them my personal toys." "Don''t you dare hurt them, Chen!" Jeremy growled. "If you darey a single hand on them, I''ll tell Verta Carta everything." This statement seemed to shake therge scar-faced man. He fully turned to Jeremy''s direction and walked in front of him, leaning down to match his face with the police officer who was kneeling on the ground. "If Verta Carta knows where we are," Chen pulled Jeremy''s hair back so the man would look up. The former''s eyes were burning in anger and they were bearing holes in Jeremy''s face. "We know who to me." With that he mmed Jeremy''s head to the ground and left with his men. Allen wanted to go to Jeremy to see if the was still alive, but his cover will be blown. He was already wearing the cape and the mask after all. He waited for a few seconds until Jeremy was coughing. His body wasying t facing the ground and he slowly turned toy on his back. "I know you''re there." Allen didn''t answer, but he had a hunch that Jeremy was referring to him. He waited a couple of seconds more by letting Jeremy cough until the man sat up and looked above him. "The Wandering Trader," Jeremy called out. "I know you''re there." Allen''s eyes widened. Jeremy knew where he was and he also knows the alias he was using. His persona was known as the Phantom Cunt in the entire camp, but this man knew what name he was using. "I heard you''re looking for clients," Jeremy said. "Can I apply for one?" The opportunity went knocking on his door without him acting. Allen can''t pass this offer. Jeremy was his target and he was trying to figure out how he can get him on board. But Jeremy himself went to him. This could be good. Allen leaped from the roof andnded on the ground right in front of Jeremy. He can now control his body freely even when he was falling he could slow down and reduce the shock and impact as he fell. "You know me," Allen said with his deep voice. He used a tone of a statement rather than a question to assert dominance. He still doesn''t know what Jeremy has up his sleeve, so he has to be very careful when dealing with him. "From which rat did you get my name?" "Let''s call her Mary," Jeremy said. "And she didn''t really tell me right away. I had to use "methods" to get my answers." "And I assume your methods would involve her son?" Allen asked, fully knowing it was the only one of Mary''s weakness. The woman had lived through shame and poverty while raising her child, needless to say, she was a very strong and capable woman. But when ites to her son, Mary is powerless and she is submissive. She would do anything for her child even begging the two people who ruined her life just so she could save him. "Yes, and no," Jeremy said. "I merely threatened her by telling her that she''s an essory for the crime. I know you know which crime I am referring to." "The Smith Sisters," Allen finished. "Wise, Officer Jeremy. But you are from the force. What do you intend for me to do?" "Do you kill?" Jeremy asked with a serious tone. He stood and stared at Allen, the boy feeling the intense eye contact of the police officer even through his mask. "I can pay you any amount. I also have a lot of clients that wants me to kill this specific person." "I do not kill," Allen said truthfully. It wasn''t his intention to be a mercenary just to rise through the ranks and be one of the leading Hunters. After all, he wanted to eradicate the darkness in the society, not join it. "If you want murder, you have contacted the wrong man. I merely deal with Codes and money, further than that I''m afraid I cannot fulfill." "Then why don''t you give me a Code?" Jeremy asked. "A Grand grade Code and I''ll give you ten Rare grades." "The value of a Grand grade far surpasses ten Rare grades," Allen said. "I''ll pass on this offer." He saw Jeremy start to panick. Allen was waiting for this moment just so he could put his offer on the table. He was like a snake, staying still and waiting for his prey to use up all their energy just so he could strike at the most perfect moment At this time, Jeremy had used up all his bullets. He was out of options, but his problems were still haunting him. It was either he let the Wandering Trader give him a deal or he walk out if this trade and face Chen himself. "Then, do you have anything you want?" Jeremy asked. He tried to hide his desperation but Allen could see through them. Jeremy was afraid. "I do," Allen replied. "I can help you injure Chen to the point of no return, but you have to fulfill three wishes." "Three?" Jeremy scoffed. "And I thought you don''t kill? What happened to that?" "I just said "injure", not "kill"," Allen rified. "You know my abilities well. I even had to face you along with the Smith Sisters and won" "You escaped," Jeremy corrected. "And you yed a cheap trick that time." "Nonsense," Allen smirked. "Fighting requires you to use everything to win. You don''t have to be so chivalrous and courteous when fighting." "That does make sense," Jeremy pursed his lips. "Then let''s do it. Let me hear your wishes and I will fulfill them." "Good," Allen said. "The first would be to answer a series of questions I have. The second one is a trade for two Codes, and thest one is a task for you." "Just to injure Chen?" Jeremy asked. "Don''t you think you''re having the longer end of the stick right here? I''m at a huge disadvantage." "I can also keep the fact that you were the son of the Minister of Defense," Allen said. "Biological son. And the fact that you were involved in a scandal that your father tried to bury even when he was the one who inflicted it in the first ce." "H-How" Jeremy trailed off. "How do you know? Where in the hell did you get ahold of these information?" "Officer Jeremy Young, famous because of his looks and skills," Allen walked circles in front of Jeremy. "A man with a sad past and a big scandal not long ago. He even deals with the gangs in the streets at the moment, meaning he still wasn''t done with his scandals." "Did you threaten Mary like this too?" Jeremy asked to which Allen shook his head to answer. Thetter walked closer to Jeremy and pointed his finger on the police officer''s forehead. "No, you did." "Fine," Jeremy pushed Allen away and took a couple of steps back. "I''ll do it. You can start asking your questions now so we canplete the first part of the deal." He is desperate. Allen smirked. Jeremy was a desperate man trying to crawl out of the pit he was pushed into. He was all alone at the bottom where it was cold and dark. And the only way for him to get out was a rope made to be cut when he was almost at the top. Jeremy might not be the brightest man out there, but he wasn''t a fool. He knew that when he takes his father''s hand and goes on to deliver what the old man wants him to do, he will perish forever. Now that there was another rope for him to get out, he was clinging to it tightly. At least for this rope, he wouldn''t fall alone when things go south. This was what Allen had wanted when he was dealing with clients. He wasn''t just improving his own name and strengthening himself, but he was making sure he stood on the same ground with his clients. That''s why he pursued on bing the Wandering Trader at first. He was trading, not selling. Chapter 69: Three Wishes 2 Chapter 69: Three Wishes 2 "First question," Allen didn''t hesitate on saying. "How did you find out I was here?" Jeremy smirked at this. He seemed to have known that the Wandering Trader would ask this question. He was now holding the high ground. At least that was what he was thinking. "You don''t have a specific role, that''s why," Jeremy answered. "Hunters with the role of Assassins have an innate passive skill in them. Their stealth are enhanced by a lot of times, making it easier for them to sneak on people. "Besides the fact that their movement speed is increased, they also produce lower sound when moving and has narrower figure in the eyes of other people," Jeremy continued. "You were good atbat, but you didn''t know about this fact. Interesting." "Next question," Allen said without acknowledging Jeremy''s words. "How did you know that Mary was the person behind the attack? And you were so sure of it too that you even threatened her with her own son." "Another simple question," Jeremy said. "That''s because there was no other person in the street that time. We have cameras in some parts of the camp, and it just so happens that," he paused and pointed at the building of the alley, "there''s one right where you and Mary did the deal." "Final question," Allen said. "What level do you think I am? I assume you already fought a lot of people before, and you had assessed them. How stronger am Ipared to the others?" "I''ll assume you''re almost at Ascension," Jeremy replied. "But you also have to count the fact that you don''t have any roles you''re at a huge disadvantage, so maybe you''re already qualified for Paradise. You just won''t ascend because you have other businesses to take care of here in Haven." "Fascinating," Allen muttered. He ced his finger on his chin and smirked. When Jeremy thought he had the upper hand, Allen was just ying with him. The boy wanted to know more on how he can improve himself and since Jeremy saw through him twice, he was going to fix where he was wrong. He now has to be aware of the cameras around as well as the limit of his strengths. He cannot fully hide since he wasn''t an Assassin, that was a fact. His stealth was still not at its peak, so he has to improve himself more in this aspect. As for hisst question, he was right all along. No normal Hunter in his level to have so many Codes. Even when a regr Hunter would farm day and night for months, they would still have half the number of his Codes. Knowing this, he was far in advantages than them. He can use multiple Codes for a battle. He has a lot of skill Codes at his disposal, he can simply spam them and it will look like he was a strong Hunter. As for the integrity of Jeremy''s words, he was sure enough that the man wasn''t lying to him. Jeremy still has the desperation and he wasn''t hiding it well. They were in the same boat, and they needed to help each other so their boat would not sink. "Now for the second wish," Allen snapped himself out of his thoughts. "I have one Rare grade Code and two Rare grade items. I will ask for only one Rare grade Code of your own choosing." "Only one?" Jeremy had to repeat. "Won''t that make you go out of business? So generous. Also, items? How in the hell did you acquire such items? It''s hard enough to craft a single item, you have two? And I''m assuming you have more since you''re willing to just throw it all away." "Out of our deal, I have three advantageous side while you only have one," Allen said, raising four fingers and closing one. "I have to equalize so we can reach the same ground. Again, I am trading and not giving service." "Wow," Jeremy chuckled. "Then let me select a good Code for you. You go ahead and choose yours." Little did he know, Allen already had Codes and items at his disposal. He collected materials in the forest and he found himself crafting a lot of items, now his Inventory was almost full. He was going to give Jeremy just anything and the man would be grateful. That was a fact. "Okay, here it is," Jeremy offered his hand. Allen was pretending to choose in his interface just so his own side of the trade would look valuable. "Let me give you my Code first." Allen took the man''s hand and Jeremy selected the Code in his interface. He was grinning while doing this, making Allen about to smirk by how stupid he looked. Jeremy had a lot of tragic experiences in life, but he still acted like a kid sometimes. Allen lowered his hands when a series of images shed before his eyes. It was another set of memories, but this time they contained Jeremy. "What" Allen gasped. His eyes widened when the memories started ying more. It was like a very fast slideshow that his mind was barely able to keep up. "Are you okay?" Jeremy asked, trying to walk closer to him. The man raised his hand and was about to put it on Allen''s shoulder when the boy shrugged it off. "What''s happening, Wandering Trader?" "You''re so stupid," Allen said in his memory. He was looking at Jeremy who was ying in a creek along with his previous group. "Jeremy, stop!" The police officer was grinning and he was sshing water to everyone beside the creek. They were allughing at each other, as if they don''t have a problem in the world. "Allen," Jeremy called out. "Let''s go." The boy returned to reality and he was now kneeling on the ground. Jeremy had his hands on his shoulders while calling out his name continuously. "Wandering Trader?" Jeremy called out. "Can you hear me?" Allen pushed the man off. He stood and regained himself, trying his best to block all the memories that were trying to resurface. "I have an emergency to attend to. Let''s meet back here tomorrow same time." Allen groaned and massaged his temples, barely suppressing all the memories inside his head. He turned around and was about to walk away when Jeremy called out. "But I won''t be on duty tomorrow," Jeremy said. "It would be suspicious of me to go here when I don''t have to." "That''s not my problem," Allen said. "If you don''t show up, the deal is off." He used the effect of his cloak to vanish into thin air. The he leaped to the roof to run away, somewhere where he can be alone and scream. The memories that were ying in his head made it feel like his head was splitting in half. It was so painful that he was barely able to run away from the camp, taking his outfit off and going to the forest where he screamed his lungs out. His knees brought him down to the forest floor. Everything was dark and all he could hear was the constant noiseing from the beasts that roamed the night. He should he alert if anything would attack him, but his mind was preupied. "Allen!" "Jeremy!" Allen was standing in front of the gate from their camp when Jeremy was running to him. He was waving his hand while using signnguage for the rest of their conversation. It seemed like thetter came from the forest and he was going inside the camp. "I''m so close to achieving my dream, Allen," Jeremy said with a wide grin. "I came all the way here from Camp Tw just to say that." "Really?" Allen smiled as he signed his words. "That''s great! We should celebrate this." "Where are the others? Drinks are on me," Jeremy said with augh. "I''m just so happy." "I''m also happy for you," Allen signed. He looked around like he was trying to find something. Not a momentter, he smiled and saw his grouping out of the forest and go to him. "Allen!" the headless woman cheered. "And I see you have Jeremy visit you today." "He always visit us," Allen signed with a chuckle. "Plus, he has a good news to share to us." "Really?" Selena butt in. "Well, we also have some good news to share. We caught a Rare grade boar! Let''s sell its meat and eat some for us." "Beer is on me!" Jeremy cheered. "Let''s toast our friendship." "You dide all the way from Camp Tw," Allen signed. "Let''s go!" The memory ended and Allen found himself lying on the ground. The dried up leaves crunched as he moved, sitting up to recover himself. "I don''t believe this." The boy stood and massaged his head, trying to calm himself down. "That can''t be right." The memories slowly shed in his head again. Though the splitting pain was gone, the headache was still there. "Jeremy and I were friends." Chapter 70: Gazelle Moss Chapter 70: Gazelle Moss Allen was still having a hard time digesting the fact that he was friends with Jeremy before. It was all in his memories that shows everything that had happened before. Jeremy was in his memories along with the headless girl. They were there, talking to him and were interacting with him. The only questions left unanswered now was when did these events took ce? And howe Allen forgot all of them in the first ce? Allen had to recover himself. He stood and took a deep breath. The pain from the splitting headache had already subsided, and he was now feeling much betterpared to how he was feeling before. "I have to go back to the camp," Allen said to himself. He looked around and realized that he was lost in the middle of the woods. When he had the headache as the memories resurfaced, he kept on running without any direction. All he wanted was for the pain to stop, so he aimlessly sprinted along the woods until he arrived at a small clearing where he emptied his lungs out. He looked around again, trying to figure out how to get out. There should be small roads that Hunters use to roam the woods. These roads were the paths back to camp, but Allen don''t see any road at the moment. The boy leaped on a nearby tree and looked for the tallest tree around. When he spotted it, he immediately went to the top of that tree so he could have a much better view of the forest. Maybe he could spot the next camp from there. Allen reached the top of the tallest tree but he was disappointed when he couldn''t spot the camp. There were only trees as far as the eye can see, and Camp Tw was located in a nes. The camp wasn''t nearby after all. "Where is North?" Allen asked himself. There were stars above him, but they don''t really tell him anything. They were new to humans and unlike the ones in Earth''s universe, the stars here move along with thes. What Allen has to do now was to look for the Gazelle moss. It was a kind of moss that gazelle-looking beasts favors to eat over anything, hence the name. The moss was a direction pointer for the Hunters since they only grow on the south part of the trees. The moss would usually grow on wetter trees, so Allen had to look for those. He searched for trees that had a wet bark. Not a minuteter, he found one. No one can lie if they saw Allen and mistaken him for a pervert. He was hugging the tree, tapping all the different parts until he found the soft, wet moss. "Gotcha," Allen whispered. He further touched the moss and found it all over one side of the tree. The gazelle moss was almost taking over the tree, making the part slowly rot. "I was running up ahead and didn''t took any turns. "If I were to return back to camp, I should head south since the path out of camp was heading north," Allen analyzed. His body started to twitch, agreeing with his analysis when he faced south. After he ate the fruit that enhanced his instincts by a lot, his body had an innate enhanced instincts. Every small decision that he makes, he has to wait for his body to repond so he can make sure to himself that he was making the right decision. The boy nodded and proceeded to walk south. He was heading back to camp and he was nning on resting when he gets there. Tomorrow, he will finish his deal with Jeremy and the following week, he will meet up with Jake Summers. He can barely believe that it was already a month since he started his deal with Jake. Time went by so fast, and he was just swallowing the fact on how much change his life had undergone. The ns of revenge to his former group had long since vanished, and now he just wants answers. He had all these resurfacing memories, and the only way to confirm if these were real was to talk to his previous group mates and let them give the answers he wanted. "Stop," Allen said to himself. "I gotta head home first." The boy shelved all his thoughts to the back of his mind. He walked back to camp where the guard asked for his ID and the reason why he left sote. "I realized I left my weapon there," Allen said, raising a random sword from his Inventory. He also had the alibi beforeing to the entrance. He will pretend that he had left his sword in the forest, and then just remembered it a few hours ago. "Which Hunter would leave their weapons in the middle of the forest?" the guard sighed. "It''s a good thing no one stole it. Do you know how hard it is to forge weapons? Items can be easily crafted by random materials that somehow rte to each other, but weapons are different." To be honest, Allen also had no idea how to forge weapons. When he put something in his Crafting Table, the final product provided would be an item. Never would it give him a weapon even when he used it a couple of times already. "I''m sorry," Allen said. "But this sword was just given to me by my past lover. This sword was my lover''s blood and soul." The guard''s eyebrow quirked up and his ears looked perkier. He was listening intently as Allen continued with his impromptu drama to get close to the guard. "You see," Allen said with a sad voice. "My lover was a good Hunter. But then a ming lizard attacked and" "The Fire Dragon Incident," the guard said that made a loud ringing bell sound in Allen''s ear. He stopped from his drama and looked at the guard who had a stoic look on his face. "That beast killed a lot of people, even my lover." ''Now things are getting interesting.'' Allen thought. He hid his grin and let the guard continue with his words. "It looked any normal day after all," the guard said. "But the lizard it just attacked the nearby Hunters, killing everything in its path." "The lizard was indeed a foe to be reckoned with," Allen fake agreed. "It was so sudden for us to. We were in the forest trying to do a special exercises in the middle of the woods when the beast came." The guard scrunched his face after hearing Allen, "You you were doing it? In the middle of the woods?" Allen nodded. "We did it all the time. The woods is a thrilling ce to do it." "Too much information, man," the guard groaned. "You''re disgusting. Get inside or else I''ll smack you in the back of your head." Allen pursed his lips but did as was told. He was slightly disappointed that things didn''t go as nned. It was always a good idea to add an embarrassing detail when you lie. He had found a study that you were more likely to be believable when you do this method. The lie seemed to have worked on the guard and the man had believed Allen. What didn''t work was the fact that the guard dismissed the topic instead if indulging in it for a longer period of time. Allen still has to study how to perfectly lie and get the other person to talk about the topic. But on the positive side, he now has another source of information about what happened in the Fire Dragon Incident. The man was another witness, and Allen can slowly milk him out of information since he can''t rely on the others that he saw in his memory. This guard was his information cow, and he was going to win him over. The next project was this guard, and he will find a way to milk him. Back in his room, Allen saw a familiar figure outside. Gary was standing there, aimlessly looking around, waiting for Allen. "You''re back," Gary cheered. "You seem to be taking your time touring the camp and the forest. Three people saw you leave three hours ago." "It was that long?" Allen thought. "I left something there, so I had to go back. Wait, why are you here anyway?" Gary sighed and walked over to the front of his room. "Come over here. We have a little problem." "Problem?" Allen asked. "What problem?" "Juste with me," Gary groaned and entered his room. Allen looked around, trying to see if anyone was in the hallway before he followed the man. Allen entered Gary''s room and there he saw Gwen sitting on the living room, bawling her eyes out as she cried loudly. "What happened?" Allen asked. "Why are you here? And why are you crying like crazy? Did your boyfriend broke up with you or something?" "Jeremy was attacked," Gwen said, making Allen''s world stop turning. "He was attacked by the Phantom Cunt, and he''s now in a critical condition!" Chapter 71: Friends Chapter 71: Friends "When did this happen?" Allen asked. They were now in the hospital, outside of the Intensive Care Unit where Jeremy was. Allen was pacing in front of Gwen who was crying and Gary who was sleeping. "Just now," Gwen replied. "I received a call from the office and they said that the Phantom Cunt attacked him." "Was there any proof?" Allen asked, to which Gwen answered by showing him her phone. On the screen was a CCTV footage outside of a neaby building. The camera was pointed at the direction of the alley in which Allen and Jeremy were talking. The footage was ten seconds long and it shows the Phantom Cunt leaving the scene. He appeared out of nowhere, and then was running in the streets, panicked like he had done something wrong. Simr footages of different buildings were alsopiled by Gwen, and the videos looked real. If you weren''t there when Allen''s memories were resurfacing, you would also think that the Phantom Cunt was running away after doing something heinous. It looked like he attacked someone. "When I catch that fool, I''ll kill him with my own hands," Gwen growled. "How dare he attack a police officer? I knew a guard who died because of his poisoning and now he attacks the one who''s most capable of catching him? I can''t believe this." Allen couldn''t believe it too. The videos shown looked believable, and as the man behind the persona, he can''t defend him. It will be too suspicious if he tries to defend the Phantom Cunt, and it might jeopardize him. The anger and bitterness he was feeling right now, he can just swallow it and keep it to himself. He wasn''t done with his deal with Jeremy, and before that deal was finished, he can''t die. Not on Allen''s watch. It was midnight when Allen had another agenda in his long list of agendas. He was going to find Chen, and he will make him pay. There was no other person who had grudges for Jeremy apart from the man. He was in the rooftop when he took his phone and took a deep breath. He typed the numbers in his phone and dialed it. A few ringster, the other line picked up, prompting the boy to speak. "Hello Jack?" Allen said. "You left a rat in the camp." "Oh, reall?" Jack smirked through the phone. He took a couple of seconds pause before talking again. "What rat escaped my eyes, eh boy?" "I see you lost your ent," Allen joked. He wanted to take the joke back after ruining the serious mood between them. He couldn''t help it though. He was used to talking to Jack so casually that he lost sense of respect between them. "I-I''m sorry" "Enough with the drama, boy," Jack said. "What it is that you wanted to tell me? Name the rat and I''ll personally go there." "Chen," Allen didn''t hesitate to speak. There was a moment of silence between them. He could only hear the steady breathing of the old man on the other line, him not knowing what he was feeling right now. "He had a scar on his face. He''s big, scary, and wears a suit and a pair of sunsses." "There''s only one Chen in the streets," Jack whispered. "And even I don''t want to be messing with him." "I" Allen stopped himself. He felt weak the moment Jack spoke those words. The old man was hisst chance of redemption for what happened to Jeremy. If Jack was scared of Chen, then there''s no way he shouldn''t be. Even the aura of therge man alone was scary. He was only able to bear the sight of him because he needed the information being exchanged by the two. But in actuality, with his current power, he''s no match for Chen. "That was" Jack continued, making Allen snap from his thoughts. "That was before I founded Verta Carta." The boy''s mood was lifted. The fear that was lingering over him vanished and he could exhale in peace. Of course, Jack could handle Chen. The old man was a force to be reckoned with. Chen had an aura that was terrifying since he doesn''t hold back when exuding his potential. He was there to show off and he wasn''t going to stop showing off. Jack on the other hand was a leader of a gang capable of infiltrating the information of a camp. That''s an information with a military-grade security. Verta Carta wasn''t just any gang after all, and it''s leader wasn''t just a leader. He was a powerfulmander. And he was allies with Allen. "To be honest, I was part of his gang before," Jack continued. "It was his father''s gang, Yuan, and he just inherited it. I was best friends with Yuan until he died a year ago. That''s when Chen took over and f*cked the entire gang up." "What did he do?" Allen couldn''t help himself but ask. "Too long to speak on the phone," Jack said. "Where are you right now? I''lle and find you." Allen told Jack the hospital Jeremy was in. The old man agreed to meet him there in the morning and told the boy to get some rest saying, "The young should get as much rest as they can. When you''re old, you can''t rest just as easy. You might die suddenly." Perhaps it was fate that moved the two closer together. Jack knew Allen''s identity and he didn''t even bother telling the police, nor anyone else. He was the first person Allen could trust and he hopes that the situation would stay the same until the end. Allen walked over to the door of the rooftop when he saw Gary leaning on the railing. He tilted his head to the side and got closer to the man who was closing his eyes. "What are you doing here?" Allen askee, snapping Gary awake from his sleep. "Oh, sorry. Did I disturb you?" "No, it''s just" Gary paused. He massaged his forehead and shook his head, seemingly to clear his thoughts. "Jeremy''s friends came. Gwen is with them now." "Jeremy''s friends?" Allen asked. "Who?" "You?" Selena pointed Allen. "But I thought you were from our camp?" "I was originally from here," Allen lied. "I was just in your camp because I brought something over to a friend." "Oh," Selena formed an O with her mouth. "Okay then." "You know each other?" Gwen asked, pointing at Allen then at Selena. "We briefly exchanged words back in our camp," Irene answered. "We believed Kyle hypnotized him." "Hey," Kyle growled. "You just didn''t believe that I made a friend. You''re both so insecure by my friendliness." "Who''s insecure?" Irene scrunched her face. "Who would want to be friends with you?" "So, you''re not my friends?" Kyle touched his chest and faked a pained look. "I cannot believe this." "You seem to be a joyful bunch," Gwen smiled. Her eyes were still puffy but the tears that she shed for her colleague had long since dried. She looked like a mess, but her beauty still was present. Her dark red hair was slightly messy after the running and the crying, her full lips were swollen from her constant biting, and her skin was dried from dehydration. Allen snapped himself from his thoughts after seeing Gwen pale a bit. "I''m gonna go get you some water, Gwen," Allen said. He excused himself from the group and searched the building for a vending machine. "Mind telling me why you''re following me?" "Mind telling me why you were staring at Gwen the whole time?" Gary retorted, making Allen scoff and roll his eyes. He saw the rectangr machine that made him dash towards it. "And why are you avoiding the question, huh?" Gary caught up to him, smirking while leaning on the vending machine. "Are you perhaps guilty? I caught you red handed, Dante." "Why are you even pestering me?" Allen sighed. He inserted his coin to the slot and selected a bottle of water. "I think Gwen is beautiful, but who wouldn''t think that." "I would," Gary smirked. "She''s the perfect package after all. But I don''t think of her as a woman. Just a little sister." "I think of her that way too," Allen said. This made Gary snort, making Allen quirk his eyebrow up. "What?" "She''s older than you," Gary chuckled. "Howe she''s your younger sister?" "She''s my sister, whatever," Allen groaned and left Gary alone at the vending machine. When he returned to his group, he handed Gwen the water and sat beside her. "Are you okay?" "I just need a bit of rest," Gwen said. "Can I go home for a bit? I''ll just take a nap." "You can sleep in the room," Kyle said. "We already prepared the ward for Jeremy. There are three beds there, so you can rest on one." "Perfect," Gwen said with a yawn and stood. With onest look of the door of the ICU, she left to find a ce to sleep. Chapter 72: A Healer from Eternity Chapter 72: A Healer from Eternity It was Allen, Gary, and Kyle left outside of the ICU while waiting for Jeremy to wake up. They made the girl follow Gwen to the room so they could sleep while the boys wait. "How did you guys know Jeremy?" Kyle found himself asking. It was too silent between them that he couldn''t stop himself from doing so. For Allen, this was the most perfect opportunity to milk out some of the lost parts of his memories. All he had were pieces, gists, and scenes but the entire picture was left unsolved. "I met him through Dante," Gary answered, looking at Allen. "I met him through Gwen," Allen muttered after. "They''re colleagues and I happened to met Gwen before. The three of us talked for a bit and slowly became close." "I can see that," Kyle smiled. "For us, Jeremy was the boy who had big dreams. He was the kind of person who persevered even when he was facing a giant storm ahead of him. He''s a nobody from the south, a little country called San Antonio. Then he worked his way up here in Lancaster. "His goal was to be the Minister of Defense," Kyle continued. "He was quite obsessed with the title too. He graduated top of his ss from an academy in the middle nowhere, and rose to be one of the most prominent police officers in the region." "He''s famous too," Allen added. "The girls would fawn over him, flocking like birds no, vultures while looking for a dead body." "Jeremy is indeed a handsome man," Kyle smirked. "But he had always loved one person. I don''t think I should share this. Yeah, I should stop before Irene kills me." "Is that person the reason why he couldn''t rise in the ranks?" Allen asked, catching Kyle off guard. The boy tilted his head and narrowed his eyes while looking at Allen. "How did you know he can''t rise through the ranks?" Kyle asked, returning the surprise to Allen. "I just knew," Allen said without losing his confidence. "It''s not really a big deal considering he''s been in the service for years, yet he only has that rank." "Well," Kyle trailed off. "Yeah, I guess. And yes, the person he liked was the same reason why he couldn''t get promoted. It was a pretty huge deal back in the day." Allen wanted to further question Kyle, but it would make him look too suspicious. Especially since Gary was around, he can''t just blurt information that only a very few would know. There was a moment of silence after their exchange of words. Nobody tried to break the silence until they door of the ICU flung open, a doctor came outside and took off her mask. She was the doctor who came inside just a few minutes ago to check on Jeremy''s condition. "Where are the friends of Officef Jeremy?" the doctor asked. The three men stood and walked over to her, crowding her and towering her petite stature. "Too tall. But anyway, he''s in a better condition now. I just checked in with the healers and their confident that he''ll make it." A collective sigh of relief escaped the trio''s mouths. They looked at each other and smiled, joyful that their friend was safe. "But I still don''t get how he would sustain such injuries," the doctor said. "He had three holes in his body. One small one on his right arm, a bigger one on his right thigh, and arge portion of his right stomach was emptied. What kind of person would attack him?" The door opened again and a tall man came out. He was big, buff, and his tinum blonde hair was reaching his lower back. He also has eyes that were light gray, almost white, paired with his pale skin as though it was snow. "There''s a lot of beasts in the wild, Doctor Flemming," the man said, narrowing his eyes while looking at three. "But the worse beasts are humans. The one who did this to an officer was something who''s not afraid, and they''re pretty capable. "Such injuries can only be received from at least a Grand grade weapon, held by someone who can ascend to either Paradise or Eternity," the man said with a sigh. His eyes rxed and he offered his hand forward, but to no one in particr. "I am Sebastian Lincoln, Grand Healer of Camp Triton, that''s in Eternity." It wasn''t long before the three realized that this man was blind, or at least his vision was very bad. He was looking below him, considering he was gigantic, but his eyes didn''t look at one person in particr. He was looking at the space between Allen and Gary. "My name is Kyle," Kyle took the man''s hand and introduced himslef. "And these are Dante and Gary." "Dante" Sebastian repeated. "Gary. Nice to meet you two. As you can see, my vision is very low. I underperform in such task." "Mr. Sebastian, let us go. Your group is waiting for you," Doctor Flemming said before excusing themselves and leaving the three there. "That man was from Eternity," Kyle whispered, suddenly jumping high up in the air. "It''s my first time meeting such a person. And now I realize who he is. There''re only less than a hundred people in Eternity, why can''t I forget?" "Who is he then?" Allen asked. "Sebastian Lincoln, Healer from the Heavens," Kyle said. "He''s a man who''s capable of healing people even when they''re already at Death''s Door. The only thing he cannot heal is the dead, he''s basically a legend." Allen was sure enough to ask Jack about Sebastian. He felt like he could make some kind of connection between them. "Howe I didn''t feel strengthing from him?" Gary asked, making Kyle smirk. "The string can hide their powers well," the grinning boy replied. "That man healed Jeremy who lost a portion of his stomach. That in itself is a marvel, worthy of him getting a statue." "But he''s not stronger than the Primordial Beast Bearers, is he?" Allen asked. This made Kyle scrunch his face, "No. They''re on apletely different level. But for he''s a man who''s a step behind the eleven of them. And he came here to Haven to" Kyle suddenly paused, his eyebrows met and he pursed his lips. A question loomed over his head that made him rethink everything he just said not a minute ago. "Why did such a legende down?" Kyle asked. "He has a hundred V''s in VIP, why would he try to heal a mere police officer? And at Haven, not to mention." "Oh, yeah," Allen seconded so he wouldn''t look suspicious. "I also wonder why that is possible. Jeremy, even when he works at the police station, was visited by such a prolific person." "Maybe Sebastian came here to visit, so they asked him for help?" Gary asked. "I''m going to ask Selena and Irene," Kyle said. "They cannot believe this. They''re not going to believe this. I swear to you." The boy left Allen and Gary outside the ICU while he ran through the corridors to look for his friends. Allen sighed and sat back on the seat, massaging his forehead while he thought for another n. "That man is crazy," Gary chuckeld. Allen watched him sit on the chair beside him and realized that there was something missing from Gary. "You look iplete," Allen said. "What happened?" Gary stared at the boy for a moment. He then smirked and gestured behind him, trying to point out what was missing. "Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth. "Your gun. Where is it?" "In the shop," Gary said. "It''s a Code weapon, so the cksmiths are still trying to figure out how it broke when I condition it well. I don''t let that gun get an inch of dust, let alone let it lose at a speck of its integrity. Then why did broke? That was their question." Allen was curious about the reason too. He had heard of weapons breaking, some even wentpletely shattered, after they lost their integrity, but Gary''s gun was fine. It didn''t even look old or fragile, yet it was split in half. "How do you feel right now?" Allen asked. "That gun was special to you, wasn''t it? And it suddenly broke." "The gun wasn''t special to me," Gary said. "But the person who gave me that gun was. She was the love of my life." "Is she still with us?" Allen asked to which Gary answered with a shaking of his head. The boy instantly got up and had his hand pat on Gary''s back. "Sorry." "It''s okay," the man smiled. "I''m not upset at all. I just know that everyonees and goes, and nothing is permanent in this world." Before Allen could even say anything, Gary fled the scene while covering his eyes. Allen wanted to go after him when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hand was big, and it was cold. When he looked behind him, Sebastian Lincoln was standing there, staring at the empty space in front of him. "You''re trying to hide the Snake," Sebastian said, making Allen''s world stop spinning. "But with how you do it, you''re doing a lousy job." Chapter 73: Pending Deal Chapter 73: Pending Deal Allen stared at Sebastian, he couldn''t believe the smirk that was ying in the man''s lips. Sebastian was blind, and not too long ago he couldn''t look at anyone in the eyes. But now he was staring through Allen''s soul. He was smiling while looking at Allen who was now panicking. "B-But how did you" Allen trailed off. "I''m pretty sure I''ve been hiding my aura well." "What you''re doing is not enough," Sebastian said. "You haven''t met a lot of strong people haven''t you?" "No," Allen replied honestly. "You''re probably the first person from Eternity to meet me." "That makes sense," Sebastian smirked, handing him a card. "Call me when you need my help. I''ll be staying in Haven for a few more days." "You''re not going to tell everyone about my Code?" Allen asked to which Sebastian answered with a shaking of his head as a no. "But why?" "What''s the purpose of telling them?" Sebastian said. "But you have to do a little task for me in exchange for the training and the secret keeping." "What could someone like you want from someone like me?" Allen asked, face scrunching in confusion. "I don''t understand. You are one of the most powerful person in the world, you''re on the top one percent of people that has eighty percent of the world''s power." "So, you do know the statistics," Sebastian smirked. "And yes, the ones in Eternity and up are the people who holds the most power in the world. But that could change any second now." "What do you mean?" Allen asked but Sebastian shook his head. "That''s all I can say for now," the man said. "If you want to know more about the movement, call me. Also I''m not avable in the morning, so call me at night." Before the man could leave, Allen held his wrist. Sebastian didn''t took it back. Instead, he just let Allen pull him. "Wait," Allen said. "It''s a wonder why someone like you woulde and heal a police officer from here. Does your presence have to do something with Jeremy''s father?" Sebastian smirked, "You even know Jeremy Smith''s identity. You''re a very interesting man." "Answer my question," Allen said. "Why did John send someone to save his son that he hated so much?" "John never hated Jeremy," Sebastian replied. For some reason, Allen had to let go of the man''s wrist. His body moved on its own, as if someone else was controlling him. "Jeremy was a rebel. He can''t ept the fact that his father was John, so he rebelled and rebelled." "But he framed Jeremy before," Allen argued. Sebastian only smirked and turned around. "I guess you now have more reason to call me. And be sure that you do because I will be waiting." With those words, Sebastian left. Allen was left in the middle of the hallway, speechless. He couldn''t believe what just happened. Allen was sitting on the chairs right outside the ICU when Jack arrived. He went over to the man, bowing and greeting him respectfully. Jack was all alone as he entered the hospital. He wore a simple white shirt under a floral polo, and a pair of Hawaiian Tan shorts. On his head was a straw hat while he a pair of sunsses hid his dark green eyes. "Jack," Allen greeted. "Ugh," Jack groaned. "You look like a fool. You don''t need to be so formal to me, you know." "But you''re a leader of a gang," Allen smirked, teasing the old man. "I should give you all the respect if I want to live." "I''ll kill you if you don''t stop ying around," Jack warned, also yfully. This made Allen grin and they both sat on the chairs. "So, scar face is back." "I think he never even left," Allen said. "From what I''ve heard, he just waited for your gang to leave, then they moved again." "I guess that''s the case," Jack sighed. "Any other information regarding the man?" "Unfortunately, no," Allen answered honestly. "I thought Verta Carta was here for other reasons before. What caused the sudden reappearance of Chen''s gang?" "That cuck turned the gang into deeper illegal sh*t," Jack said. "When the gangs mostly transport goods because of taxes, Chen and Scarred Wolf traded illegal substances from the Otherworlds and into Earth." "What?" Allen gasped. "You mean they sold drugs?" "Exactly," Jack sighed. "You know how potent shit here are, right? Meat here tastes a million times better than the ones in Earth. Medicine here works better, and so is everything else. In the Otherworlds, everything was more potent and that includes the illegal substances." "So" Allen trailed off. "They sold drugs to the regr humans." "Imagine what happened next," Jack leaned back andid his head on the backrest of the chair. "I tried using the drugs before and it didn''t feel good. It was too strong. This is from a man that spends his time loitering in Eternity. The drugs from the Otherworlds are fucking strong." "But regr humans used it in Earth," Allen muttered. "If it''s already strong to you, then." "The motherfuckers wanted to get high, so they went straight to heaven," Jack snorted. "It was a good one. But anyway, remember Blue Lime disease? It killed hundreds of thousands of humans, but that disease wasn''t actually a disease. It was a byproduct from burning illegal drugs. It mutated spread in the air, and killed people. "That''s why all the gangs are looking for Chen''s gang. He caused that shit to happen," Jack continued. "We could never forgive him. He knew the consequences of his actions all too well, yet he didn''t hesitate to do them anyway. What kind of a bastard does that?" "Chen, apparently," Allen snickered. "He''s a fool. Now I get the hate." "I can''t believe his father died and this happened to the empire he built," Jack sighed. "I bet he''s dying for the second time whenever he is now." There was a moment of silence between them after. Allen just stared at the old man while Jack stared at the ceiling. "If you''re going to stare at me, try not to pierce holes through my head next time." "No, I mean" Allen trailed off. "You''re from Eternity?" "For three years," Jack said. "I''m one of the leading Hunters that going to join the Bearers in their world. When I ascend, I''m going to punch their faces." "But you have Chen to deal with right now," Allen said. Jack stood and stretched his body. "I just received a text from my pal. They already found Chen''s hiding spot." "Thay quick?" Allen stood, walking in front of the old man. "Bring me with you." "You''re crazy if you think we''re going to attack just like that," Jack snorted. "Even with my power, if Chen decides toy traps in his base, I might not make it out easily. Hell, I don''t even think I''lle out alive." "What will you do then?" Allen asked. Jack ced his hand on the boy''s shoulders. He pushed Allen down so he would return to his seat. "You stay here while I go n my shit. I''ll call you once we attack." "Will you really?" Allen tried to ask for reassurance. "I never broke a promise before," Jack said. "Now stay." The old man left, leaving Allen alone once again. He closed his eyes, not realizing that he was falling deep into slumber. - Four more hours had passed. Allen and Gary left the hospital to shower and change his clothes. Kyle and the girls volunteered to wait for Jeremy, saying they''ll shower there and stay in the ward until their friend wakes up. Jeremy was still in the Intensive Care Unit, showing no signs of waking up any time soon. Though his stats were normal for now, they didn''t know what might happen. After all, he had three holes in his body that came from an unknown weapon. It could be anything, a metal pole, ance, or even a gun. Since the holes were of different sizes, the doctos and healers alike were having trouble determining what it was. After showering, Allen went to the living room and sat there for a moment. He knew he had to take on Sebastian''s offer. The man''s help would benefit him a lot since he was someone who''s powerful. If Sebastian could train him on how to conceal his powers, he can even use it to sneak around while looking for clients or dealing with clients. For him, it was a win-win situation. What bothers him was what could Sebastian want in return. He was currently a nobody, he didn''t have much. Their two worlds were much different, so why? What could it be? "The Snake?" Allen asked himself, whispering in the air. "But if he wanted the Snake, he wouldn''t bother training me to hide the aura. Ugh!" The boy rolled to his sofa while groaning. He was stuck with three schedules now. First was Jake, then Sebastian, and now came Jack. Before he could continue groaning and rolling around the sofa, his phone rang prompting for him to pick it up. "Hello?" Allen asked. The other line didn''t answer immediately. It took them a couple of seconds before saying, "This is Jake Summers. Our schedule to meet is tomorrow. Be prepared." Chapter 74: White Saber Chapter 74: White Saber "You have a great group here," Jake said as he scanned the Codes Allen just gave him. "I never expected for you to actually finish it. This is a task that requires months of effort from at least a four-member party." Allen only sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don''t really have any time to talk at the moment. I''m just gonna go" When Allen was about to turn around and go, Jake interrupted him. "Not yet," Jake said. "You still need something else. Although you did actually get the number of Codes I requested, I assume you had a hard time doing it?" "I did," Allen said. He didn''t. The Snake''s Blessing allowed him to easily grind Codes that would require others months and months to collect. Life was so much easier for him that even he himself took it for granted. "I think so too," Jake grinned and pulled out arge metal case. He ced it on the coffee table and opened it, revealing several items inside. "These are my gifts to you, so we may continue this partnership for a longer time." "You''re kidding, aren''t you?" Allen snorted. The contents of the case were luxurious items that were crafted by the Hunters in the higher worlds. Comparing these were clothes from Earth, the items were of couture quality. This was no joke. "What are" Allen trailed off. "These are the gifts I received from my uncle," Jake said. "He''s a Hunter and he wanted me to follow his footsteps, a man of great quality that has been loitering in Eternity for years." "You have an uncle that''s in Eternity?" Allen gasped. "That''s cool." "Yes, and my brothers are almost there too," Jake said with a rather bitter tone. "And since I''m still quite far from there, I need you to work hard. Same amount of Codes, take these things and leave. I have a meeting." Jake stood and smiled. He turned around and was a second away from walking when Allen said. "No," Allen muttered dominantly. "If these were from your uncle, and I wear it, that would make me a thief. I was always thinking of how you would dispose of me. I assume it''s part of your n. I''m not gonna take these." "You''re sprouting nonsense," Jake crossed his arms and scoffed. "You''ll be in the forest where nobody else is when you''re doing work for me. Who would see you in those?" Allen froze, slowly forming an O with his mouth. For a moment there, he confused working for Jake and bing the Wandering Trader. It was funny to him that he even snorted and startedughing excessively. "Are you done now? My meeting is starting," Jake said. "And look, if you really don''t like these, you can just not ept them. Or you can customize them since they''re weapons and items. You can craft, remember?" For the second time around, Jake had a point. If he takes all these items to his Crafting Table, with their quality, he can create something grand out of them. This was a great n, and it didn''te from himslef but the man who gave it to him. It was now that he can say that his trust for Jake had grown significantly. The man could frame him up with the idea that he thought, but he even suggested an alternative way just so Allen could ept the items. Jake was a wise man and he was devious, he justcked the physical power to actually do something. His wits and his mind was something Allen had to copy, especially when he poses as the Wandering Trader. He needed a heavy load of wits that he currentlyck. Jake left Allen, and Allen left the mansion. He returned to the forest to where he scanned all the items Jake gave him. He got four Rare grade items. < White Saber Eye Earring > < White Sabertooth Pendant > < White Saber Fur Wrist Wrap > < White Saber w Pendant > Looking at the items, it was obviously from a single beast that his uncle killed in a hunt. It was sent to a craftsman and the parts were made into these items, creating four pieces with different stats and effects. Allen wanted to test the items first. He equiped the earring that says it enhances attack speed by twice the degree, and he then equipped his Sunset Dagger. If the effects were as the description stated, he should be able to hit the mark three times in a second. The boy stood in front of a random tree and swung his de. sh. sh. sh. The bark of the giant tree was charged with three lines, all struck in a second. This made Allen smile, admiring the result of the equipment. Perhaps the only and biggest setback of this item was its sheer size. It was no joke that it was an eye of a beast by its marble-like size. If Allen would wear this even in the forest, he will attract unnecessary attention. The second one was the tooth pendant. It was a fang of the beast the size of a thumb. The craftsman who made this bore a hole on the thicker side of the fang where the thin golden chain passed through. In the description it states that the fang would increase the damage. While Allen saw that his damage was increased in his interface, it didn''t stop him from testing the output in real life. With the same tree, he shed the de once. He hit right above the first line of his three shes earlier and he could see that his damage did increase. The cut was now deeper and slightly wider than earlier. When hebined the earring and the sabertooth, his attack would slow down to two per second, but the damage output was still high. Though the fang was smaller than the earring, it was still big and would still slow Allen down. He moved on to the third item, the wrist wrap. He wondered what it was, but heter realized it was basically a band for the wrist. The description stated that it also enhances the attack speed by twice the amount, he tested it too. He took the earring and the sabertooth pendant off and he shed on the tree, creating three shes just like earlier. He smirked and decided to wear the earring. In theory, he should make six shes in one second. He went in and tested it immediately. sh. sh. sh "It worked!" The boy cheered with excitement after seeing six new cuts on the tree. His attack speed was increased and if he wears the sabertooth pendant, his damage would also increase. This was a huge steal. "Thest one," Allen said while lifting thest item. It was a pendant like the sabertooth but it was different from the rest. While they looked like their counterpart when they were part of the saber, this item was named as a w but it was a small ring that was oddly shaped. Allen pursed his lips and pondered why the shape was different. It looked like it was shaped to be some sort of bowl for something. It didn''t even have a chain, it was just a pendant ced inside a small pouch. The boy''s eye widened when a realization came to his mind. He gasped and pulled the sabertooth pendant, raising it in his eye level and looking back and forth from the w and the fang. His hands slowly moved together and he inserted the fang onto the ring like some sort of cap. It didn''t even took him a lot of time before the two fit together. < White Saber Fang & w > The description was updated and it was now called Fang & w. It says that it increases damage and movement speed by a lot, so it was a pretty important item to have. Allen will benefit from it greatly. The boy equipped all his items and tested it all immediately. He ran around the forest with as much speed as he could. It was exceptionally greater than his original speed, making him smirk in amusement. He could make this work if he wants to. He also tested his damage. He shed through the forest, creating multiple heavy cuts on the bark of the trees. Jake was a man who seemed like he''s friends with the forests. If he would see Allen doing this, the man would not hesitate to kill him. But whatever the man thinks, it didn''t really stayed with him. What he feels now was greater than his fear of being buried alive by Jake. Perhaps he also needed this. After all, hecked power and speed. When he''s out there being the Wandering Trader, he needed to be agile and strong. This equipment was what be needed. And he will not hesitate to use all of these as much as he can. If that''s what it takes to be stronger, he will do it. Chapter 75: Done for Chapter 75: Done for Swift, powerful, and longsting. Those were the words thatpletely describes Allen''s strength at the moment. The power that he gained from the equipment that Jake gave him was enough for him to be someone who was equal to three times his level. He also realized that he didn''t have to worry about the size of the items since he was going to wear the cloak anyway. It can conceal all the items even though they had bright colors andrge sizes. The boy finished his exercise and decided to take himself for a test run. He sought the forest for anything to hunt, just to grind a couple of Codes for Hilda and Jake He was now a supplier of two people, he had to work harder even when hunting for him was easy. Allen was in the middle of the woods when his eyes caught a glimpse of a shiny pair of horn from a horse. It looked like a unicorn but it was muchrger than a regr horse and its legs resembled a cow''s legs rather than an actual horse. The beasts found in the Otherworlds would seem different and odd to regr people, but to Hunters they look nothing out of the ordinary. After all, each hunter would see much worse looking beast the longer they hunt. Neigh. Neigh. Neigh. The beast sounded exactly like a horse and it acted like one too. It was eating grass and would constantly grind its leg on the ground as if it was digging something. Allen didn''t attack just yet. He wanted to make sure that the beast was alone, and that his attack would seal its death immediately. If he make a mistake and scare it, the beast would run away and he would lose his chance of getting it. Patience is a virtue in hunting. If a Hunter would blindly attack beasts just because they feel like it, they would notst long in the field. Each and every hunt was a life and death situation, and it wasn''t something to be taken lightly. A few moment had passed and Allen was sure enough that the beast was alone and its guard was down. He crawled slowly closer to it, making sure to not make any sound. Beasts have high sensitivity to sound and movement, so he has to be very careful. "Raging Slicer!" Out of nowhere, a man jumped from a bush. He carried arge broadsword that he swung like it weighed nothing at all. He had agile movements, quick enough to not alert the deer right away. With a single swing from the giant sword, the deer was cut in half. Allen scrunched his face when the guts of the beast littered the forest floor, not even letting it take its final thoughts before dying just like that. "You''re really amazing, boss!" two more men came out of the bush the man was hiding on. They all looked awfully familiar to Allen that he was wondering where they''ve seen them before. "Truly a marvelous man," the second man said. He was a bald man wearing sunsses while the other one had a buzzcut like their apparent boss. All of them had scars on their faces and it slowly dawned Allen where he had seen them before. The boss took out something from his pocket, a pair of sunsses. He wore it on his face, making Allen gulp in both fear and sheer thrill. "Chen." ''Ehanced Instincts II activated.'' Just as the word exited his mouth, a giant sword was swung his way. The boy was able to dodge it thanks to his passive skill. "Who''s there?" Chen growled. "I do not like peeping toms." Allen didn''t speak. He was wearing his cloak and mask to practice. If he reveals himself, the man might turn him in and it will be the end. He wasn''t sure if he could fight Chen off due to his immense speed and strength, and he also wasn''t sure if he could run away. "You seem to be strong," Chen said. "You swiftly dodged my attack even when I didn''t show any sign of killing intent." Allen stood over the bush and didn''t speak. He just stared at Chen while thinking of ways to escape this man. Out of all the times he was in the forest, he had to run into Chen today, and exactly after meeting Jake. "Just my luck," Allen said to himslef inside his head. "I said," Chen vanished from where he stood. Allen''s eyes widened when the man stood right in front of him, his sword was on his neck just a few inches away from cutting his head off. "Who are you?" ''You are facing an enemy that is much stronger than you.'' Allen felt relieved and baffled after he heard thedy of his interface speak. He was now hoping that the Snake would help him get out of this situation. He wanted to live for another day and he didn''t expect for his death to be like this, so sudden and painful. ''You have sessfully gained a skill.'' < Bluff of the Prey > This skill allows the user to rx their muscles and release an aura that will scare the enemy by 60%. "Scare the enemy?" Allen asked himself. He wanted to know what it means immediately, but he didn''t have time to test it. Whatever this skill was, he was going to use it. ''Bluff of the Prey I activated.'' Allen felt all his nerves settle down and the fear that was boiling in his guts vanished. He looked at Chen in the eyes through his mask, the man''s angry expression slowly calming. "I think you know who I am," Allen''s lips moved on their own and spoke. He looked at the two guys that were Chen''s subordinates and pointed at them. "At least you should know who I am." "The Phantom Cunt!" the man with the buzzcut yelled. "You''re actually real!" Chen lowered his sword and turned to face one of his men. "The guy who molested the b*tches? This is him?" "For the record, it wasn''t proven that the Phantom Cunt did anything to the women," the bald man defended. "You know how the Smiths are. They twist the truth just so that the tides would turn in their favor. It''s what happened to the Minister of Defense that''s why he got the job." The bald man''s voice sounded like wedding bells for Allen. It was another key for him to open a new door of opportunity. John did something dirty to get his position. If Allen can get to know what that is, he can use it to his own advantage. "If he''s the Phantom Cunt, why is he here?" Chen asked. "I thought he would hang out at alleys to find more women to molest." Allen tried his best not to scoff and attack Chen. The rumors are really twisted to the point that it wasn''t the truth anymore, it was so far from the truth. "I didn''t do anything to those girls," Allen said. "I merely did a task from one of my clients." "Clients?" Chen snickered. "And what kind of job do you do and what type of people are your clients? You seem like you don''t just sell drugs or something." "I do not do something of the sorts," Allen replied. "I deal with Codes, and my name is the Wandering Trader." "The Wandering Trader," Chen repeated. "So, you do things for Code?" "Not just any things," Allen said. "Tasks, revenge, or even trading of Codes. I do all that, but I''m particrly picky with my clients." "Picky?" Chen scrunched his face. "How so?" "I don''t just offer my service just to anyone," Allen said. "I choose all of my clients wisely, and pick them apart from those who are just normal." "Howe I never heard of this service before?" Chen crossed his arms. "Am I one of the normal ones?" "Certainly not," Allen denied. "I just started doing this, but I already have quite a bit if clients. They were sworn to secrecy and I have something of them that I can use in case they disclose my information without my approval." "You dug your own grave, man," Chen snorted. "The twins were daughters of John Smith. Of course, they would look for you after what you allegedly did. I slept with those twins before, and I can say that they will try to find a way to make your life a living hell." "It''s toote for that," Allen said. "I already made their lives hellish enough so they don''t want to live anymore." "Speaking of them, where are they?" The bald man asked. "I never seen them these days and it''s bothering me why they don''t show up anymore." Allen couldn''t help but form a sinister grin on his lips. His fangs was showing as he felt his body re up with excitement. "They''re done for," Allen whispered. Chapter 76: A Deal with Chen 1 Chapter 76: A Deal with Chen 1 It has been a few minutes since Allen''s new passive skill has activated. He was now aware of what it does and how beneficial it is for him especially when he finds himself in tight situations. The skill allows him to act calmly even when he was facing a man that was ways stronger than him, just like Chen. The skill hides his nervousness and makes him look like a much stronger person than he actually is, making the opponent feel intimidated. Against humans, this skill isn''t as effective. Since humans have rational way of thinking, they can also act like they''re not scared of facing Allen. This was why Chen didn''t hold back even when his men showed fear. But when used on beasts, however, this skill was terrifying. Should Allen face a Grand grade beast or a high tier Rare grade, he can activate the skill and the opponent will lose its defenses, giving him a chance to attack and hunt them. Allen had never heard of a skill such at this. It''s part of the Snake''s Exclusive Skill set, so that was why no one else has heard of it at all. Chen crossed his arms while grinning at Allen, "Done for? The Smith Sisters? What do you mean?" "I had a new hobby, and I decided to try it on them," Allen replied. "I just wanted to see how much I improved and what other way to know other than trying, right?" Chenughed loudly. "That is right. So, what was your hobby that you tried on the twins?" "Carving," Allen replied. "I merely carved small art on their faces. Shallow enough to not kill them, but just the right amount of depth so it would leave ugly scars. They deserved those scars." "Ha!" Chen yelled. "They do, don''t they? Those b*tches had me on their fingertips before, sleeping with me when the Fire Dragon attacked." The words rang in Allen''s ears like bells. He looked at Chen who had a furious look in his face, hidden with an obvious fake grin. He was clenching his fists while he looked at Allen intensely. "I''ve always wondered what happened to that incident," Allen said. He knew he should be trying to ease the conversation, but his mouth was betraying him. The curiosity he had was greater than the fear of Chen''s rage. "I never knew what exactly happened that time." Surprisingly, Chen unclenched his fists and his muscles rxed. He took a moment to close his eyes and sigh deeply, also massaging his forehead. "That night was the worst night for all Hunters in both this camp and the next. "In the camps of Haven, a Rare grade beast needs a group to be hunted. Back then, there wasn''t as many strong Hunters, and a lot of the ones who were strong just ascended to higher worlds in excitement. The ones left here are the citizens of Haven." "But then, no one has ever heard of a beast that was supposed to ascend staying here for a short while before its body rises to the next world. No one," Chen sighed again. "And so, when the Grand grade beast attacked, a lot of Hunters lost their lives." Allen recalled the headless woman in his memories. She was only one of the victims of the Fire Dragon that attacked years ago. There were so much more Hunters that were victimized by the beast and just the thought of that made Allen''s heart clench in pity. "Back then, I was only a part of a small gang organized by my father," Chen said. "He and his best friend were trying to get powerful just because we needed more power so that our gang would rise. "Then the Fire Dragon attacked. Everyone was disoriented, even my father who was the most powerful man I knew was scared. Uncle Jack, his best friend, had already called out for him, trying to pull him back because no one could match the power of the dragon." "Did he met his demise that time?" Allen asked, regretting that he interrupted the man. "I wish it was him," Chenughed lightly. "But my brother who was also a Hunter stepped in and took the blow. He got a giant w pierced in his chest, digging through his flesh and bones. My brother, although he wasn''t as strong as my father, was brave. He died that night." Seeing such a scary man like Chen open up like this bothered Allen for some reason. He didn''t know what exactly was happening but he had suspicions that this was his new skill''s doing. It was making people let their emotional guard down, since it can''t bring their physiological guard down. He was thinking he could use this skill to other people, so that he could gain more clients. If he could use this skill on Chen and make him open up like this, imagine what he can do with much weaker people. The thought excited him just for a little bit. "Anyway, why were you here?" Chen asked. "You made me talk to distract me. I had all of my guards down and you could''ve attacked or escaped, but you didn''t. Why?" "Because I''m not here to attack or escape," Allen replied simply. "I''m here because I see you as my client. We can create a deal together, just a simple trade." Chen snorted. "And what could I want from you? I''m a very powerful man, capable of killing people, rich to the fact that I buy houses just because I''m bored, and I''m also handsome that any woman would want me. Now tell me, what can you do for me exactly?" "Peace," Allen replied simply. "I know you''re having sleepless nights because of your worries. I know that Verta Carta ising for you and so are the other gangs. You made a mistake of dealing illegal substances, now you''re worrying how you''ll pay the price for it." Chen was speechless. He couldn''t speak anything at all. The words that tries to escape his lips were all blocked by his mind. His brain was nk apart from a question that he asked himself repeatedly. "How did this man know what happened?" Allen smirked and shook his head, "You really are readable. And yes, I know a lot of things. I have information in my arsenal just in case I need to start another deal. It''s pretty awesome, right?" "It is," Chen grinned. "Then, what kind of deal do you do? I assume you have something in mind?" "I do, actually," Allen replied. "There''s something I want from you. An information regarding what happened to the Fire Dragon Incident. I want every single detail of it." "That''s it?" Chen smirked. "Then what will you do in return?" "A Rare grade Code," Allen replied. For him this deal was nothing more than to get himself out of Chen''s clutches. His grave was dug the moment Chen swung his sword in Allen''s way, but the boy refuses to lose easily and was going to climb the hole and rise again. His n was to offer a ridiculously simple deal with Chen. This would hit two birds with one stone. One was that he could escape Chen and the other was that he could have more information regarding what happened a few years ago. Not everyone has the same perspective. If he can get as many angles as he can, he will uncover the broken memories in his mind. That would be good for his mental health. "Your deal is awfully basic," Chen said. "And a Rare grade Code? That''s hard to find. You expect me to believe that?" "I have seven in me," Allen said, making Chen''s eyes widen slightly. "I also have a lot of Basic grades even items, I have so many." "Give me five Basic grade items," Chen offered. "And I''ll tell you all what happened to the incident almost three years ago." "Five Basic grade items seem too" "Many?" Chen smirked. "I know you''re just bluffing. A craftsman would take a couple of days to craft a single item. He then has to go to the Skill Altar to register the item and activate its synergy. The average craftsman could create have twenty or so items a year, that includes the time to collect materials." Allen only crossed his arms. He knew what he was currently capable of was beyond what most people could do, and he wasn''t afraid to unt it. "So?" Allen asked. "I don''t exactly see your point." "You''re obviously bluffing," Chenughed. "And where are those items now? You''re really" Allen lowered his palms and chanted in his head. Suddenly, items fell from nowhere, making Chen''s eyes widen. "W-What are these? And how?" "I''m not an ordinary person," Allen said. "And you know that." Chen grinned, "Fine then. I''ll tell you everything." "Good." "Including the girl who had her head chopped off and a mute man crying over her body." Allen froze. Chapter 77: A Deal with Chen 2 Chapter 77: A Deal with Chen 2 For as long as he could remember, Allen has been alone all his life. People had only trampled on his identity just because he was mute, and the color of his hair was peculiar. What he didn''t know was that he had other memories that he had forgotten. As to why or how he forgot, Allen didn''t know. The scenes that yed in his mind before. The woman who offered her hand to him, Jeremy who talked to him, and the incident that killed the woman. All of those were unfamiliar to Allen, he didn''t even know how it all happened or when it happened. What he was sure of was it did. Whether he ept it or not, or whether he liked it or not, he had no other choice but to ept it. But letting the truth in wasn''t an easy task. It was harder than hunting or battling someone that was ways more powerful than you. The truth will set you free, but the freedom will give you pain. "Why are you telling me about that specific person?" Allen asked. "Is there nobody else around when the incident happened?" "There were about a hundred people in that forest," Chen said. "But that boy was the reason why the Hunters had joined forces and attempt to kill the dragon." "Tell me everything from the start," Allen ordered Chen. "And I''ll give you what you want." Chen grinned, "We have a deal then." Several years ago, there was a day that was like any other day. Groups of Hunters would go to the field to do their job, some of them woulde back from the forests to regroup, while the others just enjoy loitering around the camp. It was still too early that the hidden secrets of the Otherworlds were still kept. Researchers were still trying to figure out what exactly happens with the beasts and where they go when they reach the certain level. At least in their time, they knew that beasts had tiers in each grade. It was founded by Drake Nelson himself that not all beasts on the same grade has the same power level. He discovered it when he entered the Second World, Paradise. When he battled beasts that were identified as Rare, but were stronger than the ones he fought in Haven. When he reached the Third World, Eternity, his theory was proven true and the tiers in each grade were created. That same day, a group of Hunters were resting in the forest when they felt a surge of terrifying presenceing towards them at an rming speed. Half of the group couldn''t react on time and the beast caught them. The other half who managed to dodge the rampaging beast were frozen in fear. A wide path of mes was created in just a few seconds, the trees, beasts, and anything on the path was burned to the ground. On the end of the path was a beast, groaning in anger. It paused from running and turned around, feeling the presence of the Hunters its mes missed. The beast roared and returned to its path, taking out remaining half of the Hunters. On Camp Tw, there was a man who was hunting in the forest with his group. This man was one of the most powerful Hunters in town, a man carrying a shotgun in his hand and can solo kill a beast. This man was Gary Gunn. He was a Hunter with a Ranger role and he was at the peak of hunting. His body was conditioned to resist elements, and his mind was programmed to persevere even when times were tough. Needless to say, Gary was the ultimate Hunter from Camp Tw. On the other camp, Camp Gerome, there was also a group of Hunters that was about to leave the forest. The group was led by a man who was ruthless with hunting beasts and one of his members was a mute boy who was famous because of his white hair. Despite this, the group valued the mute boy, treating him exactly like they were equals even when the mute boy couldn''t handleplicated tasks. For them, the mute boy boosts their morale higher than the boost from their support Hunter. The paths of these two groups would soon collide when they reach the forest. "What is this?" Selena walked over to a charred path. It was a size of a fournes road but deep like it was a canal. Their leader, Lewis, went to the grove and touched the ground, feeling its heat. "Still warm. Whatever the beast that caused this must still be in the area." "Lewis, this is not something we can handle alone," Kyle said. "Look at the damage it did to the forest. It''s a high-tier Rare grade beast. We couldn''t possibly defeat it." "We''re a couple of levels away from ascending," Lewis crossed his arms and scoffed. "If we can y this beast, it will push us up into the higher worlds. Why won''t you think for some time, Kyle?" "I think Kyle is right," Selena said. "If we can get one or two more groups to help us, we can still get plenty of loot. This mark alone looks scary. As your support, I don''t think we should do this." "Supports don''t make the decisions," Lewis said coldly. "The captain does. Supports only say whether you could heal or not. Watch your stand here, Selena." This made Irene growl. She stepped in front of Kyle and crossed her arms. "Why are you acting like a little brat? Can''t you just listen sometimes?" Kyle scoffed. "I was the one who catapulted us right where we are right now. You don''t think I know when we can do it or not?" Irene had to lower her hands. She sighed and turned to Allen who was behind them. "Allen, what do you think? Do we do this or not?" Allen looked at every single member of their group, Lewis in particr. The man narrowed his eyes at the boy, making Allen nod aggressively. "See? Even Allen agrees," Lewis grinned and swung his arm around Allen. "Let''s go find the beast and y it." "How do we know where it went though?" Kyle asked. We didn''t see the direction of the beast. The other could lead us to where it started rampaging and we''ll lose our precious time." Lewis thought for a moment. He let go of Allen and ced his finger on his chin to think deeply. He then looked around and found traces of the direction of the beast. "Look at this," Lewis said while pointing at the remains of a tree. "It''s tilted to one direction, actually it''s ttened to one direction after it was charred. Assuming the beast doesn''t run backwards, this should be the direction of where it came from." "Way to go captain!" a blonde woman cheered. She was wearing a white robe over her tight white suit. She took Allen''s hand and grinned at him widely. "Last one there is a big ugly idiot!" The groupughed while running to the direction to where the beast was running to. They looked happy, not worrying anything about their future. The only thing they know at the moment was that they were happy. Little did they know, their future would take a darker tone. On the other side of the forest, a simr argument was happening. Gary''s group was divided into two decisions, one to follow the path and the other was to go against it. Their captain was torn in between the two teams. He also was curious as to what lies on the end of the burning trail, but he also knew that it looked dangerous enough that he might not handle its power. "We should just call reinforcements," one of his members said. That member was Hannah Gomez, their support. "I don''t think my support abilities could support you while fighting such beast." "But what if it just burns a lot of things but it''s not actually dangerous when being fought?" their assassin, udette Bandit said. "If we try and follow it, and it is dangerous, we can always go back. But if its not dangerous and we just call for reinforcements, we might lose this chance to prove ourselves." Gary sighed after hearing both sides. He massaged his temples and took a few seconds to breath. Being a captain wasn''t easy especially at times like this. "Gary, listen," udette pulled Gary closer to her, their eyes meeting. "We have always took risks, went to even darker paths than this. We were nothing before, but look at us now. We''re one of the most respected groups in the camp." "But Gary, we should y it safe sometimes," Hannah said. "I don''t often have strong bad feelings for things, but when I do, it''s true." "She''s right," Gary finally said, making Hannah smile. Her smile was wiped out off her face the moment Gary continued. "udette is right. It''s not every dayt that we can encounter something like this. Besides whatever happens, I''ll protect everyone." Chapter 78: Fire Lizard Chapter 78: Fire Lizard Lewis''s team from the south and Gary''s team from the north. The two teams were following the same path created by the same beast. Little did they know, they weren''t the only teams that were following the path made for them. Nine groups of Hunters were walking to the same direction, in the center of the forest. "How long does it take for us to get there?" Kyle asked impatiently. They were walking for three hours, and the groove seemed to be endless. "Maybe we should just head back," Selena suggested. "It''s getting dark and if we try to force our fight with the beast, maybe we''re the ones who''ll get hunted instead." "We''re continuing," Lewis ordered. "We''vee this far. It''s toote for us to go back now." "But Lewis if we did manage to kill this beast, then our conditions would be bad," Selena said. "We''d lose most our energy after the fight, and this might be a chance for nocturnal beasts to attack us." "Agreed," Kyle said. "You know how vulnerable we are after every fight. It''s a good thing we always fight in daytime where the stronger beasts are sleeping. But at night, it''s twice as dangerous. We shouldn''t push it." Lewis massaged his forehead, "Why are you all whining? We''ve encountered a lot of beasts at night before and we managed toe out unscathed. Why are you all reacting like this now of all times? This could be our break, you know." "I think they''re right," Allen signed, making everyone turn to him. The boy smiled and continued, "We can always have another time to get stronger. After all, we''re still so young. There are brighter days ahead of us." Lewis saw this and his eyes softened. Everyone, including him, had a very soft spot for the boy. It wasn''t often that Allen makes a request and when he does, everyone makes sure that the request is fulfilled. "Since Allen said this, then let''s go back," Lewis said, making the entire group cheer. "But we have to cob with another group to defeat this beast, okay? Our three ours of walk would be wasted if we don''t." "Thank you, Lewis," Allen signed with a huge smile. The captain of their group shuffled his hair and smirked. "Let''s go home" "Run away!" Lewis was interrupted when a man screamed from somewhere deeper into the groove. He stood in front of his teammates and conjured this weapon, raising it against the approaching person. "I said, run!" the man yelled. The entire group held their breaths when they saw that the man had no arm, and blood was sttered across his body. "Isn''t that the celebrity Hunter, Derek Shapiro?" Selena asked. She was about to walk over to heal the man when out of nowhere, a giant mouth came out of the ground. It was a mouth of a giant lizard and it mper its sharp teeth onto Derek''s upper body, perfectly slicing the man in half. "Oh, my god," Selena gasped. "Run!" They didn''t waste any more time and ran as fast as they could. Celebrity Hunters were famous because of their immense power and they were always apanied by top Hunters. Either Derek was separated from his guards or his guards were wiped out. The group wished the situation would be the former instead of thetter. Because if so, then they wouldn''t stand a chance against the beast. A couple of minutes of running and the groip decided to rest. They broke free from the groove and decided to rest when they couldn''t feel the terrifying aura that was seeping from the ground. The thought of a giant mouth cutting them in half wasn''t necessarily great. "Let''s go rest up in that tree," Lewis said. The group did as was told and climbed a giant tree. Allen in particr was having a hard time but Kyle helped him climb the highest position. "Lewis, what in the actuall hell was that?" Irene gasped. "That beast was terrifying. You saw what it did to Derek freaking Shapiro. This man was a huge celebrity Hunter that could solo low tier Rare grade beasts. And you saw what happened." "What bothers me is the location of his guards," Lewis said. "Each one of them had the powers equal to Derek and there are ten of them with him." "That in itself is a wonder," Selena said. "How could such beast deal with an elite team? We''re only in Haven, yet their powers would equal to the ones in Paradise. And they lost?" "They didn''t lose," Irene muttered. "They were ughtered. That scene was a one sided fight, and it wasn''t in the favor of the Hunters." Lewis massaged his forehead and groaned, "I know that as Hunter''s, we''re always knocking on deaths door. I just don''t know when it happened and how it would happen. And a future we might experienced happened right in front of our eyes. I felt chills run through my entire body." "Me too," Kyle agreed. "He already lost his arm, and then his upper body. The sight was so disgusting yet so terrifying. I never felt like this before." "I think we should call backup now, Allen signed. "We''re already far from the beast. It''s time for us to go to camp and tell them what happened. Maybe they''ll ask assistance from the stronger Hunters." "Yes," Lewis agreed. "Let''s do that." Unlike before, the group reached a decision quickly this time, and all were on one side. They wanted to escape the scene as much as possible, fearing that what happened to Derek would also happen to them. "I''m scared," the blonde woman whispered. "I don''t know if we can make it back." "We can," Allen signed. "Just trust Lewis." With a nod, the woman followed the group as they retreated back to camp. They were more wary in their surroundings, fearing that the beast would be underground like the time it killed Derek. They leaped through the higher trees, slowly but surely. Every step they take would be calcted and they would always look out behind them and under them in case a surprise attack would beunched. "We''re almost there," Lewis whispered. "Just a few more minutes and we''re back to camp." Their Captain''s reassurance didn''t work but they just pretended that it did. The fear that they were feeling was more than any encouraging speech Lewis could give them. But it didn''t stop them from hoping that they would survive this fight. While Lewis Nixon''s group was traveling back to their camp, Gary had just witnessed the incident. They arrived at the end of the groove that they were following and they found nothing but craters and ruined bodies of Hunters. "What is this ce?" udette aske as she walked across the crater. "What kind of monster could do such a thing?" "Apparently, one that was also powerful enough to kill a celebrity Hunter," Hannah said. She picked up something from the ground and threw it at Gary. "That''s a Showbiz Seal. You can''t easily get it unless you''re a legit celebrity Hunter." What she threw to her captain was a small pin that was shaped as a metal star. The star was about an inch thick and inside it was engravings of a microphone, a camera, and a sword. The pin was already burnt to the ground just like everything around them. "I think you were right, Hannah," udette said. "We really need to get out of here as fast as we can." The ground shook and there was a menacing aura below them. All their eyes widened as they felt the surge of the beast that was surfacing. It wasn''t something that they faced before, it was more than what any of they faced before. "Let''s go, now!" Gary yelled, not bothering to wait for the beast to show up. He led his entire group to the side of the crater where the ground didn''t shake as much. He held his teammates and made sure everyone was there before he inspected what the cause of shaking was. Not a minute after, a gigantic lizard leaped out of the crater. The ground split into two as the beast surfaced and breathed mes all around it. Above its head was ming and the mes traveled to its back and onto its tail where it formed a giant trident. "Gary" Hannah trailed off. "That beast looks and feels scary. We can''t possibly kill that." "We can''t," Gary whispered. "Let''s fall back and get help. It won''t be long before the beast notices us, so let''s go." "Concealing Wind," Hannah casted. She tapped her staff on the ground and a gentle breeze of wind pass through them. As the air passed, their body became invisible and their aura became faint. "Thank heavens for that Rainbow Chameleon," udette groaned while the others chuckled silently. Gary cleared his throat, making everyone look at him. The man looked serious, something that didn''t happen often. "Let''s go," Gary simply said as he led his group out of the beast''s way. Chapter 79: Fang of the Dragon Chapter 79: Fang of the Dragon Gary''s team were rushing to get back to their camp. They had managed to steer the beast''s attention away by taking a stone and threw it as far as they could. With their concealed state, the beast would have nothing to track them. They werepletely invisible and their mana was faint, making it hard for even such a beast to detect their presence. "I see the path!" udette cheered. She was the first one to enter the path and ran back to their camp, only to yell in fear. "Everyone! We need your help." The crowd inside the town looked at her like she was crazy. udette''s teammates followed her and were also screaming the same thing. They were trying to get help, but no one could understand what any of them were saying. "Stop talking all at once," a man walked out from the crowd. He stood in front of the group and crossed his arms. "Senior Police Officer Jeremy here. What exactly happened for you to be this disoriented?" Gary walked forward, "There''s a giant beast inside the forest. It''s powerful and terrifying. We need your help to hunt it." "It must be a high tier beast," Jeremy said. "You''re Gary, the Hunter King of Camp Tw. Why are you so scared of just a beast?" "I wouldn''t normally act like this but Gary trailed off as he give the pin to Jeremy as proof. "When you see something like thispletely burnt in a middle of a crater, that usually isn''t a good sign." Jeremy gulped, "B-But this is" "A pin from a celebrity Hunter," Gary finished. "I do not know which celebrity since there are hundreds of them, but I do know that it''s one of them just by the pin and how its made." "Let me run this through a scanner so we can identify which celebrity Hunter it is," Jeremy said immediately. "And your group has to go to the hospital to treat your wounds immediately. I''lle to you as soon as I can." "Thank you, Jeremy," Gary said. "And please do take care." "You too," Jeremy said. "And treat your wounds, okay? Once I identity this person, we can hunt this beast." The police officer left and Gary''s team fell to the ground in exhaustion. Each and every one of them were tired from all the running and escaping. And the fact that they were terrified while running didn''t help. It was like all their stamina was drained out of their bodies even before they ran. "It''s a good thing that the crater isn''t too far from us," udette said. "Let''s go treat our wounds to the hospital." "Yeah, let''s go," Gary smiled and agreed. They both turned to Hannah who was silent the entire time. She was just sitting there, staring at the void while her body felt like it was jelly. "Hannah?" udette called out and nudged her friend gently. The moment her hand made contact with Hanna''s arm, the woman fell to the side. udette panicked and ran to her, gasping as she saw something behind her teammate. "What happened?" Gary asked in fear. He walked over to them, his eyes widening after she saw what his friend saw. On Hannah''s back was arge fang that pierced through her flesh. The wound that the fang made created arge and dark burn, as if the skin was made into charcoal. Their other members asked for help immediately. Gary carried his friend and ran to the direction of the hospital. He was running literally for her life. Gary panicked when Hanna''s breathing was getting slower and slower. She already lost consciousness a long time ago. It''s only a matter of time before she''ll lose her life too. "I can heal!" a Hunter who was taken by their teammate healed Hannah as much as he could. "I can only stabilize her condition for now, but you have to get to the hospital as soon as possible." "Run Gary!" udette yelled. "Please, save Hannah." Gary grit his teeth as he forced his legs to run faster than he already could. He felt the adrenaline rush run through his veins as he felt everything around him get blurry. Then, out of nowhere, Gary passed out. Meawhile an hour had passed. Lewis and his team were still running back to their camp to escaped the beast, yet there was a lingering tension in the air. "I''m scared too," Lewis confessed as they jumped from one tree to another. "But I don''t want you to see your captain to be scared so I''m doing my best to hold it in." There was only silence for a few seconds after he spoke. No one from his team said a word, and the only sound anyone could hear was the constant collision of their boots on the wooden branches and the noiseing from the dark forest. Kyle opened his mouth, but closed it again. Selena and Irene were the same, all three of them unable to form words offort. When Kyle was about to speak, someone beat him to it. "It''s okay to be scared," the blonde woman who''s name was Alice said. "We''re all scared and showing that you''re afraid doesn''t make you any less of a captain that you are now." "Thank you," Lewis said, making Alice smile. "And we''re only a couple of minutes away from camp now. We should be there soon." Not long after their short conversation, the group found the path that would lead to the camp. It was like a huge stone was removed from their shoulders after they saw the path. The nightmare that they just witnessed would be finally over. That was until the ground split into two. A rift appeared right across the forest, splitting it into two sides. Allen and Alice were left on one side while the others had were at the other. "Allen! Alice!" Selena yelled. She was about to jump across the rift when a zing surge of fire sted from the rift. It was like a very long geyser of mes that separated the group. Allen and Alice were the weakest members of their team, and they were the slowest. Lewis didn''t thought that there would be something like this to happen, so he didn''t bother letting the two go first. "No!" Selena yelled, still trying to jump. Irene had to hold her friend around the chest so she wouldn''t attempt the very dangerous task she wanted to do. "Irene, let go of me, please. Allen and Alice are still on the other side!" "We''re fine!" Alice yelled from across the rift. The mes had slowly died down but the rift was still too wide to cross. The mes that was burning inside the rift was also too dangerous. Just by looking at it, anyone would know that it would burn you to the crisp. "Let me go, Irene!" Selena yelled again. Irene sighed and had no other choice but to knock her friend out. She looked at Alice and Allen who were standing across the rift. "Go get help," Allen signed. "We''ll find another way out." "That''s just crazy," Kyle said. "We won''t leave you here." "But the longer you stay, the more dangerous it would get," Allen argued. "We''ll be safe. We''ll look for a tree to hide while waiting for you." "But" "Go," Alice cut Lewis off. "Go now. The sooner you leave, the more chances of us surviving." "We have no other choice," Lewis said. "Let''s go." While Kyle carried Selena and Irene following them, Lewis turned to the two that were trapped across the rift. "Stay close, okay? We''ll be right back." Alice nodded as she held Allen on her arms. The boy was starting to get scared and she could feel it. Allen was weak and he barely had enough power in him that it was a mystery how he still survived while working dangerously such as being a Hunter "We''ll get through this," Alice said. "I promise you that, Allen. I promise." The woman looked around to see if she could find anything around them that she could use. Lewis said that they should hide on top of a tree, so that''s what she looked for first. A giant tree that overlooked the ground. "There," Alice pointed at the tallest tree she could find. She took Allen''s wrist and ran to the tree. It wasn''t far, but it wasn''t exactly near either. The tree was across a clearing and they had to be careful since it was an open field and they could get attacked at any given moment. "Just a couple of meters more," Alice said. Allen only nodded and did nothing but follow his friend. She knew the way to the tree and what he can do to help was to follow her instructions. "We''re almost there," Alice whispered. They were crouching on the ground while running when they heard a silent swoosh. Allen turned his head to the side when he heard it. Then, Alice''s grip on his wrist suddenly vanished. The boy looked in front of him to see what happened when his eyes met with Alice''s body t on the ground. Her head missing from her body. Chapter 80: The Ox Chapter 80: The Ox Allen''s tears fell from his eyes as all the memories of the past came flooding back. His body was trembling and he couldn''t help but grit his teeth, trying to suppress the anger and guilt that was threatening to burst out. "I remember now," Allen said. He pulled out five Basic grade tools from his Inventory and dropped it in front of Chen. He didn''t even bother looking at what they were or how much valuable it was to him. "Thank you. Our deal is done." After saying those words, the boy used the effect of his cloak and vanished into thin air. Chen''s men were about to look for him but the man only raised his hand on his side, signalling for them to stop. "Let him," Chen said with a stern voice. "I don''t think any one of us can handle that rage." "But boss" Chen spun to face his men, both the bald man and the buzzcut man gasped after seeing their boss. His eyes were wide, showing fear but his mouth was grinning widely. "That man isn''t something we can handle." Meanwhile, the forest was filled with constant screaming and a surge of dark and sorrowful aura. A dark figure was running across the forest floors as he spread his darkness around it. Not one creature ever tried to go near him. Just his aura alone made them scared to their bones, even the high tier Rare grade beasts. "You killed her." "It''s your fault!" "If only you were faster, or stronger. She didn''t die." "You med your teammates for her death when it was all your fault!" "Die!" "Perish!" "Stop living." Allen reached a small clearing where he lost all his energy. He dropped to his knees and his mask fell to the ground. He didn''t know what he was feeling, but he knew that he didn''t like it. It was like there was a huge lump in his throat that he couldn''t swallow. Or a huge thorn in his heart that let the blood flow out like a river. The feeling of sadness was too intense that his body was shutting down. "I''m sorry," Allen whispered. He looked up to the skies and watched the stars twinkle over the thin sheets of clouds. "I''m sorry." "Allen!" A voice was calling his name, and it was her. The boy closed his eyes as he let his body shut down. Thest thing he remembered was a woman in a blue suit approaching him. "len." He heard again. "I''m sorry." "Dante." Allen''s eyes fluttered open. He was inside an unfamiliar room that wasn''t s duplicate of his room in Camp Tw. The walls were gray and the sheets were soft. The air wasn''t warm nor cold, it was just right. "You''re awake, huh?" Allen sat up and saw that Sebastian Lincoln was standing by the window. The man was leading his body on the windowsill while his arms were crossed and his long blonde hair gently flowing in the air. "Sebastian" Allen trailed off. "Where am I?" "In a vi I built in the middle of the woods," Sebastian replied. "Ie here to cleanse my soul when I felt a strange darkness in the middle of my woods. I didn''t like strange darknesses, so I came to investigate. That''s when I found you screaming gibberish in the middle of a clearing while looking up at the sky with tears in your eyes." "I''m sorry," Allen muttered. "I must''ve bothered you." "As a matter of fact, you did," Sebastian said bluntly. "I was in the middle of a call with my friend who''s also living in these woods when you called." The description suddenly rang a bell in Allen''s mind. He didn''t knew every single Hunter in the Otherworlds but he knew a particr Hunter who was also staying in the forests in his vi that he built. "You have a friend that lives in the forests too?" Allen asked to which Sebastian answered with a nod. "Is his name" "Bernard," Sebastian cut him off. "He was the person who referred you to me. That man was also my student in aura control, and he was the best of the best." "I bet," Allen smirked. "That man soloed a giant high tier beast along with three of its offsprings. When they fought, it was like he was the beast and the wolf was the prey." "As expected of a Primordial Beast Bearer," Sebastian said, making Allen''s smile wipe off from his face. "I assume he didn''t introduce himself to you based on your reaction, but yes. Bernard is the Ox''s Bearer." "Ox" Allen repeated. "But the person who owned the Ox was a woman. Sylvia Franco, the woman who could destroy a car by her brute strength alone." "And she had a child named Bernard Franco," Sebastian said. "Sylvia was my mother''s best friend and they both became Hunters the exact same day. It just happened that Sylviast hit the Ox before my mom did. My mom got jealous and she quit being a Hunter." "But you''re good friends with Bernard?" Allen asked to which Sebastian answered with a smirk. "We''re more than good friends," the blind man answered. "We were each other''s own, the only person both of us can rely on at the darkest times. On other times, we just hang out." "Wait a minute," Allen took off the nket and stood. "You knew Bernard and he knew that I wasn''t just a normal Hunter. Then why didn''t he say anything?" "He didn''t want to get you involved," Sebastian said. "He knew you have the Snake, and if he tells you his real identity, you might lean on him for help which is not a good idea." "And why not?" Allen scoffed. "He''s one of the few people who has reached the fourth world. He''s not a man who is easily scared of something else." "But Bernard isn''t a man of the Fourth World," Sebastian said. "Right after the Fire Dragon Incident, Sylvia replied and she gave the Code to her son. But Bernard hasn''t even ascended to Eternity yet. It was the Ox who rose, but not him." "So" Allen trailed off. "Bernard is not as strong as his mother?" "He''s currently the most powerful man in Paradise," Sebastian replied. "But beyond that, he''s nothing. Among the one hundred Hunters in Eternity, Bernard is just one of the lowest. He''s not someone who ascended quickly after gaining the Primordial Beast Code. The Code isn''t a shortcut to getting stronger, after all." "But it" Allen cut himself. "Why did I even get stronger than most Hunters in my level?" "That''s because you have the Snake," Sebastian said. "Among the eleven Primordial Beast Codes, only the Dragon, Rat, and Dog has the power that can rival the world. The others were equal to one nation, a power simr to four Hunters in Eternity. Then came you." "M-Me?" Allen pointed at himself. "What about me?" "No one has ever expected that the Snake woulde," Sebastian said. "We just thought that the Snake Beast was killed or lost forever. Everyone just simply forgot about it. The higher ups just think that there are only eleven Primordial Beasts left. They watched the stone te with the glowing engravings of the beasts, already giving up of waiting for the snake to glow like the others. "But then it did," Sebastian smirked. "Two months ago when a group of interns were inspecting the stone, the snake glowed. They called out for the research team and everyone could only gasp at the sight. I was there too after a couple of hours, and it was the most majestic thing I saw in my life." While Sebastian was talking, Allen couldn''t help but feel the thrill boil inside him. The way the man tells him about what unfolded that night on the other side of Haven was making him excited all over again. It was like his life restarted for the second time. "You see, the brighter the engraving on the stone, the more powerful the Bearer is," Sebastian continued. "The other nine were glowing like a dim florescent light, but the three I mentioned before were glowing bright like it was a big light from a studio." Sebastian shook his head and smiled, remembering the events that happened. "Then came the snake. The brightest light in the stone. When the others shone like stars in the night sky, the snake glowed like the sun in the daytime. It was impossibly bright." "Why are you telling me this?" Allen asked. "You''re obviously stronger than me, and you can just kill me to get the Code or threaten me to give it to you. So why aren''t you doing it?" "Because I''m not like my mother," Sebastian said. "I would never thirst for any Primordial Beast Code. I would get stronger on my own, without any of the Primordial Beast Code''s help. But I''m not going to do it alone. I''m helping you, so you could help me." Chapter 81: Real Name Chapter 81: Real Name What a fair deal it was for Allen to take Sebastian''s tasty offer. It wasn''t a hard task for him since he only needs to get stronger through Sebastian''s help. At the same time, he knew that there was a silver lining in all of these. Sebastian wanted to use him in the future for whatever reasons, but then again he had no other choice but to take on this offer. "Okay," Allen said, offering his hand to Sebastian. The man smiled and took his hand, shaking it. "But one question before we start, how were you able to see my facial expression or basically whatever is happening around you?" "I can''t see, that''s quite obvious," Sebastian said. "But what I can do is perceive the things around me. I am at the level of a Grade grade beast when I lost my vision. Starting then on, I relied with my intuition and my instincts." "But aren''t you afraid that your instincts might be wrong?" Allen asked. "What if one day you find yourself in a tight situation, and no instinct can help you to escape? And that you''ll only be alone for the rest of your life because you relied on your instincts too much." "Once your blind" Sebastian trailed off and smirked. "Doubt has no room in your heart. I am a healer. My teammates rely on me ny-nine percent of the time. If I doubt myself, how can I ever repay their trust?" "But" Sebastian ced his finger on Allen''s lips before the boy could continue. "No more buts, Mr. Dante. No doubts. Start with that." Allen took a long and deep breath. "Okay. No more doubts." "Good," Sebastian smirked and walked by the doorway. "Come over downstairs. I bet you''re hungry. We need to prepare your for your training. And just a little warning, the training sessions will be intense." "Stop," Allen groaned as he fell to the ground. "I can''t breath. My legs my hands I can''t feel anything anymore." "That''s because you stopped giving out energy throughout your body," Sebastian said. "I told you to minimize it, not stop." Allen groaned and rolled to his back. He looked at the beautiful blue skies as heid on the grass at the back of Sebastian''s vi in the woods. He was indeed friends with Bernard after the simrities between their vis. There was a tall and powerful fence that guarded around the vi while the inside was a beautiful field of flowers and grass. On the backyard was a specific patch of a special grass that was grown by Sebastian himself. He partnered with scientists that specialized botany in the Otherworlds to alter the grass that he had on his vi. This particr grass was aura sensitive. It changes color when it detects a presence of a Hunter, a beast, or anything that has mana in them. Allen''s task was to stand on top of the patch of grass. There, almost immediately, the grass changed color. It went from green to bright gold right at the moment Allen stepped inside. "You really are a Bearer," Sebastian smirked. "Now, minimize the flow of your aura. It''s like you''re turning a faucet down or changing a stove me from high to low." "That doesn''t sound easy," Allen said. "Can I uhm, could you show me a demonstration?" "I guess so," Sebastian nodded. The two men switched ces and it was now Sebastian inside the pale yellow patch of grass. "See the difference in the saturation? I''m at the level right below the Primordial Beast Bearers and my color is much paler than yours." "What about Bernard?" Allen couldn''t stop himself from asking. "Is he the same as me?" "No," Sebastian answered honestly. "His color is only a bit more saturated than mine, but never like yours. Your color is the one that Drake Nelson has. The bright golden hue that shows dominance over every other being." As Sebastian said those words, Allen saw that the grass had slowly returned to their green color. His eyes widened and his lips became slightly ajar after seeing the color changes. "Wow," Allen breathed out. "That is indeed amazing." "That''s because I hide my aura well," Sebastian said. "And if you encounter stronger people with that stench of aura in you, you''re gonna get yourself killed." "Then teach me," Allen said. "Please teach me how to hide my aura properly." "This is already a lesson," the blonde man said with a smile. "Your task now is to stand here and let the grass revert back to their green color. If you can''t do it, then I don''t have any other means to help you." Thus, Allen continued with his new training. He did as was told and limit the flow of his aura throughout his body. He himself didn''t know how much was enough or how little was too much limitation. What he did was just restrict everything from flowing. He saw the patch of grass turn from the bright gold hue, slowly transitioning to the green color. That was when he couldn''t feel his legs and he couldn''t feel his body next. "What''s happening?" "You could''ve died," Sebastian said. "I went inside to get us something to drink when I didn''t feel you. It was like you vanished altogether." "That''s not what we want to happen?" Allen asked. "Definitely, a hundred percent, not," Sebastian scoffed. "What we want is four you to have a faint aura that would camouge you in the crowd, not make your presence vanish like some ghost. I hate ghosts." The thought rang in Allen''s head like a bell, and he immediately asked, "But can I do that?" "Do what?" Sebastian crossed his arms and quirked one of his eyebrows up. "What''s on your mind right now, Dante? Why don''t I feel so good about this?" "I want a technique like that," Allen said. "I want something like a vanishing technique. Something like when you encounter a ghost and they suddenly disappear into thin air, their presence gone without a trace." "No," Sebastian said immediately. "I don''t allow it. I know how aura feels better than anyone and it''s probably impossible to make your aura disappear like that. You just felt what it''s like to run out of mana for a couple of seconds, and it didn''t feel good. The only thing that''s closest to not having an aura is also not having a pulse." Allen wondered for a moment. He took in Sebastian''s words and analyzing it thoroughly. He then smirked and raised himself off of the ground. "What if I don''t make my aura vanish" "Good," Sebastian shut him down but Allen continued. "What if I simultaneously let the aura in the air pass through me?" Allen said. "If I can somehow make that work, then I''ll be able to bepletely invisible." "That''s" Sebastian trailed off and ced his finger on his chin, deep in thought. "Why didn''t I think of that before?" Allen smirked but Sebastian gave him a deadpan, making him frown. "What now?" the boy pursed his lips. "You said it was good." "I didn''t say anything like that," Sebastian scoffed. "In theory, that could happen. But how on earth would you let aura pass through your body without anyone noticing?" "If I master the flow of aura in the air, that should be easy," Allen suggested. "And since you know well how aura travels, you can describe it to me and I''ll go with the flow of the aura''s fluctuations. It''s like driving on a car on a smooth road." "You''re not a Bearer for nothing," Sebastian grinned. "Tell me more about this n of yours and we''ll make it happen. But you still need to practice limiting your aura. It will be weird if you use this technique in public. People will wonder why they can''t feel you, but you are there with them." "Okay," Allen said with a smirk. "But I won''t agree to help unless you tell me that I''m right." Sebastian gasped and scoffed, "Don''t be childish at a time like this, Dante. You just said a groundbreaking suggestion for a technique that no one else had thought of before, and now you''re acting like a child." "Say it," Allen said without hesitation. He was tenaciously asking Sebastian for a favor and he wasn''t going to stop until he gets it. "Just say I was right." "Fine, you''re right," Sebastian groaned. "You''re the master of wits and trivia. Now let us experiment on you so we can master this technique." Allen smiled but couldn''t help but form a lump on his throat. He looked at Sebastian seriously, making the man worry that something might be wrong. "Are you okay, Dante?" Sebastian asked. "If you see a beas that looks scary, don''t worry. The fence will keep them out." Allen was still silent for a couple more seconds, making Sebastian even more worried. "This is not funny anymore. Why aren''t you speaking" "Allen," Allen cut him off. "My real name is Allen." Chapter 82: Hereditary Effect Chapter 82: Hereditary Effect It took three whole days for Allen to master hiding his overwhelming aura. Sebastian taught him every trick he could do to avoid people noticing him. In these three days, he has exchange messages with both Gary and Gwen. He lied to them by saying he was going to hunt beasts. The two believed him, and Allen was just d that they did. He had a lot of things on his mind while he was training, but he managed to finish it all. Thest day he was standing on top of the grass and it was green like its normal color. "I have a question," Allen said out loud. He was just about to go back to camp since his training was done. "Why don''t the other Hunters notices me when my aura is too strong?" "Something to do with levels of perception," Sebastian replied. "Among these Hunters, they have lower levels of perception therefore their senses mostly blocks the ones that are out of their range unless they see the power in the flesh. "It''s like when you see a giant tiger and it does nothing, you''ll barely notices its killing intent. Most of the time, when Hunters face higher grade beasts than them, the beast had shown their power and it was the first thing the Hunter sees," Sebastian said. "So, they think that it''s strong because it looked strong. They saw it firsthand." Allen nodded as he slowly understood what Sebastian meant. Before he received the Snake''s Code, he would barely feel aura that some felt. When his teammates would say something to each other, warning themselves about an impending danger, Allen was clueless. "Also, the fact that you''re not showing any aggression towards them also contributes to their aura deafness," Sebastian added. "Since you''re not furious in front of normal people that you see everyday, they don''t necessarily feel your presence." "It''s like I''m in a camouge," Allen said. "But it''s a different case for the stronger ones, right? I now get what you are saying. If any means that others would sense me, it would probably result to not desirable oues." "True," Sebastian said. "Especially when you encounter people from the Eternity and up. They can feel the ones who are close to Bearers. And since the Snake''s sigil has been lit, it won''t take them too much time to connect the dots." "Last, really, final question," Allen blurted out right before he exited the gate. "What do you wish for me to do for you in the future? You have power, fame, money, and even looks. What could you possibly want from me?" "A deal," Sebastian smirked. "I saw you that night with Jeremy, and I lightly overheard your conversation." "You were eavesdropping?" Allen smirked. "That''s out of character for you, Sebastian." "Perhaps I was," the man said without shame. "But I was already looking for the Phantom Cunt. I want a deal with him. And since I have found you and realized you''re still not fit for my deal, it''ll have to wait." "Tell me the deal," Allen said sternly. "Maybe if you tell me, I can do something about it." "This deal isn''t just a deal," Sebastian smirked. "It''s a matter of pride and honor. And the minimum requirement for this deal is a Hunter that has ascended to at least Eternity. You''re not even half of the level requirement for Haven yet, so I don''t think we can work this out." "But I''m already stronger than most Hunters here," Allen argued. "You know how strong I am and how much potential I have. Maybe I can do this deal, and of course, you give me the payment." "The payment is the Ox''s Code," Sebastian said, making Allen gasp. "Why are you so surprised?" "You want me to kill Bernard?" Allen scrunched his face. "But he''s your friend! And I don''t do murder. I am bound to do good, even if it''s against thew." "You''re confusingw with the right thing," Sebastian chuckled. "I told you, you''re still not up for this deal. Once you''re there, I will be the one to contact you. For now, what you have to do is get stronger and solve that little puzzle of yours." "Puzzle?" Allen asked. "You know who''s behind the Phantom Cunt?" "I do," Sebastian smirked. "But it will be a waste if I just tell you right away. You need to earn it with your effort that you started." "Then tell me at least a clue then," Allen said. "I''m in a loop between different people and none of them seemed to match anything. I''m losing my mind." "Nine, one, one," Sebastian said. "You should start there." What happened next happened all in a blink of an eye. Sebastianunched a cape out of nowhere and Allen was swallowed inside it. Suddenly, Allen found himself outside outside of the fence. Sebastian was inside, waving at him goodbye. "*sshole," Allen grunted and walked away. Meanwhile, Sebastian snatched his phone from his pocket while Allen walked away. He dialed a number and ced the phone on his ear, "Hey. He''s going back to camp. Don''t leave your eyes off of him. He''s our only hope." "But Seb" "No more buts," Sebastian cut the person from the other line off. "That b*tch is going to pay, and so will we. She''s absorbed too much of the power anyway that the Ox seemed like its useless." The other line was silent for a second. The person sighed before talking again, "You didn''t tell him about Hereditary Effect, huh?" "No," Sebastian chuckled. "Why would I? I just told him an borate lie about some special Primordial Beast Codes." "Pfft," the other person snorted. "You''re evil, Sebby." "I''m not," Sebastian said. "I''m just protecting him from his pride. The Zodiac are on the move too, so we have to be very careful." "Okay," the person said. "When all of this is over, we will run away and we''ll live in my vi. We can live peacefully here, forever," Sebastian said. "One day." "One day," the other person said theirst words before the call hung up. Sebastian returned his phone on his pocket as he raised his head to the skies. He basked on the sun for a few moments before he walked back to his vi, the fence and the vi vanishing into thin air right after. Meanwhile, Allen arrived back at camp. He immediately went to the hospital without even going to his apartment. He looked around and managed his way to Jeremy''s ward. The hospital seemed silent that day. The busy nurses and healers would usually roam the halls, but there were only few that day. Allen wanted to ask what was wrong, but he has to check in with Jeremy first. "Jeremy?" Allen knocked on the door and a female nurse walked out. "Oh, where is the patient here?" "He''s in the gym," the nurse said. "The gym?!" Allen gasped. "What do you mean the gym? That man had holes in his body. How could he possibly endure the gym?" "We tried stopping him, but he was too strong for us," the nurse said. "Even the guard had no other choice but to oblige." "That''s because he''s a top grade" Allen stopped himself and massaged his temples. "This man is a headache. Where is he right now?" "No, sh*t," Allen gasped when he arrived at the gym. It was located at the top floor of the hospital and was usually filled with patients who ar undergoing muscle rehabilitation. "He''s so cool." "I heard he''s a police officer, and he just healed." "Really? That''s amazing. How on Earth could he possibly do these things?" Arge crowd of both male and female nurses and healers were filling up the gym. Allen deadpanned after realizing that this was where most of the staff of the hospital went. The women were swooning over the boy at the treadmill while the men we''re pissed at him. They were ring at the man while his body glistened with sweat and his physique got more defined due to the lighting. "Jeremy?" Allen swerved himself through the crowd and got on the front. "You''re still injured. What in the hell are you doing?" Jeremy stopped his run, making the women groan in frustration. Some of them even cussed at Allen for making Jeremy stop. "Wow, there''s a lot of people here," Jeremy said. "But where were you all this time? I''ve been looking for you since I woke up about three days ago. Gwen said you were hunting. That''s such a great friend. You''re hunting while I''m here dying." "Who said we were friends?" Allen quirked his brow up. "Dude, wake up." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "You looked concerned enough and even ran to get here. Anyone would think that you''re close friends with me or something oh, you''re sweating." Jeremy took his towel and gently pat Allen''s forehead with it. Some of the women were giggling after seeing this, they were whispering to themselves with incoherent words. "Oh, lord," Gwen gasped. "I ship this." Chapter 83: Team Gary Chapter 83: Team Gary Allen immediately returned the towel to Jeremy who wasughing lightly. The man took his bag and slung his arms over Gwen''s shoulders. "Sorry, this girl really likes shipping men together. It''s ufortable at first, but you''ll get used to it," Jeremy said. Allen has never seen this side of both Jeremy and Gwen before. When he first me them, and all their other encounters, they looked serious and maintained that looked through the duration of their conversation. "Were you guys always like this?" Allen asked. "This seemed to be out of your character for the both of you." "Oh, you mean theughing and the teasing?" Gwen asked. "Jeremy and I formed a strong bond that we don''t always show to other people. But since you showed that you can be our friend, we show this side to you too." "Oh," was Allen''s words. "You two go ahead to the room, I''ll take a shower," Jeremy said. "The gym shower is much bigger than the room shower, so I''ll just do it here." "Be careful, and hurry," Gwen said. Allen and her went to the ward while waiting for Jeremy. "Where are Kyle and the others?" Allen asked. He also noticed how they weren''t in the room when he checked in earlier. The three seemed to be somewhere else even when their friend was still in the hospital. Typical. "Jeremy sent them home," Gwen replied. "They actually insisted on staying, but they couldn''t win against Jeremy. What he says, he gets." "Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth and nodded. He then sat on the sofa while he waited for Jeremy. "You know," Gwen suddenly said, breaking the silence that was looming around them. "That Gary guy. Do you know a lot of people call him Lucifer?" "That doesn''t sound nice," Allen scrunched his face after hearing Gary''s nickname. "Why would they name him after a devil?" "Lucifer wasn''t actually a devil, but that doesn''t matter. The thing is, Gary was the one who everyone thought would progress the fastest in his batch," Gwen said. "You know how Hunters are sent by batches, right? I was batch 1112, Gary was 997. I could still remember him when I was a newbie. "He was the Ranger who could one shot, one kill a Basic grade beast even when he''s far from it. The man had eyes of a natural born Hunter. But then, it all changed when his friends died. All his team was killed and starting from then on, Gary has fallen out of grace," Gwen sighed. "From a hero, he became nobody." "Was it rted to the Fire Dragon Incident?" Allen asked, even after he knew that it was. Chen''s story about the incident was just when the two teams discovered the dragon''s path and reported back into their camp. Allen stopped the man from proceeding with his story when his head burst out and his memories started flooding his mind. It was painful to see things that he can''t remember, and the memories that started resurfacing. Heshed out and ran away from Chen, so he never got the full story. "It was a bitplicated," Gwen said. "At that time, Gary got back from the forest to report about the appearance of an unimaginably powerful beast. Jeremy was even the one who confirmed the identity of the beast''s victim, and I was there when the papers were processed. "Gary found one of his friends to have been shot by the dragon''s fang, and the wound was infected. Gary went to the police station to confirm everything, while his friends were waiting for their other friend to recover. But then something happened" The streets were busy. Everyone was panicking. The people on the streets were running away in panic, some even screaming and others were bawling. "The hospital has been breached!" "Run for your life!" "Zombies! There''s zombies everywhere!" Gary had just got out of the police station and he was headed to the hospital when he saw themotion. It was hard to make out what it was since people were running over him like crazy. It was a scene out of an apocalyptic movie. Remembering his friends are still in the hospital, Gary pulled one person to the side and asked her, "What in the hell happened?" "Zombies!" the woman cried. "There are zombies in the hospital." "These" Gary cut himself off and pushed the woman away. He summoned his weapon and walked closer to the hospital, seeing that it was surrounded by strong Hunters while the weaker ones were evacuating. Gary was about to enter the front lines when a man pulled him aside. It was his friend from the police, Evan, who pulled him. The man looked distraught as he held onto Gary''s cor. "Stay here," Evan warned. "Whatever''s you do, do not go to the hospital or even try to look at what''s happening." "But Evan, my friends are inside!" Gary argued. "I''m the best Ranger in Camp Tw. If there are indeed beasts, you''re going to need a man with a long range of attack." "No," Evan shut Gary''s suggestion immediately. He was still gripping on Gary''s cor, seemingly having no ns of letting go. "You. Stay. Here." "Evan, if I joined the police, I could be your captain," Gary said. "But you didn''t, so I don''t have to take your orders," Evan rebutted. "Don''t make my job hard, Gary. Just stay here and don''t try to go there. We can handle this." With a defeated sigh, Gary nodded. Evan loosened his grip on the man''s cor but didn''t remove his hand just yet. Gary just shrugged, making Evan smirk and fully let go. "Stay safe," Gary said. "Do your job right, okay?" "I will," Evan said before turning away. He ran back to the front lines where the other police officers were and they surrounded the hospital. It was night and the power inside the building had beenpromised. There was only darkness. The only light that provided them vision was the streetlights around the hospital. On the inside, no one knows what''s going on. "What''s the situation," Evan asked his colleague. "Any signs of the infected?" "For now, there have been no note of increase in their numbers, sir," the man replied. "But it''s hard to track them down since barely have any heat signature. These people have gone cold too fast." "That would only mean that they''re dead," Evan sighed. "We shouldn''t show them any mercy. They already killed one of the healers and heavily injure a doctor. We can''t add another casualty." "Roget that," the police officers around Evan yelled. They conjured their weapon and equipped the night vision goggles provided to them. They entered the building and slowly get swallowed by the darkness. "Situation," Evan said from their radio. He was themander of the operation, so he didn''t have to go inside. He was just outside with theputers who provided them night vision cameras. "Dark, cold, and silent," the officers replied. "These people are strong when they were Hunters, I don''t know what could happen now." "Just stay alert and don''t let your guard down," Evanmanded. "They instant killed a healer who has a goodbat ability. We don''t know what could happen to you." "Don''t worry sir," one of the men inside said proudly. "We''re police officers. We''ve been trained thoroughly. Something like this wouldn''t be too much of a" Even felt his entire world froze when themunications stopped. He looked at the screens and saw that everything was static. "What in the living hell happened?" "Sir, we lost them," one of theputer men said. "Their vision, radio, and even their aura vanished." "Vanished?" Evan asked. "What do you mean they vanished? Those men are highly skilled inbat. It''s impossible for them to vanish just like that!" "But sir, we couldn''t even locate them," the man said. "Officer Reyes''s team has gone under the radar. We just spoke to them, but they vanished." "Impossible," Evan muttered. "Send in the drones. Look for them right now or else." "Right away sir." Evan''s team prepared ten military-grade drones and sent it inside the hospital. The drones have built in cameras and powerful guns to defend themselves when something attacks them." "Show in the vision," Evan ordered. He watched through the multiple monitors. Each monitor shows one drone as it explored the dark building. "Something doesn''t seem right here," Evan thought out loud. "From the scale of themotion caused by the people earlier, the hospital shouldn''t be this clean." "Sir, check this out," one of the men pointed at a screen. Evan''s eyes looked like they would bulge out of their sockets after what he witnessed. The entire hall was littered with blood and guts that it looked gruesome. What''s worse for Evan was the remaining clothes that were attached to the bodies were the uniforms of the police officers that went inside. "What is happening?" Evan asked himself as he fell to his knees. Chapter 84: Nine One One Chapter 84: Nine One One The drone was destroyed the next moment. One by one, the monitors became static. The heavy artilleries inside the drones couldn''t even protect it for a second longer, just so that it would show the faces of the attackers. This made Evan grit his teeth and clenched his fists. The anger boiled inside of him had been bubbling and the aura of his fury had seeped out. He had never seen anything like this before. "I''m going in," Evan announced, making all the police officers around them look at him in shock. "I hereby remove these Hunters as ssification of humans. They are threats that wiped out an entire squad. They are not humans. They are beasts, non-sentient beasts that will attack anything that they see." "But sir" One of his people tried to persuade him otherwise, but Evan had already put on his gear. He was now convinced more than ever that he was going to go. "It''s no use trying to talk me out of this," Evan said. "You saw what those creatures can do. We can''t let more men into peril." Themander of the police officers himself led a group of men. He summoned his sword, wiping it as he prepared for battle. "We will kill anything that''s inside that hospital. That hallway was till filled with so much blood and guts, that it''s impossible that our men are the only ones who''re the victims." Out of nowhere, a figure leaped from inside the building. It ran straight through the parking lot of the hospital and lunged for Evan. It was like everything was in slow motion. No one expected for something like this to happen so suddenly. Something was attacking Evan and it was going full speed. "Commander!" one of Evan''s men yelled, but it was toote. The figure was already in the air and was halfway to scratch Evan''s head off of his body. Bang! Evan blinked and blood was all over his body. His eyes were wide and his lips were agape. He was still digesting everything that happened. It was all so quick. He was still trying to process everything. "II" Evan stuttered. "I told you, you need me," Gary appeared from the crowd. He slung his gun over his shoulders and walked up to themander. "Why are you so Evan?" "C-udette" Evan trailed off, pointing his hand on the dead corpse. "That''s udette." Gary froze and his head slowly turned to the body. He gulped as his eyes lingered on the body of his friend, his ally, and one of the people that he treats as his family. "What" Gary''s knees fell to the ground with a loud thud. He looked at the dead body of his friend. udette''s head was blown away from the shotgun and she wasying lifeless on the ground, boood spilling everywhere. "udette" - "And then it was revealed that there was a poison in udette that seeped to her friends," Gwen finished her story. "Gary''s team became like fighting zombies and they were powerful and tenacious. Since then on, Gary couldn''t fight properly. His current strength was only a quarter of his old strength." "But how did you seem to know everything first hand?" Allen asked. "Were you there when the crime happened?" "I was," Gwen replied. "I was one of the people in Evan''smand station. I was the person who yelled for Evan to dodge udette''s attack." "So" Allen trailed off as he tried to make up words. "His entire team" "All of them turned to zombie-like creatures," Gwen said. "udette their healer, Hannah their assassin, Clint their tank, Bryan their warrior, and Stephan their mage. Although they lost their humanity, their power was doubled and the team was already strong. Imagine how hard it was to deal with them." Allen looked through the dark night skies as he thought what pain Gary felt the moment he knew. The man looked calm most of the time, but he was hiding this secret. No wonder he didn''t have any other friends, he was traumatized by his past. "But anyway, that''s what happened to Gary," Gwen said. "So, it''s really hard to deal with him when friends are mentioned. His troubled past would always haunt him. It''s a wonder how he could still weild his weapon after what happened. Most people when the lose a teammate would have hesitations when their weapons are involved. Gary lost his entire team and he can still hunt fine." "That''s a question not one of us can answer," Jeremy entered the room. "Only Gary can answer that." When Jeremy entered the room, he was already dressed and a towel was hanging over his head. He wore a pair of sweatpants and a tank top that made him look like a casual person than a patient. "Maybe because Gary is a strong man that he can do it," Allen spoke. "He''s one of the best Hunters I know, and now that I learned his true power, I''m even more amazed." "Weird kid," Jeremy looked at Gwen and the woman did the same. They both snorted and cracked augh. "What?" Allen scrunched his face in confusion. "Did I say something wrong?" "Most people would say that Gary''s an old soul with a wasted potential, but you think differently," Gwen said. "It''s like you''re looking up to him or something oh, my god." The woman received a smack on the back of her head from Jeremy. Thetter had a deadpanned expression on his face as he repeated the action two more times. "Stop it with your habit of shipping men," Jeremy said. "It''s weird." "I bet you''re just jealous" She was smacked again, stopping her mid sentence. This made Gwen purse her lips and scrunch her face. "Meanie." "I''m doing it for your own good. That habit of yours needs to stop," Jeremy said. "It''s ufortable for me." "Well not for me," Gwen grinned and hopped off the bed. She ran to the door and threw her middle finger at Jeremy. "I''ll go get us drinks." The woman left the two boys in the room. Jeremy sighed and shook his head, then he fixed his things. Allen watched Jeremy move and he felt relieved that the man was fine. They still have a deal to finish, and Jeremy getting hurt would only make things moreplicated. He also wanted to take Jeremy''s perspective on what happened to three years ago. The man was with Gary at the police station, so maybe there''s something else that Gwen missed. "You''re going to ask what happened to Gary back then, right?" Jeremy looked at Allen and their eyes met. "Yeah," Allen replied without looking away. "He''s my friend, after all. I wanted to know everything that I happened to him, so at least I could understand him more." "Nothing much happened when we went to the station to take the report," Jeremy said. "Although he did receive a call at the middle of the questioning. He stepped out for a moment, and when he returned, he was distraught and distracted. Something was definitely on his mind that time." "Do you know what the call was all about?" Allen asked, but Jeremy shook his head. "Oh." "But I do know that the call was from one of his friends," Jeremy quickly added. "Maybe from their healer or something." "Interesting," Allen whispered to himself and fell short of words. Silence filled the room for the next few minutes. Allen was thinking deeply about what the call was all about while Jeremy was busy fixing his stuff. A couple of minutes more had passed and Gwen returned with three cans of soda. "What took you so long?" Jeremy asked. "Why are you always so slow?" "That''s only because this hospital has confusing signs and most of their vending machines were empty. I had to go out to the nearby convenience store," Gwen said as she threw one of the cans to Jeremy. The man caught the can and grinned. "Thank you so much, darling. Nothing beats a refreshing drink after an entire day at the gym." "What were you doing at the gym anyway?" Allen asked. "Were you even allowed to go?" "Yeap," Jeremy said. "I was there to take the challenge newbie firefighters does as a form of their rights of passage." "Oh," Allen formed an O with his lips but he didn''t really understand anything. "That''s cool, I guess." "It is. We have to take steps equal to the number of floors of the Twin Towers. It''s to honor the deaths of the firefighters of the 911 terror attack that happened" "Wait," Allen cut Jeremy off. "The what?" "The 911 terror attack. Maybe you didn''t know about that since it happened so long ago, but it happened in the 21st century. Starting then on, firefighters does this ritual," Jeremy said. "911," Allen whispered. "Twin Towers. The Smith Twins." The Smith Twins were behind the Phantom Cunt act. Chapter 85: Unfinished Deal Chapter 85: Unfinished Deal "The what?" Jeremy asked, making Allen snap back to reality. He can''t tell anyone that Sebastian told him about the twins. If he does, then his cover will be blown and the tides will surely turn against him. The Smith Sisters are powerful. If Allen goes to light as the person who attacked them, but denies the rest of the crimes of the Phantom Cunt, he will be charged of everything, even the attack on Jeremy. He has a huge piece of information but he can''t easily share it to anyone. It was too risky to do so. Besides, what could the Smiths do? Their only asset, their faces, has been ruined by Allen. There was a smirk on Allen''s lips. He thought it would be the end of the road for him and he''ll have a hard time bouncing back, but he still got the upper hand. "Jeremy you dumb ass," Gwen said, making Allen snap out of his thoughts. Gwen stood and walked over to her friend. She pulled his shirt up and took it off of him. "Your shirt is inside out. How could you possibly have the confidence to walk through these halls and then get a simple thing such as this wrong?" "Sorry, mom," Jeremy smirked and he turned his shit outside in. Allen couldn''t miss the police officer''s chiseled body. He pursed his lips, thinking he wanted to have a body like that too. That was until he remembered Jeremy''s wounds. "Jeremy, didn''t they say you were attacked on your stomach?" Allen asked. "Howe I don''t see the wound or any scar?" "Oh, this?" Jeremy pointed at his stomach. "Sebastian Lincoln has a special Code that uses healing topletely repair the wound to every cell in the skin. He''s a man who has a set of Grand grade Codes. He has all sorts of healing." Allen gulped after hearing this. This could mean that whatever he did to the twins was like nothing. They healed themselves by using Sebastian''s powers. And the bastard didn''t even inform him that he possessed such abilities. The fact that this information was in Allen''s hands, but he can''t use it was annoying and frustrating for him. He wanted to exploit this, but he has no way of using it. "Unless" Allen whispered to himslef as he smirked. He didn''t need to tell Jeremy as himself. The police officer and him were still not done with their deal. He only got one third of it, while Jeremy didn''t have nothing. He was sure enough that the police officer wouldn''t just let this pass up. He will find a way to contact the Wandering Trader sooner orter. When that happens, he will add the information of the Smiths being involved in the Phantom Cunt case. It''s like hitting two birds with one stone. His n was wless, and his quest of clearing his name wasing to an end. Allen acted like nothing happened. He just nodded and talked to them like he always do. When the night came, Jeremy offered for them to eat out, and he epted. He will have to be with them as much as he can so they wouldn''t raise any suspicion. Not like there was any link between him and the Wandering Trader, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "You know, you reminded me of a friend I got back in the day," Jeremy spoke in the middle of their dinner. Allen expected that this topic woulde sooner orter. His physical appearance was different, he had a voice, and his powers far surpasses than his old one. But there was something that never changed, and that was the aura. Even when Allen tries his best to hide his true self, he can''t deny that he still resembles his old self. Allen smiled, pretending to not know anything, "I do?" "His name was Allen," Jeremy said. "We had thismon friend before, Alice. But when she died, Allen changed. He became much different than he was. From a soft, gentle, and always smiling boy to a man who was cold and was like a shell without a soul." "That''s" Allen trailed off. He didn''t know he changed so much, and that his actions looked cold to other people. He had to admit that he was quite distant, but he didn''t realize that he was cold. "How is he now?" "Missing," Jeremy answered with a sigh. "He was actually part of Kyle''s previous group and the four of them explored a hill. Allen wandered too far from the other three, so he was lost basically. Kyle, Selena, Irene, and even their previous temmate Nixon searched long and hard for him. It took them a couple of weeks, but the boy was nowhere to be found." Allen wanted to shake his head and scream that everything happened differently. He was left behind by his previous team because they see him as nothing but a baggage. They didn''t want to have anything to do with him, so they left him alone. They didn''t even try to find him, because if they did, they could. He was only by theke that was not too far from the camp. Everything was a lie. Kyle lied to Jeremy. He made a different story to cover up their crime. "You never got to see him again?" Allen asked to which Jeremy answered with a shake of his head. "Never. I even tried searching the forest in this part of the camp in case Allen was lost, but I had no sign of him," Jeremy said. "It''s really frustrating." Gwen pat her friend''s back. She gave him a smile and a gentle hug. "Cheer up. I''m sure wherever he is, he''s fine right now. He''s much happier." "Yeah," Allen added. He wanted to be bitter about this, but the way Jeremy''s eyes feel hurt and sorrowful, he couldn''t bring himself to. Jeremy was sad when he was missing, and the man indeed treated him as a friend. "What Gwen said was right. I''m sure Allen is in a happy ce right now." "Thanks guys," Jeremy smiled. His phone rang that made Allen think he has a call. When Jeremy brought his phone out, Allen saw the screen disying that it was an rm with the title ''Unfinished deal''. He knew then that this was about Jeremy and the Wandering Trader''s unfinished deal. The man didn''t indeed forget about the deal. He even made an rm for it. "I have to go now," Jeremy said. "I have a prior appointment." "Me too, actually," Gwen said that made Allen smile. He didn''t have to be excuse himself too since Gwen already did. If he was the one who said he also has an appointment, it will trigger a hint of suspicion from these two. After all, he openly admitted they he didn''t have too may friends. Who could he meet? "Really? That''s too bad," Allen said fakely. The three of them stood and said goodbye to each other before leaving to different directions. Jeremy headed to a different route. This made Allen think that Jeremy was only segueing his way to the meeting spot, so he wouldn''t alert Gwen. This man was indeed a bright man after all. For Allen, he pretended to head to the direction of his apartment. He said that he was going to sleep early since he was tired of hunting in the forest all day. "Good nught," Allen said to the two as he waved his hand and walked away. He got two blocks away and he turned to an alley. He looked around in case someone was nearby before he put on his cloak and mask. He then leaped to the roof of the building and traveled from the roof. He also equipped the items that Jake gave him so it would add an extra boost for him. And since the police had their eyes on alleys and roofs, Allen had to crouch down while running. It was like his attacking position where he would lean his chest close to the ground as if he wasying on his stomach while his knees would bend forward and his feet goes tippy toes. He was thinking how awkward the position was, but it was effective. Beasts, and even humans, don''t know how to counter this technique easily and Allen''s speed would increase if he uses this form. His increase in speed was like one of the passive abilities of the snake, but it was more of an internal skill rather than the other passive skills. A few minutes of runnig and Allen arrived at the spot. He made sure to get there before Jeremy does, so it would add confusion to the man. He waited for a couple of minutes more for Jeremy to arrive. When the police officer did, he prepared himself. Jeremy stood in the middle of the alley. He didn''t do anything except watch his phone from time to time. He heard footsteps behind him, making him spin and conjure his weapon. "You''re finally ready toplete our deal," the Wandering Trader said. Chapter 86: Scars Heal Too Chapter 86: Scars Heal Too "Finally," Jeremy grinned after he saw the Wandering Trader. "I was waiting for you here all these days. Where have you been?" "Waiting," Allen replied. "It would be dangerous if I show up right after the me was brought down on me. My name was further tainted when the news of the man in the alleys attacked a police officer involved with the Smith sisters." "I''m sorry about that," Jeremy massaged his forehead. "Media is crazy. Even if the cases werepletely unrted, they would always find a way to connect things just for the clicks." "That doesn''t matter now," Allen said. "I''m here toplete the deal as well as upgrade it, just so the bnce would flip lightly in your favor." The Wandering Trader''s words were like wedding bells on Jeremy''s ears. He looked at the masked man with a skeptical look, thinking if he could trust him or not. "I''m here to listen to your new offer," Jeremy said. "But it will be me who will decide whether we go with this or go back to the first offer. Let''s equalize things." Allen shrugged. "Fair enough." "What is it then?" Jeremy asked. "Tell me your new offer." "At your end, it will be the same. My second wish is for us to trade, while thest one is for me to get you to do something," Allen said. "But for me end, it will be different. I will add something for my part other than you injuring Chen to the point of no return, and keeping your real identity." "Oh, so you''re going to add one more for you?" Jeremy smirked. "That''s interesting. And why not just kill Chenpletely? It would most likely be the same as injuring him to the point of no return, ain''t it?" "I don''t kill humans. Let''s start with that," Allen said. "But I do take care of my clients, and it''s been quite a while since I want to clear my name. I know who''s behind the Phantom Cunt ploy." Jeremy''s eyes widened. He looked at Allen''s eyes who were barely visible under the mask. He narrowed his own eyes and was trying to search for any signs of trickery from Allen, but they had none. The Wandering Trader was sincere. His eyes held no remorse nor signs of evil. "So, what will it be" "Deal," Jeremy said. "We have a deal." The police officer offered his hands, "Let''s grant your second demand." Allen didn''t bother to hide his grin. He took Jeremy''s hands and received the Codes from the man. He flipped their hands so that it was him who could send this time. "These Codes" Jeremy trailed off. "They''re really both Rare grade. And both of them aren''t found in this region." Allen only shrugged while he looked at the Codes he received. He gave Jeremy some of his leftovers while he got Jeremy''s valuable Codes. < Hidden Mark > Type: Skill Grade: Rare Effect: When used on a target, the user will have the target''s real time location for three hours. < Steel Bat > Type: Weapon Grade: Rare Damage: 10 Effect/s: Every six hits to a single target, the sixth hit will strike an extra electric bolt that will stun the target for 1.2 seconds. The hit stacks will not vanish until the sixth hit is struck. The Codes were indeed valuable. The first one was a Code for a tracker, one that Allen could use in the future while tracking clients. The other one was a weapon that stuns target. What the most intriguing and perhaps what raised the value of the weapon was the stacks system it has. If Allen hits a target five times for today, he can still stun the target next time they meet, that is if he hits the target for the sixth time. Usually, stacking-type effects would disappear after a couple of seconds. Some wouldst for a few hours, but it is seldom that this kind of effect would happen. In return though, the second effect for the weapon wascking. Allen figured out that this was the case after the first effect absorbed the second effect. "I see the curiosity in your eyes," Jeremy smirked. "But yes, I did tweaked the weapon for a bit. I have a friend who''s able to add conditions and limitations to weapon type Codes, so I asked him for help. The old effects were quite simr to this one, but she added the conditions." "I see," Allen said. He hummed and thought about it for a moment. If the new effect would be somewhat simr to the old one, he knew exactly what the old effects was. "The first effect from before was the same as the current effect, but instead of having six stacks, I assume it only has three?" Jeremy was stunned for a moment. He didn''t expect for Allen to catch on to that so quickly. "C-Correct." Allen hummed, "And the second effect was still connected to the first. Is it when the same target has been stacked before was sessfully hit by the stunning strike, you can have an additional stunning strike?" "Only if it reaches two strikes, wow," Jeremy pped his hands. "No wonder everyone is talking about you. You really know your stuff." Allen''s improvement on his intelligence had something to do with Sebastian''s training. After he was able toplete his training and the special grass waspletely green under him, a new feature unlocked. It was from one of his stats, an additional one called Intelligence. He had 5, and there was an additional 5 after he sessfullypleted a quest from the Snake that involves slimes and frogs. "But your only problem is that you space out a lot," Jeremy smirked. "Be careful, your enemies might use this to their advantage. They could strike without you knowing." "I''ll keep that in mind," Allen said even after he knew that it was impossible for the Hunters of Haven to hit him. His instincts would instantly kick in the moment something ominous get near him. His body would instantly respond by dodging, making it hard for them toy a single attack on him. His reflexes, movement, and even instincts were all enhanced when he uses the White Saber equipment set. He was practically invincible for Hunters that haven''t ascended to Paradise yet. "But I am impressed about your perception," Jeremy said. "You knew about the effects before I reforged them. That''s not something everyone can do so easily." "I am a man of a few tricks," Allen said. "Now, for myst demand I only want onest thing from you, and this one is connected to your third benefit." "Interesting," Jeremy said. "What is it?" "Catch the one who ruined my name," Allen said with clenched teeth. "I want them to rot in prison and die there for ruining my reputation. I have only started my business, but they already ruined it." "You know, don''t you?" the police man asked, making Allen smirk and shrug. "You have had enough, so you decided to tell me who it is that''s behind all of this. You knew all along who the ones responsible for the ploy. I assume you held back before? Because you didn''t trust me enough. But now that you have been used of the crime that you haven''tmitted, you''re finally ready." Allen wanted to snicker about how far Jeremy was with his guess, but it seemed like this would help him. A little white lie wouldn''t hurt, especially when it wasn''t too far from the truth. He did held back before, just because he didn''t know how much he could trust Jeremy. But after spending time with him as Allen, as a friend, he knew how much justice meant to the man and he feels like he could offer this piece of information to Jeremy. The only thing he was lying was about the fact that he knew who the person behind the Phantom Cunt ploy was. Before he met Sebastian, he didn''t have any clue to who it was. His three suspects and John Smith were too far off his radar. Who would''ve known that the twins would use something that almost killed them to their advantage by taking over it? This was a power move from them, and they have been moving for too long. Now, it''s Allen''s turn. "You know well enough," Allen smirked. "So, I''m here to tell you who it was." "This is actually a pretty good deal," Jeremy said. "But you have to help me catch them and not just blurt out the information. The Phantom Cunt for Chen. The both of them, we''ll get our revenge." "Fair deal," Allen smirked. "I have always wanted to check on them after what I did anyway." "Wait," Jeremy raised his hands as his face scrunched in confusion. "What do you mean after what you did?" "I did it to them," Allen grinned. "I tried to ruin their face, but it turns out even scars can heal." "You don''t mean" "The Smiths sisters, your sisters, are the Phantom Cunt." Chapter 87: Phantom Cunt Eradication Chapter 87: Phantom Cunt Eradication Jeremy''s world started to cave in after hearing Allen. He blinked a couple of times and even shook his head in case he heard it wrong. "What I did to the twins which you saw was like nothing after Sebastian Lincoln helped them," Allen said. "And since they were the victims of the first attack, their names would be thest to be brought up. It was a good power move from them, not gonna lie." "Impossible," Jeremy uttered. "But then again, those two would always find a way to get ahead, even if they would trample on other people. Something like this would be nothing to them, just so they can reach their own goals." "Exactly," Allen sighed. "I don''t really know their intentions or goals as to why they did this, but I''m assuming they want something from your father too. After what they did to guards, I assume it''s something of a dispute on their part. "You know that they are capable of doing it, so you won''t have a hard time epting this fact," Allen continued. "After they were attacked, they thought that they could use this as an opportunity to get what they want." "Before we continue, I have to confess something first," Jeremy said. "I told Chen that I was the one behind the Phantom Cunt. Once he knows that I''m not, he''s going to kill me. That man is a maniac who can do anything he pleases because he has the power to do so." Allen pursed his lips and slowly shook his head, "He won''t know." "What do you mean?" Jeremy asked. "That man has eyes and ears everywhere. He knows anything and everything that goes around town. I can''t hide under his nose, you must understand that. Chen Wang is a man who is powerful, one of the most powerful in Paradise. He''s practically a god here in Haven." "He doesn''t know everything, trust me," Allen said. "He''s powerful, but he''s not that powerful. Especially since I have someone by my side that can help us." Allen was bluffing at what he said. He saw first hand how capable Chen was. It will probably take a couple of months before the man ascends to Eternity. "Someone by your side?" Jeremy asked. "You mean you have other allies?" "I do," Allen said. "I am alone, but I''m not. I am many, but I''m one." Allen wasn''t lying when he said that. He had Jake, he had Hilda, he had Jack, and he even have Gary, Sebastian, and Bernard. He''s not a one man parade, he''s an entire festival. He already has connections that he can use any time he wanted to. "You seem to trust these people," Jeremy spoke. "Well, I guess I will trust them too." "You can just listen to my instructions. We''ll foil the Phantom Cunt once and for all," Allen said to which Jeremy answered with a nod. "Meet me here in three days. Everything will be ready by then." Allen lost all his confidence when he arrived at his apartment. The fake pride he was showing Jeremy had vanished and he was now sitting alone in his room. "I even offered to create the n when I don''t know shit. What will I do?" Allen rolled over to his bed, sighing. He said to Jeremy that he will create their battle n on an impulse, but he doesn''t really know anything. He was as lost as Jeremy and he had a harder time analyzing everything. With a grunt, Allen snatched his phone and dialed Jack''s number. Since the man was from Eternity, he has to know battle ns. It was also helpful that Jack knew who he was, so it would be easier for him to ask for advice and a concrete n. "Hello?" Jack said from the other side. Allen seethed and took a deep breath, "I know who''s ruining the Wandering Trader''s name is, but I don''t know how to stop them. Could you help me?" "Are you asking as Allen or are you asking as the Wandering Trader? I also have a deal in mind that you might be interested in," Jack said, but Allen knew that the man was only teasing him. "I''m asking as your long lost grandson," Allen scoffed. "But seriously, I really need your help." "Okay," Jack replied. "Since you told me about the rat Chen''s appearance in Camp Tw, I will help you with the twins. But you also have to help me eradicate Chen, and I will help you fuck up those twins." "Deal," Allen said immediately. "We have a deal." "You''re making me one of your clients, eh?" Jackughed loudly. "You really have a knack for business and client rtions. I wish my nephews are as good as you in terms of that." "Whatever old man," Allen said, making Jackugh loudly. "And thank you. I will start the n in three days time since we have an officer on board. He will help us sort out the police station''s side so your men can move freely." "Interesting," Jack said. "You already made a connection with the police. That is wonderful. It will make our job much easier. You know how choked up we are whenever we go to camps. My elite men are the ones who are wanted worldwide. We can''t easily move." "That''s exactly why I require his help," Allen said. "Tell me your n and I will ry it to him." "Perfect," Jack grinned. "Let usmence Project Phantom Cunt Eradication." Three days have passed and Allen did nothing but n and finalize their move. He can''t afford to make mistakes since everything is very crucial. He hogged himself in his room all day and all night without realizing that Gary and Gwen were worrying about him. They often tried to visit him, but his door sign said that he was out hunting. Every Hunter''s door in all camps have a signage outside. It was like one of those signs from the doctors that said whether they were in or out. Hunters have the same, indicating whether they are in the camp or not. "Finally," Allen grunted after a long talk with Jack. They have finally finished everything and it was the night of the n. Tonight, they will foil the twins and they will serve justice. "You''re going to meet your police officer friend now?" Jack asked, to which Allen answered with a yes. "Just be careful child. Even when you think he''s your ally, he is still a police officer and he is still bound to justice at the end of the day." "I will," Allen said. "And I trust him for he too was wronged by his sisters at one point in their life." "I already knew that," Jack said, chuckling. "That information came from me don''t you forget." "I know, I know," Allen snickered. "I better go now. I guess I''ll see youter." "Alright," Jack said before ending the call. Allen prepared himself before leaving. It was already time for his meet with Jeremy and he can''t afford to bete. Their n was also time essential, so any dy would cost them. Right after Allen opened the door, Gwen''s face popped out. "Aha! You''re in your unit all along." Allen gasped and nearly mmed the door on her face, but the woman held it tightly. "What do you think you''re doing Allen?" "I''m going somewhere," Allen said. "Please let go of the door." "But your sign said that you were out hunting. Did you lie just so we wouldn''t disturb you?" Gwen narrowed her eyes. She did let go of the door, but her arms found their way crossed over her chest. "What are you hiding inside your room, huh?" "Nothing!" Allen squeaked and his voice cracked slightly. "I mean, nothing, really." "Way too suspicious," Gwen smirked. "Jeremy said he''ll go out tonight too. Are you both going out together?" "Absolutely not!" Allen gasped. "What are you even thinking?" "Your reaction says it all." The next door''s door closed and Gary walked over to them. "You look really defensive right now." "W-Why would I be defensive?" Allen asked. "It''s not like I''m hiding anything." "You are hiding something!" Gwen pointed Allen. "Is my ship actually sailing? I need to record this day." "You need to what oh my, god," Gary snorted after seeing Gwen pull out her phone and typed on her calendar. She wrote ''Ship started sailing''. "You''re an obnoxious little woman." "I am not!" Gwen gasped, faking hurt by touching her chest and cing the back of her hand on her forehead. "I''m just feeling myself, you know?" "Yeah, whatever," Gary only sighed. He watched the stairs where Allen exited in, a sad smile forming in his lips. "I think we need to follow him." "That''s a great idea!" Gwen cheered. "Then we''ll see it he''s actually meeting Jeremy." "Well, not exactly," Garu pursed his lips. "But okay, whatever." "Let''s go then!" Gwen cheered and led the way downstairs. Chapter 88: Floral Fairy Chapter 88: Floral Fairy If there was one thing that Allen learned from being friends with Gwen and Gary, is that they don''t leave no stones unturned and no questions unanswered. When he has the hint of them following him, he instantly used the cloak and used it to escape the two. He made sure to take note that the effects of the cloak was on cooldown, so he had no means of escapingter. This was a huge setback for Allen, but it was also the quickest and best way to hide from the two. In the dark alleyway where he agreed to meet with Jeremy, he positioned himself in the darkness. He stood by the wall as he observed the waves of people walking by. "It must be nice to be normal," Allen said to himself. All throughout his life, he was always the odd one out. When he was a mute and he had white hair, he was an outcast. Now he was normal, he had a big secret that would ultimately turn his world upside down, making him still an outcast. Before he could continue thinking negatively, Allen shook his head and focused on his goal. He will meet with Jeremy and tell him the n. It wasn''t exactlyplicated, so Jeremy could still catch up even if their n was going to be done tonight. Allen just wished the twins didn''t get a whiff of what''s going on, or they have their guards as low as possible. One mistake would turn the tides on him, and it will be the end of it. It will be him, the one who hid after attacking the twins, and them who were the victims of the crime. "I''m here," Jeremy said. "And I can see you." Allen smirked and hopped off the wall. He knew Jeremy had a passive skill Code that allows him to see better in the dark. That was why he chose to hide while he wait. "What''s the n, then?" Jeremy asked. "How do we catch them?" "You''re awfully excited," Allen snickered yfully. "My friend will give us a signal, and when he does, you follow me and do exactly what I tell you to do." "What is it that I have to do?" Jeremy asked. "I should at least know so I could prepare myself. What it I secretly can''t do it? Because I have a phobia of the thing you were making me do." "I ran a background check on you and even know the profiles of the seven kids who bullied you in the orphanage," Allen crossed his arms as he watched Jeremy feel small all of a sudden. "I think if you have any hidden phobias, I should know." Allen was referring to the time when Jeremy was an outcast in the orphanage he was at. This was the time when John Smith was still unaware of his son''s existence. The boy grew in an orphanage where he was always alone. No one wanted to befriend him because of his cold demeanor. His face was expressionless and he barely spoke any words. The kids thought he was weird and they decided to leave him alone. Jack allpiled them after the man knew Allen was connected to Jeremy. The old man told Allen that he can''t just befriend someone like that, so he ran a background check on Jeremy''s life. "I have the reports of the nuns, teachers, and even the janitors in that orphanage, so don''t think you can fool me," Allen said. "And yes, I am asserting my dominance over this rtionship of ours. We may be partners, but we''re still not allies." Jeremy shook his head and smirked. "You really are an outstanding guy. I don''t even need that kind of asserted dominance, you just had to tell me that it was all part of a n and I would be good." Allen chuckled. He held his mask as he hid theugh that was threatening to burst out, "Then it''s all part of the n." For a moment, he lost control of his words, and himself. This urence has been happening more and moretely that it was starting to get on his nerves. He didn''t want this. He wants full control of himself. Jeremy opened his mouth and was about to say something when a loud crash was heard from a distance. Both the men looked at each other before Allen grinned. "That''s the sign. Prepare yourself. It''s showtime." "What happened?" "What was that?" "Is that a car?" "There must be someone who''s rich and powerful. Why would a car be here?" The street was immediately filled with people. They were crowding around a car that was crashed on a post right in the middle of the camp. Since science on Earth wasn''t always right in the Otherworlds, cars and other machines were hard to build in the new worlds. The only people who could afford cars were a quarter of those who lived in Wealth Valleys. Another wave of gasps were heard when the card exploded with a ck cloud. There was no heat or force from the explosion, meaning it was just a smoke bomb that exploded. "Giant Fan!" A Hunter summoned a giant fan that was made of leaves and a branch of a tree. The leaves spun at a high speed, making a gush of air flow out and lift the clouds off of the car. "That''s Sarah Serreti," one Hunter whispered. "She''s one of the ones who are at the top of Haven. It won''t take long before she ascends to Paradise." "The Floral Fairy?" the female Hunter the man was talking to to gasped. "She''s one of the best mages in Haven. Why is she in the camp?" "What are you doing just standing there? Help them!" Sarah yelled. She finished blowing all the ck smoke away and was the first one to go to the car. She knocked on the driver''s door. When no one answered, she switched to the passenger''s seat. "Who drove this shit?" People went over the car but it was tinted, and the doors were tightly shut. One man was about to break the ss when the door of the driver''s seat opened, revealing an old man with a bloodied head. "Sir, are you okay?" the man who was about to break the windows asked. "Why did you drive to the wall?" The old man closed his eyes and scrunched his face. "I don''t remember all I know is that I was the Smith Sisters!" "The what?" Sarah walked over to the old man. "What do you mean the Smith Sisters?" "I-I''m their driver. I don''t know what happened, but I suddenly cked out. We were just driving back to Wealth Valley, but I" The old man stopped making Sarah''s eyebrows rise. She pursed her lips and waited for the man to continue, but he never did. "What do you mean, old man?" "Why am I here? Who am I?" the old man started looking around. "I don''t know how I got here." Sarah groaned and ced both her hands on the old man''s shoulders. When she did, the old man''s eyes turned white and he turned to ashes. A nk was heard when the ashes poured to the floor, it was a crystal. "That old man was a familiar," the man who tried to break the windows said. "But this crystal is high grade. This familiar is not created by someone from Haven." "What do you mean?" Sarah asked. The man opened his wallet and revealed a badge. "My name is Officer Matthew Gray. I''m from Paradise Camp Tw''s police officer. I''ll take care of this case and make sure to solve it by the end of the night." "What would a police officer from Paradise do here?" Sarah asked. "And from the same camp''s founder at that." "I''m here to solve the Phantom Cunt case," Matthew said. "And I will find that person by tonight. He has done it again. Miss Sarah, could you pleasee with me? We need to talk about this case, and since you''re the star witness of this crime, I need your presence in the police department." Sarah looked baffled, but she sooner agreed. "Okay. Let''s go." Meanwhile, as the two walked to the police station, Jeremy was sighing. They were on top of a building while watching the scenes take ce. "An unprecedented event had happened," Jeremy said. "Of all the ces in this camp, that police officer had to loiter around this part. Now we can''t easily clean up this mess. Let''s stop right here.", "Stop?" Allen snorted. "Who said we''ll stop right here?" "That''s Mattew Gray. He''s a cop from Paradise. If we get involve here, he will definitely catch us. The Wandering Trader, let''s move our date of n next time. We can''t win over this man." "That''s exactly why I chose tonight of all nights, and this ce of all ces," Allen said. "That cop is our secret key." Chapter 89: Allen vs Jeremy? Chapter 89: Allen vs Jeremy? Jeremy ced both his hands on the railing of the rooftop. "Our secret key? Whatever do you mean?" "What you have to do now is to go to the crime scene and meet up with that Matthew, say you''re from this camp''s police station," Allen said. "Then you''ll have your time to shine." "My time to shine?" Jeremy narrowed his eyes. "What?" "You''re the one who will lead Matthew in a goose chase," Allen grinned. "As for me, I have a talk to do with the twins." This made Jeremy jump up and stood beside Allen, "You have them?" "I didn''t say I have," Allen replied. "But I''m also not saying that I don''t." "You" Jeremy pursed his lips. "Okay then. I''ll just go." The police officer ran to the edge of the rooftop before leaping down the alley. He asked around the crowd for directions, showing his badge to make them believe him more. "That man is a good asset." Jack appeared from nowhere. It was the same item effect from his Cloak of Nobody. The old man grinned and tapped Allen''s back. "Let''s go to them." "Okay," Allen said. "Let''s go." Jack covered themselves with a nket, making their presence vanish into thin air. The old man led Allen into the darker part of town near the Forsaken Street where only a handful of peoplees by. On a building, Jack opened the door and entered. Allen was trialing behind him as they walked into a dark hall. "Wee, boy. To your revenge." The lights turned on, revealing both twins in the middle of the room. They were caged inside a transparent cube filled with holes so they have room to breath in. The two were perfectly conscious as they tried to escape by mming their hands on the transparent cube. "Let us out!" Felicia yelled. "Or I swear to God, daddy''s gonnae and mess you up so good." "That''s not even remotely possible," Jack chuckled as he walked closer to the twins. "No one knows where you are and your dad is too busy sleeping around with a whore. He''s too busy to cate about your safety at the moment." "Impossible!" Donna yelled. "Our daddy always loved us and he prioritizes us over anything else." The woman conjured a dagger and tried to stab the cube. Just when her de made contact with the cube, it lit up with a bright yellow color. The light turned into a st of electricity that traveled throughout Donna''s body. "Guah!" Donna moaned as she fell to the ground after receiving the shock. Felicia ran to save her but the electricity also shocked her, although less but it was enough to bring her to the ground. "Felicia!" Donna cried. They were both writhing on the ground, crying as the shocks still ran through their veins. "W-Why are you doing this?" "What inspired you to continue the Phantom Cunt ploy?" Jack asked without hesitation. "And it''s no use if you try and lie to us because we already know you did it." Felicia sat up and grunted. "You don''t understand. We didn''t do it. We only tried to stir up Chen so he woulde back to us. We didn''t know that it would be big like this." "Stir up Chen?" Allen asked. He was still cloaked and masked, so he didn''t have to worry about the twins knowing his identity. Although his appearance would remind them of a certain trauma they experienced a little while ago. "What do you mean stir up Chen?" "We wanted to impress him because he was really great in bed," Donna said. "He said that we should bring down the defenses of the camp so he could do something that''s totally not hurting our father. So we did it. We poisoned the guards and made up rumors so Chen would be pleased." "And if it wasn''t for that" Felicia paused and gasped. She looked at Allen and pointed him with rage in her eyes. "It''s you! You''re the one that attacked us!" "Is it?" Donna asked. She grunted and stood, walking close to the edge of the cube. "Do you even know how much Sebastian Lincoln''s talent costed? It costed us so much money that it made daddy angry." "Yeah," Felicia stood too. "He even threatened us to lock us up in our rooms. Our faces are our best asset. We must not hurt it or damage it." "So Sebastian did heal them," Allen said in his head. He shook his head and sighed. "That man is a leech and he''s a selfish leech." "What are you going to do to us now?" Donna asked. "Your body looks pretty hot. Maybe we could settle this with" Before she could finish, a ck curtain draped over the cube, covering itpletely. The twins were still inside and they were now screaming, begging to be let out. "I believe we have a bigger case in our hands," Jack said. "Chen is involved in the Phantom Case after all. Just when I was thinking that he wouldn''t go this low." "I also don''t know his intentions on doing this," Allen said. "John Smith isn''t at any way involved with Camp Tw. Yes, his children are here and a lot of his men are stationed in this camp, but he himself doesn''te here." "And that man is from Eternity," Jack said. "I was thinking that Chen was luring him to go here. But then again, even when Chen could lure him here, he won''t stand a chance. John will just hire ten people from Eternity, and Chen''s men would burn to the ground before the fight could even start." Allen and Jack fell into a moment of silence. They were now contemting on what could Chen possibly want here in Camp Tw. He pursed his lips and suddenly remembered what Jeremy said to him before. "Jeremy thinks Chen was thinking that he was behind the Phantom Cunt case," Allen said. "But Chen knew that the twins were behind the ploy. What could this mean?" "I think" The wall from the warehouse exploded, creating arge cloud made of dust. Jack''s men appeared form nowhere and stood around their boss, protecting him at all costs. "What happened?" Jack yelled. "What is this? Is this an attack?" "Boss, we still don''t know," one of his men said. "We were securing the perimeters and didn''t recive any warning signals. This person must be powerful to have escaped our senses." "I was right all along." Allen''s eyes widened after he heard the voice. He couldn''t believe it. Just when he thought he found somebody to trust, everything fell to crumble again. "Someone with this type of power must be at least from Eternity," Jack said. "My guards are already from Eternity, and this person was able to pierce through their radar. He''s talented." "Do you think he''s involved with this case?" Allen asked. "If so, then we have another person connected to this case. This is such a hassle." "Whatever their intentions are," Jack summoned a katana. It was his weapon Code. "We will stop him from foiling our n." The rubble from the destroyed wall of the old building moved as a silhouette of a man was visible under the dust. He stood and stretched his neck while a knife was being held by his hand. "Who are you?" Jack asked. "Show yourself or I''ll make you do it." "Fine, fine," a familiar voice spoke, making Allen''s eyes widen even more. Jeremy walked out of the cloud of dust. He got closer and closer to Allen, but showed no killing intent. "You were here with the old man, after all. You were his aplice, and I even tried to believe you. Well, you made me believe you." "Jeremy, what do you mean?" Allen asked. "I don''t think I understand." Allen felt something approach him at high speed. His body moved on its own again, passively activating his instincts and conjured his Sunset Dagger. His hands moved swiftly as it blocked the knife that was thrown to his direction. "What the" "Oh, boy, your reflexes are good," Jeremy grinned. "But, it''s not worthy of being the Wandering Trader. I must be the Wandering Trader!" "You''re crazy!" Allen yelled. Suddenly, he found himself alone in an unfamiliar hall. Everything was dark, but there was arge hole in the ceiling that provided a subtle light. "Jeremy?" Allen called out, but no one answered. "Jeremy, let''s talk this out." Allen removed his cloak and his mask, showing his face. "Jeremy, it''s me. Why are you doing this?" "Oh, so that''s who you really are," Jeremy''s voice spoke out of nowhere. Allen tried to track the source of the sound, but he failed to do so. "After I trusted you. We even made a deal." "I" Allen paused. "Jeremy, let''s talk, okay?" "No!" Jeremy appeared from nowhere. He was standing in front of Allen and his hand was swinging his dagger. "I''ll kill you!" Chapter 90: An Impostor Chapter 90: An Impostor Allen was dodging all the attacks that were beingunched at him. He was confused as to what was happening, having no idea why Jeremy was acting this way. Compared to their fight from before, Allen felt like Jeremy was much much stronger than before. It felt like his powers had increased tenfold since thest time they shed swords. "Jeremy?" Allen called out as he continued to dodge. "Jeremy, just tell me what''s wrong. Why are you acting this way? We have a n. Remember our n!" Jeremy had no response. He continued shing his knife at Allen at high speed. He was trying to hit critical spots, making Allen have to pay attention more. If he takes a wrong move or fail to move even an inch, it could end him. After a while of continuous dodging, Allen has had enough. He grunted and used his dagger to block Jeremy''s attack. "Wake up, idiot! You were supposed to follow Matthew and continue our n. What has gotten into you?" Even after all his words, Jeremy was still unresponsive. The man pulled his knife and let it vanish into thin air. He summoned another weapon which was a sword embedded with crystals and the de had saw-like edges. "Like my Gem Slicer?" Jeremy grinned. "It''s made to kill." "Why are you acting like this?" Allen grunted. He lunged towards Jeremy and swung his dagger. The man was fast enough to block the attack, making Allen''s eyes widen in shock. "You''re good," Jeremy said. "But not good enough." Jeremy spun, letting Allen fall forward while he shed the pommel of his sword on Allen''s back. This made the boy cough out blood, feeling the force travel throughout his body with a painful crash. "Like this?" Jeremy smirked. "There''s more where that came from." Before Allen''s body couldnd on the ground, Jeremy slid beside him and crashed his knee onto Allen''s stomach. This made Allen see all ck as more pain seethed throughout his body. "You like this?" Jeremy smirked. He made it look like Allen was a ser ball as he continued using his shoes to kick Allen around. "I have always thought of a way to past time, and now I have my way. I can be the Wandering Trader, and I will take control of the world''s market bit by bit." Jeremy chuckled as he watched Allen fall to the ground. He finally stopped kicking the boy and stood there with his sword on one hand, a sinister smirk stered on his lips. "And there''s nothing you can do about it." It was dark and everything was barely visible. He saw Allen move, making him go closer to thetter. "What the hell are you nning now, huh?" Allen didn''t reply. Instead, he continued with what he was doing. He was tweaking something under him as several shed of light lit up. "Hey!" Jeremy yelled. "I told you, what are you doing?" Just when the police officer got closer to Allen, the boy vanished. This made Jeremy take a step back in shock. His eyes widened as he looked around. "Where the hell are you now?!" "One," Allen whispered from behind him. Jeremy then felt a surge of pain travel to his spine. He realized that he had been stabbed in the back. "You were only able tond a few hits on me because I wasn''t ready. My equipment were still inside my inventory at that time." Jeremy''s body was blown away by a hammer. He crashed on a wall, destroying itpletely. "Guah!" "Two, you''re really bad at hitting. What level are you? 30? That''s way below the average level of Haven, so choose your opponents carefully," Allen kicked the other man, doing all the things that was done to him but he did it ten times harder. "And three" He kicked the man in the air, he looked at him in the eyes that were now filled with terror and dread. "Jeremy can see in the dark." As the man fell, Allen readied himself. When he was close enough, Allen kicked him in his stomach as hard as he can, making his body crash through three cement walls of the building they were in and the next. "You really had a bad impression," Allen chuckled. "All you had was that teleportation Code and the appearance copying Code. Everything else is just trash." A badge was proudly disyed in front of a man. "What?" "I''m Jeremy Young," Jeremy introduced. "It seemed like you found a victim of an ident. Let me take him to the hospital and take over this case. I happen to be eating nearby when I saw themotion." Matthew was reluctant. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "I already called healers. We will meet at the police station, and I will be the one taking on this case." "But you''re not from this camp," Jeremy said, pretending to look as innocent as possible. "ording tow, you could take on a case from the camp as long as it''s a predecessor camp of the one you''re at," Matthew said. "So, I think I can take it from here." "Yes, but then it also states that you''re not allowed to just take on any case," Jeremy said. "Mr. Matthew Gray, you need to have the case issued onto you for you to actively participate in it. Otherwise, you''d be an obstruction of justice and will be sued." "You''re sharp," Matthew smirked and handed over the old man to Jeremy. Thetter smiled and grabbed the old man, carrying the old man in his back. "I barely see any police officer of your caliber. What''s your rank?" "Police Officer Three," Jeremy said. "And don''t ask why." "Why?" Matthew asked otherwise. "Also, if you know my name, you should also be aware that I don''t exactly listen to a lot of people." "I know that," Jeremy said. "But there are just some issues that weren''t resolved in my favor, that''s why I wasn''t able to rise in the ranks." "Oh, that''s interesting enough," Matthew said. "Well, it was nice to meet you. I still have an ongoing case, so I better head on out." "But you''re a witness," Jeremy said. "What if we do this. You help me with this case, I''ll help you with yours." Matthew pursed his lips for a moment. It took him a couple of seconds before he nodded. He offered his hand, "We have a deal." "And I''m carrying an old man, so I can''t exactly take that hand," Jeremy snorted. This made Matthewugh out loud. "You''re funny," Matthew said. "Let''s go?" Jeremy smiled, "Let''s go." While Jeremy lead Matthew to the police station, Allen was sitting on top the impostor''s unconscious body. His appearance copying Code has been lifted, revealing a man that was quite familiar to Allen. "Allen!" Jack opened the door of the empty warehouse the impostor was thrown at. "Where were you? What happened?" "This guy teleported me on that building," Allen pointed at the dark hall with arge hole in the roof. "Then this guy tried to kill me, so I showed him who''s boss." "That guy?" Jack''s eyebrows met as he take a peak at the unconscious man. His eyes widened and a smirk grew in his lips. "This bastard he''s one of Chen''s." "He is," Allen said, sighing. "Baldy right here is one of Chen''s personal bodyguard. I didn''t tell you, but I met Chen before in my Wandering Trader gig." Jack snorted, "You made a deal with him?" "Yeah, why not?" Allen shrugged. "Besides, Chen looked like he could provide me information." "Even though you were working with me, you made a deal with him," Jack crossed his arms. "How shameless can you get? And how do I trust you now?" "Too dramatic," Allen said. "Can you wake this baldy up so we can ask him questions? It''s bothering me how he knew where we were. And his Codes, they weren''t just normal Codes. They were high grade that I''m sure Chen provided." "Yeah," Jack sighed. "Donald, wake him up." The man from Jack''s crowd walked closer to the man. He made Allen stop sitting over the man while he leaned closer. "Is he going to perform a Code skill?" Allen asked. "This made me excited for some reason. I have never seen someone perform a Code skill to wake people up." "You''re really shameless these days, have you noticed?" Jack smirked. "I wonder where I got it?" Allen snorted, making Jack deadpan. "Definitely from you, old man." "Whatever," Jack rolled his eyes. They fell silent as they watched Donald wake the bald man up. Donald held the bald man''s cor. He then took a deep breath while Allen held his. "Hey, bald bitch, wake up!" Donald shook the bald man''s head, trying to wake him up. "Hey, I said wake up!" Allen''s jaw fell and a scoff escaped his lips. "This What the hell are you doing?!" Chapter 91: Matthew Gray Chapter 91: Matthew Gray Donald''s hands were ignited with a bright purple mes. The fire traveled down to the bald man''s body, seemingly burning him. "Don''t worry," Jack said. "That''s only part of the Code. "A dramatic mes of warmth that is used to wake anyone up." "Oh," Allen calmed himself down. He heard a series of chuckles behind him, but it wasn''t offensive type of chuckle. It was more of a yful type, when Jack''s men found his actions amusing. "Why did it have to involve that bright me? For a moment there, I thought you''d burn him alive." "Allen, my boy, this man is our only way to find out what Chen has been up to," Jack said. "We can''t possibly lose him." "Right," Allen said with a nod as they refocused their attention on Donald. ''New feature unlocked.'' Allen heard the voice of his interface out of the blue. He looked around to see if his surprise was obvious, and when no one noticed, he read the description of the feature. Effect: When the user focuses on a certain Hunter, they will have a 70% chance of urately identifying the target''s fighting role. Allen pursed his lips to suppress a smirk that was about to form on his mouth. This effect leaned more on human to human interaction, but it was very useful when he''s out getting to know his client more. Roles y a huge part in a Hunter''s personality. Albeit not always, knowing someone''s role would decide what type of person a Hunter is. Allen could use this information to filter out clients based on these roles. Front line roles such as tanks or tanky warriors are like pirs and a big brother figure. They are oftentimes reliable and wants people to depend on them. Damage type warriors and rangers are either jolly and yful. It can be seen that these people are already capable, but they would always rely on the tanks or the damage takers. Meanwhile supports and mages are often lively acts like mothers of of their group. The assassins are the most unpredictable. There are times that assassins are good and reliable, but sometimes they can be the traitor in a group. A lot of cases of betrayal would lean to assassins being selfish and has too high goals, touched with their huge ego. Using this scale, Allen can find the best clients he could through their roles. As much as possible, he will steer himself away from assassins and should focus on the other roles, especially mages and supports. ''Target locked. Role Identity sessfully activated.'' Allen almost jumped after hearing the interface so suddenly. In his vision, Donald was wrapped with a red outline and a word was disying in front of him. ''Support'' From Donald''s build, which was rough and huge, anyone would be surprised to see his role. Supports were usually weak and timid, but this man was able to lift another man with the same build as him with ease. He lifted the bald man like the bald man was nothing. His arms were huge and thick, riddled with muscles and tattoos. "That''s why he could wake the man up," Allen said to himself, but his words didn''t escape Jack''s ears. "Exactly," Jack said. "It''s always a surprise for a lot of people how Donald has that body and he''s a support. He specializes on team buffs, and he can also one hit a Basic grade beast with a low tier with only using his fist." "That man is a beast," one of Jack''s men said. "I''m Simon, by the way. I''m Jack''s personal bodyguard. I''m a tank." "I''m Dante," Allen introduced. "I can see why you say he''s a beast. I think it would be a bad idea to mess with him." "One hundred percent agree," Simon chuckled. "That man is a support with a physical build of a tank and has a physical attack of a warrior. His mood is unpredictable, and he''s a man with few words." "Wow," Allen breathed out. "He''s so cool." "That''s a first," Jack snorted. "Most people thinks of Donald as weird, yet I could see sparkles in your eyes. Like a kid seeing a candy shop for the first time." Allen just shook his head. For them, this was a random act but to him, this was an idea. Donald looked like he has different moods, and he could get some inspiration from him. Since he was literally living a double life, Donald could be an example. While Allen was thinking to himself, the bald man''s eyes slowly fluttered open. Jack raised his hands that made Donald throw the man on the ground as the boss approached him. "Good work," Jack said, patting Donald''s back. "You can now return to your position." "Yes sir," Donald said with a smile and returned to the crowd. Jack leaned in closer to the bald man who has his eyes widened. "Hello. What is Chen doing nowadays?" "W-What" the bald man stuttered. "I don''t know any Chen." "Aww," Jack cooed, stood and kicked the man hard on the side. This made the man roll on the ground a couple of times, spewing blood as he coughed continuously. "I don''t like people lying to me err, Hans, was it?" "I really don''t know any" Before Hans could even continue, he was kicked again, this time in the opposite direction. He was sent flying to the spot where Donald threw him, the man continued coughing out blood. "Why did you attack Allen in Jeremy''s form?" Jack asked. "This is thest time I will tell you to not lie. If I catch you lying to me again, I will punish you with an unending torture." "Please stop," Hans cried. "I was just walking home back from hunting, meat in my hands as I excitedly entered my apartment building when a man approached me. He said that he has my wife, and the next thing I knew, I was out cold. It felt like I was asleep, and I couldn''t wake up. Then when I did wake up, you were here kicking me. Please let me go." Jack looked at one of his men who gave him a nod. "My skill said that this man is not lying." "Hmm," Jack hummed. He ced the sole of his foot on the side of the man''s head as he ced his finger on his chin. "Jack, your man said that Hans is not lying," Allen couldn''t help but intervene. He couldn''t help but stop Jack from torturing the man even more, especially now that he''s proven innocent. "Dear young Dante. Consider this as a lesson," Jack sighed, tapping his foot on Hans'' head. "This man lied after all. In thest question, he didn''t say that he doesn''t know where the whereabouts of Chen is. It''s always the little things that you miss that''ll give you a problem in the future." Allen opened his mouth and closed it again after he was a loss for words. He couldn''t believe he missed a clue like that. Jack was right, Hans told a lot of things, but he didn''t mention anything about Chen. "See?" Jack smirked. "You''re still young. There''s still plenty of space for growth, so you just watch me okay? I''ve been doing this work since before the existence of the Otherworlds, so I know how things work here." "Okay," Allen whispered. He felt Simon pat his back infort, the man was smiling at him. "Thank you." "Enough with the drama and your little break," Jack said to Hans. "My patience wore thin, so your chance vanished just like that. Time to torture you, heal you, torture you again, until your mind gives up." "No!" Hans resisted. He sat up and kneeled, even kissing Jack''s shoes. "I know where Chen is. I will tell you now. Just please release me, and promise me you''ll catch Chen or else he will punish me." "Of course, he''ll punish you. He learned all his methods from me," Jackughed loudly. "But if you just said it a moment earlier, he wouldn''t have the power to hurt you. But since you lost your chance, I''ll be the one to do it." "He''s with the police officer!" Hans yelled, making Allen''s eyes widen. "Chen took Matthew Gray and copied his appearance with the same Code I used earlier. He ns on taking Jeremy and use him as a bait for John Smith toe out and give Chen the Minister of Defense title." "Hey." Jeremy felt himself being pulled to the side. It was Sarah, the Floral Fairy. She had her eyes stuck on Matthew, ring at the man who was carrying the Smiths'' driver. "What is it?" Jeremy asked. "Are you trying to hit on me or something? Because if you are, I''m actually not interested. I have someone else in" "You don''t have to be such an idiot. Listen to me," Sarah said. "I think something''s wrong." "Really?" Jeremy asked. "Why?" "Matthew and I know each other," Sarah whispered. "But then since the ident earlier, he hasn''t spoken a single word to me." "What?" Jeremy gasped. "But" He suddenly felt his mind get groggy. It wasn''t long after that he felt his body fall to the ground with a grinning Chen standing in front of him. "Gotcha." Chapter 92: Chen Moved Chapter 92: Chen Moved "This is bad," Allen said to Jack as they headed their way to the police station. "Chen had this all nned out after all. And he was a step ahead of us." "Don''t fret," Jack said. "Chen was still my student. If I know something about him, is that he''s never a step too far from his opponents." "But he had been in contact with Jeremy all this time," Allen said. "How is he just taking him now? He could''ve at least kidnapped him when they were just talking to each other." "Probably because he can''t do anything as Chen," Jack replied. "If John Smith sees him, his men, or even a normal person take his son, Chen would have a hard time with hiding his movements. But since he used a prominent figure such as Matthew Gray, he can move better." "He can swerve Jeremy away in a public ce just like that," Allen said. "If he did copied someone else, it would be easier to track him. But since even John would have a hard time tracking Matthew, he was the perfect decoy. Chen had this all nned out all along." "And he did it right in front of our noses," Jack muttered. "I think there''s someone spying on us. He may be smart, but it''s impossible to know our movements with that much of uracy. He knew when to take Matthew, and when to copy him. "Where to go, and what to do when our n goes green," Jack sighed. "I will talk to my menter. For now, let us get to work. Put your mask on, we''ll track Chen and finish this once and for all." "Dynasty Shot." A bullet piereced Chen''s chest. He fell to the ground from the force, his eyes widen as he was not anticipating an attack from point nk. "What the hell" "Jeremy!" Gwen cried. She ran to her friend and was about to drag him away when she saw Sarah, also lying unconscious on the ground. "Floral Fairy Sarah?" "Take her too," Gary yelled. "Chen is not moving. Hurry! Once he tries something, I''ll shoot him." Gwen grunted and used her right hand to pull Jeremy''s cor while using her other hand to pull Sarah through her wrist. "They''re so heavy. I can''t move easily." "Just stop talking," Gary scolded. "It was a good thing my eyes are sharp that we saw Jeremy. Just when we thought he was going to meet Dante for dinner." "It''s also a good thing that I knew something was up with Matthew Gray," Gwen argued. "If not for me, we wouldn''t be even trailing Jeremy." Gary scoffed, "Fine, whatever." "It''s also a good thing that I saw Matthew turn into Chen, an illegal trader," Gwen added. "If it wasn''t for that, we wouldn''t be able to do" "Chen moved!" Gary yelled. "Run for your life. I saw his hand twitched! Dynasty" Before the man could fire his attack, Chen''s body vanished. Gary looked away from his scope and then returned his eyes on it. He was positioned in a building adjacent to the street Chen was. He had the most perfect vision of Chen, but the man vanished just like that. "Your aim is impable," Chen said from behind Gary, making him froze in shock and fear. "I want to hire you as part of my team, but I don''t know if I can trust you that easily." "How did you" Gary stuttered. "My aim targeted your chest. You shouldn''t be able to move so easily. You just disappeared from my sight that''s impossible!" "Nothing is impossible when you have power," Chen grinned, opening his hand and revealing the bullet that Gary fired. "Skill Code from a Horned Starfish, Hyperregeneration. You didn''t know that I have this Code, don''t you?" "I didn''t," Gary said. "But I also don''t care!" Gary threw his sniper rifle at Chen, to which thetter dodged easily. The former then rolled to the side and pulled two pistols from hidden holsters under his coat. "Don''t think I''ll get beaten that easily." Garyunched several rounds of fire towards Chen. His aim was truly top notch as he followed Chen''s high movement speed with his bullets. He was making it rain with guns, and he didn''t held back. Click. Click. Click. "Out of bullets already?" Chen smirked as he approachee Gary. "Time for you to die!" Gary threw his pistols up, trying to distract Chen. "That won''t work on me!" Chen yelled, pulling his arms back as his ws grew on his hands. "Weapon Code, Saber ws." Gary only smirked as his hands opened in front of Chen, copying what the man did just a moment ago when he showed Gary the bullet. This made Chen''s eyes widen after seeing what Gary was holding in his palms. "You kill me, and we die together," Gary snickered while holding a live grenade. "You know this type of grenade. Rare grade weapon, Ram Grenade. Once I let go, this entire roof will blow up in under a second. If you won''t die, you''ll suffer injuries that you would never recover from." This made Chen retract his ws and grit his teeth. He didn''t expect for Gary to have tricks up his sleeves. "Fine. I won''t attack." "Good, good," Gary said. He slowly ced his free hand on the ground and sighed. "Because I would." "What" "Now!" Gary yelled and suddenly, a shield started growing from the ground, protecting him. Before the dome couldpletely shut, Gary threw the grenade out of the dome, the weapon exploding just before the shield closed. The dark building rooftop glowed with the bright white light from the grenade, a loud booming sound erupted from the skies that made everyone turn to the direction of the explosion. "What was that?" "Another ident? There was a car crash just an hour ago." "That explosion sound terrifying, what happened?" The crowd started to gather around the building. The sound and the light garnered the attention of everyone in the area. "That was so close," Gary whispered as he curled inside the shield. He looked up as the pink dome slowly vanished, everything around him was filled with a cloud of ck smoke. "Gwen, what''s your status?" "I have arrived at the hiding spot," Gwen said. "But there''s an awful reeling in my throat. Like some sort of lump of fear." "Don''t be too scared," Gary said. "Even a man of Chen''s level wouldn''t survive that explosion easily." "I know, but there''s something wrong," Gwen said. "Like there was a sudden faint magic that shed right before the grenade exploded." "What kind of magic?" Gary asked. "Spatial magic." Both their eyes widened after hearing Chen''s voice behind Gwen. The woman gulped as she felt Gary behind her. "Gary call for help. Now!" "Toote for that young miss," Chen grinned. He took Gwen''s phone while his other hand wrapped around the woman''s neck. "Hello? I think you misunderstood something here. You underestimated me and thought it would be wise to do that trick." "Chen, don''t you dare hurt her!" Gary growled. "Or Jeremy, or Sarah. Don''t you dare hurt anyone or else I swear to god" "Give up," Chen said before mming the phone to the ground. This made Gary let go of his own phone in shock, a boiling rage and fear started to bubble inside him. "How did you manage to do that?" Gwen asked. "That bomb exploded the moment Gary let go of it. You couldn''t possibly dodge that attack range of ten meters in a sh." "I couldn''t," Chen said. "That''s why I used my Code to teleport here. I was looking for a way to find you, but when you used that shield on your friend, I smelled your aura. I then went here now here I am, taking three prizes for myself." Chen blew on Gwen''s face, and this made the woman fall into a deep slumber. He then took his phone from his pocket and dialed a number. "Hello? Change of ns. I have three in my hands, and I''m sure Hans got the twins with him." "Sir" the other person on the phone trailed off. "We have a problem." "What happened?" Chen asked. "Did Hans did his way with the girls again? That fucking pervert." "Hans was defeated sir," the other line blurted out. "He saw the Wandering Trader with Jack and went berserk. He got caught by Jack and his men and he''s probably trailing after you now." "Jack and the Wandering Trader?" Chenughed loudly. "Oh, how pathetic. I didn''t know those two were fellows. Let''s proceed with the n without the twins then. We still have the other cop. Four shoulf be a decent number." The other line was silent for a moment. "But sir, what about Hans?" "Let him be," Chen said. "He got defeated, that''s a shame, but we have to move on. He''s dead to us now. Call the others. The seconding of the Fire Dragon has only just begun." Chapter 93: Rescue 1 Chapter 93: Rescue 1 From a distance, Allen and Jack saw a blinding light on top of a building. They didn''t hesitate to run towards the light, fully knowing what it was. "Gary," Jack said. "I''ve seen that before. It''s his specialized weapon that he crafted. He used it once before." "You practically know everything, don''t you?" Allen smirked, making Jack snicker. "I know you''re not just an old man, but you''re extraordinary." "I have to," Jack said. "Camp Tw and all six surrounding camps are part of the main channel for Verta Carta. Our trades and business practically runs through these camps. If an excellent person stands out, I should know." Allen left the conversation on that note as they arrived at the explosion site. Since they went directly after the explosion, no police officer was present at the scene. It was only them and the destroyed building. "The explosion was brighter than its force," Allen noted. "The light reached the entire area, but the damage was too shallow and weak." "Gary''s grenade focuses on the light rather than the impact," Jack said. "If you think about it really well, you''ll realize that it''s nothing but a sh grenade with a damage. It was meant to scare beasts, and to think that Gary had to resort to this only means that he was fighting a beast." "Chen," Allen whispered. "I saw him cut a beast in half, and under a blink of an eye. He''s that powerful." "That twat is your average Joe in Paradise," Jack snorted. "He just acts tough because most of the people in Haven can''t take him. But that''s also the reason why he''s in Haven, and never ascended to the higher worlds. He''s too weak and pathetic that all the gangs up there would beat him to a pulp. "Chen is nothing but a coward who embellished himself with gold and diamonds. If I ever see that fool, I will kill him with my own hands," Jack seethed. "He had failed his father all his life, and now he wants to act tough. Let''s see how long he''llst." nk. nk. nk. Jeremy awoke to a sound of chains being dragged on a concrete floor. He fluttered his eyes open, but found nothing in his sight as his head was covered with a potato sack. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" Jeremy asked out loud, trying to get answers from his abductors. "Oh. Chen! That''s right. Chen, let me go!" "You''re really quite strong, huh?" Chen asked, smirking even though Jeremy couldn''t see him. "I was just thinking. Floral Fairy Sarah instantly fainted the moment I released the pollen, yet you managed to stay awake right in time to see my face. Your resistance to Code skills must be high for that to happen." "I don''t care what you say," Jeremy grunted. "Just let me go, and I won''t bother you. Hell. I didn''t even bother you before you took me. What in the hell is this now?" "You''re such a loudmouth!" Chen angrily yelled. "Just be a good hostage and keep your mouth shut. You''ll see your father soon enough. And when that happens, he''ll be helping me get out of this hell called Haven. I will gain more Codes and EXPs and I will rule Paradise, then Eternity." "Pfft," Jeremy couldn''t suppress his snort andugh. "You haven''t met a lot of Hunters from higher realms, don''t you? Because if you did, you wouldn''t be this confident in yourself." "What do you mean?" Chen asked. "I am strong, I am capable. I just need a few more Codes and levels to grind just so I could get stronger. Then I''ll show those families how strong our gang is." "You''ll never win," Jeremy whispered. "There''s still people who''s going to stop you. And when those peoplee, just expect pure terror." "Who are you relying on right now, huh?" Chen groaned. "You know who I meant." Jeremy heard the man''s footsteps. When Chen was right in front of him, he flinched after feeling the tingling sensation of fear. "I''m a partner of the Wandering Trader. He takes care of his customers, and he will definitelye to me." "The Wandering Trader?" Chen paused from his tracks. "You made a deal with him too?" Jeremy was speechless for a couple of seconds. In his mind, he was thinking what Chen meant. But he already knew what he meant by those words. The Wandering Trader also made a deal with Chen, just like him. "You seem to be out of words," Chen snickered. "Couldn''t believe it? Since we didn''t have any nondisclosure agreement with the masked trader, I''ll tell you what happened." "No need," Jeremy said through gritted teeth. "I should''ve known. He makes deals with everybody." "Yes!" Chen cheered as if he was a lunatic. "And his deal with me was rather odd. He only requested for information regarding what happened to the Fire Dragon Incident. Oh, wait, you were there too!" Jeremy was silent while Chen continued. "He asked me for the summarization of the event from the discovery to the end. But then he suddenly screamed and ran away. He also traded me cool weapons, so I''m guessing that was the end of the deal. "What now, mister police officer?" Chen leaned closer to Jeremy. "Cat got your tongue? Why can''t you speak?" Jeremy was silent because he was trying to figure out what exactly happened. Why would the Wandering Trader want with an information like that? It seemed to random, but him knowing that the man had his own ideals, he was going to blindly trust him. "Yet" Chen spoke again. "Since I was also his partner, he will also protect me. How will that happen? Oh, wait, I know!" The bag that was covering Jeremy''s face was suddenly removed, making him squint his eyes as he adjusted to the light. After a couple of blinks, he could now see that they were in an abandoned factory. There wererge machines that were used to make canned goods on the side while he was tied on a metal chair in the middle of a cement hall. He assumed this was the ce where the crates were suppose to be considering there were abandoned crates on the side. "Look at your hero," Chen said as he pulled Jeremy''s face to the side. Thetter''s eyes widened after seeing the scene in front of him. There was arge pole that three people tied to it. There were two bars that crossed the pole. Sarah and Gwen were tied to the lower bar while a man with the Wandering Trader''s mask was tied to the higher pole. "W-What''s this?" Jeremy stuttered. "The Wandering Trader was a strong man. He could''ve easily handled you. H-How?" "I have your answer," Chen smirked. "That''s because I''m not alone. He did put up a fight that was worthy to be remembered by, but at the end of the day, it''s still six versus one. All six of us already ascended to Paradise, you get the point." "Impossible," Jeremy whispered. "Even so, he" The man paused and looked at Chen in the eyes. As his years of being a police officer, he had learned quite a number of tricks and techniques as he did his job. He faced a lot of people, some evenparable to Chen. And all they have inmon was the truth in their eyes. He couldn''t tell if Chen lied when he said he made a deal with the Wandering Trader since he can''t see the man''s eyes, but now that he could, lies and deceptions were the only thing that was shining in his eyes. Jeremy leaned down and sighed. "But he was strong. I refuse to believe this." Another thing that he learned was the art of deception itself. When you act clueless or down, your foes will also let their guards down. His technique was to make Chen talk and inform him about more things, so he can use them in the future. Chen tends to talk more especially when he feels like he''s dominating the scene. He revealed his partnership with the Wandering Trader and even the details about their deal just because Jeremy let him speak his mind out. A police''s code was always, "Anything you say or do will be used against you," and those words are going to be Jeremy''s key into figuring out Chen. He already know the man behind the mask was not the Wandering Trader, all he needed to do now was to stall Chen so the real one woulde. "Hey!" Chen yelled. "Are you even listening?" "I''m still so shocked," Jeremy lied. "How could this be?" Chen opened his mouth to say something, but a loud explosion from nearby cut him off. This made the man grunted and grit his teeth as he called his men. "What the hell was that?!" Chen growled. "Sir, we''re being attacked!" One of his men yelled. "It''s Jack and he''s with the Wandering Trader!" Chapter 94: Rescue 2 Chapter 94: Rescue 2 "Don''t let them get here," Chen said through gritted teeth. He rubbed his forehead to try and relieve his headache. "How in the hell did they know where this ce is? I know I erased my tracks from the site." "Probably because you suck." Chen spun and raised his fist in the air after he heard the voice of the Wandering Trader. Thetter then appeared right behind Jeremy who was still tied to the metal chair. "Oh, so you came for your little friend," Chen scoffed. "You said that you''ll protect your clients. I was once your client, why aren''t you protecting me?" "The moment our deal ended, your became an ex client," Allen said. "And even though I''m not really big on rtionships, I know that exes shouldn''t be taken care of. They take care of themselves." This made Chenugh. The man clutched his stomach as he continuedughing hysterically. "You''re funny, the Wandering Trader. So funny. But then, you haven''t realized that this building is filled with my men. They are specialized in fighting and are the elites of Paradise." "Don''t make meugh," Allen smirked. "Your men are fighting against Jack right now. And as far as I''m concerned, well I really don''t concern myself with them, but they should be running for their lives. Jack is mad, and that old man is ruthless. You of all people should know." "Jack is old and he can barely fight!" Chen yelled. "He''s a clown who thinks he can still run his circus when in fact, he should just retire. The one who''s capable to lead the gang is me, and he''s trying to take that away from me." Allen opened his mouth to say something when a body of a man was thrown in between them. He looked at the direction where the man was thrown at and he saw Jack there, angrily approaching them. "That prick had been the mole all along," Jack growled. He pointed at the man he threw and it was revealed that it was Donald, the healer. "He was the one who pointed out that a mole must be in the gang since Chen knew all my movements. Turns out, it was him and he just took himself out of the list by saying that there''s a mole." "Clever, am I right?" Chen grinned menacingly. "It was all my idea. And that technique was from you, old man. Did you forget?" Jack rxed as he stretched his arms. He cracked his neck and rolled his arms around. "How can I forget? That was the technique I used to get in the Sand Pirates'' good side. Maybe it''s you who forgot the hero that saved the wolves from the pirates?" Chen grit his teeth angrily. "You''re a faker who tried to steal my father''s glory. If it wasn''t for you, the n would''ve been peacefully handed to me and the elite members would be with me." "Father? Pfft. Birds with the same feather flock together, do you know that saying?" Jack asked. "The ones who knew where to go, followed me and the ones who were losers and pathetic weaklings stayed with their loser and pathetic leader." "How dare you?!" Chen yelled. Heunched himself from where he was and went straight to Jack. "I am more than you and my fatherbined. You''re both softies who doesn''t know what''s best for the group." Jack didn''t attack back. Instead, he took a step to the side and pushed Chen''s ws down to the ground. "And what do you think is best for the group? Trading ves and prostitutes? Do you think that would raise the gang''s reputation?" Chen retaliated from the defense. He unequipped his ws and conjured a sword. He then used his right hand that was on the ground to flip himself around while swinging the sword that was in his left hand. "Die!" "You don''t know shit!" Jack growled. The old man was still yet to fight back. He took four steps backward, just so that the sword would not reach him. He then used the metal soles of his boots to m Chen''s sword through the concrete floors, creating a crater on the ground. "You''re a crybaby who thinks he''s a tough guy just because he inherited powers and a group filled with strong people from his father," Jack seethed. "I could''ve been your advisor and we would''ve ruled the three realms if you just let me lead you." Chen was silent for a couple of seconds. He stayed in his position, which was bent down to the ground while his hand was gripping his sword, for a couple of seconds. His eyes were closed and his aura was starting to calm down. "Chen, you are a talented young man who has so much potential. Why did you waste everything?" Jack asked. "If you didn''t let your pride get in the way, you would''ve be what you said you were, someone who''s better than me and your so-called fatherbined." "But" Chen muttered under his breath. After he whispered that single word, he continued bing silent. Jack waited for a couple of seconds, but Chen didn''t say anything again. "But there''s still hope for you, Chen," Jack said. "It''s not toote for you to change. There''s still time, and if you let yourself go of your selfish emotions, there will still be space for growth." "But" Chen muttered under his breath again. Jack felt the want and the desperation in the man, but he was waiting for Chen to give himself up. "I want you to change for the better, but I won''t do it for you," Jack added. "For you to change, you need to change by yourself. I''m only here to help you through the process, but at the end of the day, all the efforts shoulde from you and only you." "But that''s not what I want!" Chen yelled. He grabbed his sword and pulled it out from the ground effortlessly. He wasughing while he leaped back to create distance between him and Jack. "All that talk, and it''s just purely useless. You didn''t change anything from me, nor will you ever change something. I''m me and I love who I am." "Chen, you''re being ridiculous!" Jack growled. "If you still force your pathetic ideals, I will have to resort to painful methods. Methods that you won''t like." "As if I care," Chen snorted. "Do what you have to do. Say what you have to say, but that won''t change the fact that my ideals will stay the same. I''m Chen and I''ll be Chen. I''ll use what my father taught me and what life taught me through the years." "I wish it didn''t have to resort to this, but you left me no choice," Jack sighed. He lowered his hands and took a deep breath. "It was my duty to prevent the gang from crumbling down, but since the gang has already fallen, I''ll take it upon myself to eliminate the cause of its demise." "What are you saying?!" Chen yelled. "You think you can defeat me that easily, old man? I''ve been training a lot and has been well versed with my Codes. I know every inch of my body and my skills like you." "But do you?" Jack said before vanishing. This made Chen widen his eyes and raised his sword defensively. He grit his teeth in anticipation, waiting for the attack from Jack. "Don''t be a coward and show yourself!" Chen yelled. "I thought you were a strong man? Why hide if you said you could fight me!" The old man appeared right in front of Chen. Even Allen was surprised after seeing Jack appear from nowhere. His presence waspletely hidden when he vanished, and now here he was. His movements were swift yet effective and powerful. "What the" Chen wasn''t able to finish his words when the old man mmed his boot right across his face. Chen was sent flying across the factory floor, unable to react to the fast movements of the old man. "You really thought you could match me?" Jack asked. "You are a hundred ways beneath me, and you think you could surpass me?" His voice was stern and dominant. As Allen watched the two fight, he couldn''t feel but get frightened by this side of Jack that he has never seen before. The old man was usually calm and yful, even telling dry humors that would always make Allenugh because of how dry it was. "I told you that I would help you," Jack said to Chen as he stood right in front of him. "And I promised you that I would, so you shouldn''t worry too much about why I''m treating you like this. I''m only trying to fix you." "But I''m not broken!" Chen yelled. He wasying on top of the crates that he crashed on, body numb with pain and his limbs were unreactive. "You keep saying that, but I''m not! My father" "I am your father!" Jack yelled. "You''re mentally ill, you nitwit. The father in your mind never existed, you just think that he did. I tried to make you realize that, but you never did. I am your father, Chen. You''re my son." Chapter 95: The Old Mans Nephew Chapter 95: The Old Man''s Nephew Everyone''s eyes were wide. No one could believe anything after what Jack said. Allen was in the midst of setting Jeremy free, and he paused in shock, trying to absorb everything. "W-What?" Chen asked. "What did you say?" "Ten years ago, you were diagnosed with schizophrenia," Jack sighed. "At first I ignored the signs because you looked fine, but then the Fire Dragon Incident happened. Three years ago when the hospital you were in was being attacked by the zombie Hunters, your delusions started. "Chen, you started to ignore me. I was only trying to give you all the best things in the world, but you thought differently. You were thinking that I was trying to control you, to get you to y in my palms. So you decided to create a father in your mind. One who spoiled you with everything you want. A father that supported your every decision even when it meant taking over the gang too early and kicking your actual father out." "Lies!" Chen yelled and held his head. He wrapped his arms around his face as he crouched on the ground, his eyes bulging from their sockets and his entire body trembling for whatever reason. "You''re only lying. My father is definitely real and he had been with me since. But he died. Yes. He died." "Chen, you''re being delusional!" Jack yelled. "Stop it with your pretend life. I am your father. You don''t have the kind of father that would try to hurt you." "If you''re actually my father, then why did you just act now?" Chen asked. "For all these years, you didn''t seem to care about me even for a moment. Why act now of all times?" "Because for the first time in three years, you showed up," Jack answered simply. "You were hiding from me all this time, and you were so good at it too. You left trails on empty spaces while staying under my nose in obvious ces. Chen, just remember that I taught you all of that." Chenughed lightly. He shook his head and took a series of deep breaths. "I don''t know what to believe anymore. Why are you like this to me? I just want to get stronger. Why lie?" "I''m not lying, Chen!" While the two were having their argument, Allen took his chance and free the three from the metal pole. He angrily looked up as he watched Gwen and Gary who was under the fake mask tied up. Allen wanted to get his revenge, but it seems like Jack was doing it for him. Allen saved Gwen first since she was the closest to him. He took out his dagger and leaped from the ground. His hands grabbed the bar that tied Gwen''s arms on and he sliced the rope that bounded her wrists. Snap. Snap. After taking out one of Gwen''s arms, Allen grabbed it to prevent her from falling. It was an awkward position for them since he was basically hugging her while clinging on the bar. "W-What" Gwen trailed off. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the Wandering Trader hugging her while they were suspended in the air. "Yuck! Pervert! Get off of me." "Good, you''re awake." Allen said with his Wandering Trader voice. "Hold tight." The boy led Gwen''s free hand to grip the bar while he leaped on top of her. He was now sitting on the bar while he cut the rope that was binding Gwen''s other hand. "Prepare yourself." "Prepare for what" Snap. Snap. Gwen suddenly felt her hand get freed. She gasped at the sudden motion, but since she''s a Hunter, she quickly recovered herself. Gwennded safely on the ground while she watched the Wandering Trader walk towards Sarah using the bar that was tying her. "If she doesn''t wake up, catch her," Allen said simply. He was about to cut Sarah''s rope when Gwen leaped right in front of the unconscious woman. "What are you doing?" "Sarah, wake up!" Gwen yelled, pping Sarah across her face. This made Allen gasp in shock, not expecting this action from Gwen. "You''re a support, but you''re unconscious when people around you needs help." Gwennded on the ground with a silent thump. "Wake up!" Her voice seemed to reach to Sarah. Thetter immediately woke up, shaking her head as she cleared her mind. "Oh, my lord. What happened?" "You were take, that''s what happened," Gwen said. "Trader, free her please." With a smirk, Allen nodded and snapped the rope from Sarah. The womannded on the ground gracefully. She shook her hair off of her face dramatically, as though she was in a shampoomercial. "Thank you, Gwen," Sarah said. "I''m sorry for being too weak." "Ever since we were at the academy," Gwen sighed. "Why must you always be like this?" Allen didn''t listen to their conversation further. Instead, he leaped up to the upper bar to free the man under the mask, who he suspected was Gary. "This mask looks exactly like mine," Allen said to himslelf. He had to give credit to Chen. The mask waspletely the same as his, even the wood that he used to create the mask was the same. "You''re really something." Allen heard Gary say. He must''ve woken up from Gwen''s pep talk to Sarah too. Her voice was indee quite loud. "What do you mean?" "I thought you were a viin?" Gary asked. "You assaulted girls, and poisoned people. Why are you suddenly being good?" "I didn''t do the things that was wrongfully used towards me," Allen said. "But I also won''t deny that my methods are unorthodox, yet it''s more moral thant thew the powerful established." "I see," Gary whispered. "Fine then. I''ll trust you." Snap. Snap. The man broke free from the ropes as he fell to the ground. Just when Allen thought that Gary would fall face first, the man spun in a swift motion,nding on his feet instead. "Been a while since I''ve done gymnastics." It just dawned Allen how different Gary''s thoughts must''ve been for him to hate the Wandering Trader. Maybe because the rumors stated that he assaulted girls triggered something inside Gary since most of his previous teammates were women. He must''ve built a sense of responsibility towards the safety of women for he couldn''t protect the ones who were most important to him. After seeing Gary ask Gwen and Sarah how they were doing, Allen believed that his theory was right. "Hey." Jeremy approached the group. He was slightly limping as he walked over, making the others worry about him. "It''s good that you''re okay, but we still have Chen to worry about." "Chen is being handled by Jack," Allen said. "The old man apparently was his father." "Why are you doing this?" Gwen suddenly asked. "You didn''t answer Gary''s question from before, so I''m going to ask this again. Why are you doing this? Why suddenly save us." Jeremy opened his mouth and was a second away from answering when Allen spoke, "I didn''t intentionally save you. Jack hired me to deal with Chen, but he also ordered me to save the hostages. I think he meant you guys, that was why I saved you." Jeremy opened his mouth again. He wanted to answer ande clean, but Allen was preventing him to do so. He was a police officer and his name was already tainted from his past. If people found out that he has connections with a wanted criminal, he will definitely beid off. Allen didn''t worry too much about Gwen and Gary since they were already friends with Jeremy. He knew that the two will protect their friend''s secret if they would somehow find out. But Floral Fairy Sarah was here too. She was a woman that was unfamiliar to Allen, and he didn''t know if he could trust her at all. "What would Jack want from us?" Gary asked. "Why did he have to save us when he can just ignore us? I don''t know a lot about gangs, but Jack Summers is infamous. He has so much power that he can freelymunicate with his nephew Jake Summers." Allen felt his world take a short pause. Everything around him stopped and it slowly caved in as his mouth opened to pop the question, "W-What did you just say? Jack is Jake''s uncle?" "Yes," Gary replied. "Since you''re allies, I thought you already knew?" Allen shook his head in disbelief. He take a look down and watched the items that Jake gave him, clearly remembering that Jake said that it was from his uncle. Jack was Jake''s uncle. "But then" Allen trailed off. He looked up and watched Jack still talking to Chen. "He saw me with these items. Does that mean he already knows?" A gulp made its way into Allen''s throat as all the hair in his body stood. Jack had known all of these, but he never once spoke about them. "What more secrets do you hold, old man?" Chapter 96: Second Coming of the Fire Dragon 1 Chapter 96: Second Coming of the Fire Dragon 1 Jake was Jack''s nephew. That was a fact that Allen was having a hard time digesting. The old man already knew it since he saw him wearing the equipment set that he gave to Jake. Allen couldn''t bear to ask Jack at the moment. Currently, thetter was still confronting his son. There was only silence in the air as the two continued to look at each other. "If Jack is after Chen, then we shouldn''t stay here any longer," Gwen said. "Those two will figure themselves out. We have to go, now!" Jeremy nodded and looked at Allen for a confirmation. Thetter gave him a slight nod that wasn''t obvious to the others, signaling that it was okay to go now. "We''re going to the police station first," Sarah said. "We need to report Chen, so that he will be caught once and for all." "But what about Jack?" Jeremy asked. "He did help us, and even when he doesn''t do hardcore illegal stuff, he''s still a man who''s wanted by the police." "I don''t think we have another choice but to report," Sarah said. "I think Jack can take care of himself. And that Wandering Trader. I will ask for the police to take him too. He''s still a criminal who has to pay for his sins." Allen heard their conversation while they were running away. He knew that people still held grudges for him due to the rumors that spread around the camp, and he can''t me them. What he needs to do now is to quickly finish the talk between Jack and Chen so they could go before the policees. "I think I found an exit," Gary said to the group. He pointed at a small metal door at the corner of the factory. "I think that''s where we should go." "Let''s go then!" Gwen said and took the lead. She got to the door without hassle and clinged her hand on the handle when she stopped. "It''s warm. What could this mean?" "We don''t have time for that," Sarah groaned and pushed Gwen away. She took the door handle and opened it hurriedly. Before anyone could react, a wave of hot air exploded from the room. This made everyone look at what''s inside and gasped after seeing the horror that the room contained. The room was like any size of a regr person, about one hundred square meters. The light inside the room was red while there were white sticky silk wrapped up inrge balls. There were about fourteen of these silk balls, and each and every one of them were pulsating like they were hearts. The intense heat that wasing out of the room was so hot, the sticky liquid that wrapped around the room had started to evaporate and form mists that were filled with stench of rotten flesh. "What in the hell is this?!" Sarah shrieked in fear. "What are you just standing there for?! Close it!" Gwen yelled, but Sarah was frozen in ce. She couldn''t believe her eyes after seeing the traumatic scene right behind the metal door. The police woman took it upon herself to push Sarah away and closed he door herself. She saw a crate nearby, and she used it to block the door so it can''t be opened from the outside. "What was that?" Gwen panted as she looked at Gary. The man stood in ce, unmoving while his eyes never left the metal door. His body started shaking which made Gwen go to him. "Gary? What''s wrong?" "C-Cocoon," Gary whispered. "Those are the cocoons of the Fire Dragon." "The what?" the others chorused, all in shock after hearing what Gary said. "I saw those at the hospital three years ago. At the ward. There were six of those, but they were already opened," Gary said. "This could only mean that the ones in those cocoons are yet to be awakened." "And they will be soon," Chen whispered, taking Jack''s attention back to him. "What do you mean?" Jack asked. "Tell me, Chen. What do you mean?!" "The seconding of the Fire Dragon has already begun." After saying those words, Chen suddenly vanished from where he was kneeling. This made Jack raise his guard and look around to try and search for his son. "Chen, what do you mean?!" Jack growled. "Tell me now or I''ll use all my powers against you." "It''s useless, old man." Chen''s voice spoke from nowhere. He sounded like he was everywhere, yet his voice was still humane and not ethereal or have any echo. "The Fire Dragon had died, but he left an endless legacy for his people to pursue. He left his genes to us." "Genes?" Allen asked. He was now aware of Chen''s disappearance and he also raised his sword in defense. "Chen, what are you talking about? The Fire Dragon had died. They have been killed." "What do you know?" Chen asked. " If you only tried to listen to my entire story, this would''ve been already obvious to you. The one who defeated the beast was a team that our gang sponsors. Since the loot for the Fire Dragon included arge chunk of flesh and bones from it, I sent that to theboratory so my people can start their investigation. "Investigation?" Jack asked. "Chen, what are you saying? You took flesh and bones from the Fire Dragon and you sent it to scientists? What the hell are you thinking?" "I simply wanted more power." Chen finally revealed himself as he stood right by the small metal door. He effortlessly kicked away the crate that Gen used. "But I never got the chance to do so, so I''m creating my own chance. I will create a world where the ones with the power rules." Chen''s hand sped the metal handle of the door while a grin crept up on his face. He was a moment away from opening the door when Allen appeared in front of him. He couldn''t react afte the sudden movement. Chen was frozen in ce as he couldn''t help but let Allen crash his boots on his head. The impact from the kick threw Chen away. His body stumbled on the ground a couple of times before it crashed with arge pile of wooden crates. He was coughing from the pain,ughing as he stood back up and assumed an offensive stance. "You''re quite capable, aren''t you?" "I guess I am," Allen simply said and ran straight for Chen. His hand opened as he took a deep breath and summoned his weapon. "Fervent ive!" "What kind of" Chen wasn''t able to finish his sentence when Allen used the blunt side of his metal pole to poke Chen''s face. He thrusted the weapon, pushing Chen into the broken pile of wooden crates deeper. "What kind of Code is this? I haven''t heard of this before!" Allen felt like he didn''t need to respond to this statement. He simply poked Chen''s face a couple more times, his eyes ring at Chen mercilessly, "What were you doing with those parts of the Fire Dragon?" Chen only shrugged. "I don''t know. You tell me." Allen sighed. His right boot found its way on Chen''s chest while he spun his weapon so that the sharp de was now pointing Chen''s neck. "Tell me what you did with those parts or I''ll show your men what I''ll do with yours." For a moment, a feeling of an unfamiliar emotion shed before Chen''s eyes. His body started shaking as heid on top of the wooden nks while a dark and ominous aura stood right above him. This intense feeling was never felt by Chen in his life. He was so used to being the strongest person in the room, and that other people wouldpletely respect him just by looking at his face once. The feeling was odd and Chen felt like there was something wrong with him. He swore to himslef that he would never be like this, but he couldn''t help but ept the truth. The truth that he was afraid. The Wandering Trader who was standing above him felt like a thousand times bigget than he was. His aura was screaming death and destruction with the amount that Chen never saw in his lifetime, or never thought he''d see. "I won''t ask again," Allen said. "What were you going to do with those parts?" The metal door creaked, garnering everyone''s attention. Chen smirked as he pointed at the door, yelling, "This! This was the reason! Are you satisfied now, the Wandering Trader? Will you give me another deal? Chen wasughing hysterically while the metal door continued to creak open. Slowly, the heat from the room was entering the factory, as if someone was burning gigantic campfire right in the middle of therge hall. "The seconding of the Fire Dragon!" Chen yelled. "Here it is. Everyone,e and witness the seconding of the Fire Dragon!" Chapter 97: Second Coming of the Fire Dragon 2 Chapter 97: Second Coming of the Fire Dragon 2 "What are you doing, Chen?!" Jack growled. He approached the man who was still under Allen, his eyes raging with anger. "You don''t know what you''ve done." "I do, old man," Chenughed hysterically. "I am reviving the horror that was brought upon me by the hands of the Fire Dragon. I''m reliving that moment, that time when I finally woke up from my endless nights of terror." "That''s the time youpletely broke," Jack whispered. "It was my fault. If I just made you see a doctor earlier in your life, this wouldn''t have happened. I''m sorry, Chen." Chen''s face softened. He looked at Jack who had nothing but misery in his eyes. The feeling of regret and resentment was evident in the old man''s face as tears slowly crawled down his cheek. "W-What are you" Chen paused and looked away, seemingly to avoid the old man''s gaze. "It''s toote now anyway. The Fire Dragon''s servants wille and we''ll all die." "No, we won''t," Gary said. He raised his right hand and shed it forward, signalling for his men toe out of the shadows and surround them. "These men are highly capable. We know how strong those zombies are, but they''re still zombies. They don''t have tactics like we do." Allen was surrounded with nine men with just a bit lower or at least equal to Jack''s strength. The men didn''t hide their powerful aura at all. They were unting their powers, fully knowing that they are capable of defeating any enemy. The team of hostages was led by one of Jack''s men towards the inner circle. They were told to rest there since their bodies are too weak forbat. After all, even when they were at the peak of Haven, they were still from Haven. The zombies will easily take them down if they try to fight. "They''reing," Jack said. He opened his hand, something Chen saw and misunderstood. Thetter thought that the old man was offering his hand for him to take, but he was only summoning his weapon, a giant il. "Wow," Allen whispered to himself after seeing the weapon. It was il with a diamond shaped-ball that was filled with thorns in every side. The handle was made of iron but was wrapped with wood and then cloth so the user wouldn''t injure themselves while using it. Jack''s men also summoned their weapons one by one. They were freely showing off while exuding the power and authority over everyone else in the abandoned factory. Creak. The metal door fully opened and a sh of several humanoid figure leaped out. Their movements were fast and agile, that even Allen was having a hard time looking for even one of them. "Oh, they''re quick," Jack chuckled. "Let''s see how quick they are when we fight them." Jack spun his mace as his eyes followed one of the zombies. Each and every one of the zombies were jumping all around the hall in swift motions. They were so fast that it seemed like the entire building was filled with them. Their silhouette was all over the ce, giving no time for the Hunters to react. "Can you do this, Lay?" Jack asked one of his men who had a sniper rifle. "You''re mostly someone who can''t handle extreme movements, so you should be careful." "F*ck off," Lay scoffed and kneeled on one knee. He ced the end of his rifle on his shoulder while he aimed at one of the zombies. His gun was moving quickly, as if following the zombie''s movements in real time. "zing Shot!" Lay took a deep breath before twisting his body and pulled the trigger. A thin beam of light exploded from his gun, shooting at a seemingly random area. The beam of light traveled in a sh, and a thud sounded from the darkness by the corner of the room. "One down," Lay said, taking his sight off of his scope and looked at Jack. "Don''t underestimate my Instincts, old man." "Okay, okay, whatever," Jack shrugged and chuckled. He looked at all his other men and nodded. "Let''s go take down all the others." In a sh, all the men that were surrounding them vanished. Only Lay and another man who was carrying a feather pen stayed. Thetter approached Jeremy and smiled. "Hello. I''m Antoni. Do you want me to heal you?" "I-I" Jeremy stuttered. "Okay?" He then felt the burst of aura from the angry healer behind him. "Bang!" Jackughed as heunched his mace on a broken crate. Right by the diamond ball of his weapon, a zombie''s foot was left detached from the rest of his body. "Aw, it seems like my reflexes are getting weaker." "That''s because of your age," one of his men said. He was carrying a spear to which he spun and threw behind him like a javelin. His weapon shot to the wall and pinned a zombie by its shoulder. "I guess I''m kind of old too. I aimed for the heart." "Rourke, you''re only twenty-eight!" Jack growled. "If that''s old, then I''m" "Ancient!" another one of Jack''s men yelled. "Sorry, Rourke, but Franco will take this kill. Thanks for the javelin throw though." Franco was a shorter man that carries a dagger with him. Unlike the others who were wearing long coats that covered most of their bodies up to below their knees, Franco was wearing a shorter coat that barely reached his thigh. The coat was open, revealing his skin tight shirt and a pair of shorts that looked ufortably short. "Franco ising, little zombie!" The zombie shrieked as it watched its body getting pierced by the weapon. It shook its body to try and take away the spear, but he saw Franco approach him, making him shriek even more. "Hiya!" Franco leaped off of the ground, rising up to the zombie''s level. He was grinning from ear to ear as he saw the evident fear in the zombie''s eyes. "Die!" Just when Franco was about to swing his dagger to cut the zombie''s head off, he was tackled to the ground with another one. The man crashed to the ground with the zombie who was trying to bite his hand off, but Franco already had his dagger on the zombie''s neck. sh. With a single swift motion, the zombie''s head rolled to the ground. Franco pouted and sighed, only watching Lay leap and with a blink of an eye, remove his spear and pierce it through the zombie''s head. "Bummer," Franco groaned. "I wanted that kill." "Maybe perhaps if you weren''t such a kid, you could''ve seen the other zombieing," a voice said from beside Franco. It was another one of Jack''s men. This one had a staff in him. "What do you know, Peter?" Franco crossed his arms. "It''s not like you''ve killed one already." Peter pointed his free hand behind them. When Franco turned to see, he gasped at the sight. Peter had just gone out of the room where the cocoons are, and it seemed like only half of the cocoons have hatched. The rest of them were burst open and the zombie inside was mutted as though it was ground meat. A satisfied smile rested on Peter''s face as he saw the disbelief in Franco''s face. "You really shouldn''t judge mages," Peter said. "Come on, let''s go back to Jack." Franco rolled his eyes and followed the man. They called out Jack''s attention as they slowly approached him when something out of nowhere walked past them. Both Franco and Peter froze as they felt a cold breeze near them. It was odd since it felt like everything was on fire, but the air around them was cold and damp. They looked at each other before blood dripped from their mouths. "What the hell" Multiple cuts suddenly appeared on the men''s bodies. The cuts gushed out blood that pooled the ground before they fell down face first. "Peter! Franco!" Rourke yelled. He took one step forward and his body suddenly spun. He could only watch his vision get blurry as he was spinning in the air like was a roasted chicken. "zing Shot!" Lay shouted and fired a bullet from afar. The beam of light from before was fired in his weapon, but this time, nothing was hit. "Impossible! I saw the peculiar movements in the air and followed it. Why didn''t I hit the beast?" Lay sighed and suddenly felt the cold breeze. He looked around and felt his body get weaker. The man forced his eyes open, but the power of drowsiness was overpowering him. "What happened" "There''s another one!" Jack yelled. "This one''s more powerful than the rest, so be careful." Jack was spinning his mace as he felt the air around them. He knew that the beast was lurking somewhere, but he didn''t know its exact location. Screech! Jack grunted and mmed his mace to the side. His weapon mmed on something, and when Jack removed it, he gasped at the sight. It was a tail of a lizard. Chapter 98: Conceal Chapter 98: Conceal "You overlooked one thing," Chen uttered. He was now pressed on the ground with Allen''s metal boot ced on his chest. "I told you it was the Second Coming of the Fire Dragon. You think there''s only servants here?" Allen narrowed his eyes to process everything the man said when it finally registered to him. "They revived the Fire Dragon." "They what" Jeremy wasn''t able to finish his speech when Gary shouted at the top of his lungs. The man fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around his head, his eyes bulging from their sockets. "No. No. No. Please, no" "Gary," Gwen called out, cing her hand on the man''s shoulders. "Wake up, Gary." Gary looked at Gwen, and then his eyes went to Jeremy. The veins on his neck appeared as he pushed Gwen off and gripped Jeremy''s cor. "This is all your fault!" "W-What" Jeremy trailed off. "Gary? What do you mean? I-I don''t understand." "If you didn''t stall my interrogation, my teammates wouldn''t have suffered that awful fate," Gary growled. "C-udette was pregnant. She was going to give birth in six months and you took that away from her!" "Gary," Jeremy called out. "It was an ident, you know that!" "It wasn''t!" Gary yelled. "You''re at fault. You''re a monster!" the ground started to crack and red light pierced through it. Lay and Antoni nodded at each other before taking the injured with them, leaving Chen for Allen to handle. "Here," Lay threw an iron chain to Allen. "Use this to tie him down. Meet us outside. Antoni and I will make a hole right by that corner. Follow us after you''re done." "We''ll be back as soon as we evacuate them," Antoni added, but Jeremy removed the man''s hand from him. "We can take care of ourselves. Please help D The Wandering Trader with Chen." "Fine," Lay said and kneeled. They looked at him with curious gaze, baffled as to what the man was doing. Their questions were instantly answered when Lay positioned his gun and pointed at a wall. "zing Inferno!" The man pulled the trigger and a beam twenty times the size of the regr shot was fired from the gun. The beam destroyed the wall he aimed at, creating a hole fit for a person to go through. "Use that hole to escape and call the police, tell them that the Fire Dragon had returned," Lay said. "We''ll hold it for as long as we can until then." "What if they don''t believe us?" Sarah asked. "We have two police officers by our side, but we know how they are." Lay sighed and threw something towards Jeremy. "Use that." Thetter looked at the item that was thrown at him and he was surprised that it was a badge. He then looked at Lay who has a smirk on his face, "W-Why do you have this?" The item was a metal badge that had a crow seal on it. The crow had its wings open with a pistol above on its right wing while a sword was above its left wing. Under the crow was a ribbon that has the title Crow Officer on it. "I''m former Hunters Marine Corps Admiral, the Crow with Nine Eyes, Lay Wu," Lay smirked. "Tell them, "The crow needs more eyes"." "Okay," Jeremy said, nodding a couple of times. "We will go." The group didn''t waste any more second and left, leaving the scene as quickly as they could. More cracks started appearing, meaning that they don''t have much time before the best that lies underground appear. "Hey," Jack walked over to them with the tail of the lizard in his hands. He threw it in front of Chen who was currently getting tied up by his men along with Allen. "What the hell is this? Why did one of the zombies have a tail?" Jack then pointed at the ground that had already been filled with cracks. "Tell me, you stupid moron!" Chen shook his head slowly, looking all around the room as he pretended to act clueless. This angered Jack, making him punch his own son in the face. "Boss," Lay stepped in. "Calm down first." "Get them," Jack sighed while he massaged his forehead to try and calm himself down. "Whatever that thing with the tail took down the others. They might still be alive, I don''t know anymore." "We''re still alive, you know," Rourke said, approaching the group with an unconscious Franco behind him. He was piggybacking the smaller man while the others followed behind him closely. "Also we took down that thing that you cut the tail of. It''s a humanoid lizard that''s simr to the Fire Dragon." "Like" Jack trailed off while scrunching his face in disgust. "Like its baby?" "Probably," Allen then hummed. The additinal Intelligence attribute that was given to him by the Snake had already taken its effects. After hearing everything from the people around them, he was able to dissect the entire event. "Those cocoons were actually eggs hatched by the Fire Dragon," Allen said. "The flesh and bones Chen mentioned weren''t the ones that they used to create those cocoons, rather they used that to hatch another dragon. I could still remember the first casualty of the first Fire Dragon on Gary''s team. "A part of the Fire Dragon was left in her body, and the poison scattered, making her a zombie. Although I''m not so sure as to how the virus spread, I''m sure that the hospital room they were at looked exactly like the room filled with cocoons," Allen paused and ced his hand on his chin to think. "The same thing must''ve happened here. "They created another Fire Dragon artificially, took a part of it and used it on people," Allen said. "And the healers. They weren''t taken because they could heal the poisoned. They were the ones who were created as zombies. As far as I could remember from Gwen''s report, there were thirteen healers that went missing. Exactly the number of cocoons in the room." "This boy is good," Rourke smirked. He ce Franco on the ground while Antoni healed their fellow. "Take care of this twat. I''ll deal with this beast." "At your state?" Jack cleared his throat. "I don''t think so." "I can still fight, boss," Rourke argued. This made Jack smirk and shook his head. "But boss" The old man raised his hand and waved it in the air. "Golden Chain." A bright golden chain appeared in his hand. The chain was about ten meters long and the tip had a de that was simr to a spear. The old man swung the chain, wrapping it around Rourke and the injured gently. "You stay here. Boy, can you help me right now?" Allen gulped. His eyes switched from Dante then at the cracking ground. He was hesitant to go after seeing how much power their enemy had. "I-I" "That''s a yes," Jack said. "After this, I''ll give you three Grand grade Codes. This will be our deal." "Jack" Allen trailed off. "I think I can''t" Jack offered his hand. "Ten Grand grade Codes. Five will be my initial deposit." The deal shook Allen to his core. The scenes when he fought the lion yed in his mind, remembering how much effort it was to defeat a single Grand grade beast. He could only imagine how much hardwork ten times the chance of getting a Code would look like. That could be hundreds. "Deal," Allen said immediately. He shoved his fear down his throat and walked closer to the old man, taking his hand. "Ten is ridiculously too much, but since you offered it yourself, I won''t decline." "And here I am thinking that you would decrease the number of Codes," Jackughed lightly. "That''s my boy." "My teacher taught me well," Allen smirked. Jack then stopped their conversation and transfered the five Codes. "Five Grand grade Codes as promised." "Thanks," Allen smirked, taking his hand off and inspecting the ones he received. "These are all weapons" Allen trailed off, slowly feeling guilty. Weapon Codes are twice as rare as the skill Codes. The guilt from receiving so many had formed a lump in his throat. "Jack, I don''t know" "Of course, you wouldn''t know!" Rourke butted in. "You''re a calloused face if you try to take those." "Shut up," Jack spat to his ally. "Boy, don''t miss an opportunity like this. It won''t alwayse. When it does, don''t hesitate to take it." "Alright," Allen nodded. "Okay. I''ll take it." "Good!" Jack grinned. "Lay, cover us, especially this boy. He will be our key to defeating this beast." "What?!" Rourke gasped. "Boss, what are you thinking? Entrusting this fight to a boy?" "You haven''t seen him fight before," Jack chuckled. "And he''s been trained well." "What?" Rourke scoffed. "As if." Allen didn''t mind the tant disgust the man felt towards him. He only took a deep sigh before doing what Sebastian trained him to do. He closed his eyes and breathed. "Hide myself. Hide myself. Hide myself" When the boy opened his eyes, he covered his head with his hood. "Conceal. Chapter 99: Kill Chapter 99: Kill The ground had fully cracked and the w of the Fire Dragon appeared. Jack grit his teeth at the intense mes that burned from underneath, slowly seeping out of the cracks and filling the room with the heat. "What the f*ck," Jack cursed. "This was even hotter than the first one. Chen you f*cker. What did you do?!" Chenughed hysterically. He was flinching while in the chains, giggling at himself. "It''s beautiful! It''s very beautiful!" "F*ck you!" Rourke growled. "Boss, let me go. I can help! Please, boss. And that boy vanished. He must''ve left us all alone. He saved his own ass. I knew it." "I told you to shut up," Jack said with a menacing tone. "Stay there and let Antoni treat your injuries. He''s good and capable of doing so. Let the battle to me if you really think of me as your boss and you respect my decision." "You''re really good at your words," Peter muttered as he gained his consciousness. "I can see that I''m thest one to wake up. Even Franco is already up." Among Jack''s men, Peter was the most injured one. Considering that he had a mage role, his defenses were rather weaker than the rest who had warrior roles. Peter was the most vulnerable, so even when him and Franco were attacked the same way, he suffered more damage. "Rest first," Antoni said to his fellow. "Your body is the most fragile one here, and you had endured quite a lot of cuts deep cuts." Peter only shrugged, rxing to the chain that was still binding him, Rourke, and Franco. He let Antoni heal his wounds while his eyes lingered on therge w that pierced from the ground. After the dragon showed its w, it didn''t move again. It has been like that for almost a minute, making everyone worry even more. What could it possibly do while it was underground? "Do you think it stopped?" Rourke asked. "I think it stopped. Oi, Chen, your experiment failed." Chen grit his teeth and rolled his eyes. "As if. The Fire Dragon had already emerged from its eggs a few weeeks ago. It was only sleeping underground, waiting for its servants to call its name." "But the servants are dead," Jack said. "Maybe they didn''t finish calling it or something." "They didn''t" Chen paused. "Impossible. I don''t believe that to be true." "Whatever the case may be, we still shouldn''t let our guards down until the policees," Jack said. "When that happens, we''ll let them handle this while we take Chen with us. They can kill this beast. They''ve done it before." "What do you mean they did it before?" Rourke scoffed. "It was us who killed the zombies. And if it wasn''t for us, the servants would''ve called the Fire Dragon and the entire camp would''ve been destroyed." "But they were still the one who killed it," Jack smirked. "Even with our help, they dealt the finishing blow." "That Lewis Nixon b*tch," Rourke growled. The mention of the name was like a bell in Allen''s ears. He was hiding in the darkness when he couldn''t help but overhear their conversation. He slowly moved to where Rourke was at, closing their distance so he can hear him better. "He stole the spotlight after that fight. That little motherf*cker," Rourke cursed. "If it wasn''t for Miss Lin, he couldn''t get his hands on those Codes that defeated the Fire Dragon. And after the fight, when he gained recognition, he abandoned his team. Can you even believe that?!" Allen was listening intently. He might''ve had lost memories that he was now considering his truth, he wasn''t wrong on the part that Lewis Nixon was a vile man. In his memories, when he was clinging to the headless body of Alice, Lewis and the other members of their team fought the Fire Dragon. This must be after they acquired Codes from Lin, a Primordial Beast Bearer. She gave them Codes so they could fight the Fire Dragon for whatever reason. "She could''ve given the Codes to stronger Hunters, or even send top tier Hunters at that fight," Allen thought to himself. "Why did she have to send Lewis''s team back after giving them better Codes." He was still listening to Rourke who was also rambling about what happened three years ago. "Lewis Nixon was indeed a b*tch," Chen added, grinning at himself. "He was a submissive b*tch that he even let me get all the Codes given to him by Lin just so I don''t kill the mute boy." This made Allen''s eyes widened. He was now even more invested in their conversation after hearing himself there. There wasn''t any mute boy that was close to Lewis except for him. "What do you mean, Chen?" Jack asked, narrowing his eyes at his own son. "You threatened Lewis?" Chen shrugged. "I was only giving him a deal. After they defeated the Fire Dragon, Lin let them keep the Codes she gave them. This piqued my interest since they were Grand grade Codes, so I offered him protection in exchange for the Codes." "You offered him protection from yourself!" Jack growled. "You''re a monster Chen, and the longer I hear you speak, the worse you get." "Whatever," Chen sighed. "Anyway, Lewis offered the Code, but I was bored so I took out the boy." Allen''s world froze. He watched Chen move his lips more, while sparks of anger and resentment grew in his body, boiling inside like it was a pot of water over a burning fire. ''Kill.'' "I purposely used my illusion on their group and led the others to a different path," Chenughed. ''Kill.'' "I watched the boy try to find his team, aimlessly walking around the woods in search for his friends. He had none after all. Then I watched him get swamped by bees and left because I got bored. All in all, he was dead" ''Kill.'' The air got cold and a head rolled to the ground as the neck gushed out blood as if it was a geyser. Everyone''s eyes widened, seeing the head on the ground eyes wide as the person did not expect to get killed so suddenly. Knees fell to the ground before the body of the decapitated fell. A Fire Dragon''s servantid lifeless on the ground just. Allen just shed its head while he watched another from the corner of the room, chanting something under its breath. "Stop!" Allen yelled, but he was toote. Before he could reach the zombie, it grinned as it spoke the words. "Awaken!" Allen''s de pierced through the zombie''s heart, stopping it from beating. He stood there, slowly retracting his arm as the ground shook once more. "Oh, no," Jack whispered. "They''ve been trying to wake it up this whole time!" The ws of the Fire Dragon moved slowly, its open fingers slowly clenched as its arm went further out of the ground. The air was now hotter, as through the sun itself was kissing them. "Run!" Jack yelled. "Everyone, run!" Just when they were about to exit the building, the walls glowed with burning red mes, coating it like it was paint. The mes around the entire establishment made the hall ten times hotter, making everyone sweat intensely. "F*ck!" Jack cursed. He opened his hand and clenched it, deactivating the golden chain that tied his allies. He waved his hand and the chain was now wrapping Chen alone. "This is all your fault! Boy,e here." Allen did as was told and ran to where the group was. He was now with them, helping the injured stand up as they tried to find another way out. "Can you cast a shield?" Jack asked their healer, who which nodded right away. Antoni mmed his hands to the ground as he casted his skill, creating a bubble that surrounded them. "We only have five minutes. This bubble has absolute time effects, cancelling out heat and even pain." "This must took a huge toll on you," Rourke said. "Wait, can we go underground? Maybe we can find a tunnel there." "Not a bad idea," Chen said, nodding his head. "The tunnels underground are all safe considering that the heat above is way less hotter than the heat underground. Dumb*ss." This remark made Rourke snort. He mmed Chen''s back while he had a wide grin on his face, "You''re quite smart, aren''t you?" Chen gave him a deadpan then rolled his eyes. "F*ck off." Just when things couldn''t get any worse, the w moved again and the entire head and body of the Fire Dragon came out of the ground. The intense heat and force from the beast made Antoni gasp and lose his consciousness, along with his shield. Now, if felt like everyone''s flesh was burning. The mes was too much that they were slowly losing their consciousness. Allen stood there, watching the beast rose from the ground. For the first time in a long time, he felt helpless. "Is this the end?" Chapter 100: Two Effects at Once Chapter 100: Two Effects at Once "Blossom of the Dawned Moon." Out of nowhere, arge hole appeared on the ceiling of the abandoned factory. A man hovered at the center of the hole, opening his palm as he pointed it to the Hunters inside. It was Sebastian Lincoln himslef, looking down at nothing since he could not see anything, only feeling the presence of the beast. His hands lit up with a soft blue light as he created an orb that was simr to Antoni''s bubble. The main difference between them was the color and the obvious gap in their power. Antoni used a Rare grade Code, meanwhile Sebastian used a Sacred grade Code, a Code that was two grades superior to the former. It wasn''t a surprise since the blind man was the top of the Hunters in their world, but seeing its effects for the first time made Allen''s eyes sparkle in admiration. "This is a Sacred grade Code," Allen whispered to himself. He looked at his hand and watch the scratches that he got slowly getting healed. The heat from the Fire Dragon was inexistent inside the bubble, allowing them to recover their forms. "I don''t think I''d see you here, Jack," Sebastian said as he lowered himself down to the ground. He was inside his own bubble and while he wasnding, the two bubbles merged, allowing him to enter the bigger bubble where the rest of the Hunters were. "I didn''t think I owe you one," Jack snickered. "I''m not really too big with favors, so after this, you have to name your prize and I''ll do it." "After this?" Sebastian smirked. "Why not now?" "Can''t you see that that thing is still going rampant?!" Jack growled, pointing at the Fire Dragon who was now fully out of the ground. Its sheer size was enormous enough to cover the entire two thirds factory. "It will die soon," Sebastian said. "Don''t worry. He''sing." "He?" Jack asked. "Who?" "m of the Iron Bizon!" Bernard leaped inside the building through the hole that Sebastian created. He was carrying a great sword that was thick and looked extremely heavy. The weight alone must be at least half a ton by how it looked. As the man fell from the skies, he swung his sword while it lit up with a bright brown light. The light covered the sword as if it was its sheeth, allowing Bernard to hit the dragon and seal a deep cut on its neck. "Nice!" Rourke cheered. "You''d never expect less from a Primordial Beast Bearer!" When Bernardnded on the ground, he gently ced his sword beside him. The weapon was indeed too heavy that it even created a crack on the concrete floor even when Bernard put it down slowly. "What happened?" Sebastian asked, raising questions from the Hunters. "You merely injured it. That won''t kill it right." "We could barely get near it," Rourke grunted. "The man did us a favor already. Stop nagging." "Nagging?" Sebastian growled at him. "Do you know what happens when you fail to kill a beast like that?" Allen turned to look at the giant lizard who was still looking up. It hasn''t moved since the moment Bernard wounded its neck, making everyone worry. The slow seething mana that wasing out of the beast made Allen wonder what was happening to it. "Rage Mode," Allen whispered. "It''s gonna go on Rage Mode!" Just when Allen said that, Bernard leaped a couple of meters back, right where the bubble was. Sebastian opened his hand, creating a hole in his bubble that Bernard used to get inside. "It''s tougher than I thought," Bernard said. "That thing must be middle tier Sacred grade already." "That''s because it is," Chen grinned. "We programmed it that way so it would create a bigger havoc. There''s no use in fighting it. You''ll only get defeated. Only one Primordial Beast Bearer? Don''t make meugh." The Fire Dragon lowered its head and looked at the bubble. It seemed to have grinned as mes seethed out its ws while it disyed its fangs with a wide grin. Sebastian had to clench his fists as the heat that was radiating from the beast intensified. The bubble he created was starting to lose its integrity, any more force and he would lose his cast and they''d all be vulnerable. "What Bearer can get here fast?" Sebastian asked Bernard. The man only shrugged and pouted. "What does that even mean? Our lives are literally in danger here! I don''t think I canst long if the beast keeps giving out that much power." "It''s not my fault that this thing turned out to be a bigger monster than we thought!" Bernard groaned. "Honestly. I really don''t like hard work. Why''d you think I live somewhere secretly anyway?" "Bernard," Allen found himself speaking. He was now afraid of what might happen, but his instincts had kicked in and his other passive skill had already activated. He was now rxed even when he was facing a beast that was melting concrete and metal. "What is it?" Bernard asked, turning to face the masked boy. "Can you do that again?" Allen asked. "That sh. Can you do that again?" "I can, but it will be a huge risk," Bernard replied. "We need to distract it first before I can deal the final blow." "No," Allen said. "I''ll deal the final blow. Just please distract it so it couldn''t sense me while I kill it." There was only silence for a couple of seconds. All the Hunters looked at each other,pletely baffled after what they heard. "What?" Rourke scoffef. "You''re going to use Bernard, the Bernard himself as bait?" "Yes," Allen replied simply. The confidence he gained from his passive skill was so great, he could talk informally to the likes of Rourke. "See that wound Bernard dealt earlier?" The boy pointed at the huge cut that Bernard gave to the beast. It was still open, and it was healing slowly. In fact, it barely managed to heal. "I can deal with that while Bernard takes its attention," Allen said. "Throughout its entire skin, the Fire Dragon has an intense amount of heat radiating from it. Since Bernard damaged its skin, the soft flesh must be vulnerable." "Vulnerable from what?" Sebastian asked, smirking as he proudly listen to Allen''s n. Allen opened his hand and conjured a weapon that was familiar to Jack. The old man had to snort after seeing his own sword in the boy''s hand. It was a slender sword that had a crystal-like de. The de was holographic, showing multiple colors at once, just like a kaleidoscope. Type: Weapon Grade: Grand Damage: 50 Effect/s: (1) Active - Has a 25% chance of dealing a random curse on the target (Burn, Electrocute, Poison). (2) Passive - Every 20 damage points dealt, the crit rate will be enhanced by 4%. (3) Passive - When Effect 2 reaches 40%, the chance of activating Effect 1 will be enhanced to 80%. "Kid," Jack ced his hands on Allen''s shoulders. "Even when you could deal a curse on that beast, that still won''t guarantee our win." "That''s why I''ll also use this," Allen opened his other hand. This time, a spear appeared. This spear had seven des on its tip that formed a spiral me-like shape. Type: Weapon Grade: Grand Damage: 50 Effect/s: (1) Active - Casts Spiral Wheel on the target for 8 seconds. 75% of the damage dealt during the 8 seconds that Spiral Wheel is active will be casted. (2) Passive - Every strike that the user hits on the target will decrease the target''s defense for 2%. (3) Passive - When the weapon hits the target for four consecutive times, the target''s defense will be lowered by 4% (stacks up to 12%). "Are you going to use both weapons at once?" Jack asked. "Young boy, no one has ever stacked two effects at once. Even the strongest Hunters couldn''t pull it off easily." "I''m not one of those strong Hunters," Allen said. "I am my own person, and I know I can do this." "Wait," Sebastian raised his hands to make them pause. "I don''t know what you''re both talking about. What n is he doing?" "He''s going to use both weapons and activating their effects at the same time," Jack said. This made Rourke scoff, while Sebastian chuckled. Thetter spoke, "Are you sure about that? I don''t think you are capable of doing so." "I am," Allen said. "After all, both you and Bernard trained me well." This made Sebastianugh fully. He was shaking his head as he sighed. "This will all be in the hands of Bernard if he takes the deal or not." "That''s fine by me," Bernard said. "If you have ever been with Nelson Drake, you''ll see crazier things he keeps pulling off. This is just another one of his stunts." "And how much is his sess rate?" Rourke asked. "One hundred percent," Bernard replied. "And I can see the same for the Wandering Trader here." Chapter 101: Identity Chapter 101: Identity The n was simple. Bernard would attack the beast to lure its attention. On the other side of the giant lizard, Allen would attack the open wound and activate their effects all at once. "Open it," Bernard said, telling Sebastian to create a hole in the bubble so they could exit through it. "Wait a minute," Sebastian ced two of his fingers on Allen''s forehead. He hummed and a gentle blue light lit up from his fingertips. On Allen''s mask appeared a water droplet symbol. It was glowing on the mask like a LED light. After seeing this, Bernard sighed and exited the bubble. "I''ll start distracting it." "This should keep the heat out," Sebastian said. "Now go. Defeat that monster." Allen nodded at the blind man and followed Bernard out of the bubble. Just like he said, he couldn''t feel the heat that was radiating from the Fire Dragon. The building was melting, but his skin still felt normal. Bernard raised his giant sword, looking at Allen. "Are you sure you can do this?" "Of course," Allen replied with full confidence. He bounced his foot on the ground as if to hype himself up. "I trust my instincts and myself." "Okay then," Bernard sighed. "Let''s start." Meanwhile, right after the two left, Rourke growled, "You''re letting that boy handle this? The Fire Dragon isn''t a toy beast that he can test on. That''s a whole beast that''s capable of killing us all." "Impossible," Jackughed lightly. "Bernard has all the powers to y that beast. He''s not the Primordial Ox Bearer if he''s that pathetic. These two think it would be wise to test the boy." "T-Test him?" Rourke tilted his head to the side. "Why would you want to test him?" "He''s not just a boy," Sebastian said. "He has the power to change the tides of fate and rule over Earth and the Otherworlds together." Bernard let Allen run to the opposite direction of where he was at. He was still raising his sword to keep the attention of the beast on him, and not on the boy. "Yo, ugly!" Bernard yelled, making the beast growl. "Try and chase me if you can." While Bernard was busy letting the beast chase him around, Allen reached the corner. He searched around to see if he could get on top of something, a tform or a talldder. The wound Bernard create was on the higher part of the beast''s neck so it was hard to reach it even when he jumps to his full potential. "Something," Allen whispered. "Just something I could use." Slowly, the boy was losing hope. All he could see around him was melting concrete and metal. There was nothing there that could boost him to jump. A few more seconds had passed and Allen finally lost hope. Even when he tries to leap on the wall, his leg would only pierces through it seeing as they were almost liquid by the intense heat. "Aren''t you done?" Bernard yelled. Allen shook his head in response, making Bernard sigh. "Fine." The man let go of his sword and mmed it to the ground. He paused and conjured three more giant swords, albeit smaller than the one he just used, they were still big. "Animalistic Throw!" Bernard grunted as he threw all three swords at the dragon. The beast growled and dodged all of the swords with its swift movements. Even when its sheer humongous size, the Fire Dragon could move freely. This was a problem. Their movements should be calcted or else they''ll suffer in vain and lose the chance to defeat the beast. nk. nk. nk. Allen watched where the sound came from. "What the" He was looking at the three swords that were now piercing the wall. When the swords pierced the wall, the melted concrete solified. Allen looked closer and saw that the swords had a symbol on its pommel. The symbol was of two arrows forming a circle, both pointing at a different direction as if it was showing a loop. "This sword must have reverted the state of the wall," Allen whispered. "A Bearer was indeed powerful. They have a wide range of their pool of Codes that they have Codes for specific events like this." "Use that to jump!" Bernard yelled. He picked his sword up and blocked the w from the Fire Dragon. It was mming its ws on the man, but the man has blocked all of them almost effortlessly. "Ten seconds," Bernard signaled. He pushed the w off of him and leaped a couple of meters back. He then sighed and nodded at himslef. "Seven seconds." The beast roared and followed him. This time, instead of wing the Hunter, the Fire Dragon opened its mouth to reveal its red burning uv. This was where the mes woulde from, its core. "Gotcha," Lay whispered. A small hole appeared in Sebastian''s bubble and the ranger inserted the tip of his gun through it. He ced his eye on the scope and took a couple of deep breaths. "zing Inferno!" The man pulled the trigger, but before the shot could be fired, he swerved his gun to the side, making the beam curve as it approached its target. Pop. The Fire Dragon roared after its uv was hit. It shook his head a couple of times, clearing its mind after receiving a devastating blow. "Vtile Spin!" Bernard leaped off of the ground as he screamed his attack. He raised his sword to the side, letting it glow with the bright brown color like it did before. Right before Bernard couldnd his blow, he spun a couple of times as if he was a spinning top. The glow of his sword made the dragon freeze in its spot as the attacknded on it, taking down a huge chunk of its thick skin. After seeing this, Allen leaped off of the ground and used the highest sword to jump in the air. He readied himself while positioning Iron Shredder on his left arm. "Let''s do this!" The boy swung the spear right into the open flesh from the wound Bernard gave earlier. This made the beast roar in pain. It could only watch as a dark gray wheel encircle its entire body, signaling the start of the Spiral Wheel effect. "Take this!" Allen roared as he pulled out and mmed his spear back inside the beast, trying his best to maximize the damage he was going to deal. As he hit the target with Iron Shredder, their defense would be lowered. This means that the damage he was going to deal would less likely be blocked by the target''s defense, the damage points would fully prate it. The boy raised his sword and took a deep breath before simultaneously stabbint it along with the spear. He was standing awkwardly as he bobbed both his hands up and down as if he was doing somethingpletely inappropriate. St. St. St. He used multiple Codes to enhance his attack speed, gaining momentum and earning 60% lowered defense and 24% crit rate on his enemy. The beast''s defense was practicallypromised. At 7.5 seconds, Allen raised his sword. It was like slow motion as he watched the gray wheel that was encircling the giant beast spin and get smaller. In half a second''s time, the ring dealt a high burst damage on the beast. After the burst, Allen mmed his spear straight to the bones and held the Kaleidoscopic de with both hands as he mmed it deep into the beast. ''The target is now poisoned.'' The woman''s voice rang in his ear like it was a joyous angels singing for him. His n worked. The beast raised its head to the skies as it felt the poison enter its body. Its defense waspromised and the poison would deal critical damage to it. Since the damage was critical and the defense was too low, the beast had met its end. The boy raised his hand in victory, feeling the heat that wasing out of the beast die down slowly. ''Sacred grade beast killed. +500 EXP. Sacred grade Code earned.'' Allen heard the woman, but his body already went numb. He just realized that he used four skill Codes at once, and his body just gave up on him. He couldn''t move anymore. Roar. With one final cry of pain, the Fire Dragon fell to the ground. Allen could only close his eyes as he felt himself going down with the beast. He has no stamina left to move. "Stupid." Allen felt a pair of arms catch him. He opened his eyes and saw Jeremy carrying him in his arms. "What the hell?" "I finally figured out who you are," Jeremy said. "It took a while, but it seemed like your voice was familiar after all." "Really now?" Allen smirked. "I have no energy left in me. Lay me down first and I''ll sleep." "Okay," Jeremy smiled. "Dante." Chapter 102: A Friend Chapter 102: A Friend A day after the Second Coming of the Fire Dragon, Allen found himself on a bed. He looked around and realized that he was in his room, fully clothed and the wounds he got had already healed. "What happened?" the boy asked himself. His memories of the night before resurfaced, making his eyes widen after remembering that Jeremy knew his identity. "So, you''re awake." Jeremy himself walked inside the room, carrying a tray of food with him. "No one else knows, so don''t worry." "But why did you came back?" Allen asked. "It was too dangerous and you weren''t at your full strength." "I was wondering the same thing too," Jeremy replied. "Why should I risk myself for a criminal? He even made a deal with me that was in his favor, exploiting more from me so he could have some sort of advantage." "Jeremy" "I''m not done," Jeremy cut Allen off. "But then the conversation I had with Jack just the night before cleared my mind. The Wandering Trader was a businessman and he didn''t do anything wrong. He was an antihero that the worlds need in order to flip the tides of fate. In other words, we need you." Allen ended up telling everything about the Wandering Trader, his goal, his aspirations, and his missions. The only thing left unsaid was how he wields the power of a Primordial Beast. That was a secret that only a few people should know. Telling Jeremy this would be a big risk that he can''t take. "So, you''re basically going out and about collecting Codes and trading them to other people?" Jeremy asked to which Allen nodded in agreement. "But why?" "To ascend," Allen said. "If you think that hunting in the wild would be the best path into higher Worlds, then you''re wrong. Even the Primordial Beast Bearers knew of this." "W-What?" Jeremy stuttered. "I don''t seem to understand. You mean trading and doing favors for other people would be the secret to quicker ascension?" "Quicker and most effective," Allen corrected. "You won''t only gain Codes, you''ll also gain experience with handling human interactions. You know howplicated humans are and if you want to rule, or get a position in higher ranks of society, you have to have a backer and a series of connections." "Wow," Jeremy said. "C-Can Ie with you?" "No," Allen said with a wide fake smile. "I work alone, and prefers working alone." "But you said you wanted to have connections?" Jeremy scrunched his face. "That''s mildly confusing." "If you can''t understand, you don''t have to," Allen said. His phone vibrated, so he checked it to see who messaged him. ''Where are you?'' It was Jack. Allen saw another message that was sent earlier, so he also checked it. ''Come to the hospital rooftop this afternoon. I''ll give you the rest of the deal.'' The boy''s eyes lingered on the top corner of the phone and saw the time. Time travels differently in the Otherworlds, but humanity found a way to divide it so it would be like the one on Earth. Approximately one second on Earth was one and a half second in the Otherworlds. When divided into three hundred and sixty five and one fourth days, using this method, the worlds'' revolution on its own sun would align. At this moment, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon, making Allen hurry out of his room and excused himself from his visitor. He messaged Jack that he wasing as he sprinted his way to the rooftop as quick as he could. Not five minutester, the boy arrived, panting andpletely out of breath. "Sorry. I just woke up." Allen offered his hand but Jack didn''t take it right away. "Is something wrong?" "Let''s talk first," Jack said, making Allen drop his hand down. "You didn''t know what happened after you fainted, but it wasn''t good." "What?" Allen asked. "Jeremy was just home and he was safe. What do you mean?" "He was safe from the beast but not from his work," Jack said. "Gwen too." "Jack?" Allen asked. "What are you saying?" "This boy is something, huh?" Rourke was finally free from the chain as he walked into Jeremy who was carrying the unconscious Allen. "I have never seen someone utilize two Code effects at once. That was amazing." "That''s because he''s a prodigy," Jack said proudly. "He''s a boy who could use a whole lot of energy and mind power." "He''s still a boy though," Sebastian said as he offered his hands to Jeremy. "Let me carry him." Jeremy was about to hand over Allen when four masked men appeared behind him. He immediately threw Allen away, and spun, conjuring his sword and raised it in defense. "Who are you?" "The criminal divisions of Camp Tw Police Station," one of the masked men said. He pulled out his ck mask, revealing a man in his mid 40s. He had blonde hair and huge figure, looking intimidating to everyone around him. "C-Captain Dove," Jeremy stuttered. He kept his sword back and saluted at the man, the old man clicking his tongue and sighing. "Is there something wrong, sir?" "Arrest him." "What" Two of the other men went behind Jeremy and handcuffed him, making everyone around them fully confused. "Sir? What is happening?" "Jeremy Young, you are hereby arrested by the crimes of being the Phantom Cunt''s boss," Captain Dove said. "Here is the proof of your crimes." The man showed his phone to Jeremy, showing an image of him and Allen on the rooftop while they watched over the car ident. The image was somehow altered and he was seen smoking while grinning, making it look like he was the one who caused the ident. The Wandering Trader stood behind him, looking submissive with his hands and head down. Even Jeremy looked at the image and almost believed for it to be true. If they showed this out, it would look like he was the Phantom Cunt''s boss. "You are also dismissed from your position, along with your associate Gwen Fleming," Captain Dove continued. "You will pay a fine of seven thousand dors and serve three months in prison." "S-Sir" Jeremy tried to fight but his head was covered with a ck sack. "Hey," Jack intervened, gripping the arm of one of the men that was tying Jeremy. "What is the meaning of this?" "We were only given orders," Dove said. "I''m sorry, but we have to do this or it will be us who will sent to prison." "The Wandering Trader or the Phantom Cunt as you called him, is literally right here," Rourke scoffed. "And that man is Jack Summers, were from Verta Carta. Shouldn''t you be arresting us instead?" "Orders are orders," Dove said. "This order was sent by his own father, so we don''t have any say in this." "Stop," Jack said. "Stop or I will break every bone in your body." "Do not do this or I will be forced to use force," Dove warned, but Jackson didn''t retaliate. Instead, the man raised his sword and swung it around like a child ying with a stick. This made Captain Dove sigh and took out his radio. "Jeremy Young is refusing. Proceed to send one hundred men to suppress him. His sanctions will be quadrupled and he will serve twenty years in prison." This made Jack let go of the arm he was gripping earlier. "You bastard." "Amand is amand," Captain Dove simply said. "Goodbye." "Don''t worry," Jeremy said under the bag on his head. "I can handle this." Captain Dove sighed once more. He waved his hand to his men, gesturing them to go while he stayed behind and turned to Lay. "Senior, please hurry up. I''m starting to lose hope." "We have found our key to the renewal, child," Lay said. "Do not worry anymore. We will take over the world and kick the ones out." "Thank you," Captain Dove nodded. He saluted at Lay who gave him one in return. "I will look forward to your promise, senior." Lay nodded. "It won''t be long." The police left, leaving Jack and everyone else dumbfounded. "What in the hell?" "He was my junior at the academy," Lay said. "I forgot to tell you, but he will be our eyes and lips on the upper ranks of the military." "So you mean, Jeremy was arrested and he lost his job?" Allen asked Jack. Jack sighed. "I guess he didn''t. He bailed himself out, paid his fine and slept in your roomst night saying he will look out for you." "You''re making me feel bad," Allen looked away. "Don''t do that." "It wasn''t my intention to do so, but Jeremy really cared for you. Probably because you''re one of his few few friends," Jack said. "Apart from Gwen, that boy is lonely. He might have the attention of the crowd, but he''s still alone." "Give me your hand, pops," Allen said. "Let''s finish this deal. I have to go back now." Chapter 103: Black Light Chapter 103: ck Light They were sitting in front of each other, neither of which knew what to say. Allen and Jeremy let the time passes by, only hearing the sound of the clock on the wall. Tik. Tok. Tik. Tok. "Why didn''t you tell me that hou wereid off?" Allen finally asked, breaking the deafening silence. "You acted like you were okay, that nothing happened." "That''s because nothing did happen," Jeremy chuckled. "You''re overthinking this." "Jeremy, you lost your job," Allen spoke softly. "Even Gwen lost hers. What will you do now?" "Form a group," Jeremy said. "You told me earlier that you work alone, but no one works alone. I could be your assistant or something. You don''t need to pay me too. I receive a hefty amount of money from my father, so I don''t worry about cash." "W-What do you mean?" Allen asked. "You want to be my assistant?" "Yes," Jeremy smiled. "I could run errands for you. Errands that would be too suspicious if a normal Hunter would do." "Such as?" "Breaking into the government offices," Jeremy said quickly. "People knew my father, and the higher ups knew of my existence. If I go to ces that are restricted to most people, it would be great, don''t you think?" "No," Allen shook his head slowly. "I don''t think so." "You''re overthinking this," Jeremy grinned and chuckled. "Just let me help you. I''ll do whatever task you send my way, as long as it''s within my capabilities." "R-Really?" Allen asked. "Well, I do have a lot of stuff to do and deliver. Your help would be great." If he doesn''t want to lie to himself, Allen had no use for Jeremy. He was a one man parade that can do whatever tasks he wanted to do. He was Allen, Dante, the Wandering Trader, and the Primordial Snake Bearer all at once and he didn''t have any issues. But then again, he fate doesn''t always spin in one direction. There are times that fate is questionable, and even if you used all your cards, you''re still on the losing end. Maybe Jeremy could be of help, after all. In the future, there could be use for him. For now, Allen have to talk to the other person that was greatly affected by the incident. When Jeremy left, he went outside and knocked on the door next to his unit. "Gary?" Allen called out. "Are you inside?" Allen patiently waited for a couple of minutes, only to receive no answer at all. He knocked on the door again, hoping that he''ll hear a word from the man. "Gary? Are you inside? I''m going in." Without any more hesitation, Allen opened the door that was surprisingly unlocked. He entered the dark room and searched for the switch so he could turn on the light. The ce seemed cold, as if no one had been here. The lights were off and the silence inside was deafening. Click. "Gary!" Allen gasped after seeing the manying unconscious on the floor. His body was sprawled beside the sofa while his phone was smashed beside him. Actually, the entire room was wrecked as if a beast had raged inside. "Dude, what happened?" "udette?" Gary called out. He ran his fingers on to Allen''s face, making the boy shiver from the cold touch. "Hannah?" "You need to wake up," Allen said and shook the man awake. Gary was ways bigger than him, so he was trying to figure out how to carry him on the bed. Even with Allen''s strength, carrying unconscious giants would still be hard. "Gary, why the hell are you doing this?" Allen asked. He gave up on carrying Gary and was now dragging the man on the floor. He knew right where the room was since everyone''s unit was the same. He ced the man on his bed and stood beside him, trying to wake the giant up. "Why did this all happen?" Gary muttered. "Was I a bad man? I only wanted the best for the group, and then we ended up dead." Allen could hear the misery in Gary''s voice, it was obvious. From the reports, Gary and his team was close to each other, so losing them took a huge toll in his mental health. It didn''t feel good just by hearing it, Allen couldn''t think of the one experiencing it himself. "Take a rest first," Allen said to Gary even when he knew that the man couldn''t hear him. He watched the man that wasying on the bed. His outfit was still the same asst night. He didn''t even bother taking his shoes off, so Allen took it out for him. "You know," Allen found himself speaking as he took out Gary''s shoes. "Maybe if the Fire Dragon Incident didn''t happen, we would get to be friends." He found himself finallt epting the memories that surfaced. Little by little, his concept of his reality was now based on the memories. After all, he didn''t have memories before he got the power of the Snake. If he tries to remember clearly, he couldn''t find anything. All he knew were words and the same plot over and over again. That he was an outcast and his teammates wanted him out of their group. But when he tries to remember a memory on when Kyle and the others try to hurt him, he would fail. That was because they didn''t. His misery of losing Alice created a new form of reality in him where he was alone and nobody was his friend. The grief altered his mind, creating hatred and deep sorrrow that created a hole in his heart that he could never fill up. That was because the hole was fake. No matter what he does, his thirst for revenge would never be quenched. But now that the truth had unfolded, he realized that the hole was a pit of never ending darkness, and that it wasn''t worth anything to him at all. Allenid on the bed beside Gary. He looked at the gray ceiling and chuckled to himself. "You know that? We''re kind of the same. We''re miserable, and we''re sad because of our teammates. You lost everyone, and I lost only one, but it didn''t hurt as less." "Although death is inevitable, and sooner orter we''re all going there, it doesn''t stop us from trying to avoid is as much as we can," Allen continued. "Sadness won''t bring them back, revenge won''t bring them back, nothing will ever bring them back. But we have to keep fighting and living our life to the fullest for them." He sat up and looked at Gary who was now awake, "What are you saying, Dante? And why are you on my bed? Don''t be weird." "You''re not living a single life, Gary," Allen said. "You owe it to udette, Hannah, and the others to live as much as you can. Because you live for six lives now." "Oh," Gary was silent. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to remove the dried up tears. "You lost your team before?" "I lost one important person," Allen replied. "She was the only one I could rely on. She was basically my rock." Gary nodded, "I understand." Allen stood and offered his hand. "Let''s go. You need to eat something." "I don''t want to go out," Gary groaned. Heid himself back on his bed and buried his face on the pillows. "I want to stay here and do nothing." "I''ll cook for you," Allen said. "You can just stay in the living room or something. Want anything to eat?" "Stir fried chicken," Gary groaned. "And fried chicken, buttered chicken. Everything chicken." "Cool," Allen said. He pulled Gary out of the room and jumped after seeing someone else there. There were actually three people there. "What are you doing here?" "I felt like you guys wanted to eat chicken, so I bought some," Gwen said. She nonchntly walked to the kitchen and ced the bags of groceries there. "I saw these guys outside Dante''s unit, so I invited them in." "I actually didn''t leave," Jeremy said awkwardly, looking away in embarrassment. "I thought you still needed someone to talk to." "And I wanted to stay here until I leave for tomorrow," Jack said. "It''s nice to be here with you youngsters. It makes me feel young again." A knock on the door interrupted them. Allen was the one who answered it and scrunched his face after seeing Sarah. "H-Hey. I brought beer. Beer is good with chicken." Gwen shrieked and pulled the other woman inside the unit. Everyone, apart from Allen,ughed at this. Suddenly, the gloom of the incident just from a day ago seemingly vanished and everyone was now closer. The Fire Dragon Incident was supposed to wreck connections and rtionships using death. But after the victims overcame it, they got stronger and their bond was now closer than ever. The night came and the entire camp''s lights glowed with a ck color. The screens of all the TVs, phones, and monitors went nk, making everyone panic. There were signs of something like this that happened before. When the lights turn green, it was natural; when it was red, it happened during a hunt; and when it''s ck, it was orchestrated. "Primordial Dragon Bearer, Drake Nelson has been killed by another Hunter." Chapter 104: Friends Chapter 104: Friends What was supposed to be a fun night turned into a state of panic for Allen and his friends. The announcement that red throughout the entire camp was shocking needless to say. No one expected for such thing to happen. "Who would do such a thing?" Gwen gasped. "This is so wrong. Drake Nelson is a man who''s capable of obliterating an entire country. If he was killed, then the people who did that to him should have done some foul y." "We don''t know anything regariding his death, but I''m sure the other bearers would do something about this," Jack said. He took his coat off of Jeremy''s rack and put it on. "I will have a discussion with my group about this. I''m sure that the other gangs would do something now that their biggest obstacle is gone." Allen bowed slightly at Jack. He turned to his friends who had worried faces written all over their faces. He told them that he was out the other night hunting in the forest, so they told him about everything that happened. He couldn''t believe that in such a short time, he would lose the happiness that they had. They were allughing just a moment ago, now they''re panicking. "We don''t have to do anything," Jeremy said. "We wait for the Bearers'' statement. We''re not heroes that could do something about this anyway." "Right," Gwen said, sitting back on the couch. "I think I should go home for tonight. We need to clear our heads about all these." "Okay," Jeremy nodded. Gary and Sarah followed Gwen outside, leaving Allen and Jeremy in the room. "What will you do now?" "Nothing," Allen said simply. "I''m not in a position to fight them at the moment. So, whatever happens with them, it''s none of my business." "But you do have to realize that whoever reces Drake Nelson as the chairman of the Hunters, would directly affect us, right?" Jeremy crossed his arms. "You don''t know anything about politics, don''t you?" Allen shrugged, "That thing is too far from me right now. Whatever they do, I don''t care. Even if I try to care, I can''t do anything about it, so why bother?" Jeremy rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Let me tell you one thing actually, a couple of things about Hunter politics. The chairman controls everything in the Otherworlds, and they have a strong and firm power in the actual world government." "So?" Allen tilted his head, not understanding anything. "The three most suitable candidate to rece Drake Nelson are the Rat Bearer, Louie Stevens; the Rooster Bearer, Remy Anderson; and the Dog Bearer Carrie Poodle," Jeremy stated. "None of these three have good intentions regarding the welfare of Hunters. All they want is to rise in power." "So?" Allen tilted his head to the other side. "What does that have to do anything with me? So they control the Otherworlds, I don''t care. I''m not someone who''s dumb enough to try and fight them even when I''m still this weak." "Oh," Jeremy paused. "You mean, you''re not going to do anything about them?" "It''s not like I won''t do anything or I don''t want to do something, it''s just that I can''t do anything," Allen said. "What can I do when I face them? What happened with the Fire Dragon waspletely out of luck." Jeremy sighed again, "Okay then. But I did warn you as your advisor. You should be careful. And from now on, you should consult me for anything." Allen snorted at this, "Why would I do that? And who appointed you as my advisor? You''re merely my assistant. Jeremy, wake up." "Nye, nye, nye," Jeremy mimicked mockingly. "No more buts and talks. You listen to me, okay?" "Whatever," Allen rolled his eyes. He took out his phone and realized that it was the day that he was supposed to meet Hilda for the weekly deal. "I have to go for now. I''ll tell you the detailster, but I''m going to meet with a client." "A client?" Jeremy asked. "Since when did you have a client that was unknown to me?" "You''re literally the only client I have that you know," Allen snorted. He left the room without listening to more of Jeremy''s nagging. It was already night fall, making himte for their appointment. "Time passes by so quick," Allen groaned to himself. He opened his interface to check out his stats when he saw that he had new notifications that he didn''t see. ''Feature unlocked, Jack of All Trades.'' When using two weapons at once, thebined effects would deal 12.5% more damage, and the chance of casting more than one effect is increased by 20%. "Wow," Allen grinned at this. He just finished doing the double weapon effects, and he already have a feature for it. The additional damage would be extremely helpful to him. The mentioned casting chance refers to the chance that the two effects would be triggered. Since not all effects have 100% cast rate, especially since there are two effects, the skill allows it to increase the chance of the cast rate. Shoving his thoughts away for the meantime, the boy took out his cloak and his equipment as the Wandering Trader. He was in an alley and he was ready to climb the roofs to reach Hilda''s store. When he got there, the usual silence could be heard. He was in front of the store when he realized that it was empty. For a moment, he panicked, thinking that Hilda betrayed him. The boy looked around and saw the old woman sleeping by the bench near the store. He walked over to the woman and gently tapped her shoulders, "Ma''am?" "Whag-What? Who are you?" Hilda woke up in panic. When she saw the familiar wooden mask, her body rxed into the bench as a sigh escaped her lips. "I''m sorry, I must''ve fell asleep while waiting." "No, it was my fault for beingte," Allen said. "So, why is the store empty?" "I moved the store," Hilda said excitedly. She stood from the bench and grinned. "I can finally move into an area where there are a lot more people. The Codes you gave me were all high in demand, some even want to order." "That''s great," Allen smiled. "We can have orders now, but the price is doubled." "They''re willing to pay," Hilda said immediately. "Some of them were the sons and daughters of myte husband''srades. He was a casino maniac, and the people there knew of him. When they heard about my small business, they visited me and they became fond of our Codes." Allen pursed his lips, "What? Really?" "Yes!" Hilda cheered. "Where do you get such diverse Codes, young man? Not all of these were found in the areas nearby." "I just stroll around camps," Allen said. Although he wasn''t lying, he was guilty by the fact that he couldn''t reveal anything to Hilda. The woman was nothing but kind to him, and he was there, keeping his identity from her. "That makes sense," Hilda nodded slowly. She took out an envelope from her pocket and offered it to Allen. "Here is this week''s pay. I know you don''t need this, but I won''t befortable just taking the Codes." Allen snickered and took the envelope. This made the old woman smile and nod. The boy shook his head and offered his hand so he could give her the week''s worth of Codes. "Sooner orter, we''ll be going to sell a Grand grade Code," Allen said after transferring six Basic grade Codes, and four Rare grade Codes. "What do you mean?" Hilda asked. "Are you nning on expanding more?" "Expansion is inevitable," Allen sighed. "If you get to have a customer with a parent that has a high status, tell me right away. I''ll be the one who will talk to them and see if we can negotiate for a deal." "I don''t have your number" Hilda slowly said. "And us Hunters can only have one number, so if you tell me yours, I''ll be able to know who you really are." "I don''t care about such petty detail such as that," Allen chuckled. He took the woman''s wrist and took her inside her store. Even when she wasn''t selling there anymore, the door was unlocked. Allen then stretched his body. "After these couple of days, I have realized a lot of things. "If I want to build trust in people, I should be fully transparent to them," Allen said. He ced his hand over his mask and grinned. "But even my face was hidden to you, what kind of person could I be?" Allen was about to take his mask off when Hilda ced her old calloused hands over his. "You don''t have to prove anything to me, young boy. I trust you. You can juste back next week to see if I made a deal or not." "But" "No buts," Hilda smirked. "I trust you, please know that." Her words were simr to Jeremy''s, and it made Allen''s heart flutter. He was no happy. He had new friends that he could rely on. Chapter 105: Justice for Drake Chapter 105: Justice for Drake sh. sh. sh. Two days passed after Drake Nelson''s death, and there still was no clue on what happened. The reports said that an illegal group of thugs took him out while he was on Earth. There were footage of a group of seven men going inside the same building where Drake was. A few momentster, the seventy-ninth floor which was owned by the Dragon Bearer, exploded. The entire floor sumbed to the fire, cutting down the top of the building. Many have said that Drake wouldn''t die easily from such explosion. The man can withstand heat since he had Codes that made him practically immuned to fire. But another footage which was taken from a drone showed that Drake was fighting the seven men. He was jumping around the burning floor while the seven hooded figures continued to chase him. He even brought out his Dragonss de to fend off the enemies, but an eighth man appeared and stabbed him in the chest before he could even swing his sword. The footage was, to say at least, horrifying for many. For the Hunters, Drake Nelson was the highest order and the brightest light for them. He was leading the world and the Otherworlds at the same time, and he was doing well. By the rules that was released by the Hunters organization, the next chairman would be chosen from the winner of three rounds of elections. One was the power, two was merit, and three was people. All the Bearers and the three leading Hunters in Eterniy are eligible to be a candidate. They will be screened and tested before the official election would begin. For the first round, power, the candidate are tested and their power level is measured. Power was a very important thing for Hunters because only the ones who are strong enough could handle the others. If they wouldck the power to fight beasts, they alsock the power to lead, that was the Hunters'' philosophy. The first round will eliminate the lower half of the candidates. For the second round, merit, the achievements of the Hunter will be counted and converted into points. They then would be ranked based on the number of points they gain. The second round will also take out the lower half of the canditates. For the third and final round, the Hunters will have a choice on who will lead them. After the first and second round, the third round had filtered out the best candidates to lead them, and they will then make a choice on who to vote. Allen knew all of these, but as he said to Jeremy, he could only care less. He was someone who doesn''t stand a chance against the ones in the higher positions, even when he wanted to fight for what''s right, he will still lose. But using the power of the Snake that he weilded, he was going to catch up to the giants and be a giant himself. When that happens, he swore to be the chairman and lead the world into a much better ce. After watching the announcement, Allen walked out of the camp. He was going to grind with collecting Codes so he could get closer and closer to his dreams and aspirations. sh. sh. sh. ''Wind Leaf killed. +50 EXP'' ''Sr Bunny killed. +50 EXP'' ''Rigorous Sparrow killed. +50 EXP'' The boy continued with collecting the Codes. He was wondering why there were many Rare grade beasts when tbey would oftentimes not show up. Maybe it was because the forest regenerated quickly that this happened. For the three days after the Second Coming of the Fire Dragon, all the forests were locked from hunting. It was to make sure that there were no deadly beasts in the forest. No one can be too sure about what happened since Chen would not talk. The man entered Allen''s mind again. He had an irky feeling that Chen wasn''t the mastermind of their group. Chen wasn''t as strong as he think he is, but he has items that Allen didn''t see in the world that they are in. Maybe Chen was just a puppet of someone who was stronger and had more powerful connections. As Allenid his back on a tree, he inspected his interface. When he scrolled to his Code storage list, he saw that there was an exmation point on the Grand grade tab header. He clicked on it, and a warning was heard. ''Hunter not eligible to use Code.'' The boy remembered that he got a Code after ying the Fire Dragon. He was too wrapped up with the things that happened that he forgot that he had the Code. At that time too, when he was received the Code, he was almost out of consciousness. He was barely awake that the memory was lost in his head. Type: Pet (Evolvable) Grade: Sacred - ??? The Code description was nowhere to be found. Allen assumed that it was because he still can''t ess the Code that the description was hidden, something like the other Code effects of the Snake''s Blessings. There was a restriction on the levels, that he can''t see or know what those were. The features he was getting such as the Crafting Table and passive skills weren''t part of the effects, they were merely the bonus skills. That''s what confused Allen with what Sebastian said to him. When thetter told him that the other Bearers were not much stronger than a regr Hunter, did he meant that they didn''t have the skills like he does? Or they don''t know how to make use of their advantages? The confusion was enough for Allen to question Sebastian. Maybe the man lied to him so he could rx. But what was his intention by doing so? What will Sebastian gain by lying to him? Allen groaned after his head almost cracked by thinking too much. He decided to hunt more and grind more Code and items. He already crafted a lot of Basic grade and he needed more so he could reach Rare grade. The Basic grade crafting needed raw materials while the Rare grade needed Basic grade items. The higher grades must also need items from the grade below them, meaning the higher the quality he wanted to craft, the more raw materials he needed. A Basic grade craft needed three raw materials, a Rare grade craft needed five materials. To craft a single Rare grade item, he needed fifteen raw materials. And that wasn''t easy considering he has to consider thepatibility of the items. He can''t just collect three different things and craft randomly. He needed to think of the oue, and the impact of their synergy. Allen was practically being too picky with his materials that he was barely crafting anything. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Allen heard the buzzing, and he knew that these were the wasps simr to what attacked him a few months ago, that night when he received the Snake''s Blessing. He suddenly felt reminiscent of the times before he recieved the power. The only regret he had was the fact that he was easily swerved by his emotions that he didn''t think right. He med all the things that happened to him to Kyle and the others when it wasn''t them who were wrong, and it wasn''t him either. He now knew of the truth. Chen thought it was fun to y with him, so he made him lost in the woods. Thinking this way, Allen should be furious. The man almost killed him after all. But for him, what Chen did was a push for him to spread his wings. He could now fly to the parts where only the few could reach. The misfortune in his path only paved the bright future for him. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. The buzzing got louder, meaning that the wasps were getting nearer. He readied himself. With the ive on his right hand, he slightly tilted his knee. "Let''s go!" ck. ck. ck. "You''re here, finally," a man with a long pitch ck hair that was tied said as the door opened. Lin entered the room where thirteen more others were sitting. "Lin, let us start the investigation regarding the chairman''s death." Lin stared at the man, and then at the others. "Why did you even bother inviting me here? Don''t you think my ties with thete chairman would hinder this investigation?" "Oh, don''t start the drama," a rather skinny woman spoke. She wore arge feather headress that entuated her face that barely had any meat. "We''re all sad about what happened to Drake, but you are the best at finding things in all of us." "But Remy" Lin was cut off by a clearing of the throat from the man with the pitch ck hair. "Louie" "We need you talent, Lin," Louie said, offering his had. "Please, help us achieve the justice for Drake. We need you most right now." Chapter 106: Who Killed the Dragon Chapter 106: Who Killed the Dragon sh. sh. sh. Allen was finished with his hunt when he decided to rest before he opens the Crafting Table. He was grinding day and night for a day more just so he would have the best materials for his item. Heid his head on the tree behind him as his legs hung on the branch. It was easy for him to kill beasts, but it was hard to find the appropriate beasts to kill. Though there are regions and areas where most of the beasts would thrive, no one could still control what beast would be around. This was probably the hardest part on being a Hunter. The beasts that you see are random, and the Codes that you get is even more random. It was like ying in a casino where you have to risk a lot of things just to get your goal. And when you''re a Hunter, you''re risking your life. It''s not just a bunch of tokens and money when you''re betting on a hunt, you''re betting with your life. And when tokens and money can be reced, a life can''t. The opportunity of bing a Hunter was huge, the money was huge, and the fame was even bigger. But since you have to pay for your life to be on the line to get it, not everyone would take the risk. "I think I need to craft now," Allen said to himself. He stood upright and opened his interface to where his Crafting Table was at. He ced the raw materials on the Basic grade tab one by one until hepleted the five Basic grade items necessary to craft a Rare grade item. The boy filled the boxes for the Rare grade slots. He selected the five Basic grade items that he just crafted and then let the Crafting Table do its own thing. The slots lit up and the light traveled down to the empty space down below where it also glowed. ''Crafting Rare grade item.'' When the light vanished, a bracelet appeared on the box. Allen hovered his hand over it to see its description. Grade: Rare Effect/s: (1) Active - Absorbs light and turns invisible in dim ces. Invisibilitysts until the area is bright. Cooldown 2 hours. (2) Passive - When inplete darkness, the user will have 7x brighter vision. The darkness will charge the item, giving less and less vision as the area brightens. Allen immediately fixed his seat after reading the description. The skill effects were great, more than what he hoped for. He indeed collected materials mainly from nocturnal beasty, but to think that he would also get an item that would help him in the darkness. If he uses this logic, he should now collect materials from flying beasts, maybe then he could get an item that would be useful for his flight. He was mainly in rooftops as his primary way of traveling, an item that would help him when he''s in the air would be extremely helpful. Kroo. Kroo. Kroo. Allen raised his head after hearing the creature. It was an owl and it didn''t sound like it was too far away. In fact, the sound seemed toe from a couple of meters away from him. He looked up to the skies and realized that the darkness had slowly fallen. Dusk came and now it was nighttime. The boy opened his hand, equipping his Twilight Dagger. The weapon was now powerful since the twilight just came, and he wasn''t too far from the hour of the sunset. "Let''s go," Allen whispered to himself and jumped from branch to branch until he was a lot closer to where the sound came from. He was looking around to see if the owl was still there, but to no avail. It wasn''t there anymore. Kroo. Kroo. Kroo. The boy spun and raised his weapon. He was looking around in hopes of seeing the beast, but it was proving itself to be swift. This was why Allen also wanted an item from them. He could use an item that increases his movement, so he could hunt and escape faster. Currently, his movements were great and quick, but he still knows he could be better. He could barely dodge the hits of the previous enemies. If he encounters stronger beasts that had higher agility than him, it would be the end of the road. Kroo. Kroo. Kroo. "F*cking b*tch." Allen cursed and leaped up the branch he was on. He spun in the air for a couple of times before slicing through the air and into the direction of the sound. Crash. His de had made contact with wood instead of flesh. He swore he fast when he did the trick, but the beast was still able to dodge him. It was already gone from the branch the sound was on, making Allen groan. "I just want materials!" Allen growled. He closed his eyes and felt the air and surroundings. He needed to concentrate on where to attack. The beast seemed to be ying with him by dodging and making noise in different ces. He was being tested. "Deep breath," Allen whispered. "I can do this." Kroo. Kroo. Kroo. The boy opened his eyes and vanished. There was only silence for a couple of seconds before he reappeared behind a giant bird that was hidden amongst the leaves of the nearby trees. "Gotcha!" Allen yelled, swinging his de as he shed the beast''s head off. The boynded on the branch where the owl was at, watching it fall to the ground and vanish. "What? Why the hell did it vanish?" Allen leaped to the ground and tried to look for the remains of the owl. He was now baffled when he couldn''t see anything there. The beastpletely vanished like it wasn''t there in the first ce. And the woman who announces when he kills a beast didn''t speak. Allen was now even more confused. Usually, after taking out all the enemy''s HP, the woman would notify him. But now even when the bird had vanished, he hadn''t received anything at all. "What is happening?" Allen asked himself. He looked around and tried to think of any reason why this could be happening. His deep thoughts would soon be interrupted when he heard footstepsing towards him. The boy bent his knees and raised his dagger in defense. The sound came from right in front of him, but he was thinking that they would attack on the side or even behind him. He can never be too careful. "Who is that?" Allen asked. He prepared himself for a sh when Lay appeared from the darkness. The man crossed his arms while a smirk etched across his face like he had seen sometimes magnificent. "What are you doing here, Lay?" "I now see why the boss is too fond of you," Lay chuckled. "I don''t see it right away, and refused to believe it even after your performance in the Second Coming of the Fire Dragon, but boy, you have an incredible talent." "W-What?" Allen tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?" "That bird you just killed was a oet of mine," Lay said. "It was a Grand grade pet, the Lc Swift Owl. It''s movements were faster than any falcon in Paradise and Haven, and its vision and senses were more than most beasts in Eternity." "A pet?" Allen asked. He was rather curious as to what the man was talking about considering he had a pet in his Codes list. It was one he got from the Fire Dragon where it states that the pet was Evolvable. Although he still cannot ess it, his curiosity was still there. "I forgot, Haven and Paradise doesn''t have this type of Code yet," Lay said. "But that owl was my Code and it was my pet. They''re simr to weapon Codes, but they''re immortal and they''re basically beasts that you tame." "They''re immortal?" Allen asked. "But I just killed yours." "You merely used up all its HP for its summon," Lay said. "Pets can be summoned and they inherit 75% of the Hunter''s stats. When they lose their HP, they return to you as the Code and will charge for at least 26 hours. After recharging, they can be summoned again." "Oh," Allen nodded. "That''s why I didn''t receive the notification that I killed a beast. It''s a bit of a shame since I used up a lot of my energy to killing it." "If it ever makes you feel better, Lc Swift Owls are hard to hunt," Lay said. "Only one in six hundred Hunters could hunt it, and you''re one of them." "Oh," Allen muttered. "Wait, what are you doing here anyway?" "Boss wants to ry a message," Lay said suddenly. "I almost forgot after seeing you. Sorry." Allen tilted his head. "What message?" Lay''s expression suddenly changed to dark. And then he brought the ill news. "They''reing for you. The Snake appeared and he killed the Dragon. That''s what the news is saying." Chapter 107: The Snake Did It Chapter 107: The Snake Did It A day before Lay warned Allen about the iing danger, in the meeting room of the investigation team for Drake Nelson''s murder, Lin was sitting on the chair as Louie spoke. "I do not know what''s happening," Louie sighed. "I called for the meeting of the remaining ten Bearers along with three of the best Hunters for investigation. They have countless solved cases where no one has ever solved in a very long time." They where inside the room where ss reced two of the adjacent walls and the other two walls were solid steel. Outside was a view of the ocean, meaning that they were submerged underwater. Inside the room was a long table where nine of the Primordial Beast Bearers sat along with three more Hunters that wote trench coats. In front of the table was Louie, the Rat Bearer, himself. He was the one leading the group with the investigation for their chairman''s death. "You''re not doing this just so we would forfeit the elections, are you?" Lin bluntly asked to which Louie answered with a vigorous shaking of his head. "Miss Lin, where did that idea evene from? I do not have such intentions," Louie spoke. "I''m merely stressed after the loss of our chairman, thats all." "Miss Lin is the vice chairman," Bernard spoke. "She should be the one leading this investigation, not you." "That may be true, but Miss Lin politely declined the invitation, isn''t that right, Miss Lin?" Louie asked. His voice, his expression, and his posture didn''t show any signs of anything suspicious, making him free from guilt. "You know how close the chairman and I were," Lin muttered. "Knowing that your closest friend had passed away and even seeing the footage on how he was brutally murdered, that wasn''t a good experience for me." "Yes, we do," Louie said. "That was why I didn''t force you to lead this investigation, but we are in dire need for your help. You are the best at investigating out there, your talent would be wasted if you cannot use it to find the justice for Drake." Lin sighed and rubbed her forehead. The stress was eating her as the grief was still consuming her whole. "Okay. I''ll take charge of this investigation." "Finall!" Louie cheered. He bowed and let Lin stood where he was while he sat on her chair. "All the files you need for the case is on that folder. "You mean folders?" Lin asked, raising a thickyer of folders. "There''s a lot of files here, you didn''t narrow it down?" "I-I am a tank," Louie said. "Things like this doesn''t go well with me. But I thought that since you have greater mental capabilities, you could do it." Lin then turned to the three men with them. She narrowed her eyes while a look of disappointment was stered on her face. "What a terrible job. We need to take five. I''ll narrow the clues within that five minutes, and then hand everything out to you so we can discuss it." "Can you actually do all that in five minutes?" someone with a slender figure while wearing a ck shiny tight skin suit said. On their head was a white bunny ear, making it obvious that they were the Rabbit Bearer. "I don''t think you could do that. No offense to you, but that pile of files is thicker than my arm." "Keh, you don''t have to doubt Miss Lin''s prowess," a man who was huge in terms of size said. He barely have any muscles, and with his towering almost seven foot tall figure, he looked like a giant pig. "Let Miss Lin worry about that and worry about how Sufjan is looking at you weirdly again." Keh, the person with the bunny ears, scrunched his face and looked at the man who the Boar Bearer pointed out. It was a man with a long blonde hair that was wearing a fitted suit and tie. "Yuck. Sufjan, don''t even think about it." "I didn''t know horses were so sexual," Remy sighed. "Then again, you don''t really underestimate horses. They''re big." Remy stood and bowed, "Miss Lin, please take your time with your task." The others followed the dog bearer. Everyone stood and bowed, following the words of the woman, "Miss Lin, please take your time with your task." Remy stood right and cleared her throat. She was the first one to leave the room with Keh following her along with another woman. The other people also left not long after the three, leaving Lin with Louie. "Can I help?" Louie asked to which Lin raised her hand and slowly shook her head in response. "Okay. But please don''t hesitate to ask me for anything." Lin looked up from the files and smiled, "Okay, Louie. Thank you so much." Louie bowed and left the room, leaving Lin fully alone in the room. The woman took a deep breath as her eyes slowly glowed with a dim blue color. ''Skill activated.'' Lin''s memory was enhanced by three thousand percent. Herprehension in both reading and understanding was increased multiple times the capabilities of ten adult humans at once. Her eyes were scanning the page one page per three seconds while her mind was calcting everything quickly. In the woman''s mind, what she was reading was being processed and analyzed. Those who are beneficial will be kept while the unnecessary details, while the important ones were being kept. Meanwhile, outside of the room where Lin was at, a figure stood by the door. They were on their phone while looking around cautiously. "Yes, Lin is analyzing the files now. No, I did not bother. Okay. Got that. Thank you." A couple of footsteps walked closer to the door. The figure looked at where the sound came from and then saw Keh just walking from the corner. The feminine boy narrowed his eyes while looking at the figure suspiciously. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" The figure not move. Instead, they remained looking at Keh, no words spoken. For the Rabbit Bearer, knowing the identity of the person was hard considering they wore a hooded jacket. It also seemed like they wore padding on their body, so they would look bigger than they actually are. "I said, who are you?" Keh asked again, this time, threateningly. His eyes narrowed even more while his hands twitched on his side. "If you don''t answer in three seconds, I''ll be forced to use force." The figure did not move or reply. This angered Keh even more, now he was looking at the figure with pure anger. "Oh, so you won''t speak, huh?" Keh raised his hand and a staff appeared. "B*tch!" His shoes transformed into a white fur boots with heels as he leaped off of the ground and pointed his staff on the figure who also was yet to move. "Lunar Explosion!" An orb appeared on the head of Keh''s staff. The orb looked like a giant marble and a crescent moon appeared inside it before it was wrapped with a bluish white light. "Die!" The covered orb fired a beam of bluish white light at the target. The figure saw thising and nodded, leaping off of the ground too. When the beam dissipated, the figurended again and ran to the side. "Oh, hell no!" Keh growled. Hended on the ground and followed the figure, shooting small orbs in his way to fend off anyone who tried to get on his way. "Lunar Explosion!" The boy fired another beam of light towards the direction he thought the figure went. If the figure did escape him, they wouldn''t leave the establishment so easily. They were submerged underground, and the only way to go out was going out through the water. "What the hell happened?" Remy asked as she chased Keh. "Who are you chasing?" "A suspicious figure who I saw right outside the room Miss Lin was at," Keh replied. "Just when I thought they looked suspicious, they dodged my attack easily, as though they were someone strong really strong." "Gotcha!" Both Keh and Remy saw someone on the next counter. It was Bernard who spoke that while he was with the Monkey Bearer, Sun. Bernard was carrying the figure by their hoodie while Sun suppressed the figure with his staff. "I heard explosions," Bernard said. "This was what you''ve been chasing, Keh?" "They''re so slick," Keh growled. He walked closer to Bernard and took the hood off the figure where he grinned and gasped at the sight. "What the hell is that?" The man under the figure had white eyes and arge tattoo of the snake from their forehead down to their legs. "Hail the Snake! The Snake. Hail the Snake! The Snake!" The man chanted continuously. Just when they were about to ask something, the man rolled his head to the back of his head and threw up mes. This made bernard immediately let go of him. "The Snake" Lin muttered from behind them. She saw everything. "The Snake did it." Chapter 108: Lets Just See Chapter 108: Let''s Just See Allen was now even more scared of what might happen to him. The police officers were ordered tight restrictions on all ces, even opening up slots for patrols so they could have more manpower. The main goal of the authorities was to find the Snake bearer and bring him for questioning. For some reason, the figure was med for the death of Drake Nelson, and Miss Lin herself said that they have proof for it. At least, that''s what she said on the announcement. The order was from the vice chairman of the Hunters herself, so unlike the rumors of the Phantom Cunt, the Snake Bearer was now aplete criminal and no one was against it. The higher ups also connected a lot more cases and incidents with the Snake Bearer, making Allen get frustrated. Wherever he goes, he was framed for something that he didn''t do. And if Lay didn''t warn him abou the announcement, he would''ve act carelessly and might get caught. On all entrances and exit of any camp, the guards were heavily watching. They seem to have a clear order from the top where they have to interrogate each and every one who enters and exits the camp. For Allen, he had already prepared for his answers. It was a good thing that only he could see his interface, and using the skill where his nerves would rx, he could lie his way through the guards. There he saw ck gs, closed stores, and empty streets. Only a fraction of the economy was allowed to open to pay respect to the fallen chairman. This would go on for about four more days so they couldplete their seven days of mourning. It was a little too much, especially for an industry that was quick paced. They were going to slow down the economy, and will lose millions in the process, but the higher ups thought that it would only be proper for the almost two decades of service that Drake Nelson brought to their industry. As the boy walked the barren streets, he felt a little chilly. He looked up and saw the dark gray skies, threatening to pour down the heavy rain it was carrying all this time. Allen hated rain. For as long as he could remember, he had been hating the rain and would always sleep to wait it out. But this time, the cold winds that was blowing and the dark skies even when its only noon didn''t affect him as much. He felt numb, and as the days passed, as he solved more problems and wait for more to arise, he was getting more and more numb. This was getting to the point that he wanted it to end and just clear things up, but knowing the risks, especially now that he was being persecuted, he can''t do so. At the very least, he was d that the Wandering Trader''s name had been cleared. After the Second Coming of the Fire Dragon, no one had suspected for the mysterious figure to be even real, and brushed it off as just another rumors made up by some people. The alleys were cleared, and the people had calmed down from that issue. But then another one had risen, and Allen was still on the med end. "When will everything stop?" Allen was about to speak the words when someone else stole them before him. He looked around to see a man in his middle ages. He appeared to be at least fourty years old. A stub of beard was on his chin and neck while deep dark circles were underneath his eyes. He had a lottery ticket on his hand while a depressed and hopeless expression was stered on his face. This man seemed to be helpless, and he doesn''t look like he wanted to live anymore. "Bad day?" Allen found himself asking. He couldn''t control the words that escaped his lips, it just did. "Yeah," the man replied. "I''m broke, and I don''t know where to get more money. You see, I had always wanted to buy a gift for my wife who always working hard in her office. Me being a Hunter didn''t change the outlook her parents have for me." The man''s situation intrigued Allen for some reason. He found himself listening to the man''s rants as he was getting entertained by him. "Her mother is Amanda Bryans and her father is Daniel Bryans," the man said. "They both owned aw firm in earth, and their main clients were Hunters. They said that the Bryans won the case about the married who was sleeping with another man." Allen remembered the case was from his list of suspects for the Phantom Cunt act. It was a huge scandal, but for some reason, the men had won the case and the wife even paid them money for defamation and other damages. "They must be really talented," Allen said. "The Bryans are interesting." His eyes widened when he realized that he wasn''t the only one there. He looked at the man and smiled, "I''m aw student before I became a Hunter." "Oh," the man opened his eyes and nodded. He ced the lottery ticket in his pocket and offered his hand, "Elvis Lawson, a treasure specialist." "Treasure specialist," Allen repeated. He took the man''s hand and shook it. "I''m Dante, an equipment specialist." "Ohh," Elvis formed an O with his mouth again. "So, you''re a support? That''s cool." "Something like that," Allen chuckled awkwardly, looking away. He forgot to register his own role in the Skill Altar countless of times. He also knew that when a Hunter registers for a role, they will gain huge benefits and advantages towards their specific role. Say for example a Hunter registered himself for the tank role, they will have an increase in their defenses and stamina but will have a slight decrease on the other stats. Role selection was vital and crucial for any Hunter and it can''t be undone. There were Hunters who registered for a role hastily, and regretted the selection some timeter. Maybe that was why role selection was unlocked after level 10, just so that the Hunter would know and truly understand themselves and can choose the proper role. For Allen''s case, he didn''t feel the need to select any role. A Hunter without a role, or as they call it, ssless, is appropriate for his mixed fighting style. He was durable, can maintain enough damage, and could sustain himself. He was afraid that if he selects a role, he would lose his advantage and would adjust again. "Why is it just something like that?" Elvis chuckled, waking Allen up from his reverie. "You can''t almost be a support role. You are a support role or not, there''s no something like that. Unless you''re ssless?" "I am ssless," Allen said honestly. He can''t escape this question now, and be can''t escape thister on. He just has to make excuses until no one would ask him about it anymore. "Why?" Lewis scrunched his face. "You''re missing on a lot of things. A role will help you with your Hunt even when you''re going solo. Though I prefer going in an organized team, going solo but with a role would be okay too. The boost from roles is so effective that you won''t regret it." Allen wanted tough at how Elvis was speaking. It was like the man was selling him a product that looks ridiculous, but he thinks that he could sell it. "Personally, I''m a warrior," Elvis continued. "I have the durability of a tank and the damage of an assassin. I''m pretty much powerful. If you choose your role now, you''ll truly find yourself." "But apparently, choosing a role won''t let you be powerful enough to impress his wife''s parents," Allen snorted. He shook his head and sighed. "Don''t worry, Elvis. You''ll find yourself soon." Elvis scoffed and gasped. He fakely ced his hand on his chest to portray being hurt. "You, young man, have a very bloody mouth." Allenughed at Elvis''s reaction. He didn''t know why he had just met this guy, but now Elvis was like a friend to him that he had known for several years. "Let''s turn here," Elvis said as he led Allen to a corner. There, he immediately snapped his fingerd and the alley became dark instantly. "Aw, you still haven''t got it, don''t you?" "What are you doing?" Allen tilted his head to the side, not seeming to understand what was going on. "What?" "You''re a fool," Elvis grinned. "Who would trust someone that they just met?" "No one." Allen stood properly and looked around. "You were using a skill to get my trust, right?" "What if I was?" Elvis grinned. He stepped forward and a t circr ss appeared on his foot. He stepped one more and the ss was now hovering in the air calmly. "What are you going to do about it?" "I don''t know," Allen shrugged. "Let''s just see." Chapter 109: Return to Earth Chapter 109: Return to Earth "Run!" Elvis grinned as he summoned his weapon. It was a scythe that had a thin de that encircled two thirds of the pole. His weapon was huge, so it wasn''t easy for him to close in one Allen and attack. What the boy needed to do was make sure that Elvis don''t get a chance to get closer to him. It will be the end of the road if the man ever gets a meter too close to him. The scythe will surely cut whatever it could reach if that would happen. "I didn''t know that a lot of Hunters are now capable of detecting us," Elvis said. "Let me introduce myself. I''m Elvis, a pack member of the Blood Moon." "Haven''t heard of them," Allen shrugged. "Must be a group of lonely people who are bored to death." "The only reason why nobody has heard of our actual name was because we kill the ones who have heard of it," Elvis grinned. "And not it''s your turn to die!" The manunched himself off of the ss te he was stepping on and leaped towards Allen. The boy immediately took out his ive and shed history des with Elvis''s. If he wanted to create the furthest distance, the ive is his best choice. Since the ive was a polearm, using it would distance Elvis himself away from Allen. He would be cautious as to what might happen if the ive wouls reach him. "So, you use that weapon too, huh?" Elvis chuckled. "Interesting." "Not really," Allen shrugged. "It''s more interesting how you lied about knowing the Bryans." "I didn''t lie about them," Elvis said. "Didn''t Lay tell you anything?" Allen tilted his head to the side, "You know Lay?" "Jack is my friend," Elvis said. "Verta Carta and Blood Moon are partners. We make the same thing and do the same stuff." "But" Allen lowered his weapon. "What were you doing attacking me then?" "I had to know that you were the real person, of course," Elvis grinned. "There''s a lot of impostors around here, you know? If they would know that you''re the one that I''ve been looking for, you''d be taken away." "What?" Allen scrunched his face. He shook his head and sighed, taking out his phone to try and call Jack. He already had a message there and it was from Jack himself. ''Boy, Lay forgot to tell you that someone is meeting you today. He''s a potential client and he has connections. Serve him right, and you''ll be rewarded well,'' the messGe said. "Lay was supposed to inform me about you, but I guess he forgot," Allen sighed. "That man is seriously old. He can''t even remember that there''s someone I was supposed to meet. And ording to Jack''s words, a very important man too." "Blood Moon has connections to two Primordial Beast Bearers," Elvis grinned. "I happen to be the external affairs officer, so they know me well." "Which Bearer?" Allen quirked his brow up after the mention of the powerful people. He was barely interested in other Hunters except for the then eleven, now ten group. They were the elite of the elite, and if he could get his hands on them, he''d win the game. "The Rooster and the Dog," Elvis replied. "They''re both under the impression that they''re kind and righteous, but in fact they deal with the underground traders all the time. In fact, only thete chairman and the vice chairman were the ones who were clean. The others are clowns. "In fact, they''re so pathetic that they could run a circus with just the nine of them. Nine Bearers, all dealing with the underground traders will eradicating some of them," Elvis continued. "I want toug, but even that''s not worth it." "You know a lot, don''t you?" Allen smirked. "And you''re not afraid of me getting to know these?" "I know your identity, and a call away from the police, your world will stop," Elvis grinned. "Who cares if we exchange information? Besides, you can''t ckmail the Bearers. They hold the absolute powers in the Hunters'' world, therefore they''re untouchable." "Right," Allen nodded. "So, what did you want me to do? What kind of deal do you want?" Elvis sighed. He stepped forward and kneeled in front of Allen, both his hands sped in front of him as he disyed a puppy eyes. "Let my wife''s parents ept me as the man who their daughter married." "What?" Allen asked. "The thing with the Bryans was true?" "Of course it was!" Elvis scoffed. "You think I would lie about such thing? I won''t, duh." "But what do you want me to do?" Allen asked. "Want me to y a matchmaker? How would I even let thewyers ept man who''s practically a criminal continue to be married to their daughter?" "I don''t know," Elvis shrugged. "That''s your job, not mine. So why are you asking?" Allen deadpanned. He wanted to facepalm, but stopped himself from doing so. He was the Wandering Trader who trades Codes, secrets, and deals, this kind of thing wasn''t mentioned in his job description. "Please, Dante," Elvis sobbed. "They took Lisa away from me, and I don''t know where she is." The mention of the other problem sparked something inside of Allen. "You mean, they already took the precautionary measures to make sure that their daughter wouldn''t still be wedded to you?" Elvis pouted, "Yeah. They took her to another country and prepared the divorce papers themselves. Of course, they still need our signatures which we will never give, but until I see Lisa, I ain''t stopping." "You made up your mind, haven''t you?" Allen smirked. "I guess I don''t have any other choice but to help you, then. It''s my job as the Wandering Trader, after all." "Yes!" Elvis leaped in excitement. "But tell me your n first, how will you do this?" "First, I need to go back to Earth," Allen grinned. "The Bryans are in Earth, so it would only be logical to be there." "And?" Elvis asked. "Was that your n?" "No," Allen muttered. He pointed at Elvis and grinned. "You''ll be helping me." Elvis formed an O with his mouth, "Oh? What help can I give you?" "So," a man said as he scanned his eyes through a piece of paper in his clipboard. He sighed and took a look at the paper behind it, scrunching his eyebrows and rubbing his pen on his forehead. "This seems too surreal for some reason. Do you mind if I ask for reference?" Allen smiled and nodded, "Please, do. I don''t really need to be scared because I don''t have anything to hide." The man narrowed his eyes, "I see." He took the telephone and dialed the number on the resume. It rang for a few seconds before a woman on the other side answered, "Hello, you''ve reached the officer of tt, Parker, and Adamson. How may I help you?" "I''m asking for the reference for Connor Andrews?" the man asked. "His resume is overwhelming for the Bryans considering he worked there before." "Connor Andrews was our paralegal for three years," the woman replied. "But sadly, he left our office to pursue his dreams of getting to work alongside the Bryans." "From tt, Parker, and Adamson?!" the man gasped. "II mean fine, okay. Thank you so much." "Thank you so much, have a good day!" The phone call ended and the man was left dumbfounded. He ced the phone back and looked at Allen who was smiling. "You''re really from there?" "Yes, sir," Allen smiled. "I just wanted to work with Mr. and Mrs. Byrans. It has been my dream." "From a paralegal to an assistant," the man said. "Interesting, but anyway, you are hired. Wee to the Bryans Firm. I would like to give you a toast, but we have a case that''s up. The Bryans are very busy at the moment, so you also have to be right up there at this second. You start today." Allen nodded and smiled. He walked closer to the man and shook his hand with a warm smile on his face, "Thank you so much, sir. I hope to work more years with you." "Y-You too," the man smiled akwardly as a woman led Allen out of the room. She took Allen to the hallway and right into the elevator. "You did a good job there, newbie. There''s not much people who could impress Attorney Lasso like that." "Thank you," Allen smiled. "I couldn''t have done it if weren''t for the teachings of my previous firm." The woman smiled and nodded. "That''s great. I hope to be working with you. The Bryans'' office is on thest floor, floor 71. Here we are." Ding. The elevator rang as its doors slowly opened. In front of it was a hallway that led to a single door. Nothing was at the hallway except for the door on the other side. "The Bryans are behind that door," the woman said. Allen walked outside of the elevator and thanked the woman. "Good luck! You''re gonna need a lot of it." Chapter 110: Snake Society Chapter 110: Snake Society "Interesting," Amanda Bryans immediately said after Allen walked inside their office. It was arge room that had a ss wall on the wall that was facing the door. In the middle of the room were two desks that Amanda and Daniel upied. On top of their desks were piles and piles of papers that seemed to be case files by how they were stacked in a specific manner. Daniel stood and smiled, "Attorney Lee must have been very impressed by how he immediately hired you. You made a great impression on him." Allen bowed, "Thank you." "No need to be so formal," Amanda smiled. "Your desk is right there. The previous secretary haspiled all your duties and responsibilities. All you have to do now is to do them correctly. Is that fine?" "More than fine," Allen smiled and nodded. "That''s great!" Amanda pped her hands once and her expressionpletely changed from warm to dark. "Now get to work. We don''t have all the time in the world." The boy had no other choice but to oblige. Amanda''s aura was too strong that it even triggered his passive skill, making him worry that he might intimidate the couple too. But after seeing Amanda and Daniel Bryans the desk he was assigned at, he sighed in relief. The passive skill can be triggered when Allen faces a foe that was stronger than him. What he did not know was that it can also be triggered when he feels rmed even when there was no actual threat. And for the skill to fully take effect, he has to take action or say something to counter the fear he was feeling. The moment he turned around to walk towards his desk, the passive skill deactivated. At least Allen learned a thing or two about the skill. As for their n, his main duty was to find out the location of Elvis''s wife. The man was sure that her location would be tracked by her parents. When he finds it, he will report back to Elvis and the man said that he will do the rest. For Allen, he didn''t know what would happen after. All he knew was that he was going to do this deal and gain something from Elvis. Even the man kept his end of the deal, which was bothersome and not like Allen at all. "What if he talks about it and the next clients follow his example?" Allen groaned at himself. He shook the thoughts off of his head and got to work immediately. Thanks to his Intelligence attribute, he could now mentally process things easier and quicker than before. The words on his resume that said that he was apetent worker wasn''t too far from the truth after all. His job wasn''t too difficult. In fact, it was easier than he actually thought. First, he was skeptical on the secretary job because he thought he would handle cases as well. But then he read the notes the previous secretary had left for him and he found out that he didn''t have to do much. Grinding for Codes was much harder than arranging schedules and forwarding messages. This desk job had grown on him that he now thought he could do this any day and was considering doing this isntead. "This isn''t so hard," Allen smirked. "I think I can do this." "Do this for me please." "Get me that file on the case." "You need to get me that other file." "Why are you so slow?" "Where in the hell is my afternoon tea?" "Howe the files aren''t sent yet?!" "I thought you werepetent. How disappointing!" As the time passes, the Bryans got more hectic and Allen could see horns growing on their foreheads. Maybe this was why the previous secretary had left, they couldn''t handle the pressure that was put on them by these two. "I wanna go back to Haven," Allen whispered. "I want to go back to Haven" The boy repeated the words continuously like it was a mantra for his god. He kept saying those words as he worked, hoping it would pass the time. Indeed, hours had passed by and it was time for them to clock out of work. The Bryans prepared their things by keeping folders on their cases and turning theirputer units off. "We''re done for today," Amanda siad. Her smile returned to her face, and the deep Antarctic cold that was previously stered on her face was long gone. "Should we get you some beer so we can celebrate your first day?" "I don''t think that''s necess" "Nonsense!" Daniel Bryans cheered. "Let''s go eat meat. I want to eat meat." Allen looked at them in disbelief. Just a moment ago, they were almost going to kill him by continuously scolding at him for this work. Now, they were all smiling like nothing happened at all. "Oh, I''m sorry," Amanda said. "That was our work ethic. We are very strict when ites to work, but other than that, we''re basically your friends!" Allen was at a lost for words. Just when he thought he was the one who had different faces for different scenarios, these two greeted him with a tutorial on how to properly do it. They are natural when ites to working and how they function as a couple and as leaders. And by looking at how much their firm was seeding, Allen thought that what they were doing was effective. He sighed and had no choice but to agree to what his new bosses offered. "Maybe I can steer my mission to another direction myself," Allen said in his head. "What do you think about the Primordial Beast Bearers vs the Snake case?" Amanda asked Allen. They were now in a luxurious restaurant while eating dinner and celebrating the secretary''s first day. "I want to see your insight on this particr case." Allen forgot that the Bryans were part of the case that was hired by Louie, the Rat, himself. They think of their firm as the foundation of Hunters'' rights, and was considering partnering with them. Allen skimmed through the file when he was working earlier. Daniel Bryans was set to submit a report to the Primordial Beasts regarding the connection of the Snake and what cases could they implement while waiting for the culprit to be caught. "Honestly, I don''t have much knowledge about the case," Allen confessed. He saw the pursing on the couple''s lips, making him retract his words immediately. "But I do think that the Snake could barely do anything against Drake Nelson." The topic took Daniel''s attention and he was now looking at Allen. "Interesting. How do you say so?" "Because as they said themselves, the Snake had just awakened," Allen started, pretending to think deeply. His intelligence attribute was really a great help to him, and he was now considering prioritizing it. "If the Snake is just a newbie, chances are he can''t ascend to Paradise, let alone face the strongest Hunter alive." He wasn''t defending himself by saying all those. He was merely stating facts, and even when he''s not the Snake, he would be saying the same thing. "He could also be pretty much dead after discovering the new powers," Allen continued. "The Snake is just too vague of a figure for now that pointing fingers at them would seem ridiculous. Sorry, no offense." "You are a good debater," Amanda smirked. "You think critically and that''s what matters in this line of work. But your input is indeed enlightening. Most people would agree that the Snake did it. Having someone on our side feels good." "O-On your side?" Allen tilted his head while his face was filled with confusion. Amanda and Daniel both ced their arms above the table to show off a tattoo of a snake and a man. It was a small tattoo that they hid under a fake skin, a tattoo of a man was fully naked while holding a sword on one hand while raising his arm to the side as the snake encircled his body. "We have been waiting for the Snake to change the world we live in," Daniel chuckled and returned the fake skin to cover the tattoo. "This should be kept a secret. I don''t know why I''m telling you all of this." Allen just realized that his passive skill was triggered again. This time, since he spoke, he fully triggered it and the couple was now dancing on his palms. "Y-You''re both part of something?" Allen jokingly said, and the two looked at each other. "Sorry. I didn''t mean to intrude or anything" "How did you know that we are part of Snake Society?" Daniel asked. "The society that awaits the birth of the snake to change the world." Allen gulped, not feeling any good aura regarding the couple. He looked at them while they looked at him with curious eyes. The boy said in his head, "What in the hell is happening here?" Chapter 111: Fired Chapter 111: Fired "Do you know?" Allen stood in the rooftop, a man standing in front of him. "Was that why you decided to send me in the Bryans because you needed my help?" Elvis sighed as he huffed a cigarette. "You have nothing right now, Dante. The Bryans are the ones handling the case of the Snake, if you could tell them that you have the Code, then you''ll gain their trust." Allen scoffed and shook his head. "You''re unbelievable, Elvis. I even trusted you and this is how you repay me. What will you do next? Tell the world that I have the Code?" "I signed a treaty with Verta Carta that I would never do that," Elvis said. "If I ever break that contract, Blood Moon will perish, so I hope you''ll have this at least sense of security that I won''t betray you." "This is madness," Allen groaned. "Let us rewrite the deal first. I get to know your wife''s location, and you will give me ten Grand grade Codes." "Deal," Elvis said without any hesitation. "Though, that wasn''t the one I was going to offer you. If you''re willing to listen, maybe I can still" "Ten Grand grade Codes," Allen spoke sternly, cutting Elvis off before he could even finish his words. "No more, no less." "Real time information from the investigation of the death of Drake Nelson," Elvis said. "I feel sorry for putting you through that, so in behalf of my apologies, I will add the information along with ten Grand grade Codes." Allen paused for a moment. He was wondering how Elvis could give him the information. He was in Haven most of the time, and he just contacted Elvis from a number the man gave him back when they first met. "Deal. I''ll take the information and the Codes in exchange for the location of your wife." "Okay," Elvis sighed. "And just to let you know, I really was just looking out for you. Jack is a really special person for me since he was the one who brought up Blood Moon from ruins. But then the way he speaks about you makes everyone think that you were his son instead of Chen. I wanted to repay him back by at least treating you right." Allen shook his head, "Don''t fret. I will go back to the office tonight and find the information. Don''t do that ever again. I work alone because I don''t need anyone else''s help for me to achieve my goals." Elvis nodded and bowed. Allen nodded in return but he left without saying another word. They were on top of a building on Earth while talking about the Bryans and their deal. Allen never expected that people like the Bryans would exist. Though he knew that a lot of people bear grudges on the ones on top considering that they were mostly garbage, he didn''t knos that the intensity of hate was like this. They even have their own society just for the Snake. Not long after he left Elvis, Allen arrived on the Bryans'' firm. It was located on the top floor of a building that has restaurants, gyms, and other offices. The top three floors were upied by the couple as the office for theirrgew firm. Allen pretended to be in the gym to register a membership there. He chose the gym since it was the best option considering a person needed time to get in the gym unlike a restaurant. He already examined the entire building and found the blind spots of the CCTV cameras all over the establishment. Even when technology on Earth was more effective than the Otherworlds, the Otherworlds still have greater protection. Allen could easily escape the cameras and go directly to the Bryans'' office. And he did just that. The boy walked into the blind spot and pretended to work out for a few seconds. He then walked to the path where the cameras could not see his movement before he walked out of the room. "Who in the hell puts cameras that has a blind spot near the exit?" Allen asked himself. He took out his equipment, wearing his cloak and other items, as he walked up the stairs. Taking the elevator would be too obvious while the stairs had no cameras at all. "Mental note," Allen said to himself. "When you build a building, make sure to put cameras everywhere." The boy walked further into the stairs. A couple of minutester, he arrived on the floor where the stairs stopped. This was the restricted area where the Bryans'' firm was on. It seemed like they were really treated as VIPs in the building by how much the floor was even locked from ess. "Conceal," Allen whispered to himself as he activated the skill of his cloak. He got inside the firm and into the Bryans'' office in under ten seconds. His movements were swift, and unlike the jungle, the firm had no obstacles at all. He could move as quickly as he wanted without any restrictions or worry of getting pounced on by a predator. ''Cloak of Nobody active effect upgraded. Cooldown reduced to 30 minutes.'' Allen just entered the office and the invisibility wore off. He heard the notification, making him grin and chuckle. Now, the cloak is even more useful that he could use the invisibility every thirty minutes. That was a huge advantage. The boy looked around the famr office before walking to Amanda Bryan''s desk. He opened herputer and ced the shdrive that Elvis gave him. The shdrive contains a system that would temporarily disable all security systems on aputer while continuously providing logs in the background. It would record the activities of theputer for the past two hours and would stitch those logs while the systems are down, making it look like nothing happened at all. Although there was a limit on how long Allen could try and find clues, two hours would be enough. And by the time he was done, the Cloak''s effect would finish the cooldown and he could escape. Using the intelligence attribute, the boy quickly maneuvered the files of the woman. She had a lot of case files from theft, to gore stuff like murder and mass murders. Amanda must also have a gut of steel from how gore the evidence photos are attached to every case file. "This woman doesn''t even have a picture of her daughter," Allen sighed after looking at all possible folders there are. That was until he saw the picture frame on her desk. It was a photo of Amanda and Daniel while they were on a park. The two were slightly apart while their hands were in awkward positions. The boy narrowed his eyes while looking at the photo. It was odd. He took the photo from the frame and raised it to the light. His eyes widened when a woman appeared in between the couple, a woman that was Elvis''s age. "This must be his wife." Allen inspected the photo frame for any more clues until he found a gap on the frame. Using his nail, he opened the gap and found three words there. ''Sand Valley folder.'' He immediately got back to theputer and typed in Sand Valley. There, he saw a folder that was located outside of the drives and was floating on the memory of theputer. The shdrive that Elvis had given him would suppress the security, but it wouldn''t locate hidden folders like this one. Allen clicked on the folder and found a link to a map. When he opened the map, a grin etched on his face after seeing the location. "Dubai." It was the next day. Allen had already reported to Elvis about the location, and the man said that he will locate her first, but take her away a couple of weekster. This was because the timing of Allen''s time at the office and the time the wife''s location was found out matched too quickly. Elvis nned on taking his wife the moment the Bryans get their fourth secretaries after him. He also just found out that the Bryans had hired two secretaries the month he was hired, and that this urence was normal. The man also confessed that he had sent many people there before him. But each and every one of the people who investigated on the office failed, so he decided to give Allen a chance. The boy was on his chair when the man who interviewed him entered the office, face red with anger. "Such ipetence!" "S-Sir?" Allen asked. He was caught off guard by how much the man was angered. He was only working for three days, and he already made a mistake? "Sir, I don''t know what you''re talking about." "You sent the wrong file to the client, and now we''re all in shambles," the man said. "You''re fired! Don''t evere back here again!" Allen felt bad that he wanted to resign after seven days, since it was the average days for the other secretaries to resign. But then he looked at the man and the man have him a wink. "Oh." Chapter 112: One of Us Chapter 112: One of Us Allen''s eyes twitches as he stood outside the building where the Bryans'' firm was located. He didn''t know what exactly happened, but his time to serve thewyers were now shortened by a week. He sighed and looked around, trying to digest the things that had happened. He was in a neighboring city from where he was living before he got the power of the Snake, so he decided to travel to his hometown. From the months that he had left, nothing much has changed. The streets looked the same, the people looked the same, and the misery that was left by his past was still lingering in the apartment he used to live at. "Hello? May I help you?" a woman''s voice spoke beside Allen. This made the boy turn to the side and made contact with a plump woman who had short and curly hair. She was wearing a loose pink sundress while her eyesses sat on top of her head. This was Mrs. Day, thendy of the apartment that Allen used to rent. Though she looked quite strict intimidating, Mrs. Day was a woman who was kind and gentle, qualities that Allen barely saw in people. She was the one who had the patience to let Allen get behind on his rent for a couple of months, giving him food when he had none, and giving him warmth when he was cold. "O-Oh," Allen stutters, not sure what to say. "I was just looking around here. A friend of mine used to live here, but then he" "Oh," Mrs. Day ced her hand in Allen''s shoulder. Even when she could barely reach him, she still has the same kindness that she possessed before. This made Allen smile. "I guess you were Allen''s friend?" Allen froze after the mention of his name. He looked at Mrs. Day who had a wide smirk on her face. "Yes, child. I know you''re talking about that boy." "Did you have any news as to what happened to him?" Allen asked. Mrs. Day shook her head, a smile filled with sadness and sorrow stered on her lips to cover her grief. "The Hunters said that he went missing and that they would find him. They tried to pay the remaining bnce that Allen had, but I didn''t ept the money. Allen''s stuff will remain in his room." "But it''s been months," Allen said. "Aren''t you losing any hope?" "Lose hope?" Mrs. Day chuckled. "Why, I would never. Until I see the child''s cold dead body, I refuse to believe that he has left the world. He was a fighter, and he''s a boy that''s filled with hope and dreams. He won''t croak that easily." The woman''s words wanted to squeeze tears out from Allen''s eyes. The boy did his best to stop it, but the emotions were getting stronger by the second. "Can I see his room?" Mrs. Day smiled, this time the sadness left her face. "Okay. Let me just find the key." Mrs. Day left Allen in front of the building while she went to the house beside it. The house was where Mrs. Day lived along with her husband and their son whom Allen never met for some reason. A couple of minutes back, Mrs. Day returned with a familiar face that allen could smirk at. "It''s you, huh?" "Oh," Rourke chuckled. "It''s been a while." The smaller boy waved his hand to Allen and gave thetter a warm hug, whispering in Allen''s ear, "Why are you hear, twat? Aren''t you supposed to take a client''s deal?" "I finished," Allen replied. "I''m waiting for tonight so Elvis can pay me. In the meantime, I decided to visit my apartment before. I''m not doing anything wrong here." Rourke loosened the hug, "Oh? Well, that''s good. At least Allen knows a true friend. I''m one of those people who believe that he''s still alive." For a moment, Allen forgot that no one knew that he was Allen except for himself. All the others knew was that he was the Wandering Trader, and that he possessed the Snake, but apsrt from that he was still clear. Allen tilted his head to the side, "You know Allen?" "Who doesn''t know him?" Rourke chuckled. "He was pampered by Lewis''s team before an ident came and he became basically crazy. He would randomly scream and cry, no schedule, no nothing. He just does." Allen knew all of these and he had epted them. After Alice''s death, he got depressed and created scenarios in his head that weren''t real. He made himself into the miserable boy that he was. "We''re here!" Mrs. Day announced. "Oh, the cardboard boxes are still here. But there''s too much dusk. Rourke, remind me to clean this room up. We don''t know when Allen mighte back." "You clean the room?" Allen asked, lookig around and absorbing the nostalgia that the room gave him. The emotions were strong, but they felt numb for Allen. The truth will set you free, and in his case, it did. "We clean the room once every two weeks," Rourke said. "Mom don''t want Allen to return to a dirty room, so she hires a cleaningdy to clear the dust. Though we didn''t really changed anything, we just clean it." "That''s nice," Allen whispered. He walked around a couple of times more before his eyes were stuck on a small desk beside the bed. There was a picture frame there of him and his previous team, when Alice was still alive and he was still happy. "He must''ve been a good kid for you to take care of him like this," Allen chuckled. "Why, of course!" Rourke said. "Mom treated Allen like her second son, actually her first son since she takes care of him more than me." "Allen, boy. Why are you injured?" "Are you okay, Allen?" "Have you eaten yet? Here, I made us soup." "I wish you nothing but happiness, Allen. And also strength because you need strength to fight beasts in the Otherworlds." Mrs. Day''s voice filled Allen''s mind. His memories of the woman were resurfacing and every interaction they had was ying in his head on top of the other. It was painful, it was sad. Allen wanted to cry, but he couldn''t possibly do it. Rourke was here. He needed to pretend like he was strong Before Allen could even say anything, a warm pair of arms had embraced him. His eyes widened after he saw Mrs. Day wrap her arms around him like a warm nket on a cold stormy night. The heat was melting his heart, and he couldn''t stop the tears from falling. He was now crying. The pain entered his wound, the pain entered his soul. The water was gushing from his eyes as he slowly felt himself get lulled to sleep by his own intense emotions. "Mrs. Day," Allen croaked. "Thank you." A cold rainy night in the fourth world, Star Nest. The camp was different from the previous worlds. Instead of a gigantic wall that was surrounding a city, the Star Nest''s camp wasposed of arge dome with twenty cottages inside. On one end of the dome was a hole that was covered with strong electric waves to keep the beasts out. The only way for the electric waves to deactivate was for an authorized Hunter to speak the words. "This is Sun Sonata, open the gate," a man with a rather muscled figure said as he entered the dome. His body was hairy and he had a gold band on his foreheaf while red markings on his face. "It''s hard to be the Monkey King." Behind Sun was his pole that was carrying a giant beast. The beast was simr to a giant hedgehog, but its ws were sharp and its body was made of crystals. "You''re rather fond of crystals these days," Kehmented. He walked over to Sun and looked around. "But only one? I think you''re such a cker, Sun." Bernard came over to join in their conversation, "Keh, you know that we''re not allowed to wander around Star Nest just yet. Even Miss Lin and thete chairman had to restrict themselves." "But the Snake isn''t restricting himself!" Keh said. "You knew all too well how much the Snake''s poprity had grown these past few days. They could form arge crowd, make the crowd pay them their Codes and level up so he can even surpass us." "Has grief taken over that petty little mind of yours?" Remy walked over to them. "If there was a suspicious activity in any Skill Altar, the wardens would report to us right away. That''s just not right if that''s what you believe in" "What do you mean, Remy?" Bernard asked. "The one who killed the chairman wasn''t the Snake, but somebody different," she said. "Someone that we don''t expect." "And your basis?" Bernard asked. Remy sighed, "The Snake can''t kill Drake Nelson as easily. The killer must be different. Like one of us." Chapter 113: Dennis Chapter 113: Dennis For some reason, Allen found himself in the dining table of Mrs. Day. He was sitting there with Rourke who was looking at him weirdly. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Allen asked. "It''s getting weird. Please stop." "I wonder what boss saw in you," Rourke said. "Then again, you killed that huge dragon thing with only a little help from a Primordial Beast Bearer. Maybe that''s the reason why." "Bernard opened that wound so I could enter," Allen said. "And he also distracted the beast while I did whatever I could to kill it, so he should have more credit than me." "Interesting," Rourke smirked. "Now I know what he saw in you. Also, I think I''ll go with you to meet with Elvister. That''s also why I''m in Earth." "But does your mom know about Verta Carta?" Allen whispered, leaning closer to the short boy. Rourke only snorted and shook his head. He pointed at the wall outside of the kitchen where several portraits of people were hung. "Before Verta Carta was a group in the Otherworlds, we were part of the Mafia. Boss only transitioned to hunting because there was so much money there. And I reced my dad in the ranks, so yes, my mother knows." "And I''m proud of my boy," Mrs. Day entered the conversation. "His father was the elite nine of the gang, and now he is too. He basically reced him without any problems." "Wow," Elliot smiled. "I saw how good he was. That''s no surprise." "Aww," Mrs. Day cooed. "Anyway, dinner is almost ready. Elvis will be waiting for you in two hours, so you still have time to eat." "She even knows the missions," Allen chuckled and shook his head. Rourke and him ate not long after and had decided to go meet Elvis right after. Their meeting spot was a tower in the middle of the city. It was a tower that was owned by the Blood Moon and they use it as their pretend business of a telmunicationspany when in fact, they were wiretapping people in the world. Blood Moon''s actual business was tracking a target''s calls, messages, and all their interactions with other people. They sell these information to the clients who had ced marks on the target. Whatever the client would do to the information was out of Blood Moon''s care. When you first think about it, it seemed like it''s a petty business to begin with. But when you look deeper into the possible clients, you''ll know that it''s a good industry. From jealous wives, to military information, Blood Moon takes care of them all. The more they dig, the higher the pay would cost. "Don''t you think punctuality is sexy?" Elvis asked as Allen and Rourke walked into the rooftop of the building where the tower sat on. "Because I think that being on time is such a turn on. It makes me smile with happiness and thrill." Allen felt a tingling sensation in his body. One that was oddly familiar, but doesn''t feel good whatsoever. He looked at Elvis who was sitting on a ceramic chair with four men behind him, all armed with guns. Elvis was grinning at them while he served two cups with tea from his ceramic pot. "You know, it''s not everyday that you get to feel that your wife wille back again," Elvis said. "My men ising to them right this second, and it won''t be long before we get to reunite once more." "That''s great," Allen smiled. "But I''m really just here toplete the deal. If you could just give me the reward I have, it would be so much better." "Why, of course," Elvis said. "But first, let''s toast. I''m allergic to alcohol, so let''s just drink right now." "I never knew someone would be allergic to alcohol," Rourke said. Allen and him walked to the table where two more ceramic chairs were. They sat there and received the tea, smelling it to confirm that it wasn''t messed with. "I could never do that," Elvis chuckled. "Dante, you have been a great help to me. My wife will be so pleased to meet you soon. But I have one more small request." Rourke ced down his cup of tea and smirked. "Elvis, we have been through this. Only one deal per person. Dante is a very busy guy, he can''t possible take care of everyone all at once." "Twenty million dors," Elvis suddenly said, making Rourke pause and Allen to slightly flinch in shock. "If you do this, I''ll give you twenty million dors plus an additional Sacred grade Code." Rourke mmed his hands on the table. "What are you saying, Elvis? Blood Moon would go bankrupt if you do that. Is your boss okay with this?" "I actually am." Their heads turned to the side where the male voice came from. There was a man about Rourke''s age of mid-twenties. He looked oddly familiar and his presence seemed to irk Allen for some reason. The man had a slick ck hair and a pair of emerald green eyes. His figure wasrge and buff, like he was in the gym every single day. He was wearing a suit that had smal details that Allen was sure that it would cost at least a Basic grade Code. "D-Dennis," Rourke stuttered. He stood up, along with everyone except for Allen, and they bowed to the man. "I didn''t know that you were here." "Jack told me about your little friend," Dennis said. He raised his hand that signaled for everyone to stop bowing and return to their positions. "I was skeptical at first since I sent a person at the Bryans'' firm already, and she couldn''t crack the location of Sevi. "She said that she went through all the files, documents, and even went to all of their properties just to look for clues," Dennis continued. "What you did was marvelous, Dante. Imend you for that." No one spoke anything until Dennis sat on the fourth ceramic chair. He served himself tea and drank it right away, something that Allen found odd for some reason. "Can I tell you something?" Allen asked. "But I have to whisper." The men behind them reacted badly. They raised their guns and pointed it at allen, with one of them saying, "What do you think you''re doing? That''s not allowed." "It''s okay," Dennis said. "Dante didn''t know that I wasing. He didn''t even know who I was until now, so I don''t think he has other ns." The men had no choice but to lower their guns and returned to their position, standing behind the table. "Can I lean in now?" Allen asked, to which Dennis replied with a nod in understanding. He slowly leaned closer to the man and gulped. "You''re the one that''s allergic to alcohol, aren''t you?" Dennis eyes widened, making his men point their guns at Allen again. "What did you say to the boss?" "Nothing," Dennis chuckled. "Nothing." Allen found this out the moment he had seen Elvis pour the tea and Dennis came over. He had a hint that Elvis was hiding something considering saying that he''s allergic to alcohol doesn''t make sense. He didn''t have to say it at all. He could''ve kept that information to himself, but he didn''t. So this would raise a g for Allen. When Dennis introduced himself, sat and then drank the tea right after he took his seat, Allen then immediately knew. This kind of tactic wasmon amongst organizations that had enemies that could use the highest person''s weakness against them. In this case, Dennis divided his weaknesses to his subordinates and one of which was his allergy to alcohol which he gave to Elvis. "Sharp as the sharpest de," Dennis chuckled. "Jack was so enthusiastic the moment he told me about you. He said that he could do whatever I wanted you to do." "I cannot guarantee anything," Allen said. "As of this moment, my powers are still weak, and it will take time for me to get stronger without raising suspicions." "Good point," Dennis smirked. "It would be mysterious if one Hunter would go from Haven to Eternity in a short amount of time, that would raise so much gs. Especially since the Snake is being persecuted for something he hadn''t done." "Y-You don''t think I did it?" Allen asked. "The moment I exuded an ounce of my aura, you flinched. I saw how your body moved and that moment there told me that you weren''t ready," Dennis said. "So now I''m offering you a deal that''s worth a Sacred grade Code, and twenty million dors." "I may have to remind you that my powers and abilities can only do so much," Allen said. "From what you are saying, you want me to do something very hard, and I can''t guarantee you sess." "What a cautious boy, but no," Dennis said. "I''ll provide you all the help you need when ites to information, but you have to get stronger." Chapter 114: Fake Identities Chapter 114: Fake Identities It would seem like it wasn''t only Sebastian and Bernard were looking forward to the time that he gets stronger. Even Dennis who was a leader of an already established group was waiting for him. "Then there''s Snake Society who also wants me to arise," Allen said to himself with a sigh. It had been a couple of days since he got back to the camp from Earth, and now he was hunting in Haven. Type: Skill Grade: Sacred Effect/s: ??? It wasn''t that higher grade Codes weren''t allowed to be held on by lower ranked Hunters, where Allen knew of that information waspletely wrong. They were allowed to hold on to the Codes, but they can only see the preview of it. The Code in his interface was grayed out, showing only the icon which was a hand bathing under a beam of light. If he hovers his hand over the icon, he could see the short description, but other than that was hidden. He now has two Sacred grade Codes, but was still unable to use either of them. He was looking forward to when that timees, but for now, he just have to do what he needed to do. sh. sh. sh. Allen was going through the jungle right by Camp Tw when he heard a metal sword shing through the trees. He looked around and saw a cloaked figure not too far from him. The person was facing away from him while they stood in the middle of the clearing. The cloak was white in color and it was covering the figure''s entire body up to below their knee. The figure wore a white leather boots that had yellow linings that were simrly designed to the cloak that they were wearing. On their right hand was a thin sword that was just an inch wider than a rapier. The handle was a cross shaped with the upper part of the cross holding the de in ce. The person raised their sword on their eye level while turning to the side, as if expecting something toe to them. Not a minuteter, the ground shook and a giant ck bear burst out of the forest, leaping up and lunging towards the figure. "Divine Judgement!" the figure said, they had a female voice. The woman raised her sword with one hand as arge halo appeared above her. The halo showered her with a beam of light, igniting the sword with yellowish white glitters before covering the entire de with light. "Hiya!" she shed her sword forward, creating a gigantic crescent-shaped attack that went past the bear. The attack then vanished, not abling to travel further. Everything suddenly got silent. The bear froze in ce, just staring at the woman as she ced her sword back on her scabbard. "Goodbye," the woman whispered. The bear sparked with the same yellowish white glitters that was from the sword before it exploded with a pure white light. The figure if the bear vanished inside the sphere that was created from the attack, the impact of it creating a strong wind that reached even Allen that was far from the site. "Woah," Allen gasped. The woman used the same skill as the one he got from Dennis. If this was the power of a Sacred grade Code, then he was surely excited to reach the level that he can finally use it. The boy was about to take a step forward when he saw that the woman vanished from where she was standing. A cold wind passed through him and the figure had appeared behind him, the same sword that ended the giant bear was now pointed at his neck. He sighed and immediately took his dagger out. He knew that the weapon wasn''t in full power, but he had to use something. Allen didn''t know what the intention of the woman was, so he can''t possibly let his guard down so easily. "Why were you watching me?" the woman asked. When Allen didn''t answer, she groaned and raised her sword to her eye level, just like the stance he did earlier when she was fighting the bear. "I don''t need your answer anymore." Allen grunted and switched weapons, this time he was holding the ive. With this, he could at least have a chance to block thre attack. "You''re a good Hunter," the woman simply said before mming her sword through the ground. This created a smoke that blinded Allen, making him nervous as to what might happen next. But contrary to what he expected, the ominous aura disappearedpletely the moment she felt Allen was flinching in fear. She chuckled and tapped Allen''s side, "You didn''t see me, kid." With that, the woman''s presence vanished. Allen turned back to see her, but she waspletely gone. "What was that?" When he was sure that the woman had gone, Allen went to the battle site to inspect. He looked around the area to see arge crater that the woman created. The bear hadpletely vanished from existence, and nobody except him witnessed such feat. Looking back at it, the giant bear that the woman fought had an oddly simr presence to the lion he once fought, the Grand grade lion. They both have intense aura from them that Allen could simply pinpoint that they were from the same grade. But the appearance of Grand grade Codes in Haven was too rare. Nobody could possible see two beasts of a higher grade on their world twice. It was just too odd, even for him. "Whatever," Allen shut the topic altogether. He walked back to camp since nobody was allowed to stay for more than three days after the Bearers implemented a curfew on Hunting. No Hunter was allowed to got to the wildernesses for more than seven days for groups, and three days for duos and solo Hunters. They are required to report back to camp after their curfew and stay there for three days more for solos and duos, and one day more for groups. Allen thought this was all a joke since it doesn''t make sense why they had to put a curfew, but he had no choice but to oblige. Failure to obey the rules would result in a suspicion that they would be an associate of the murder of Drake Nelson. This part of the curfew was even more ridiculous after Allen heard of it. "The Bearers must be crazy," the boy sighed. He walked inside the camp and went straight to Hilda''s store. After their talk, he showed himself to Hilda. This was also good because he doesn''t need to wear his disguise anymore, making it less likely for him to be spotted inside the store. "Good morning," Allen said, walking to the counter. "It seemed awfully quiet today." "What do you mean "morning"?" Hilda crossed her arms. "It''s already noon. Have you eaten breakfast yet?" "No, ma''am," Allen said with a yawn. "I need to rest. The new curfew said that I have to stay here for three days, might as well get as much rest as I can." "Oh," Hilda said. She hummed and nodded her head. As Allen transfered the Codes for Hilda, he looked around again and saw that there were nod diys on the stands. "You sold all the Codes already?" "I did, actually," Hilda smiled. "All your Codes have the highest quality. I also have the list of orders right here." Hilda took a small piece of paper from her drawer and gave it to the boy. Allen took one look at it and instantly frowned by how much the requested Codes were. "This is ridiculously many and specific." "But the price is good," Hilda said. "I run the business, and had ran one before. I know how things would work and know when to not risk something." "A Code that would let the user gain seventy percent movement speed," Allen chuckled. "Don''t you think that sounds ridiculous? I mean, seventy percent movement speed. You need something like a Grand grade Code for that." "If you can''t give it, don''t do it," Hilda shrugged. "It''s that simple, boy. Why are you thinking it the hard way?" Allen groaned, "Then you watch me do something the hard way. I''ll do something even more ridiculous. Three days is a long time for a break and three days is a short time to get things done." "So?" Hilda asked. "What are you going to do about it?" Allen smirked, "I''m gonna form a group. That way, we can have as much days in the wild and less rest. We can grind as much as we can." "I thought you work alone?" Hilda asked. "What are you going to do about it?" "What would you do if someone offers you twenty million dors?" Allen retorted, smirking as his entire body apart from his face glowed with a pale green light. The light created sevenrge orbs beside him, each fell to the ground and formed a humanoid figure. "You simply get a good Code for a price." "Boy" Hilda trailed off. "What do you mean?" "It''s time for more fake identities." Chapter 115: Body Creator Chapter 115: Body Creator Type: Skill Grade: Grand (Evolvable) Effect/s: (1) Active - The user can create a faux human with the physical appearance and attributes to their will. Max number of Bodies = 3. (2) Passive - Created Bodies will gain 30% of the user''s attributes. This would increase when the Body gains experience with the user, gaining more attributes as they level up. Three people burst out of the light from Allen. The light died down and he smirked at Hilda who had a clear perplexed look on her face. "W-What are those?" She asked as she looked at the three figures that were currently standing still, all unmoving. "These are my clones," Allen introduce. One by one, he pointed at the clones he made from his new Code. "Stacey, Oliver, and Vince." Stacey was a clone that was a woman with a long and slender figure. She had narrow eyes, a button nose, and freckles on her pale face. Her hair was long and ck and it was tied to a ponytail. She was the assassin of Allen''s group. Oliver was a petite man that looked like he recently just became of legal age. He had a reddish orange hair and forest green eyes that looked like they were gems. His skin was fare and his figure looked fragile, he was the support. Lastly, Vince was the alpha. He was a dark skinned man that was almost twice the height of Oliver. He had bold chiseled figute, as if he was someone who had worked inbor ever since he was a child. He was the tank and the pretend captain of the group. Allen created these three people from his Code. He can summon all of them at his own will and keep them if he wanted to. They didn''t have a mind of their own, so each clone has to rely on him. He recently discovered a Code that was simr to his Snake''s Blessing. The new Code he got, Body Creator, was evolvable. Currently, he can create clones and control them but they stillck the fighting aspect and even abilities. When he can evolve the skill, maybe he can gain more features for the Code, allowing him to make them fight like they were actual Hunters. Currently, they have a fraction of what Allen can do. The best thing he could do with them in the wild was to let them roam around. He was also still trying to figure out how he was going to control them. He was having a hard time controlling three people all at once, that he forgets to move his own body. This was a huge problem especially when he was around other people. "What are you going to do about this?" Hilda asked. "And who will you ask help for?" Allen smirked, "The one who gave me my new identity in the first ce." "The user you are trying to reach is unabil" Allen ced his phone down after trying to call Jake for the sixth time. After theirst encounter, the man gave him a contact saying that if he ever needs something else, he can call. "I shouldn''t have believed that loser," Allen groaned. "He was all talk, and now that I need him, he''s gone." The boy groaned until he heard the doorbell of his unit rang. He went and opened it, revealing Jeremy with a boy. "What are you doing?" Jeremy pushed the boy inside while Allen stepped to the side to dodge shing with the boy. His eyebrows met and looked at Jeremy, "Seriously, what happened?" "I caught this man peeking outside of your unit," Jeremy said. "He looked suspicious enough, so I asked him. He can''t answer, so I just bought him inside." "I-I" the boy stuttered. He took a deep breath and took something from his pocket, making both men in front of him summon their weapons and pointed at him. "N-No." The boy raised his hand and showed a phone to them, the phone disying Jack''s name. "You know Jack?" Allen asked. He took the phone while the other line answered the call. "Hello, Jack?" "Oi," Jack said. "I don''t think this is Kevin. Wait, Dante?" "Yeah, it''s me," Allen said. "What''s up with this boy? Do you want me to babysit now?" "No," Jack snorted, thenughedpletely. "This boy is a puppeteer. He has a Code simr to yours, and I think he can help you with Body Creation." Allen sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Of course, Dennis told you, didn''t he?" "The man was just concerned, boy," Jack said. "All of us wants the best for you, because you''re the bet of our lives. You hold the power to change the flow of how society works, and we just want the highest quality of service to you." "Jack" "The Fire Dragon has its servants," Jack cut him off. "All of us, Verta Carta, Blood Moon, Snake Society, we''re all your servants. And until you take the leap of faith andmand us, we will be by your side." Allen was speechless for a couple of seconds. He looked at the boy who was fidgeting while standing in front of him. He had so many unanswered questions, that he felt that his head would blow up soon. But one thing was for certain. He was served well by the people who believed in him. They were pushing him up even when it costed their own selves, just for his dream of creating a better world for everyone and not just for a few. "Okay," Allen said. "I will talk to Kevin now. Thank you for your help, Jack. I owe you a lot now." "The time wille where you will pay me back, boy," Jack chuckled halfheartedly, but anyone knew he meant what he said both seriously and humorously. Allen will sooner orter pay him, and that time wille. The call ended and Allen handed Kevin his phone. He went to serve the boy tea and made him sit on the living room couch. "So, you also have Body Creator Code?" Allen asked, to which Kevin nodded in response. "Let me make things clear first," Allen continued. "Basically, this lets us create puppets that would inherit a fraction of our stats. Then, does that mean that they would sooner orter have a mind of their own once the Code has evolved?" Kevin shook his head. He opened his mouth but failed to utter a single word. He sighed and raised his hand, making his arm glow with the same light that Allen showed Hilda. This light made Jeremy stood from the couch beside Allen and raise his sword, to which Allen raised his hand to stop him from doing so. "It''s okay, calm down." Unlike the animation of Allen''s puppet creation, Kevin instantly created the Body. It was a man with a tall figure, ck hair and a pair of circr sses. He had a white shirt underneath hisb gown while he wore khaki shorts that mismatched his ck leather shoes. "What the hell" Jeremy trailed off after seeing the human-looking puppet. It stood beside Kevin and opened his eyes. "I''m sorry, but I''m an introvert," the puppet said. "I will introduce myself, my name is Kevin Glenn, and I''m using this puppet Professor Fajardo, as a way ofmunication with you." "Oh," Jeremy slowly went back to his seat. "That looks weird. And it also feels weird. Dante, are you sure we can trust this guy?" Allen smirked and manifested Oliver. This made Jeremy form an O with his mouth. "You can do it too, okay. That''s cool." "Good," Kevin chuckled. "First, you have to understand the principles of Body Creation. You can create people from scratch and give them their lives, basically. And you order them everything from the most basic things, even walking. You have tomand left, right, left, right." "That''s a really huge setback," Allen pursed his lips. "I tried to make them do basic things, and then I would end up not being able to do anything. I''m this close to letting go of this Code." Kevinughed. "You have to be kidding me. This Code is just as rare as the Primordial Beast Codes. Puppet Creator Code was found on Eternity from a group of antelopes. The Hunters basically became obsessed with the Code and the poption of the beast that produced it became extinct." Allen gasped, "That can happen? But what about the restricted zone? They didn''t build it?" Kevin chuckled, "The thing is, the ones on top were the ones who ordered the grinding of the Code. I was one of the people who worked there. When I got the Code, I resigned saying that it vites moral codes." "But why do they badly want it?" Allen asked. "And who else has it?" "Currently, there are only three people who has it," Kevin replied. "Me, you, and a man named Lewis Nixon." Allen''s eyes widened. "Lewis Nixon?" Chapter 116: Oliver Waltz Chapter 116: Oliver Waltz "Two months after the Fire Dragon Incident, Lewis Nixon gained a hefty sum of money," Kevin said. "No one knew where he got the money or why he has it, but one thing was for sure, he bought a Grand grade Code with the money. It was one of his few know properties." "Body Creator," Allen whispered. "Do you know why he needed it?" "Blood Moon doesn''t even know where he got the money from," Kevin replied. "No one knows what that man was nning and no one actually cared since he''s not much of a figure. He looks rich and powerful here in Haven, but he''s nothing in the worlds above." "Lewis Nixon has quite a few businesses here in Haven," Jeremy said. "I could remember when we were investigating him after the Fire Dragon Incident. You know he got help from Miss Lin, but then we don''t know where other sources he got the money from. We don''t even know that he has the money." "The police doesn''t really know much," Kevin smirked. "Blood Moon knows basically anything and everything there is to know about things that are happening from the highest ranks, to the poor people in the streets." "But apparently, Blood Moon isn''t capable of knowing how Lewis Nixon got that money," Allen sighed. "And where did he got the Code, anyway? Dennis was the one who introduced me to the Code, but I didn''t know it was so rare that only a handful of people has it." Kevin answered, "Sitrus." "Sitrus?" Allen scrunched his face, baffled. "Like oranges?" "It''s an underground auction called Sitrus," Jeremy replied before Kevin could say anything. "Sitrus is an organization that sells valuable and luxurious Codes and other Hunter-rted goods." "And are they rted to Miss Lin?" Allen asked, making both Jeremy and Kevin look at each other. "Because, you know. Since Lin gave him the strength to fight the Fire Dragon, it wouldn''t be too far fetch to say that Lin was also the one who gave him the money and introduced to Sitrus." "Miss Lin is a woman of principles and righteousness," Jeremy chuckled. "Albeit she''s not as strong as the other Bearers, her reputation and leadership skills, together with her critical thinking ced her to where she was today." "But is she connected to the gangs?" Allen asked again,pletely ignoring everything that Jeremy just said. "That''s all I''m asking. If she''s not, then we''re clear." The two were silent. They were looking down, as if in shame, while they listened to Allen continue. "So, she is part of something." "She''s part of a group that tracks people," Jeremy replied. "Something like the Blood Moon, but they do their job for justice. They sell their information to the police." "Principles and righteousness," Allen chuckled. "They''re all the same. None of them deserved those powers. It''s pathetic, don''t you think? And everyone is praising them without knowing their true colors." "That''s what you think," Kevin chuckled. "But not everyone thinks like you, so you have to stop with those lines and just take the throne. Get stronger as quickly as you can. That''s the only way to rise, Dante. Not any other way." "I" Allen paused. What Kevin told him was slowly seeping into his mind. He was now thinking deeply on how much the words meant and how much they were actually true. What he needed to do now was get stronger, and not any other thing. It''s no use if he tries to whine about every little thing about how much the world was so unfair to him and all the other weak people. If he wanted to change anything, he has the power to change that now. "Okay," Allen sighed. "Okay. I now have the means to get stronger and use the Code. Please, Kevin. Teach me how to use this." "Okay," Kevin smirked. "The first thing you have to do is know your Bodies first. They have a name, but do they have a story? Remember, you have to think that the bodies are humans and not just puppets." "B-But how can I do that?" Allen asked. This made Kevin smirk and for his real body to raise his hand and make it glow. He was signifying that he was going to summon another Body, as Professor Fajardo was slowly fading out. The light created a human, a slender woman with a long figure and was wearing a sexy outfit. She was wearing a bunny outfit with a pair of bunny ears over her short dark green hair. Her eyes were pale blue and her skin was white as snow. "W-What?" Jeremy''s eyes twitched as the busty woman walked seductively towards him. He was looking away, trying his best to not look at therge breasts that were approaching. "Today," the woman whispered seductively. She leaned in closer to Jeremy before chuckling. She then pulled out of the gaze and leaped once, only for her to summon a staff. "We''re ying a game called Getting To Know Each Body. And I''m Queeny, your host and resident beauty." Jeremy was still looking away, earning him an elbow from Allen. Thetter cleared his throat and said, "Don''t be deceived. She''s still a puppet made by Kevin." "That''s right!" Queeny, through Kevin, said. She chuckled again, making sure to look at Jeremy the whole time. "No matter how much different the Bodies are to me or to each other, you have to remember that they''re still Bodies. They are not actual living humans, so you don''t have to get that nervous and shy." "I-I''m not!" Jeremy tried to defend, but his voice came out more of a squeak. Allen and Queeny looked at each other beforeughing out loud, making Jeremy purse his lips. "Whatever. I''m done with this." "No, wait," Allen pulled Jeremy''s wrist before thetter could leave. "I could use apany right about now." "But you''re just going to make fun of me," Jeremy pouted. "You might see me with a lot of girls, but I have never been in a rtionship before." "You haven''t?!" Allen asked. "But every woman you meet would feed herself to you basically. How didn''t you get even one of them?" "That''s because I told you, my heart belongs to someone already!" Jeremy said. "And that person might note back anymote. I don''t know." "Oh, I didn''t know that an ex policeman was this dramatic," Queeny chuckled. "This isn''t about you, okay? So, sit there and watch Dante meet new people." "Meet new what" "The game shall start, now!" Queeny suddenly said, making Jeremy flinch. She pulled Allen to the side and ced both her hands on his shoulders. "Summon one of them." "S-Summon" Allen. "The Body?" Queeny smiled, and then sighed. "Yes, Dante. Of course, the bodies. Why would I ask you to summon anything else?" Allen was shocked for a moment. He shuffled in his own body before raising his hand to manifest one of the bodies. He didn''t even had the chance to pick anyone, he just randomly choze a Body and summoned them. His body glowed with the yellowish light. Unlike Kevin who only has his arm to glow, Allen''s entire body glowed apart from his face. The small orbtched itself out of Allen andnded on the floor beside him. The orb slowly formed into the petite pale boy that was named Oliver. He stood beside Allen with a nk face and a stiff figure, nothing like Queeny who was filled with life. "Oh," Queeny pursed her lips as she looked at the young boy. "You manifested this person. What''s his name?" "O-Oliver" Allen replied, making Queeny deadpan. "What?" "You have toe up with all the details, Dante," Queeny said. She took a step back and raised her hands on each of her sides. "For example. Hello, my name is Queeny Von Schwartz. I was born in France, but moved to Lancaster to be a star. Fate was unkind, so I ended up bing a Hunter instead. Now your turn." "H-He''s Oliver" "No, no, no," Queeny shook her head and ced her finger over Allen''s lips. "I am not talking to you. I am talking to this man right here." "Oh," Allen formed an O with his mouth. He looked at Oliver and narrowed his eyes, trying to focus his concentration into making the puppet move. "Hi" Oliver spoke but stopped. Allen groaned and refocused himself. This went on for a couple of seconds before he groaned and sighed,pletely feeling defeated. "I can''t," Allen said. "I don''t know what to say." "That''s because you don''t know them yet," Queeny said. She leaned closer to Allen. "Know them better, and they''ll tell you everything about them." "But" "Shh," Queeny ced her finger over Allen''s lips again. "Close your eyes and let Oliver speak." Allen did as was told and focused his attention towards Oliver. He was trying to figure out who he was until a voice spoke behind him. "What?" "My name is Oliver Waltz, and I''m the best support!" Chapter 117: Team Recruitment Chapter 117: Team Recruitment The pale boy with the petite figure leaped around the room. Allen was still focusing his energy into Oliver, making him act like how he wanted him to act. "See?" Queeny smirked. "It''s easy once you get the hang of it. Until then, you have to practice this activity. Today, you should master one Body, tomorrow you add another, and the next day you''ll have your third Body ready to go." Allen stopped. He regained his focus to his own body, making Oliver fall to the ground, limping like a wooden puppet. "But if I can master controlling these Bodies, how can I move? You saw how much I needed to focus my own attention into moving Oliver. I basically lost my own sense of movement." "That''s what you''ll learn on the fourth day," Queeny said. "When I started using the Body Creator Code, I thought that my puppets should move like a true human being in the field, fighting beasts like they''re true Hunters. I didn''t have the proper training in order to master the Code." "When I did master it, everything was toote. My own sense of movement vanished and my body felt like it was foreign," Queeny continued. Allen looked at the one controlling Queeny, Kevin, who was sitting on the couch while looking at them. Queeny followed his gaze and sighed. "If you don''t do this training program that I created, you will be just like me. I''m just lucky I only lost my ability to speak right after my body went numb." Allen slowly nodded. Hepletely got the point Kevin was trying to show him. Each and every Code has their own level of difficulty, some are harder to control than others, but then for this particr Code, the user will have to experience their senses in another body. If they get so used to that feeling, the senses of their own body and all other lotive functions will cease to exist. The Code will eat its user once the user fails to stop before he could cross the line. "You see, I was just a boy back then. Just starting my own Hunter lifestyle," Queeny said. "My father was a rich entrepreneur that was involved in selling technology to the Hunters. He was one of the founders of the mobile phones we are using in the Otherworlds." "When I said that I wanted to be a Hunter, he was overjoyed," Queeny smiled sadly. "He was finally going to have a pride of his own and not just hispany. He provided me with all the things I needed, Codes, equipment, bodyguards, and even the technology they built." "But one day, my father fell from the heavens. He was framed as the stockholder who embezzled funds billions of funds," this time, Allen saw the anger in Kevin''s face instead of his puppet. He focused on the man who was sitting on his couch as he saw the aura that was seeping through him, dark and bitter aura. "My father tried to free himself from the frame up, but he couldn''t fight more than half of thepany," Queeny said. "So, he ended up using all of his money into paying the embezzled funds. He was also sent to prison for his crime and pay damage fees to thepany. Before all of this happened, he gave me the Code. I vowed to myself that I will find those people and make their lives miserable." Allen''s ear seemed to twitch after hearing this statement. He looked at Kevin, but the boy shook his head, with Queeny saying, "I took care of all of them. If you want to see them, you can always visit their graves. It''s located somewhere in the mountains." "You''re cool," Allen chuckled. "Though, what happened to you was horrible, you still manage to joke about it." "What do you suggest me to do?" Queeny crossed his arms. "Cry? For them? I won''t shed a single tear or sweat for them. Those bastards were weak and they didn''t even hire proper bodyguards. After I got rid of them, I disposed their bodies here in the Otherworlds. That way, at least heir stenchy meat would feed the beasts." "But how exactly will Dante master this Code?" Jeremy butted in, waking the two from their own little world. "You said that he can master this, but how exactl?" "He just needs to get used to the feeling of feeding information to others while he moves," Queeny replied simply. "While you practice everyday, don''t forget to move even just a bit. Just a step forward and a step backward would help. You can also raise your hands and put it down without breaking the link between you and the Body." "C-Can I actually do that?" Allen asked,pletely unsure of what he was going to do. "I don''t think I can." "You can if you try," Queeny said. Her body started to glow, meaning that she was being taken back by Kevin. "And you can''t if you never even had the will to try." With those words leaving her lips, the puppet vanished into thin air. Kevin was looking at Allen, a smirk ying on his lips. He couldn''t talk, so he just nodded at Allen. He stood and took his time to leave without saying anything more. "Wait" Before Allen could even get to the door, Kevin was gone. The boy left him inside his room and when Allen went to the hallway, Kevin was nowhere to be found. "Was that man a ghost or something?" Allen asked himself as he scratched the back of his head. "Why did he suddenly leave? He didn''t even say anything more." Allen went back inside the room and saw Jeremy there, cleaning after the tes they used to eat snacks. For the time Jeremy was there, his apartment was clean,pletely clean. The man was a clean freak, and since he was currently out of job, he had more time in his hands. This allowed him to invest more in Allen''s room, serving the boy like he was a housemaid. "I''ll wash the dishes too," Jeremy announced as he went to the kitchen. Allen heard the water from the sink run, so he just sat on the sofa and looked a this phone, susprised to see a message for him. It was from unknown number and Allen was about to ignore it when an inkling feeling told him that he should at least read the message. ''Come to the alley by Pomelo Street and 2nd Avenue. -J.s'' The text was clearly from Jake from the initials alone. It could also be Jack but it wouldn''t make sense for the old man to want to meet up since Allen hasn''t talked to him nor did he ever tried to ask for his help at the moment. Allen replied to the text, but his message was unsent. He tried asking for Jeremy''s help, but the man said that the number was deactivated. That was why he wasn''t able to send. Although Allen showed Jeremy his response, ''Ok'', he deleted the first message so that the man wouldn''t know his n. He knew that Allen was the Wandering Trader, but he didn''t know that he was connected to Jack Summers. Allen now has many faces that he shows to different people. Some people knew this face or two, but they didn''t know everything there is to it about him. He sighed and went to his living room, letting Jeremy finish washing the tes. Heid his head on the back rest of the sofa when an idea entered his mind. "Oh!" Allen immediately ran to the kitchen to find Jeremy. "I have an idea, and you''re involved this time." "No," Jeremy deadpanned. "I have a feeling that you''ll just use me for something, and then you''ll get rid of me right after." "What?" Allen scrunched his face. "Why would I even do that?" Jeremy shrugged, "I don''t know. You''re already keeping secrets from me. I don''t know how long it would take you to get rid of me." "Stop talking nonsense and hear me out," Allen groaned. "Since you''re out of job right now, and you''re already a Hunter, why don''t you join me while I hunt?" "What?" Jeremy scrunched his face. "Why would I oh, body count?" Allen nodded, "The more members of the team, the longer we can stay outside of the camps. Since you''re currently bored inside the camp, you have no other choice but toe with me." "Woah, woah, woah," Jeremy raised his hands defensively. "Who told you that I was bored?" "So, you''re saying that you''re not?" Allen smirked, crossing his arms. "Tell me then. What does Jeremy Young do these days? He''s not a police officer anymore and he doesn''t hunt." "II" Jeremy stuttered. "Ugh. Fine then. I''lle with you, but not because I''m incredibly bored." "Yes!" Allen grinned. "Now the team is almostplete. I just need to figure out how to master the Bodies." Chapter 118: Black Gate Chapter 118: ck Gate Dark and cold alley. It was nighttime and the curfew for the Hunters was still enforced, making it even more quieter in the streets. Allen didn''t need to hide himself under his disguise this time. He was meeting Jake, who may or may not have any idea who the man behind the Wandering Trader was. But since Allen didn''t want to take any risk, he just went there as Dante. If he ever gets caught, he''ll just excuse himself by saying that he''s trying to find the Wandering Trader. He walked into the alley and waited for a couple of seconds before a man walked out of the darkness. It was a man his age and had the same build as him, tall and muscled. They both share the same sharp features and their striking blue eyes. The only difference was that Allen currently had a natural blonde hair while the man had bleached hair. He knew the moment he saw the ck colored roots from the man that was starting to grow into half an inch from his scalp. "I''m Winston," the man introduced. He stepped a side and gestured his hand to the wall where he came out of. "Please, right this way. Mr. Jake is waiting on the other side." "Jake?" Allen asked. His face scrunched at the confusion. From what he knew, Jake and him would only meet once a month. That was the time where he''ll deliver the Codes and the man would pay him. Tonight seemed special since Jake was the one who was going to meet him in the flesh. Allen had no choice but to oblige. He walked straight through the wall, passed through it, and arrived in an unfamiliar office. It was a regr sized room with dark purple walls and gold crown moldings. The walls had that tint of opaque gray that formed vines and flowers at the skin of the wall. Right by where Allen stood was a desk and chair that were made from a dark wood material. The desk had clutter on the table and Allen saw that it was business rted files. He removed his eyes on the paper and focused on the room. There wasn''t anything special inside the room. It looked like an average home office of a rich man, except the materials made from the items that were inside the room costs more than most people could afford. "You''re already here," Jake said from behind Allen. The boy spun and saw the man entered the office through a light colored wooden door that was behind him. Jake walked over to the chair and sat on it, cing both his hands on the desk. "Tell me what happened." After hearing the man say the words like he wasmanding, Allen answered immediately. "I need new identities. Hunters. You don''t have to make their entire thing since I have them prepared already." "Wait," Jake sighed. He rubbed his forehead which made Elliot worry. The man didn''t look happy, not one bit. "You''re saying that I came here straight from an emergency meeting because you wanted for new identities? And what will you do with them? Roll around camps, hooking up with other people because you have different names?" Allen didn''t answer. Instead, he showed Jake where he was using his request for. His body glowed which made the bodyguards of Jake to react badly. Thetter only raised his hand to stop his guards from attacking Allen. The orbs spewed out of Allen, and they formed into the humans. "These are my puppets. You know what happened to the Otherworlds now. They have a curfew protocol for the ones who hunt outside. I could still hunt if I want to, but the restrictions are too much that I''m having trouble grinding for Codes." Jake was speechless. He stood from his desk chair and walked over to the three Bodies that Allen created. "What kind of Code would make anyone do such a thing? These puppets look so realistic." "They''re puppets I created from a Code," Allen said. "This is the request I was going to ask you. I want them to have their own identity, just like what you did to me before." "But can they move?" Jake asked. "For now, I''m working on it," Allen replied. His answer seemed to be dissatisfactory for Jake. The man pursed his lips and sighed. "Please hear my request," Allen said. "I''m going to hunt outside for a longer period of time, so I needed these puppets to do so. Otherwise, I would have to retun here every three days and then rest here for three more. That''s time consuming and inefficient." "Right," Jake finally nodded in understanding. "Your performance in getting my Codes would lower if you''re restricted. Okay, let''s do this. I''ll give you the identities, you have to promise me that the quality of your work would not decrease." "Deal," Allen said immediately. Jake chuckled and shook his head, amused by how much Allen acted. "What?" "You''re really amusing," Jake said. "There''s something about you that says that you''re intimidating, but then you act like a kid. How is that even possible?" Allen just chuckled and shrugged, awkwardly trying to brush the topic off. "Yeah, I don''t know too." A side effect of his passive skills is that they would still manifest themselves even when they''re not triggered. His passive skill Instinct Enhancement was still part of him even when he was in a fight or flight situation. Even the smallest of things where he would choose between two things, whether to hunt or not, eat out or cook his meal, or even talk to other people or just remain silent. His instincts would kick in, and he would find himself in a satisfactory ending. The only bad thing about this was that his other passive skill would intimidate a lot of people. They think that he was someone who was strict and would have a hardi time dealing with. They see Allen as a man with a pair of honrs that would gnaw on babies. "Okay, then," Jeremy nodded. "I will give you another message and we will see each other by that time. I want to hand you the information myself. Maybe I''d also like to strike another deal with you, one that''s less hard than the one you''re doing now." "What?" Allen narrowed his eyes. "If this is about babysitting you again, I''d politely decline. I already told you my reason for doing so. It wouldn''t look right if the bodyguard of Jake Summers was a Hunter who was not even half his level. You should find a stronger person." Jake groaned. "How can I grind when my teammates would steal my wealth. They would alwaysst hit the beasts and lie to me about getting a Code. It''s so frustrating that I''m even considering hiring a mercenary like you." Mercenary. Allen had never thought of calling himself that. By theory, he was indeed a mercenary. He would strike deals with people in exchange for something. He didn''t have anypany, and the police wanted him. "Okay," Allen nodded slowly. "But once I see a police officering to us, I''ll kill you." "You bark well," Jake chuckled. "And I saw how you fight. You also bite well. What a good kid." The man smiled and led Allen to the side of the room where a giant ck hole was. Winston was beside the hole, bowing to them. "They gate is open, sir. We can head out now." "Good," Jake nodded to him and turned to Allen. "I''ll let you know in a few days what the result of my connections are. But don''t worry, I can assure you that it''s not going to be a flop. I IDed Dante, I''ll make sure to ID everyone else." "Okay," Allen nodded. "Okay, thank you. I''ll go now." He followed Winston into the ck hole, and found himself in his room. He was taken aback for a moment, thinking that the man was ying games with him. "What the hell are we doing here?" "I delivered you to your room," Winston replied simply. "I didn''t think it was that hard to figure out." "Yeah, but why did I have to go to the alley earlier? You could''ve sent me to where Jake was from here," Allen deadpanned. "What were you thinking?" "My Code has it''s limits," Winston said. "I can''t create gates without certain requirements. You don''t have to know since you don''t have this Code anyway." With that being said, Winston left Allen alone in his room. He suddenly felt weirded out by this. The man could basically enter and exit his room as he pleases. If someday he wanted to kill Allen while he sleeps, he could do it. A certain gaze made Allen ufortable. He looked behind him and saw Gwen and Gary there, both holding a cake. "I can exin!" Allen yelled, but the cake from their hands had already fallen. "Hey! I said I can exin!" Chapter 119: Body Training Chapter 119: Body Training "You''re seeing a guy?!" Gwen yelled, making both Allen and Gary cover their ears with their hands. "I didn''t know you were gay." "There are people called bisexual, Gwen," Allen sighed. He didn''t have any other excuse after Gwen and Gary saw Winston take him home through the portal. The first thing that came to his mind was a lie that he was nowpletely regretting. "Oh," Gwen closed her mouth and pursed her lips. "Who is the girl and the You should call him back. Plus, I''ve never seen a Code like that. He must be someone who''s strong or at least he''s a Hunter with a good background. Rich and good background." Allen did not even bother on listening to Gwen. He simplyid on his couch and closed his eyes, digesting everything that was happening at the moment. He was first talking to Jake about his request, now he was lying to his friends. Allen wanted to ask himself why he was feeling bitter about this particr lie. He was hiding the truth that he was the Wandering Trader, basically he was lying to them this whole time. And that lie was much bigger than this, so he was confused about what he was feeling. Maybe because this time, he had no other choice but to lie. He was caught off guard when the two saw him, and he couldn''t make any excuse as to what he was doing. The identity of the Wandering Trader was a lie that he chose not to tell, but this one was different. This was a lie that he couldn''t control. "You space out a lot, I wonder why," Gwen said as she walked over to Allen. She ced the remaining cake that she was sure that was clean on the table and sat on the floor. "I think you don''t notice it, but you do." "I''m just thinking of a lot of things," Allen sighed. "What''s with the cake, anyway? And how did you even enter my unit?" "Dante," Gwen smirked. "I was a police officer. And I''m always curious about what people does and theirs information, so I sometimes always search for people''s bios. And as for entering, I still have a master key that was given to us at the police office. They justpletely forgot that I have it." "Wait, you mean it''s my birthday?" Allen asked, making Gwen and Gary look at each other with confused faces. "You''re don''t know when''s your birthday?" Gary asked. "Why won''t someone know their own birthday?" Allen stopped for a bit. He forgot that his new identity provided him with a different birthday. He immediately recovered his posture and shook his head, "No. I didn''t think time went by so quickly." "That''s because everyone had been so busy these days," Gwen sighed. "The Phantom Cunt, the appearance of the Fire Dragon for the second time, and now the death of the chairman. It''s all so surreal that you wouldn''t think all of these would happen in a span of one year." "All after that Snake appeared," Gary whispered, making Allen froze in spot. "When the news broke out that the Snake''s Code had been found, everything started taking downhill. Perhaps this was why the Bearers are looking closely at the Snake''s movements. Maybe he did be strong already, and he''s now out to eliminate every Hunter there is." "Why would the Snake do that?" Allen asked. "And how could they do that? They got the Code for less than a year. You think they can match to the strength of the Bearers?" "They already have a cult for the Hunter. That person must have been rich and strong even before they gor the Snake," Gary said. "What''s weird is that how he targeted Drake Nelson. He could''ve just asked for something. But he killed he chairman without saying any clear motive." "Why are you opening up to such rumors?" Gwen gasped fakely. "Who are you and what did you did to Gary? He''s not someone who believes in sh*t like that. That man follows logic, and that ain''t logical at all." "No," Allen raised his hand. He wanted to clear some air and steer their topic. "I mean, maybe yeah. The Snake could be behind it or something, but that doesn''t matter anymore. All we have to do now is to wait for their investigation." "That is true," Gwen sighed. "Well, let''s eat your cake. Come on." Not long after they started eating the safe part of the cake, the doorbell of Allen''s unit rang. He walked there and saw Jeremy, Sarah, and Jack all standing by the door. "Yes?" "Happy birthday," Sarah said, seemingly dismissing Allen and walked inside. "Gwen! It''s good that you told me. If it wasn''t for you, we wouldn''t have ever known. Dante hides a lot of things, doesn''t he?" Jeremy snorted, following the woman inside and sitting on the floor right by the coffee table where Gwen was at. "He does keep quite a few secrets." "He does, doesn''t he?" Gwen smirked, narrowing her eyes at Allen. "Dante, you should tell them." "Gwen, don''t make it a big deal. It was nothing," Allen said. "Just stop." He was starting to feel irritated. Now he remembered why he didn''t like to be with other people''spany, that even when Gary offered his life, he refused and even when Jeremy knew who he was, he distanced himself from him. "Okay," Gwen whispered, feeling embarrassed. "I''m sorry." Allen smiled tly, "Okay." The time went on and everyone acted awkwardly around each other. They were now sitting there, eating the cake that Jeremy brought over. They were talking, but they weren''t reallymunicating. It was awkward to say the least. After a while, everyone left, leaving Jeremy with Allen in his room. The formet looked at thetter who was washing the dishes even after he said that he''ll do it. "Why don''t you try your Body to do the chore?" Jeremy suggested. Allen looked at him and pursed his lips, nodding slowly. "You still need my help after all." "Thanks," Allen sighed. "You helped me today. Jack and your presence calmed me when I was choking on the pressure. It all seemed so suffocating." "We''re here," Jeremy smiled. "Don''t worry about it. Your secret is safe with us." "Thank you," Allen smiled. He raised his hand and summoned one of his Bodies. For today, he was going to master controlling Oliver while moving on his own. He was going to follow Kevin''s n, and see where it''ll go from there on. The boy was summoned, standing in front of the sink. Allen took a deep breath and slowly controlled the Body, making him pick up the te and wash it. When controlling a Body, the user would feel everything the body was feeling. It was like they have another body that could feel other senses. This was why this Code was dangerous. The feeling was ethereal and if used incorrectly, the senses would go numb and lose its function. Allen made Oliver pick up the sponge and ran it over the ceramic te. His hands were shaking, and the boy was getting more unsteady. His movements were unstable, and it would seem like the te would fall. "Just pick it," Allen groaned. His hand slipped and the te fell off of his hand. His real body opened his eyes as he watched a pair of hands take the te before it would crash on the ground. "Jeremy?" "I''ll help you," Jeremy smiled. "Just take things slow. One movement at a time. You don''t need to rush anything because we have all the time in the world." Allen nodded slowly. "Okay." He returned his focus on Oliver and made the boy take the te from Jeremy''s hands. His other hand took the sponge and slowly graze through the te. He was getting nervous, but he was also determined to finish this training. If he can do this, he will be one step closer to achieving his goal. He can''t progress if he won''t grow. And this training would do nothing for him but grow as a Hunter and as a person. After a gruesome two hours, Allen finished washing all the tes. His movements were slow and inconsistent, that was why he was slow in his progress. He was just washing tes, but his energy was already drained. "What more if we would fight?" Jeremy asked. He helped Allen guide Oliver to the sofa where they made the Body sit. "Could youmand Oliver to do something basic while you take a step forward and then a step backward?" Allen shrugged. "I don''t know. But I''m willing to try." He walked in front of Oliver and linked their minds again. He made Oliver stand and walk to the side while he stood there, sighing while trying to take a step forward. His legs were shaking and his focus was dwindling. Oliver was swaying his body as the control of Allen was starting to dwindle. "I can do this!" His feet moved one step forward. Chapter 120: Not Okay Chapter 120: Not Okay Cooking in the kitchen, cleaning in the living room, and washing clothes in the washroom. Allen was doing everything at once while he was enjoying a meal in the living room with Jeremy. It took him three days to master controlling the Bodies, and now that he could, all his burdens of doing the chores were finished. He was now doing his chores all at once without even moving a single muscle. On the first day was the hardest. He had to alter his focus between the Body and himself, passing the consciousness while simultaneously doing something as the Body and as himself. After he mastered controlling basic movements for Oliver on the first day, he started controlling Stacey on the second day. It was harder, that was for sure, but Allen had gotten used to the theory of how the Code works, that all he had to do was ry messages from his mind and into the Bodies. Third day was the easiest. He started controlling Vince this time. The man was huge, and Allen thought that he would have a hard time, but he was wrong. He had the easiest time controlling the leader since his movements required rather slower movements than Oliver and Stacey, meaning he can keep up with it. It was now the fourth day and Allen was chilling on his living room while controlling the Bodies so they would do the chores instead of him. He knew that this was azy way of doing things, and it requiredrge amounts of energy, but he looked into the bright side of things. He was thinking of how much he''d grow as a person and a Hunter if he can both master the controlling of the Bodies and how he could expand the limits of his energy. The more he uses energy, the more his stamina would increase, this was a trick he learned from Jeremy. "This egg needs salt," Jeremy said. He was about to stand and go to the kitchen when Allen raised his hand to stop him. "What?" Allen sighed and then Stacey entered the room. She was the one cooking in the kitchen. She brought the salt over and smiled, making Jeremy ufortable. "She looks creepy," Jeremy said. "And can she speak?" "Of course" Allen chuckled awkwardly. "Not. Of course, not. I can''t make them talk full sentences at the moment. I''m still trying to figure out how their voice boxes work." "But you made Oliver talk a few days ago," Jeremy pointed out. "It just seems to creepy if they stand and just smile like that." "That smile intentional," Allen snorted. "You look like you needed that creepy smile. But anyway, I''m working on it. This is my fourth day and I mastered their movements while I could still have my lotive functions. Their speech functions will be masteredter on." "Later on?" Jeremy asked. "But you said we were gonna go to the field tomorrow?" "Yeah,ter on," Allen said. "That means tonight. I''ll make sure that they can talk by tomorrow morning. We can''t have them just wandering around the camp and exit it without answering." Jeremy opened his mouth. He was about to say something when a ck hole appeared on Allen''s living room wall. He stood and immediately conjured his spear, raising it defensively, "What the hell is this?!" "Wait," Allen raised his hand and stood in front of Jeremy. "That''s our ticket to victory." Winston walked out of the hole, making Jeremy slowly lower his spear. The man bowed his head and ced his hand on his chest. "Master Jake is currently doing business in Canada. Please, let me give you the ID cards of the puppets." Winston stood right and walked in front of Jeremy and smiled. "Here you go, sir Dante. You can keep the IDs." Allen nodded and took the small envelope that Winston handed him. The man bowed again before leaving the two alone in the apartment unit, the ck hole in the wall slolwy vanishing after he left. "Who was that?" Jeremy asked, eyes wide and lips parted in shock. "And what was that? Was that a Code? Something like that must''ve been at least Sacred." "I don''t know," Allen simply shrugged. He walked to the side and opened the envelope, checking all the IDs and the small information that was provided by Jake. Allen also requested for the background stories of all the puppets one by one. Stacey Graham, a 23-year old Hunter that was from Irnd. She moved to Lancaster when she was sixteen because her father became a Hunter but lost his life due to an ident. His highest ascension was Paradise. She followed her father''s footsteps and now she''s a Hunter just like him. Oliver Waltz. 19 years old and aposer before his mother''spany went bankrupt and he was forced to live his life as a Hunter. He recently joined hunting and was sixteen when he went to his first hunt. He''s a support that has an excellent heal input and a high heal over time effect. Lastly, Vince Vaughn. A man from Moro that was a refugee in Lancaster. He''s twenty-nine when he joined his first hunt, and now at thirty-three, he''s a candidate to ascension. He''s the captain of the group with the role of mage and assassin. "Hybrid?" Allen asked. "I don''t think I''ve ever seen a role like this before." "That basically meant that he uses skill Codes to attack rather than give himself a buff," Jeremy replied. "Basically, when an assassin is pure assassin, they are someone who''s capable of using weapon Codes to attack their enemies. "But for assassin/mages, they primarily rely on skill Codes to attack," Jeremy said. "I''m not sure if that makes sense, but you''ll know if you''d read the book about modern roles. It''s all in there about hybridization of roles and their effectiveness." "Aren''t pure roles more effective?" Allen asked. "They just focus on their roles and can effectively create opportunities for attack and battle. If the role is mixed, then it would be hard to do." "Not really," Jeremy shrugged. "Think about it, if a Hunter is flexible in their roles, like a someone that is heavy duty like a tank, but can deal an effective amount of damage like an assassin, that would be hard to deal with. "Or when a ranger can switch their weapons with a warrior. Both can fight with a right amount of power, that Hunter would be overskilled," Jeremy continued. "You think higher world Hunters fight with just one role? One role is too obsolete." Allen was learning new things from Jeremy. This was the main reason why he decided to keep the man near him and not dispose of him after Jeremy found out about his secret. Allen has still have a lot to learn, and through Jeremy, he can learn from those. "You don''t know a lot, don''t you?" Jeremy chuckled. "You still need a lot of information to digest. But don''t worry. I''m here every step of the way to help." "Thank you," Allen smiled. "And I admit. The knowledge I have now was from the ones that I read on the books that were avable to me. I didn''t got the chance to study more these days." "You''re a wuss," Jeremy chuckled. "We should study a lot more if you want to be strong. I''ll give you books, and you''ll give me progress, okay?" Allen smiled, "Okay." "Sabbath Days!" Lin growled, raising her weapon that was a golden three-wed glove. She shed her hand forward, creating gigantic shes to the enemies in front of her. What she was fighting was a beast that would only appear on other Hunters'' nightmares. Abination of a snake and a tiger, along with a pair of wings from a falcon that provided it swift and flight. Even Lin was having a hard time fighting this beast. Roar. Roar. The beast growled and a face made from aura wasunched from his own face. It shed with Lin''s attack, cancelling the attack and creating arge orb of force that pushed a lot of trees out of the way. "You''re a bothersome beast," Lin growled. "I am not in the mood, so don''t even try to anger me!" Just when Lin was about to sh her w again, the beast vanished from in front of her. This made her eyes widen as she looked around to see where it was. Just when she was about to look behind her, arge shade covered her. The woman looked up to see the giant beast lunging towards her. "What the" The beast was a moment away fromnding on Lin when two figures dashed past it. Lin froze as her face was covered with blood, the giant beast was now turned to shreds. "This is so unlike you, Miss Lin," Keh sighed. He walked over to Lin and kept his weapon, which was a small scythe that had a bunny ear on the handle. "Are you okay?" "I''m not okay, Keh," Lin replied honestly. "I''m not okay." Chapter 121: Aqua Lance Chapter 121: Aqua Lance The exit was getting nearer and nearer. Allen felt his breathing get heavier as they approaced the metal gates and therge men that guarded it. It was now time for them to exit the camp and hunt in the forest as a team. He finished his training the day after and he was now fully ready on exiting the camp, his Bodies were now functional like actual human beings. "Who are you?" one guard asked. A blonde man that had long hair that reached up to his back. It was tied on a low ponytail while a thin group of stand was left on the side of his head that acted like bangs. "We''re a group of Hunters and we want to Hunt," Allen made Vince say. Among his three Bodies, he was particrly focused on improving Vince since he was the one who acted like their leader. The Body would handle most of the conversations if they would be asked by authorities or other people. The least one was Oliver since he was the youngest and his personality was timid and silent. In his bio that Allen created, he is an introvert and he doesn''t talk much. The only people he talks to are his teammates and close friends. Stacey on the other hand talks in normal amounts and has a loud mouth when triggered. She''s silent to new people, but she talks a lot to the ones she is close to. "A group, huh?" the blonde guard hummed. "Show me your ID. And leave one ID here, preferably your captain''s. We will list your names on today''s date and check whether you returned. Once you did return,e here and retrieve your ID." "Okay, sir," Vince said. "My name is Vince Vaughn and you can list it there. We''ll be back after a week, the maximum days a group of Hunters is allowed to go." "Yeah," the blonde guard slolwy nodded. He shrugged and then left them there for a couple of seconds. When he returned, he said that they were now free to leave. "Thank you, sir," Stacey said with a smile, making the blonde guard blush. "Cute." Allen, Jeremy, and Allen''s Bodies left the camp and went further into the woods before Allen stopped his control. He fell to the ground and grunted in frustration, feeling exhausted after a few hours of controlling the Bodies. "I can''t do this all day," Allen sighed. "Good thing that the guard didn''t give us a hard time when we were about to exit. Or else, it would be hell." "Yeah," Jeremy chuckled. "You control your Bodies well. They were that convincing that the guard didn''t ask too many questions." "That''s good," Allen sighed. He raised his hand to collect the Bodies, ceasing their physical forms so he could regain his energy. Creating a Body required a bit of his energy, controlling one requires more. Controlling three Bodies was strenuous that Allen evenid down to rest. "I''m gonna walk around," Jeremy said. "You stay here and rest. You need to replenish your energy so we can hunt. We may have more time in the forest, but we don''t have all the time in the world. Allen just nodded. He didn''t even try to say anything, he just agreed to what Jeremy had to say even when he was barely hearing a word that the man was saying. He was exhausted, and he couldn''t focus on anything. The n was that Allen would stay in the forest for a week to grind. He already changed his deal with Hilda and the date for his delivery after he was stalled for four days in training the bodies. The woman dly agreed, but Allen still gave her some Codes so her week wouldn''t get wasted. Hilda tried to decline, but Allen was tenacious that he didn''t stop until the woman gave him her hand and he transferred the Codes. Hilda was low-key happy that Allen did it. She was worried after Allen said that he''ll be gone for a week. All her products were sold out, and without any Codes to sell, her store would perish. "You look calm." Allen opened his eyes to see Jeremy standing above his head. The man was looking down on him as heid t on the ground. "You''re back quickly," Allen said. He stood and pat his back to remove the leaves and dust that he umted whileying down. "That was quite a short walk." "I walked for an hour," Jeremy said. "Then I waited here for about half an hour. You sleep like a log." "I must''ve drifted off," Allen said. He sighed and was about to say something when a growl interrupted him. It sounded like it came from the forest of thick trees that was near them. "Did you hear that?" Jeremy conjured his spear and snorted, "Only a deaf person wouldn''t be able to hear that. It was a loud sound." "What do you think it might be?" Allen asked, but Jeremy just shrugged. "Beats me," the former police officer said. "But it sounds strong. Let''s look for it." "Can we handle something like that?" Allen asked, to which Jeremy answered with a sigh. "You basically hunted a beast that even a Bearer was having a hard time hunting," Jeremy deadpanned. "I think you can do it." "There are two things wrong with that statement," Allen said. "One was that I wasn''t the one hunting the beast, and two is that Bernard wasn''t having a hard time when he fought the Fire Dragon." Jeremy looked at Allen with baffled eyes, "You mean he intentionally not fight well?" "He held himself back, yeah," Allen agreed. "I think it was because they wanted to see how much I would do when I was the one facing such beast." The two continued their conversation while walking to the path of the source of the sound. It was getting darker on their way as taller and thicker trees were showing instead of the smaller ones on the area they were previously at. "Do you know the reason why they wanted to test you?" Jeremy asked. "Is it because you''re the Wandering Trader?" "Bingo," Allen said. "They tried to measure my strength. Bernard and Sebastian could''ve easily killed that beast if they wanted to. You saw the shield Sebastian created, it could withstand ten more Fire Dragons. Bernard on the other hand provided less force. He could injured the beast in a critical spot with just a single swing. You think he can''t do something like kill it with another strike?" "Wow," Jeremy breathed out. "You''re really impressive. I didn''t know you could analyze a situation like that so easily." Allen shrugged and pursed his lips. Actually, it was because of his Intelligence attribute that he was able to think like that. The attribute gave him ten times more brain power that he could analyze situations. This and his Instincts were his greatest weapon. There''s nothing more rming than an opponent that can analyze well as well as have a great perception. He was basically the level of a Hunter in Paradise right now. Jeremy took a step forward when a twig broke in two, creating a crunching sound that made the entire forest go silent. The birds chirping gently, and other beasts roaming free were now silent. The two narrowed their eyes and opened their senses more. "It''sing," Allen said. Just when he did, a loud series of galloping sounds approached them. This made both men raise their weapons in a defensive stance. "Getting closer, and closer." Just when the beast was behind the tall bush in front of them, the forest got silent once more. The beast stopped and its presence vanished. Jeremy was going to lower his weapon, but Allen elbowed him. "Don''t ever let your guard down." Screech! A zing horse leaped out of the grass. It was a red horse with a skin that had the simr look of ava, its eyes were made of gems, glowing like the sun, and its mane was a zing blue me that majestically swayed with its movements. "Woah," Jeremy gasped. "That''s not a Rare grade beast!" "It''s not," Allen said. He returned his Fervent ive and reced it with a new weapon he got along with the Body Creator Code. < Aqua Lance > Type: Weapon Grade: Rare Effect/s: (1) Active - Every three sessive strikes to a single opponent, the next strike will deal 40% more damage and will cast Drown on the target. Drown - Casts a water mark on the target. (2) Passive - Targets that are affected by Drown will take 30% of the user''s damage as a water attack. (3) Passive - If unleashed underwater, the user shall gain 70% more damage. Allen held argence in both of his hands. The horse didn''t seem to be fazed after seeing weapon that was a counter of its element, but Allen also didn''t mind. The beast knows that it was stronger, but Allen will show it who''s the smarter one. Chapter 122: Allen vs Blazing Horse Chapter 122: Allen vs zing Horse The horse dragged its feet forward, looking straight into Allen who stood in front of it. The beast looked like it was about to attack any time soon, and Allen didn''t want for him to get surprised, so he readied himself for the sh. Neigh. Neigh. Neigh. Each breath of the beast, smoke woulde out of its nostrils like a chimney filled with firewood. The heat that was radiating from its body was intense that it was as if the horse was an orb of me itself. "Are you sure that you can handle this?" Jeremy asked. "I don''t think that this beast is someone of our level." Allen just shrugged, "We won''t know until we try." Without having any more thoughts, Allen leaped into the air and swung his weapon. Thence that he was wielding created a swooshing sound, like a wave of water. This made the beast neigh again, lowering its head to show Allen its mane. The boy was confused by its actions for one moment, but he didn''t retaliate. He held hisnce tightly as the mane of the horse shone even brighter, creating arge sphere of burning mes. "Ha!" Allen yelled in excitement. Right in the air, the boy spun and changed directions. With a swift calcted move, hended on the ground with his right hand on thence and the other on the cold wet soil. He used his left hand to catapult himself into the direction of the horse, the beast''s eyes widening as the boy''s speed increased halfway. Allen was using his Codes into gaining the advantage against the powerful foe. He didn''t need to deny that the beast was ways stronger than him. It was on a level that he wasn''t prepared to fight without any preparations. The beast must be at least mid-tier Grand grade by the amount of power it has, and Allen was only a low-ss Hunter. "Brawns doesn''t win fights," Allen whispered. He reached the beast and nodded his head, like he was paying respect to his prey before he kills it. The boy then started spinning and shing his sword multiple times, activating his weapon''s effect, Drown. The effect description didn''t state if Drown was a stackable effect, but Allen left the benefit of the doubt to fate. He spun about six times, all sessfully hitting the beast right in the neck. The horse had a blue tint on its skin as an indicator of the Drown effect. Allen saw this and smirked, thinking how much he spent on the weapon and how worth it it was. The Body Creator Code was sixteen million dors, and the Aqua Lance Code was one hundred thousand dors. All of these Codes were also rmendations of Dennis. Since Allen was preparing himself for future fights, and he didn''t really need the money, he bought the Codes. He alsoter knew the real value of the Codes. For the Body Creator Code, the market price was twenty-two million dors, quite a hefty amount for a Code, yes, but since it''s a Sacred Code and it''s limited, the price is just right. The Aqua Lance Code on the other hand was priced at six hundred million dors, a top tier Rare grade Code that has effective effects. Allen knew that part of the reason why Dennis sold him these Codes was because he wanted to create a deeper, more intimate rtionship with Allen. Considering they knew his real identity, they were feeding more wood to the fire, and earning the fire''s favor. The beast neighed again, making Allen leaped a couple of meters back. He raised hisnce and growled, disappearing from where he was standing that made the beast and even Jeremy who was just looking at them, confused. Allen reappeared on top of the beast. The boy yelled his war cry as he shed his de across the beast''s face, creating a huge cut on its eyes that effectively blinded it. He then leaped behind the beast, over the burning mes and mmed his sword right through its back, and into its heart. As Allen saw the horse fell to the ground, he was happy that the people around him were willing to praise him. He was a man who was nothing, now he was a lot of things. zing Horse killed. +. zing Horse Code gained. Type: Skill Grade: Sacred ??? As expected of the power that the beast was exuding, it was a grade higher than the ones found in the world. Beasts that are high-tier Rare grade or even the ones who are actually higher grade had been encountered by Allen too much these days that he was thinking that maybe all of these were caused by him. What was unexpected was the Code. Allen didn''t think that he would get anything from the beast, but there he was, having another Sacred grade Code that he couldn''t even see the description or use. His level wasn''t enough to actually weild it, so it just stayed on his interface like the other ones. He was mildly disappointed that the Snake didn''t have a cheat for him to use Sacred grade Codes. Those were powerful Codes that he could use to rule Camp Tw, or even the entire world of Haven. He was currently powerful enough to weild Grand grade Codes, but a grade higher was off limits. He also just recently discovered that he could use Grand grade Codes when he bought the Body Creator Code. He was looking at his interface when he saw the Code there, not grayed out like thest time he was there to check his Codes. He was sure that this was caused by the Snake''s Blessing, but he didn''t receive any notification that included this feature. If he had known this feature earlier on, then he could''ve used the first Grand grade Code he got. Type: Skill Grade: Grand Effect/s: (1) Active - Launches a booming roar that will knock up the enemy. This effect also deals 60% of the user''s base damage, and adds 1 damage for every 10 damage units from other sources. (2) Passive - If the user is near an ally, both parties will share 4% of three random passive effects. This will increase by 2% per number of ally. Max number of allies = 11 (3) Passive - If there are two or more allies around the user, the entire group will gain an additional 10% in all attributes. Allen nodded to himself after remembering the Code he got from the lion. Turns out, he gained quite a bit of power from the Code through Jeremy. Albeit the man was indeed weaker than him, he was still a strong Hunter. Allen inherited some of his strength, allowing him to easily deal with the beast. "Y-You killed it," Jeremy said as he approached Allen. "And quickly too. But how?" "I got stronger," Allen excused. Jeremy hummed, "I assume it''s what happens to people when they do nothing except grind levels. The police department couldn''t rte because you rely on our promotions to actually gain EXP. Without them, we can''t really level up much." "What?" Allen looked at Jeremy with a baffled expression. "The police officers can''t hunt or gain EXP?" "No, and no," Jeremy replied with a sad smile. "It''s forbidden to us to do either because we were supposed to serve the Hunters by enforcing thew and sh*t. I don''t really get their point, but they said it was so we could all be in uniform with each other." "That''s just straight up BS," Allen scoffed. "Yes, you can hinder the level growth of the Hunters by stopping their source of EXPs, but you can''t expect them to be in uniform because of that. Duh. Not everyone are built the same. Some of us are inherently good at being a Hunter while some are bad at it. "I was one of the bad ones," Allen sighed. "But I trained, I thought as deeply as I could. I did everything and look where I am now. Strong and powerful." This made Jeremy snort, making Allen look at him with narrowed eyes, "Why are youughing like that?" "You''re too cute," Jeremy chuckled. "It''s like seeing a toddler exin to his mother how he would be a good boy if the mom would let him join the Boy Scouts." "Hey!" Allen growled yfully. "Don''t be like that, you idiot!" "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Jeremy shook his head. "What will you do about this beast now? It''s size is humongous, about the size of an elephant. If we want to bury it, we''re gonna need a huge hole." Allen didn''t say anything. Instead he walked over to the beast and leaned close. "Store." The beast''s entire carcass glowed, making Jeremy gasp in shock. Allen smirked as he saw this friend''s reaction, all shocked and thrilled as the beast that was now nothing but a small pinch of light entered Allen''s palm. "Done," Allen chuckled. "No holes needed." Chapter 123: Next in Line Chapter 123: Next in Line Nighttime. Allen was siting in front of a campfire that was made by him. He was thinking deeply after getting the raw materials from the horse. When he stored the carcass in his inventory, the notification said that he gained Sacred grade materials. It was his first time to encounter such materials. When he killed beasts before, whether they were Basic, Rare, or even Grand, they produce the same material. A Sacred grade material has never appeared before. While he was thinking deeply, Jeremy was looking at him, still in awe after what he just witnessed. Allen just solo killed the Sacred grade beast, a feat that he only saw once before by the same person at that. He had to admit. He knew that Allen was strong. What he didn''t know was how strong the boy was. Allen''s powers, strategy and the wless execution of that strategy was something he had never seen before. He saw great Hunters fight before, but nothing like Allen. Both of the men were silent as they left each other with their thoughts, no one uttered a single word until the night got darker and the time went by. The next morning came, and Allen found himself a te of food in front of him. "What is this?" He asked, looking at Jeremy who was arranging tes. Allen leaned closer and saw that Jeremy brought a huge bag to store a lot of things they needed on the hunt. Pre-made food, utensils, and even medications. The man had them all. "That''s why your walk was so sluggish," Allen deadpanned. "You didn''t need any of those, you know." "I know," Jeremy said. "But I''d like to feel at least that I''m of use to you. I''m not so used to feeling useless and I don''t like this feeling." "Whatever," Allen just shrugged and let Jeremy do what he wanted. Thetter even found a water source for them, and ording to him, the water was clean like the cleanest spring. "Are you sure you have a clean water source?" Allen asked. "You''re not trying to poison me, aren''t you?" Jeremy faked gasped. He snatched his sk away from Allen''s hands and drank straight from it, gulping the entire contents of the sk. "I would never. Whaf kind of trust issues was that?" Allen deadpanned, "Now you drank my water. And that was overdramatic. You could''ve said you were thirsty, and I would''ve given you some. We know each other well, Jeremy, you don''t need to hide sh*t from me." They bothughed at each other. They agreed to both go to the spring that Jeremy found so they could get more water. Allen was thirsty after eating a meal and his water was drank by his friend who was also thirsty while preparing for his meal. They arrived in a small cave that seemed to be more silent than the rest of the forest. There was something inside the cave that was blocking the sound from fully prating through the cave. While the outside world was loud with birds chirping, and the other beasts'' noise, the cave was deadly silent. "And you didn''t wonder why the cave is too silent forfort?" Allen asked. Jeremy used a Code that made his arm light up like amp. He used the light to maneuver their way into the cave. "I had a Code that can detect nearby fresh and clean water," Jeremy said. "It was a Code issued by the police to us before, but they stopped giving out the Codes now. I detected the presence of water here, so I took the chance and get some." "But it''s oddly silent," Allen said, repeating his thought. "It''s too silent that it''s getting into my nerves. I feel like there''s something here that we shouldn''t wake up." "You''re overthinking things," Jeremy chuckled. "I was here earlier, and nothing happened. What could go wrong this time around" Just after Jeremy said that, the entire cave shook slightly. They both looked at each other while Allen gave his friend a stern look, "Why did you have to jinx it?" "I didn''t know!" Jeremy defended himself, his voice higher and louder than he anticipated. This made the cave shake even more, making the two conjure their weapons and raise them defensively. "Prepare yourself," Allen said. "Something''sing. Now we just wait for it toe." They stood silent for a moment, but nothing happened. Jeremy scratched the back of his head and tilted it to the side, pursing his lips in confusion. "I swear, I could''ve felt something approaching us." Allen pursed his lips. "It''s a good thing that the beast left. I don''t have that much strength to fight it." "You didn''t seem to be tired," Jeremy pointed out. "You look fine to me." Allen chuckled. "I''m good at hiding things. I got so used to it already." The boy wasn''t lying. The time after Alice''s death, he hid his emotions. He let his feelings swallow him that he mistakenly distanced himself from everyone else. He thought he would hide his emotions forever and he epted that, until such time that he got used to it and it became a habit for him. "You don''t need to worry," Jeremy slung his arm around Allen''s shoulders. "You can be authentic with me." "Run." Keh was sprinting through the forest. Hisbored breath, his sweaty body, and his ruined clothes made it look like he was mauled by a giant beast. The pair of bunny ears on his head was long gone, like the most parts of his outfit. Behind him was a giant and terrifying presence that was approaching him in a high speed. As he ran throughout the woods, the figure got closer and closer. "And time!" Remy raised her hand, signalling for them to stop. Kh fell to the ground without even stopping himself from running first, making himnd on his face. "Bernard, you could''ve not used morph this time." Bernard, who was the one chasing Keh, crossed his arms and smirked. "And where''s the fun in that?" Keh raised his hand while he was stillying his front on the ground. "I have a question. Why did you have to make the bunny run for his life?" "Because you''re training, remember?" Bernard said. "We''re ways behind the others because of our situations. If we don''t train more than them, we''ll never catch up." "And the worst part about that is that other Hunters could even catch on to us," Remy added. She walked over to Keh and ced her hand on his back. "Stand up and let''s run again. Lin and Louise are almost at the ascension stage, while the top Hunters of Eternity are almost at our world." "I don''t care," Keh waved his hand and grunted. "It''s not my fault that my Code isn''t as strong as theirs. Who made these Codes anyway? It''s too much of a burden when not all the strongest Codes are at the same level." "It''s not your fault that" "Yes," Keh cut Bernard off. "Yes, Bernard. I know what you''re about to say and Ipletely agree. It''s not our fault, fine, but f*ck. Drake suddenly died and the Snake has somehow caught on to our level? That''s terrifying." "If you say it like that, yeah," Remy added. "That person, in a span of six months, had created a society that blindly follows him, got stronger than the strongest Hunter that ever lived or at least created a group of people that were powerful enough to kill the strongest Hunter." "That''s something that we don''t know yet," Bernard said. "We''re still not sure if the Snake was indeed the person who was the one who killed Drake." "Regardless!" Keh leaped off of the ground andnded on his butt, sitting cross legged on the soil. "There''s someone out there that''s capable of killing one of us. If that person targets us again, then we''re not going to be able to withstand any more attacks." "Yeah," Remy sighed. "I don''t know anymore. I''m just going to ask the others for help. Maybe we can build an alliance with them." "Are you even crazy?" Keh gasped. "Remy, if someone in our level killed Drake, then it must be a Bearer. There''s no other people that''s stronger than us. You''ve seen that footage. Seven people surrounded Drake, but only one of them was able to kill him." "You''re right." The three fell silent after Lin appeared out of nowhere. "But let''s not talk about that here." The woman looked around with narrowed eyed. "Let''s discuss this somewhere else. Somewhere safer. Someone is purposely sabotaging Drake''s death." Lin took a deep breath and ced both her hands on the ground. The ground opened a hole that made them sunk into it, swallowing the foor of them in an instant. Somewhere nearby, an eye was looking at them. It was a figure that was looking closely at their movements, smirking at them. "Well, well. It seems like the weak built an alliance for themselves. Save yourselves now. You''re all next in line." Chapter 124: Marble Cave Chapter 124: Marble Cave Cold. All Allen could feel was cold. He was looking around aimlessly, thinking what happened. One second he was getting water from the spring, and the next thing he knew, the cave copsed and the water flooded. He was floating inside the dark cave, trying to call for his friend. "Jeremy! Jeremy!" His voices began to shake as fear slowly ate him away. Just when he thought he finally had a friend, he vanished. Allen didn''t want to me himself, but he couldn''t me anyone else at this point. "Guah!" A man arose from the waters, breathing deeply as he tried to swim above. "Allen? I''m here!" The boy looked up to see his friend all and well. "Y-You''re actually alive." "This is nothingpared to our training. I was just caught of guard, that''s all," Jeremy chuckled. "What do you think happened? We were just taking some water and then it copsed." "Yeah," Allen nodded in agreement. He looked around to see if they could get any clue to go out, but nothing was around. The copsed site was arger cave beneath the cave they were on. It has natural white stones that had formed grotesque figures over the millenia they were in the cave, as well as the green glowing moss that littered all across the ground below them. "I think this was already an underground river system," Allen pointed at the other side of the cave. "See? The water is flowing from that area" he then pointed at the higher ground where they fell from. "The water spring that copsed was from there, above us." Jeremy was looking at the hole on the stone above them, nodding as he slow understood Allen. "Now, I get it. But we can just jump above us so we can reach that cave" When he turned to where Allen was, the boy wasn''t there anymore. Allen was now on the side of the river where a small stone ledge-like emince was. He was collecting moss and storing it in his inventory. "What are you doing?" Jeremy asked. "That moss could''ve been poisonous or something. Things in the Otherworlds doesn''t function the same as things on Earth." Allen shook his head, pointing at the water beneath Jeremy. "The moss is also found on the river. I actually drank some of the water when I was resurfacing earlier, and if it is indeed poisonous, we would''ve long since died." Jeremy formed an O with his mouth. "I swear, I''m not usually this stupid. I could catch on to things with my usual self. I''m not my usual self right now." "It''s obvious," Allen chuckled. "But we don''t need your usual self. We just need your cooperation so we can find things in this cave? It would be a waste to just leave an unbothered natural resource, right?" "But don''t you think it''s dangerous?" Jeremy asked. "Wait, you singlehandedly taken down a Grand grade beast. Okay, I''m all in." Allen just chuckled, but slowly felt guilty. Yes, Jeremy knew his secret, but he had thousands of it. Jeremy only knew one while he still hid many. The guilt was getting to Allen for some reason. The feeling even got him thinking to abandon Jeremy and the rest and start a new life in a new camp, but he would feel even guiltier. The boy shook the thoughts away and just thought of the reasons why he was hiding stuff. He was going to help them in the future, he wasn''t hiding his secrets just because he wanted to hide them. The less people around him who knew, the safer it is for them. "Dante," Jeremy said. "Favorite hobby, to space out." Allen awoke from the thoughts when Jeremy spoke. He looked at himself and saw that he was now dry, and he could walk better. Even when the White Fang set was small trinkets, they still added weight when they got wet. Not to mention the cloak that he was wearing wasn''t helping him at all. "A Code that lets you shoot a gush of warm air into a wide area," Jeremy introduced. "Issued by the police department, also discontinued." "The police officers are prepared for any kind of disasters?" Allen chuckled. "They must''ve paid a lot for these Codes." "That was before," Jeremy said. They found themselves walking deeper into the cave, following the underground river as to where it leads to. "But now, they have less Codes. The Rooster Bearer thought that it wouldn''t be wise to just let the police have 10 simr kinds of skill Codes with them. They''d be easily countered by anyone if that was the case. "So, John Smith proposed a neww that the police would have at least ten Codes that will match certain criterias. Each Code was situational, and the police officers are assigned to choose the Codes that they think are the best to use in those scenarios. When their supervisor would agree, they get to keep the Codes. But in my time, all police officers have the same set of Codes," Jeremy finished. Allen deadpanned, smacking the other boy in the back of his head "Your so called "back in my time" was only three years ago. You didn''t have to lie to make it sound cooler." Jeremy snorted and shrugged, "I just needed to calm the atmosphere down a bit. It was getting too tight." Allen smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you cleared it a bit." Silence followed after. The Two didn''t speak another word until they reached the end of the cave. There was a dome-shaped area on the end, as the water was flowing in a hole underneath. "I thought there was a way out," Jeremy said. "It seems like the water continues down this rock. We should head back." "No, wait," Allen said. He walked over to the side of the dome, the rounded wall that was too smooth for it to be just natural. "If you noticed, the path we walked into the forest, the cave rather, has all these eminences and rocks that formed shapes. But this room is too suspicious to not have those." Jeremy looked around, noticing what his friend meant. There were indeed nothing like the one outside of the dome cave like the outside. The white stone was now marble-like, formed the dome rather perfectly. The walls seemed to have marks on them, something Allen went in closer to investigate. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to analyze what could these markings meant. The brown stains on the wall were too shaped to be just random markings, and the white marble enhanced their visibility. "It''s a mural!" Jeremy yelled from the other side. "I think it starts from here." Allen walked closer to Jeremy to see what his friend meant. And there it was, the shapes that formed the figures. The first one was of seven orbs forming a circle. On the second one, the orbs seemed to change positions until on the fourth mural, they formed a straight vertical line. In each orb has a symbol that both Allen and Jeremy had no knowledge about. They could only proceed to the fifth mural which was a humanoid shape that was carrying a spear. In front of the humanoid figure was a giant beast that looked simr to a bear that had wings. On the next one was a figure of the human piercing its spear through the beast and the next one was a diamond shape hovering above the human. The final mural was a close-up photo of the human offering his hand as the diamond shape hovered on its palms. Allen already knew what these murals meant, and whoever drew them, must''ve been in this cave a long time ago. "Do you think it''s from the first Hunters?" Jeremy asked. "Maybe the first Hunters were here before and they got stuck inside this cave. This would exin the old quality of the murals. Hunting happened first almost two decades ago." "The first Hunters didn''t even know there was another world," Allen pointed out. "How would they know that there were seven? And besides, these murals obviously dated back way ahead of twenty years. These are like from centuries ago." "That''s impossible," Jeremy said. "The first of the gates opened just two decades ago. How could this be?" Allen shook his head, "Maybe this cave isn''t what it seems." The boy walked into the shallow river and stopped in front of the edge of the marble room. "There should be a hole underneath, that the water travels through, but there isn''t one." Jeremy''s eyes widened as he followed Allen. He then kneeled and tapped below them, trying to find something, "There''s a rift in between the river''s floor and the marble." "Makes sense," Allen said. He conjured his and mmed it right through the marble, making Jeremy gasp. "Are you trying to kill us" Jeremy expected the cave to crumble down, but instead, arge arch of marble appeared in front of them. The marble wall vanished, revealing a room inside. Chapter 125: Great Gem Codes Chapter 125: Great Gem Codes Inside the newfound room was air that looked like it belonged to someone. There were handcrafted ornaments, decorations, and even weapons around the room. "I think someone lived her before," Jeremy said as he explored the room. It was a simr shape to the marble dome, but this one was built with cement. The river that was flowing right in the middle of it, but a stone bridge connected both sides of the room. "But how did anyone live here when these dates back way back when the first gate to the Otherworlds opened," Allen argued. "The items in this room is very outdated. These could even date back to the 2020s." "Thirty years ago?" Jeremy asked, raising a small item in his hand. "This is a snow globe, right? The person that lived her must''ve been a human. Maybe there was a gate that we didn''t know existed, and that person that lived her identally entered the cave." "That''s unlikely to happen since humanity explored 70% of earth and even the depth of he oceans," Allen said. "There''s an small chance that a gate would appear somewhere else. Besides, no man could actually survive thesends without prior knowledge of it." "This man knows the existence of all the worlds," Jeremy continued, making Allen chuckle in amusement. "Hey, I can keep up with your brain too. Don''t understimate me." "Alright, alright," Allen only shook his head while hiding hisugh. "Let''s explore this room and go back. The person must''ve been stuck here because there''s no other way out. It''s quite impossible if they didn''t even try going to the other side." Allen saw Jeremy stop moving. Hey ced his hand on the man''s shoulder and was about to ask him what was wrong when Jeremy slolwy pointed at the corner of the room. "What''s wrong" "Finally!" Allen was caught off guard by a tiny woman who ran to him and tackled him down with a hug. The woman was grinning widely while she pointed at Allen. "You. Your power is strong even when it''s raw. How could you do it?" "Err," Allen scrunched his face when he didn''t have anything to answer. "Training and daily grind. I just farm and grind as days go by." "Wow," the woman breathed out. "All this time I''ve been waiting for someone strong enough to finally find me." Allen then took a step back and conjured his ive, raising it to the woman''s face. "Who are you?" "I am Chara," the woman said. "The Spring Lady of this river. My actual body has long since vanished, this is my avatar that I left for future Adventurers." Allen narrowed his eyes and leaned the ive closer to the woman''s neck. "What do you mean? We''re called Hunters. There''s no such thing as Adventurers." After what Allen said, Jeremy joined him in pointing his weapon at Chara. They were now wary of her identity, thinking she''s lying. She looked like a regr human but if you feel her aura thoroughly, you''ll know that she''s not entirely a human being. "I don''t think raising your weapons against me is a good idea," Chara said with a chuckle. "You don''t know what I''m capable of." "There''s a huge difference between our powers," Jeremy said. "I could feel how faint your aura ispared to us. Plus, there''s two of us. So if you want to live another day, talk." Allen suddenly remembered what Sebastian told him before. "The more powerful someone is, the more they are able to hide their auras." Allen shifted his weapon from pointing at Chara to blocking Jeremy''s path. The other boy looked at him in confusion, thinking what Allen was doing. "Dante? What are you doing?" "Let''s not fight," Allen said without removing his gaze from Chara. "We only came here because we tried to look for a way out. We saw the murals on the marble cave, and now we saw this room." Chara smirked and shook her head, "Adventurers these days are so pathetic. When you sensed the danger that was going to unfold, you immediately retaliated. Wise choice, and that''s what''s going to bring you to the top of the world." "I don''t need to be on top of anything," Allen said. "I just want a power to be someone who could lead along with the people." "Another wise choice of words," Chara chuckled, this time, a full toothed grin was stered on her face. "It seems like I was the one who was mistaken after all. Adventurers these days are good observers and good decision makers. Tell me, what is your name, boy?" "Dante," Allen replied. He was hoping that Chara wouldn''t notice his lie, but the sh of emotion int he woman''s face told him he failed. He looked at her and slightly pointed his irises at Jeremy who was beside him, this time he was hoping for Chara to get his message. The woman sighed and nodded. She turned to Jeremy and asked the same question. When she got her answer, the woman spoke, "It seems like the both of you share a special connection." "Special connection?" Jeremy asked. "Well, we''re friends now. And I''m the only one erm, one of the few people actually who knows his secret." Chara nodded slowly, but then hummed, "No. Something different. You both share something very different. Like a shard of the past, present, or future." ''She knows,'' Allen thought in his head. The woman knows that Jeremy and him were friends in his old self. He must revert the topic this instant. "Can we please know who you are and what you''re doing, trapped in this cave?" Allen asked. "You''re not a Hunter, you said, but an Adventurer. What''s the difference?" "I also do not know," Chara replied. "But what I do know is that I possessed the Great Emerald Code. This is one of the twelve Great Stone Codes that Adventurers have possessed. Our Codes are much different from the others because this gives us a lot more abilities than the rest." Allen looked at Jeremy and the man was also looking at him. Without a doubt, they were sharing the exact same thoughts at the moment. It wasn''t a question that the Great Stone Codes are simr to the Primordial Beast Codes. "From what year are you on?" Allen asked. "Maybe the gates have appeared in the past, we just don''t know it." "I''m from year 2812," Chara replied. The boys looked at each other again, with the same confused faces. Chara was from a year that was ways ahead of them. But she''s been in this cave for decades. How was that even possible? "Are you from the future?" Chara asked. "How is Torus doing?" "We don''t know anyone called Torus," Allen replied, but Chara shook her head and chuckled. "No, silly, Torus is the name of our," she said, making both boys'' eyes widen. "Did they change it?" "Cleopatra," Jeremy said. "Mahatma Gandhi, Alexandet the Great, Hugh Jackman" "What are you saying?" Chara asked. "Are those names? Who are those people?" "Dante," Jeremy called out. "She doesn''t know Hugh Jackman." "Who even is that?" Allen scoffed. "But someone not knowing Cleopatra, and she said she''s from year 2812. Could this mean" "She''s from another." On top of a pointed mountain that was reaching the heavens, a man stood by the peak. He was wearing clothes that resembled ancient Greece with golden embellishments dancing around his body. A woman walked over to him, bowed and then kneeled, "My King, we have prepared the boat. We have seen them making contact with the new species and then made the new species fight the beast by itself." "How troublesome," the man sighed. "They''ve given us nothing but trouble for these past hundred years. I think it''s time for us to give them a proper lesson." A man was hovering towards them, riding a cloud while wearing simr clothing. He was panting as he approached the man and the woman. "My king, general, they escaped again! They tricked Tobi and he''s now in a critical condition." This made the man growl and roar his lungs out on the skies. His voice made the clouds darken and a rainstorm to appear. "Secure Tobi. It seems like those two wants me to find them myself. When I see them, I''ll rip their heads off and take their Codes." "My king, please rx," another man appeared. He was wearing a thinner and a more revealing clothing than the rest of them while heid on a fluffy-looking cloud. He hovered to therge man and ced both his hands around the man''s waist while he was behind him. "Calm down, my king. It is forbidden for us to take each other''s Codes," the more revealing man said, his voice filled with seduction. "You know what happened to the Gems, and now the Primordials. We can''t let that happen to us." Therge man could only sigh. He ced hisrge hands on the tinier hands that was wrapped around him. "Fine then, my love. I will do as you say." Chapter 126: Gem Weapons Chapter 126: Gem Weapons "Torus was a that was thriving in prosperity and technology," Chara said. "When the gates to the Realms appeared, we weren''t threatened at all. We instantly utilized our weapons and eradicated the monsters that tried to harm us. "But when the Adventurers appeared, everything changed. The once peaceful and prosperous was consumed with greed. Everyone wanted the Codes for themselves. When ten of the Great Stone Code Bearers were killed, my best friend and I knew we were next so we fled but she got caught." Chara offered her hands to both Allen and Jeremy. Both men looked at each other before taking each hand, the woman closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I shall give each you a power. A power that could alter the tides of time and tilt the power bnce of your world." "The Great Stone Codes?" Allen asked, his eyes widening in shock. "You have two?" Chara nodded, "My best friend was the user of the Great Diamond Code. That''s what I''ll give you because you reminded me so much of her. Strong minded, wise, and cunning. All of these are just like her." Allen scrunched his face, "I don''t think I''m thest word you mentioned." Chara didn''t pay notice to him and turned to Jeremy. "And you reminded me so much of myself. Dumb, stupid, but you have a quality that stands out to all." "She downright insulted you," Allen snickered. "And Chara, what quality might that be?" "Honest and loyal," Chara said, making Allen close his mouth. "This man has all these qualities that reminded me of myself and how I was to my friend. But there is an unspoken truth between the two of you that you must unveil." Allen was now convinced that Chara did possess a power to read a character. She knew Allen was lying about something, and she was telling him to tell the truth. There was no other way the woman meant anything. "Can we proceed to the passing of the Codes?" Jeremy said. "I''m excited to have more power. That way, I can be of use to Dante and he won''t just throw me away casually." This made Allen deadpan. He used his free hand to gently smack Jeremy''s arm, making the other boy gasp in shock, saying, "What was that for?" "For being stupid," Allen replied nonchntly. "You know better than that." "I was just kidding, jeez" "Let us begin," Chara interrupted Jeremy and closed her eyes. Allen felt the woman think of the words and a notification rang inside his head. ''Chara wants to give you a Code. ept?'' Allen used his free hand to click on the Yes option. ''Great Diamond Code received.'' Type: Weapon Grade: Sacred (Evolvable) Damage: 300 Effect/s: (1) Hardest Gem - Active. When the user activates Hardest Gem, they will instantly receive 400% boost in stats for 15 seconds. (2) ??? (3) ??? (4) ??? (5) ??? (6) ??? Allen conjured the Code instantly. It was a beautiful rapier sword that was made of a transparent diamond. Everything was made of the gem, but the handle wasfortable and it didn''t weigh too much at all. This was a Code that was made by the gods, it wasn''t a thought to be denied. Allen was more than satisfied to receive the Code from Chara. This Code was a Sacred grade that he can use for some reason. He can weild this de and fight, making him overpowered from the rest of the Hunters in Haven. The base damage of the Code alone was more than enough to one shot a Basic grade beast. It takes about two or three strikes for a Rare grade beast depending on their tier, and a couple of strikes for a Grand grade. When he noticed the rming appearances of more and more stronger beasts in the forest, he had to take action. He needed some kind of protection against these beasts since they were getting more and more rampant. When he encountered he horse, he was lucky that its elemental attribute was weak against one of his weapons. When he''ll encounter a beast simr to the strength of the horse with an elemental attribute strong to any of his weapons, he''s done for. The journey inside the cave was worth it. He even got to learn about the existence of other people from others that was simr to earth. The copse of the cave must be fate and it brought him to Chara to have this Code. Jeremy was holding his weapon. It was a spear made of a green gem which Allen suspected was emerald. Unlike his diamond rapier that had smooth texture and only had minor engravings, the emerald spear was embellished with carvings and art. The pole was littered with curves and designs that traveled from the pommel which had a small hook on it, up to the de of the spear. The de was a long and slender de that was slightly bent. The entire length of the spear was much like Jeremy''s spear that he was usually holding so he said he won''t have much trouble adjusting to his new weapon. "But how did you get two Codes?" Jeremy asked. "You told us about what happened to your life, but you never included the detail on how your friend gave you the Code." Chara shook her head, not answering the question. "My time hase. I have fulfilled my duty, so my job is done. I will finally meet Lana again. We will y in the meadows of the afterlife. I wish to see you there when you finish your endeavors. "Whatever they may be, please do the right thing. There wille a time that the trials will look too much and the world wants you to give up, but remember these words, you have been fighting for too long. Don''t stop now," Chara smiled. Her body started to go transparent, making both boys'' eyes widen. They walked closer to her but she raised her hands to stop them from going any further. "Don''t. My duty all along was to pass down the Codes to the ones who were worthy. You have proven to me that you''re the right choice." ''You, when the timees. Tell him everything.'' Allen heard Chara speak, but when he looked at her, her mouth was closed. He then looked at Jeremy who was nodding. ''The secrets you are keeping, it won''t give you any good thing in the future. So when the time for you to decide the hardest decision of your life, start your move now." "Chara," Allen called out. "Thank you." Chara shook her head and smiled, "You really remind me of Lana. She was just as eloquent as you are. I will go now. This room will cease to exist when I vanish, and you will be forced out. Change the world for the better and don''t let whatever happened to my world happen to yours." "Okay," Allen and Jeremy nodded together. This made Chara snicker before her body has totally gone transparent. Glitters had started to rece her body until such time that she was gone. The moment after she vanished, the entire cave shook and Allen was looking at Jeremy who had the same panicked look in his face. The boys didn''t know what to do, so they ran outside of the room, to the river. But the entire cave had started to copse and the boulders rained down upon them. Allen opened his eyes and found himself outside. His body immediately sprang up and his mind immediately looked for Jeremy. He saw his friendying down beside him, so he shook him. "Hey, wake up." The other boy groggily opened his eyes and slowly sat up. After seeing that Jeremy was okay, Allen instantly checked his storage and saw the Code of the Great Diamond there. "It was real. It was actually real." "You mean Chara?" Jeremy asked. He checked his own storage and saw his Code there too. "Oh, wow. It is real." Allen read the description of the Code again. It was just like the description when he read it inside of Chara''s room. There wasn''t anything different to it. Just like the Snake''s Blessing Code, only the first effect of the Code was visible. The next effects were hidden due to the level restrictions. However, unlike the Snake''s Blessing, this was a weapon that has a 300 base damage. It''s not an understatement if Allen said that this is a killer de. He looked at Jeremy and saw the satisfied look on the man''s face. Chara''s voice resonated in his memory. The woman was clearly warning him of the consequences of his actions if he continues to hide his secret to the one friend that he has in both this new life and the previous one. When the pressure got too strong, he couldn''t help but call out his friend, "Hey. I have something to tell you." Chapter 127: Fangs of Samocha Chapter 127: Fangs of Samocha Jeremy looked at Allen weirdly. The boy''s expression was serious, making him gulp while waiting for Allen to continue what he started. "Is there anything wrong?" "I have to tell you something," Allen said, taking a deep breath. "I" Just before Allen could finish his words, the ground shook. The shaking was too intense, but there wasn''t any kind of beast was approaching them. The trees weren''t shaking, and there wasn''t any footsteps. "It''s from underground!" Allen yelled. "Jump!" They boh leaped off of the ground and into the nearby trees. Right where they stood, the soil bulged out and arge hole appeared appeared. On the edges of the hole were flesh-like rim that has sharp rows of teeths traveling down the pit. The teeth started to spin in different directions, while arge roar came out of the hole. Allen narrowed his eyes and saw a pair of small eyes on the thicker part of the flesh. "That''s a beast," Allen said. "It''s size could devour an entire house, so it must be eat least Sacred." "Another high level beast?" Jeremey asked. "Why are they appearing in Haven when they should only be found in Eternity?" "I don''t know too," Allen replied honestly. "The appearances of these beasts are mysterious even to me. I don''t think we have the right answer to the question." Jeremy and Allen could only watch the beast slowly retreat back in the depths of the earth, leaving a giant hole in the middle of the forest. The boys went back to the hole and inspected it, trying to see if they could find the beast. "That thing was huge," Jeremy whispered, looking at Allen who was also in disbelief. "Do you know what that thing was?" "I-I don''t," Allen replied. "But judging by its size, we shouldn''t stay here for now. Let''s move to another" Again, the ground shook and the earth bulged once more. This time, the worm appeared quicker than thest time, sparing both boys less time to react. "F*ck!" Allen cursed. Jeremy, with a determined look on his face, pushed Allen to the side. He conjured his spear and spun it, his eyebrows meeting as he waited for the worm to appear. Allen didn''t know what Jeremy was nning nor was hefortable by the sudden decision. With a quick swift push, he pushed him and Jeremy off of the spot as the hole appeared and the teeth started to spun. "What were you thinking?" Allen asked. "You can''t fight such beast. Even with your spear." "But the spear has 450 damage," Jeremy said. "This can one hit a Grand grade beast. If I could just hit this beast a couple of times, we can finally defeat it." Allen pondered for a second. He inspected the description of his Code and saw the damage which was 300. He then asked Jeremy the damage of the emerald spear, and the boy answered him, "450 damage points. It''s too strong, but I can somehow weild it." "Oh," Allen nodded. He just left the thought out of the carpet, sweeping it forter. He can''t let Jeremy know that he has a different attribute than him. Their weapons were of the same grade and same type, but they don''t have the same damage? His conversation with Sebastian entered his mind again. The man said that not all of the Primordial Beasts have the same level. Some were stronger than the others, and maybe this was also the case for the Great Stone Codes. They have different levels, but Allen has yet to know the reason why. He was thinking that some would have an advantage in their effects and how effective the user would use the effects, but they all have the same potential. Growl. Growl. Growl. The beast retreated again. Allen and Jeremy looked at each other, knowing that it''s going toe up again. This time though, they were prepared. When the ground started to shake and the earth bulged, the boys leaped up the spot. The hole appeared once more, the teeth spinning like endless spinning wheels with sharp teeth. The teeth were spinning faster this time, as if they were wheels of sports cars that were running in a in road. "In three seconds," Allen said. "Three, two, one!" They both targeted the eyes of the beast. Allen conjured the diamond sword and they each took a stab on the eyes. The beast growls, and the teeth spun even faster. They were grinning to each other as they saw the HP of the beast drop. It was a few secondster when the beast finally sumbed to the pain and dropped dead. Its body instantly became saggy and it fell to the bottom of the pit. Allen wished that he was the one whost hit it with his effects, but sadly, it wasn''t the case. "Oh, my god," Jeremy whispered. "I got the Code!" Allen''s eyes widened. He grinned and jumped with his friend, both making sure to stay away from the hole while they were screaming with joy. "It''s a Sacred grade beast indeed," Jeremy said. "I got the notification. I got a whole lot of EXP, enough to level me up once." Allen forgot that unlike other Hunters, the beasts'' benefits for killing them had different effect for him, and that his level had far surpassed most of the Hunter in Haven. He was grinding so much that he already reached the peak of the Haven Hunters, he just didn''t realize it. Allen felt weird after seeing his level. He was at level 41. The level for ascension was 50, so he was almost there. He forgot that he had been hunting day and night with beasts that were far superior from the rest of the beasts in the world. He often encountered Rare grade beast. The more he leveled up, the more frequent the Rare grades would be. It reached until the time that the number of Rare grades he encountered were more than the Basic grade beasts. He didn''t even need to take a look of the items of the Basic grades. The Rare grades dropped higher quality items, therefore bearing higher quality crafts in the Crafting Table. "What was the Code?" Allen asked Jeremy. The boy pursed his lips as he read the description of the Code out loud. Type: Weapon Grade: Sacred Damage: 300 Effect/s: (1) Fang Wheel - Active - The weapon will morph into arge spinning wheel that has des protruding on the sides. This morphed form will inherit an additional 30% of the user''s damage. (2) ??? (3) ??? (4) ??? (5) ??? (6) ??? "The other effects are also like the Emerald Code," Jeremy said. "Are they hidden because we''re not at the level requirement yet? Is there even a level requirement for these?" Allen just shrugged, pretending that he didn''t know the answer, "Maybe? I don''t really know." "Oh," Jeremy pursed his lips. "And the damage is less than the emerald spear too. Maybe because the Emerald Code was a different ss than this. This Code isn''t also Evolvable like the Emerald Code. Maybe this was their main difference." Allen just nodded while he was looking at Jeremy. He waited for the boy to conjure the weapon so he could see what it looked like. "I know you''re waiting for me to conjure it," Jeremy chuckled. "Let''s go." Jeremy opened his hand and called out for the weapon. An orb of light shot out of his palm and hovered above his hand before manifesting into arge broadsword. The de of the sword had teeth like the beast. It had the length of about the entire arm of Jeremy with a handle that was as long as his forearm. The handle was wrapped with a thinyer of rubber that looked like it was skin. On the de were teeth protruding on the side without the sharp edge. Each teeth pointed towards the tip of the de, looking like fangs that were thin but also circr in shape. "This de looks sick," Jeremy gasped. He then activated the first effect, taking a step back when the weapon created a churning sound. The de of the sword slowly extended in the length. Both boys looked at each other, grinning as the de slolwy formed arge ring that was spinning above the handle. The speed of the ring was slow and steady. Jeremy tried to touch it, and the de''s speed didn''t increase nor decrease. It was just spinning endlessly while the boys looked at it in awe. "Why don''t you try shooting it away?" Allen suggested. "We don''t know. Maybe it would shoot like Captain America''s ring." "Who even is that?" Jeremy asked. "It''s from an oldic," Allen replied. "It was really old, so maybe you haven''t heard of it." "Okay," Jeremy nodded and took a couple of steps away. He raised his weapon and spun it a couple of times, the ring followed the handle until Jeremy swung the handle forward, making the ring spin faster and shoot forward. "Woah." Chapter 128: Lullaby of the Geisha Chapter 128: Luby of the Geisha The weapon that Jeremy recently got was far superior to most often Allen''s weapons. He wished hest hit the worm beast, but since he didn''t, he had no other choice but to ept his fate. This was also probably for the better. Since Jeremy wasn''t as strong as he was, when another beast would appear, at least he could defend himself and not let Allen shoulder the fight alone. Other than the fact that Allen could still stealthilyst hit the beasts, he would have no other problems. Maybe he would let Jeremyst hit some so it wouldn''t be too obvious, but when ites to important-looking beasts, himself was the priority. "Okay," Jeremy kept the weapon back and looked ate Allen. "What do we do now?" "Grind," Allen said. "And on second thoughts, I think I''ll do this." Allen summoned his Bodies, shocking Jeremy who was looking at him weirdly. "What?" "You''re summoning them, why?" Jeremy asked. "I thought you could do it on your own." "I figured that if the Wandering Trader would have several different figures, it will be hard to be tracked down," he said. "Think about it. My own body figure is too obvious. There''s not a lot of people who has a tall and lean build like I do. "Most hunters are either tall and buff, just a regr height but is skinny, or short and lean," Allen continued. "You know that the roles doesn''t just affect the personality of the Hunter, but as well as their physical appearance one they have been Hunting for a while. The roles will seep into their souls basically." "And you know this from a fact?" Jeremy quirked his eyes up. "Well anyway, as long as you know what you''re doing, I''m only here to help you." "Thanks," Allen smiled. His Bodies had fully manifested themselves and they were now standing beside him. He ordered them to walk around the forest as a start. He still has ways to go before he can make them Hunt and perform swift andplex moves like him." All three of his Bodies walked around the small clearing, walking in circles as their head looked around slowly. Allen was focusing his entire energy on making them move, but he was getting too focused on them. "Just rx," Jeremy whispered. "You''re doing a good job right now." "Yes, you are!" A familiar female voice cheered somewhere above them. Both boys turned to its direction and saw Queeny standing on top of a tree. She was smirking at them, giving them a wink before shended on the ground gracefully. "I knew I''d find you here," Queeny said. "My real body is back in Camp Tw. I just sent Queeny to deliver you something." "Deliver me what?" Allen asked. Queeny offered her hand to which Allen reluctantly took. "What is this" Type: Skill Grade: Grand Effect/s: (1) Active - Performs a song that will lull all non-allied units around a 20-meter area. (2) Passive - The damage to the sleeping units will increase by 30%. (3) ??? (4) ??? "What''s this?" Allen asked. "Why did you give me this?" "I have a mission for you," Queeny said. "You" "Well, the thing is, we don''t do missions," Jeremy said, surprising both Allen and Queeny. "We make deals." "He''s right," Allen said. "I must oversee the contents of this deal and make sure that both parties would have equal benefits." "Two million dors including that Code," Queen smirked. "That''s the prize of this deal. All you have to do is find the badge of a fallen Hunter." Allen and Jeremy looked at each other, "Fallen Hunter?" "Anthony Silva," Allen read the file. "Twenty-seven years old, 188cm, 70kg, brte hair, has a mole on his face, has a tattoo on his arm, and his hair was a wolf cut style." "They expected us to find a corpse of a Hunter that has been missing for three weeks?!" Jeremy growled. "And in a den filled with lions at that. And you even epted it." "The Code that Queeny gave me is going to be very useful," Allen said. "It will make the lions fall asleep while we retrieve the body and leave. It''s not that hard." "But it''s a den of lions, Dante," Jeremy tried to argue. "A den of lions doesn''t sound too appealing for me. I''ll only have a part of that reward and I don''t even think it''s worth it." "They''ll give us two million dors each," Allen looked up to see the dor bills on Jeremy''s eyes. "You still think it''s not worth it?" Jeremy paused for a second. He chuckled and shook his head, "Who said anything like that? Two million dors for getting a body? That''s nothing." This made Allenugh. "You''re hopeless. But I''m no better. The sooner we leave, the better. It''s going to be dangerous when the nightes. The lions will be taken care of tomorrow." "But how will we contact Kevin?" Jeremy asked. "He didn''t leave anything for us to contact him with." "He gave us a bit of a deadline," Allen replied. "He wille back here, in this same spot tomorrow at nighttime. When we''re not here until morninges, the deal will be off." "What if we got stranded inside?" Jeremy asked. "The deal will be off?" Allen shrugged, "If we got stranded halfway through the task, we''ll have until morning to figure things out." "That''s the catch," Jeremy deadpanned. "I knew two million dors was going to be too much." Allen just chuckled and prepared their camp. For the night, they will n their attack. The den of the lions was located at the part of the forest where the forest meets the savannah fields. It was right at the frontier where the cold meets the warm, making it the optimum ce for beasts to live. From where they currently are, the den wasn''t too far. The boys decided to leave at dawn right where the sun would rise. It will be enough time for them to get to where the den was when the sun was up, but not toote that it would be hard for them to go back. From the information regarding the den, all Kevin told them was that it was an open cave that was filled with trees. By open cave, Kevin meant that the cave had no ceiling except from the trees that towered over it. From a nce, it was no question that it was a pride''s den. The lions that were roaming around the cave were too many, looking dangerously with their mane made of vines and their fur that were made of grass. Each lion had a symbol on their forehead and there were three symbols. Allen knew that these three represents their role in the pride. A trident-like shape resembles that the lion was a hunter, a circle shape symbolizes the lion as a homemaker, and thest and the rarest one was the cross symbol which meant that the lion led a group of lions. All the lions in the pride looked male biologically. All of them had the same vine like manes, but the main difference between the male and female was that the females have flowers on their manes as opposed to the males which had thorns on the vines. Allen could tell that there were about one female per two male in the pride, apetent opposite to the single male and multiple females in the pride on earth. The beasts from the Otherworlds were indeed different. "You should start," Jeremy said while they were looking from a tree. The tree was tall and the branch they were standing on was far from the cave, so they had to teavel down to reach the pride. Allen sighed and activated the Code that Kevin gave him. The notification rang, signaling the start of the activation of the Code. Then, Allen felt his body move on its own. He leaped down the branch he was standing on andnded right in front of the cave where the lions were. Upon seeing the boy, the lions immediately growled. They lowered their bodies and prepared to pounce on the boy, seething aura of anger and fury. Allen wanted to close his eyes in fear. He didn''t want to see himself die just yet. His mouth opened and his voice came out of his mouth. "The virtues that you possess are unmatched," Allen started to sing. It had the tune of a children''s song, so Allen knew it was the luby that the Code mentioned. "You are the light that shines upon the earth. You are the fury that burns in my heart" The boys continued to sing as a visible streaks of line appeared in the air. The lines were like from a musical note, the musical symbols also appearing and dancing with it. Not a few momentster, every lion in the den fell asleep, leaving Allen to finish his song. "Wow." Chapter 129: Cave Woman Chapter 129: Cave Woman The boys wandered through the cave. It wasn''t dark since the roof of the cave was nonexistent, but it was dim enough that they had to use a light source. The trees that towered above the cave provided the shade. "Do you even know where the body could be?" Jeremy asked. "It could be anywhere. It could even be out of this cave." "I don''t know any answer to your questions," Allen replied with a sigh. "But we can only hope that we find the body soon. Since it''s been only a few weeks, we could follow it through the smell." The two entered a small arch and instantly, a heavy stency of decaying flesh waft inside their noses. The boys had to cover their nosed to not puke by how disgusting the smell was. "This smell is disgusting," Jeremy whispered. "How many dead bodies are here?" Allen did not answer. Jeremy was the one who walked ahead since he was the one who had the light, and Allen was following him. The boy at the back was only silent as he looked around, wondering why there weren''t any corpse around them. "I don''t understand this," Allen whispered. "We could smell the corpses, but we don''t see any." "I know," Jeremy whispered back. "Where could they be" Suddenly, a drop of red liquidnded on Jeremy''s forehead. The boy''s eyes widened as he lookd at Allen who had the same mortified look as he had. "D-Dante" Allen slowly looked up, only to gasp in shock after seeing the bodies hanging from the trees. Humans, smaller beasts, and evenrger beasts were hanging on the vines of the trees. The vines were wrapping around each carcass like they were perfectly hanging from above. "What the hell" Allen gulped, fear creeping on his skin. "Can lions even do this?" "Of course, not," Jeremy said. "This is straight up human shit. These lions can''t even hold a thing right, let alone hang bodies in trees." "That''s because they really can''t." Both boys turned to where the voice came from. It was a woman with white hair that draped to her butt. Her body was slender and she was wearing small parts of animal fur as clothing. She walked forward while her right hand wielded a stone sword. "I did this." Roar. The lions have awoken. The beasts ran towards them, sprinting quickly and surrounding the boys while leaving a small path for the woman. She was smirking as she walked closer to the boys, while Allen and Jeremy were shaking in fear. "I can feel a strange magicing from the two of you," the woman said. "It seems like you have something in you that doesn''t quite belong to you and your world. An alien Code." Allen knew exactly what she meant. The woman was referring to the Great Stone Codes that he and Jeremy possessed. How the woman knew that they possessed it was way beyond his knowledge. His goal right now was to escape the pride of lions as well as the woman. This may be an incredibly difficult feat after seeing the bodies above them. Most of the carcasses looked like they were once mighty foes to be reckoned with. But now they are found hanging on a tree. This was nothing like anything in Allen''s ns. He was going to rule earth properly. He''s not going to die here. "What if we do?" Allen asked. "Will you let us go or will you kill us like the rest of them?" The woman scrunched her face and tilted her head to the side. "My boy, why would I kill anyone? My lions and I would never harm a human like me. They only hunt small beasts so that they could eat while some of them would hunt deer for me too." "Why are you lying?" Allen asked. You don''t have to lie. I know what you''re doing. You''re trying to make us lose our guard so you can let your lions pounce on us." "These lions are upset because you lulled them to sleep," the woman crossed her arms and pouted. "You could''ve just say that you wanted to enter our lovely home." One of the lion, a male lion, walked up to Jeremy. The boy closed his eyes and raised his hands defensively, only to feel a warm head of the beast rub against his leg. He opened his eyes and saw the lion, looking up at him. "Oh, god," Jeremy breathed out. "What the hell?" Allen then shook his head, "Then what about those?" Allen pointed at therge number of carcasses above them. The woman looked up, then her eyes widened. "What is that?" "You''re telling me that you didn''t do that?" Allen scoffed. "Don''t lie to me." The woman shook her head, her eyes still wide with shock. She fell to the ground with her lions running up to her in worry. Some of them started growling at Allen, all angry at the suspicion that he did something to their mother. "Woman, why did you kill them?" Allen asked. The woman sighed and shook her head, as if she was clearing her head. "Boy, I could never kill these people. I couldn''t smell them because I lost my sense of smell and my eyes are broken. I never once looked up there." "But if you didn''t do it, then who did?" Jeremy asked. He was now kneeling on the ground while ying with the lions, to which Allen was not one hundred percent was d that he was doing. "And why wouldn''t you look up? The trees are beautiful apart from the dead bodies." "I told you, my eyes are broken. It''s too sensitive to light that if I look up to the skies, I would be blinded for the rest of my life. My nose lost its ability to smell back in my younger years too," the woman said. "I don''t know anymore." "Woman," Allen called out. "Who exactly are you?" The woman smiled, "My name is Drafara. I am from" Before she could finish, a hole was fixed on her chest. Allen and Jeremy looked at each other in shock, not believing what happened. Allen ran up to her while the woman coughed blood. "No!" Allen yelled. The lions were suddenly panicking, all disoriented by the sudden death of the woman. "Pinch me," Drafara said. "Quick! On the arm!" Allen didn''t know what to do. He did as was told and pinched the woman on her arm. Drafara smiled before her body went limp, Allen sat there not knowing what to do. ''Sacred grade Hunter killed. +5000EXP. Several Codes gained. Grand to Sacred.'' "The target has been neutralized." Both boys heard Queeny say from nearby. They turned to the side and saw Queeny there, holding a sniper rifle on one hand while her other hand was on her ear. "Pick up the body." "Kevin, what the hell?" Jeremy growled. "That woman" "Was a Lunatic," Queeny replied. "She used the lions to kill those bodies and then hang them up there like a Christmas decoration. She''s not innocent." "But she looked innocent, she even sounded innocent," Allen argued. " Do you have any proof of what you''re saying?" Queeny sighed and leaped from the branch she was on. The lions started to disperse, making both boys'' face contorted in confusion. The puppet raised her hand and showed them her phone. On the screen was a video from above a tree. It was the footage taken of the cave right where they stood. On the video was a man being tied up in a wooden pole. He was naked from head to toe, while the lions along with Drafara walked around him. "That man is their most recent target," Queeny said. "Peter ck. A Hunter that specializes inbat. He was sent here with the intention to neutralize Drafara. But the lions had sensed his hostility, therefore they attacked him before he could even flinch." "Drafara is a menace. She was a Hunter that went crazy," Queeny continued. "Along the way of her hunting, she found the Code that allowed her to control these lions. She programmed the beast to attack when hostility is present, that was why I sent the both of you because you know nothing about her, so your hostility would be nonexistent." "Kevin" Allen trailed off. Queeny looked at him and waited for him to continue, but Allen shook his head. "Nevermind." "Okay, then," Queeny nodded. "People will be dispatched here to clean the corpses. The money will be sent to you by tonight. You can keep the Code." Without saying another word, Queeny left. She leaped up the branches and vanished not a few momentster. Jeremy sighed and fell to the ground, still in shock about what happened. "What was all that about?" Jeremy asked. "One moment she was a sweet olddy, then she was actually a murderous psychopath?" However, Allen was already in deeper thought. He was still confused about something. Hunters can gain EXP by killing other Hunters. Chapter 130: New Codes Chapter 130: New Codes "What the hell," Allen could only whisper to himself. Type: Skill Grade: Grand Effect/s: (1) Active - Locates all entities in a 100-meter area. This skill has a 30-minute cooldown. (2) Passive - The number of Grand grade or higher entities are located by Effect 1 increases the movement speed of the user by 10%. (3) ??? (4) ??? This was an impressive Code for Allen. With this, he could find all of the enemies around them, making it less likely for a surprise attack. It also has a rtively short cooldown, allowing him to spam the effect more often. Allen did need such a Code like this. Considering that him and Jeremy were frequently getting attacked by stronger beasts, Allen needed a defense mechanism for them. It''s not all the time that they''re in a condition to fight. Maybe in the future when they just came out of a fight or exhausted for some reason, a beast woulde and attack them. They would be in a huge disadvantage and that could cost them their lives. With this Code however, at least they''re informed of something that''s approaching them if and when it starts to attack them. Type: Skill Grade: Grand Effect/s: (1) Active - Marks 2 opponents. (2) Passive - The damage dealt to the two marked opps will be shared. (3) ??? (4) ??? Another strong Code from the crazy woman. Judging from these two Codes alone, Allen wanted to know the identity of the woman before she became crazy and started her killing spree. These two Codes alone were already at Grand grade, what more Codes does she possess? The second one Allen got was more of an offensive Code. It had a pretty basic mechanic. When Allen shoots the Code, the target along with one of theirrades will share the damage taken by one of them. He was still unsure if this works with beasts too or if the damage would be halved, but this was a good Code to be used in the future or sold to the right buyer. Type: Weapon Grade: Grand Damage: Dependent Effect/s: (1) Active - The de shall charge the damage taken for the past 10 minutes and will use 45% of the damage as Damage attribute. (2) Passive - When wielding the weapon, the user shall block 60% of the damage taken. (The blocked damage will not affect the damage received by Effect 1) (3) ??? (4) ??? This Code was a really good one and ir was also a weapon, meaning it was umon. Though this was more for the Hunters with high HP and defense, Allen could still use this in the future. The Code will stack the damage that was dealt against the user for the past 10 minutes and use a portion of it as its own damage. So if the damage was incredibly high, the damage of the weapon would also be incredibly high. 45% is not a small amount after all. The biggest setback for this Code has to be the fact that the effect would take a long time to be activated. If the user has a short HP or has a low defense, then this Code wouldn''t be for them. Though the problem was solved by the second effect which blocks most of the iing damage. So basically when the enemy fires 100 damage points, the user shall receive only 40 damage points, but will still count 100 damage points for the effect 1. Allen thought deeply about this and he was sure enough to make use of the weapon in the future. Type: Weapon Grade: Sacred Damage: 300 Effect/s: (1) Demon Lord''s Envy - Active - After five sessive strikes to the same target, the user shall have a 20% chance to steal a Code from the target. The strike will not base its effect on the damage output. This has a cooldown of 40 seconds. (2) ??? (3) ??? (4) ??? (5) ??? (6) ??? A Sacred grade Code that Allen will keep instead of trading. This Code was a shortcut for his Code collecting prowess. The fact that he can get one Code every three kills, and a ten percent chance to gain one every five strikes was a feat that every Hunter should be wary of. Currently, he was a force to be reckoned with and he will not stop growing. However, he had one minor problem regarding this Code and thest one. Type: Skill Grade: Sacred Effect/s: (1) Green Control - Active - When faced with an beast with an attribute of a nature or grass, the user shall have a 70% of putting it in their control. (2) ??? (3) ??? (4) ??? (5) ??? (6) ??? Another Sacred grade Code. Allen''s Sacred grade slots were grayed out because of the maxed out number of Codes his slots can handle. Currently, he has six including the two new ones he got from the woman. He can''t use the Demon Lord''s Envy and Green Control because of the limit. However, what he can do was switch the order of the slots so he can use the more important Codes and store the rest. This was what he has been doing since he gained too many Rare grade Codes. He had been modifying the order of the Codes just so he could use the ones that are important. "Allen?" The boy woke up from his train of thoughts after he was called by Jeremy. It had been a couple of days since they were in the forest, and now it''s time to go back. It was the seventh andst day, but Allen could say that his week was the most productive week so far. He gained a lot of high-grade Codes, he knew about the existence of another, and then he could control his Bodies better. For thest few days, he was letting the Bodies fight the Basic grade beasts that they encounter. Of course, it was unnecessary, but he needed to train himself to control the Bodies better. Jeremy was there to wait for him patiently too. While he was having a hard time making the Bodies move, Jeremy was doing the logistics. The man was settling the Codes they were going to sent Hilda, and the Codes avable for trading. He also sorted out the money they earned from Kevin a few days back, making a n on what to spend it to. While he was doing all that, Allen was grateful. The abilities that Jeremy possessed towards these things were much more than him. The man was useful to him more than he had ever thought. Telling Jeremy the truth was absolutely worth it for Allen. "We''re almost there," Jeremy informed to which Allen nodded to. They walked to the path where the camp was and were both baffled when they saw therge metal gates being closed. "Who are you and what do you need?" a man yelled from a tower that was built in the wall. Allen looked at him, seeing an unfamiliar middle-aged man with a military uniform. "Speak!" "We are a group that was hunting in the forest," Allen made Vince reply. "I left my ID here about a week ago because it was the policy." The guard nodded, "What is your name?" Allen made Vince state his name and the gates finally opened. Him and Jeremy looked at each other before entering the camp, seeing a much more dested ce than ever. It was even more barren than when the poison case spread. "What happened?" Vince asked the guard who was now down on the ground facing them. "This ce didn''t look like this before we left." "The Primordial Beast Bearers have been attacked," the guard replied. "I assume you haven''t heard about it since you were at the forest, but three of them were attacked. It''s a good thing they didn''t die." "Who attacked them?" Vince asked, to which the guard answered with a shrug. "If we know, we wouldn''t be isting the camps and investigating each nook and cranny of the Otherworlds and in Earth," the guard replied. "We''re not pointing fingers, but we''re starting to believe that the Snake did all these. The number of people who also joined his faction also grew significantly. There''s no other exnation." Allen did not mind what the guard said. Of course, the Primordial Beast Bearers would me the Snake. It was the safest option they have. One, it would make a false sense of peace for the people and two, they wouldn''t need much information to pursue the Snake. They would just focus on him. "I really think this is all bullsh*t," Jeremy said as they headed towards Allen''s room. When they got inside, he instantly plopped down the sofa and sighed. "The Snake couldn''t have gain that much power in the few months that he got the Code. It''s virtually impossible!" Allen could only shrug. He deactivated the Bodies and plopped down beside Jeremy, "I don''t know anymore." Chapter 131: Worn Out Codes Chapter 131: Worn Out Codes nk. nk. nk. Silence. nk. nk. nk. "Why do women need to wear heels?" Allen narrowed his eyes as he let Stacey walk around the house carrying a bow that he crafted. She was the supposed ranger of the group and now that Allen started to train himself to control them forbat, he realized that Stacey was the hardest to control. All because of her heels. Stacey was an assassin and she needed to be agile. However, due to her heels being the only shoes that were avable for her, Allen was having the hardest time making her run and actually do something assassins would do like swerve midway or jump in a nick of time. Oliver and Vince were standing beside him, not doing anything as he focused himself on Stacey. Herbat abilities were at the level of an average Hunter like the two, but she looked like she''s a newbie since Allen couldn''t control the heels. The door opened, prompting Allen to look to the side and saw Jeremy enter the room. "She looked better than she did before I left. You really are a fast learner?" Allen crossed his arms and deadpanned, "Tell me the truth. There''s only two of us here." "She looked as bad as before," Jeremy didn''t hesitate to speak. He shook his head after seeing the pout on Allen''s face. "Oh,e on. Don''t look so down. You''re doing well considering that controlling someone on heels isn''t an easy task." "Yeah," Allen sighed. "How was Hilda and her store?" "Steady growth," Jeremy replied. He took out a clipboard from his suitcase and read the report from Hilda. "Being a secretary isn''t so bad after all. I finally get to use the knowledge I took in college. Only a degree in economics was avable in San Fernando, so I took it and then went to police academy here." Allen tasked Jeremy to handle the situation regarding the logistics. After seeing how much Jeremy could do with sorting things, heid all the responsibilities to the man. He also told him that he has a higher chance of getting Codes from the rest of the Hunters, that was why he has the surplus in Codes. Jeremy, who fully knew that this was all a lie, believed him. He already entrusted his job to Allen, what more could he offer? The only thing that he wanted was for Allen''s assurance that he''ll survive and grow even stronger. "Hilda is a very sweet olddy," Jeremy noted. "Howe you don''t get to see her more often?" "I''m busy," Allen replied with a sigh. "Do you know how hard it is for women to wear heels? Let alone a man controlling a woman how to walk on these shoes." "Should I call Gwen?" Jeremy asked. "That woman wears heels even at work. And we chase quite a lot of people here in Haven. Maybe she can give you advices." "Let''s have dinner," Allen said. "Call her and Gary. I think those two are getting closer than we think." With those words, Allen deactivated the Bodies and slouched on the couch. He let Jeremy call their friends while he took a quick nap where he drifted into a dream that he never thought he''d visit. - Whoosh. Allen opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a clearing. Therge trees that surrounded the bald patch of forest grass were too tall and looked like they were exuding malicious aura around them. The boy looked around. There was nobody there but himself. His curiosity got the best of him and he approached the edge of the clearing where a faint sound of people screaming was heard. "Hello?" Allen called out, but nobody responded. "Is there anyone there?" "Don''t go there!" Allen spun after he heard the voice. He couldn''t believe his eyes when hended his eyes on the person who called out to him. "Y-You are" "I believe you know me," Drake Nelson said with a smile. "Your Code allows me to connect to you." "But you''re dead," Allen said. "Then this must be a dream. I must be dreaming." "Your dreams are realities from where you got the Snake," Drake said. "Whether it was from the past or present, your dreams are not just dreams anymore. All Bearers are like that." "Anything could be said and done by anyone in my dream," Allen said. "You''re just a figment of my imagination that I''m trying to make into my reality. You''re not real!" Drakeughed lightly, "My death was nned by someone closer to me than you think. The Codes also tell the future, but there is a condition for that. If I tell you now, the future will be changed. And for that to not happen, and make sure that the best possible future is in the odds of the right, I''ll just tell you one bit of a secret." "This is scary," Allen whispered. "You''re dead but you can still talk to me." "Mainly because of the connection between Codes," Drake replied. "It goes way deeper than just physical worlds. Isn''t that right, miss?" Whoosh. Another swirl of breeze passed through, and Allen''s eyes got even wider after a woman stepped out from nowhere. She was wearing a cleaner and more formal clothes than thest time Allen saw her, but he couldn''t be mistaken. "Drafara?" Allen gasped. "You''re also here. Does that mean" "I was the owner of the Primordial Dog Code before Remy," Drafara said. "I was her team captain before I left as a Hunter. Speaking of Remy, her life is in danger." "I heard," Allen whispered. "The Hunters who were attacked by the unknown person was Remy, Keh, and Bernard. Even Bernard was attacked. That man was strong as hell. He could solo kill the Fire Dragon if he wanted." Allen remembered the news that Jeremy told him after the boy eavesdropped in the market. The three Hunters were back in earth to investigate on Drake Nelson''s death when they got attacked. Luckily, the news said that nobody died but there was anplication that was brought upon them. Allen was yet to know about what theplication was, but he just knew that it was serious. "Boy," Drafara said. "Not all Primordial Beast Bearers are alike in terms of potential." Allen tilted his head to the side, confused as to what was the woman talking about. "What?" "Not all of them are equal. Some are stronger than the others," Drake replied. "Like the weapon Codes'' integrity, the Primordial Beast Codes also have their own integrity. The more the Code is being passed down to other people, the more it is weaker." "What?" Allen gasped. "That means Bernard''s Code has been worned out?" Drake and Drafara nodded at the same time with thetter answering, "The worn out effect is just too great that if it has been passed down two times, it will be just like a high tier Sacred grade Code after it has evolved." "W-Woah," Allen was speechless. "Can you tell me which Bearers are the first users? Maybe I can narrow it down and find out who the culprit is." "Only Lin and I are the first users," Drake replied. "But Lin has a support role, so even when we have the same level of power, she was less likely to win a fight against me." "But you also have to remember that you were alone while the attacker was with a lot of people when they attacked," Allen said. "Or do you trust her that much?" "I believe it''s not from the Primordial Beast Bearers," Drake said, cutting the conversation short. "I trust every single one of them. It must be from the ones in Eternity who have created a faction against us. Allen, you have to know that we''re always watching you. If you ever feel the need to talk to someone, just look at the skies and know that we''re there, listening. The fate of the world hangs in a bnce and you''re the only one who can tilt it to the right direction." "Wow, thanks for the pressure," Allen chuckled nervously. This made both Drake and Drafara chuckle. "But I will do whatever I can to save the world. Also, Drafara, may I ask what led you to misery?" The woman paused for a moment, clearly caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean, boy?" "You lived in the jungle for some reason, may I know why?" Allen asked to which Drafara looked at Drake and chuckled. "You''ll know if you look at the right path," Drafara replied. "You can look up my name in a library somewhere. Maybe a database?" Allen opened his mouth to ask more but he felt himself plunged to the ground. The boy felt suffocating as he opened his eyes and found himself in his room with Jeremy looking at him with worry. "What happened to you?" Jeremy asked. "You took a five-minute nap and you suddenly feel like you''ve been drowned." "I-I''m alright," Allen said as he gulped. "I''m really alright." Chapter 132: Meet Chapter 132: Meet "Why do I feel like I haven''t seen you both in a month?" Gwen said as they ate. "You two looked so different than when Ist met up with you." "You haven''t seen us in a week and a half and then you act like that," Jeremy deadpanned. "It''s a shame we even work together for the past few years and you even said to me before that you already memorized every detail of me." "Exactly!" Gwen said. "That is why I know something is different because I know you." "Dante," Jeremy said. "Do you mind, I asked a couple of friends over because they said they were in the camp. They were the friends that visited me in the hospital before." Allen''s eyes widened, but he quickly took it back. The boy just nodded and put on a fake smile. "Yeah, sure." Jeremy smiled and suddenly raised his hands. Three people from a nearby table stood and walked up to them, Kyle, Selena, and Irene. "Hey guys, it''s been a while." Allen knew better. He wanted to act mature around his ex friends, but he was having a hard time doing so. Albeit he knew about what actually happened all those years ago, the memories in his mind were still conflicting. Allen wanted to believe the true memories, but he just couldn''t. He was still both heartbroken and upset about it. But he doesn''t hold a grudge against these people, he just felt bitter towards them. "Hello," Kyle smiled to Allen. "I remember you now. You''re that boy from the Skill Altar that I saw a few months ago." Allen wanted to smack his head down the table after Kyle mentioned this. Before, when they met at the hospital, Kyle wasn''t able to remember him. However, now that the ce and time was so random, he does? "Yeah," Allen replied with a chuckle. "I also remember now. I asked you about how the Skill Altar worked." "You do remember me!" Kyle cheered excitedly. He pushed Jeremy out of his spot and sat next to Allen. They were in a booth where the seats were a long round shapes that enclosed the table. Kyle just nudged his other friend out of his spot just so he could talk to Allen better. "How are you?" Kyle asked. "I forgot about you back in the hospital when Jeremy was there, but if you could remember I was silent the whole time because I was deeply thinking where I saw you before." "Oh," Allen chuckled nervously. He looked at Selena and Irene who were smirking, knowing how their friend would act. Even Allen knew that this was just Kyle''s attitude. The man was bubbly and was always happy that he often bringe cheerfulness and warmth to where he goes. They were talking until the night had set and finally, was walking home. Jeremy and Allen were back in Allen''s unit. Thetter was still forcing Jeremy to go back to his own ce, but he insisted on staying. "I need to be here at all times. I am your secretary." "No," Allen said. He was pushing Jeremy out of the bathroom after he saw the man brought out a toothbrush. "Why do you have to stay here? You have your own apartment in this camp." "I sold it," Jeremy replied simply. "Well, not actually sold it because these units were free, but I gave it away." Allen scoffed, "And why the hell would you do something like that? Are you out of your mind?" "Maybe," Jeremy chuckled. He won the pushing contest and walked inside the bathroom to brush his teeth. "Don''t you worry though. I will clean the house and do yourundry while you focus on training." "Clean my what?" Allen scrunched his face. "What would you clean when we''re in the forest to grind 90% of the time?" Jeremy paused. "Oh. Then I guess I''ll go serve you when we''re in the forest." Allen finally gave up. He knew that Jeremy won''t surrendered until he does what exactly what the man wanted. He walked in his room and made sure to lock it so Jeremy wouldn''t be able to enter. - A day had passed and the curfew got even more strict. After the three Primordial Beast Bearers were attacked, the curfew for the days that groups were allowed to hunt were reduced to only four and for solo Hunters, they must return by nightfall. The punishment of investigation and a charge to essory to murder was still in the line, so everyone should follow the curfew rules whether they liked it or not. "I heard from the market," Jeremy said. "Hunters are quitting." "Quitting?" Allen asked. "But why? Most normal people would kill to be a Hunter, and now they want to quit?" "Let me iterate my statement," Jeremy fake cleared his throat. "The solo Hunters are quitting." "Oh, makes sense," Allen nodded. "Nobody could grind in a day in the forest. What Code will you get? None. You can''t even hunt a decent amount of beasts for raw materials with that time frame." "I know," Jeremy sighed. "I just feel pitiful towards them. Being a Hunter is already a very dangerous job. A lot of us are Hunters because of the desperation. But because of this silly new rules, the desperate have lost all hope." "We can''t do anything about that," Allen just shrugged and continued walking. They arrived at the gate and the same old man was there. However, this time the man looked more stress than he did before. Allen let Vince handle the negotiation while him and Jeremy stood at the back. They watched the man sluggishly checked all their ID cards and sighing from time to time. "Is there a problem, sir?" Allen made Vince asked. "You look like you''re filled with problems." "No, no," the man replied. "I don''t have a problem." "Are you sure?" Vince tried to milk the words out from the man''s mouth. There was silence for a couple of seconds and Allen wanted to give up when the man suddenly spoke. "Money is tight right now," the man said. "And then I don''t really have anything to do than work as a toll person. I can''t earn from other jobs." Allen looked at Jeremy who was smirking. "I think we can offer him a trade." "But if we cancel our trip now, it would be too suspicious," Allen said. "We have to let this one go." "Oh," Jeremy said out loud, making everyone look at him. He leaned in to the guard and looked at Allen, whispering, "Dante, do you remember that we have a certain someone as a contact? He could give this old man money." "Money?" the man leaned in. "What money?" "Do you know the Wandering Trader?" Jeremy asked. "We know how to contact him. We can contact him for your appointment tonight if you want." "That sounds just like what I need," the guard said. "I''ll cancel your trip right now. You go contact him and tell him to meet in the alley between the buildings orange and dandelion in the Rundown street." "Okay, bro," Jeremy smiled. "We''re going back now and the man will wait for you, okay?" "Okay," the guard nodded rather excitedly. Allen and the rest of the group walked away from the gate. Allen looked behind onest time and saw that the man was smirking with joy. "He really needed the money, huh?" Allen asked himself. - The night came and it was time for their appointment. Allen was skeptical suddenly. He told Jeremy that he was going to use Vince as the Wandering Trader this time. This way, in case anything happens, he can just deactivate the Body and make Vince vanish. Jeremy agreed to this idea. Since he was also getting worried about the man being a mole of the authorities. Maybe he was strategically ced in that spot so people would notice him and then contact the Wandering Trader. Then when they get the Wandering Trader in a tight spot, they''ll catch him. Vince carries the cloak and masked while Allen controlled him. The boy found a feature that lets him drive the Body himself, as if he himself was that actual body. He leaped into buildings and jumped into high ces until he arrived by the alley. When he got there, he wore the cloak and his in the darkness. Bodies gain his passive skills, so it was okay for Vince to stay there for a while. Meanwhile, Stacey and Oliver were running around the alley. They were the lookout in case the guard was indeed a mole to leech them out. While Allen was in Vince''s body, he controls the other two so now he was getting exhausted quicker. "It won''t be long before I run out of energy," Allen said. "That man better show up right now or else I''ll kick him in his butt." The boy then heard footsteps, and his eyes widened when thr person approaching him was not the man, but rather a very beautiful woman. "M-Miss Lin?" Chapter 133: Deal with Lin Chapter 133: Deal with Lin Lin raised her hand, pointing her blunt dagger at Allen who was currently in Vince''s body. The woman took a few steps closer to Allen, eyes narrowing with both anger and resentment. "You''re the Snake, aren''t you?" Lin asked. "Answer me and I won''t kill you right this second." "And what led you to that conclusion, Miss Lin?" Allen asked bravely. He knew to himself that he had no way of fighting Lin especially now that he wasn''t in his real body. The stats gained by the Bodies are only 70% of his actual stats, and these would vary when the Body has a different role inbat as well as the gender and the overall physical appearance. "You didn''t even try to answer me," Lin chuckled. "That makes you guilty of the fact that you are the Snake." "So, what if I am?" Allen asked. "If I''m the Snake, are you here to catch me? Because I killed Drake Nelson and hurt the other three?" "You have a fraction of the mass energy a Bearer has," Lin said. "You think I''d believe those tant lies?" Allen stopped for a moment. Of course she could see through his mana reserves and his overall strength. This woman was a support role Hunter. She has Codes that lets her examine her opponents in a blink of an eye. She needed information before engaging in a fight and that''s a known fact about Lin. The moment Allen stepped out of the shadows, Lin had already read through him. Every single detail about the Body he was in and maybe even the fact that this was not his real body. That he was somewhere far away from where they were. "If you''re the Snake, then," Lin stepped a couple of steps forward, making Allen wary of what the woman would do. She got closer and closer until she was right in front of Allen. The boy didn''t move Vince, too. For some reason he wanted to figure out what the woman would do before he tried to escape. Just when Allen thought things would get even more surprising, Lin kneeled in front of him. She dropped her blunt dagger andid her hands on the ground along with her head, bowing it above the back of her hands that were ced in the cold concrete floor. "W-What?" Allen was left speechless after the action of the woman. He just looked at her while she bowed down to him for a couple of seconds. It wasn''t a minuteter when Lin finally spoke, "Primordial Snake, I beg of you. Please get stronger now. We need your help. I can''t handle this alone." "I do not understand you at all," Allen said. "You Primordial Beast Bearers have used me of killing Drake Nelson. Every single one of you are going to use me as a scapegoat just to cover up the death of the chairman, and now you''re acting like this? What the hell." "No," Lin said. "Louis and I still believe that you didn''t do it. The others aren''t as convinced as we are after what the Primordial Rooster suggested. She said that you were behind this and that you have already built a cult that worships you to conquer the Otherworlds as well as Earth." "I''m barely getting by," Allen scoffed. "You knew that the time I got the Code was only a fraction of the time you ascended to Paradise. It took you guys at least three months to get ahead, yet I''m still at that three months. Why are you so illogical?" "Louis said that in the meeting, but the others wouldn''t believe us," Lin said. "They''re too focused on Drake Nelson''s death that they can''t see logic right now. So, I beg of you Snake, help us." "And why would I do that?" Allen found himself asking. "I could just hide forever and not show myself, pretend that I''m a regr Hunter and then ascend like everyone else. Why should I have to help you deal with the problems you created?" "Because if you won''t, the Bettelchurch will take over," Lin said. She now raised her head and looked at Allen dead in the eyes. Her expression was serious as she stood and leveled herself with Allen. The woman had a beautiful slender figure with an hourss body and a thick curve on her hips. Her hair was ck, shiny and long that was swinging at the back of her head perfectly. Her skin was like porcin with fair and pinkish color. Her lips were full and her eyes were light brown that was in a beautiful shade. She was currently wearing a red one piece tight dress with the skirt barely reaching her knees. Though it looked tight, after seeing Lin kneeled on the floor, Allen saw that her dress was heavily stic and durable. A woman like her who was hunted by all sorts of people because of her Codes wouldn''t go out without heavy preparations. She can''t go out without any because if she would, she would die the moment she stepped outside her home. "Miss Lin," Allen raised his hands and ced it over Lin''s shoulders. "I think there are still a lot of words that needed to be spit out between the two of us, and I don''t think we have the luxury of time to do so." "I have plenty of time," Lin said. "And you do too, I know it." "I don''t have that much time," Allen said. "I was here to make a deal with the guard, but then you came instead of him. I will punish my informants after this mishap, but then" "You''re Vince, aren''t you?" Lin suddenly spoke. "I know you from the profile that Jonathan gave me. That man is a snitch, and you should''ve known better. You offered service for the Wandering Trader, but you''re the Wandering Trader yourself." "She''s sharp," Allen said to himself. "Your body profile, shape, even your voice is simr," Lin said. "And there''s just one thing that I noticed. Your records doesn''t really align well. What is up with that, Mister Vince?" "Miss Lin" "But yes, since you''re here to make a deal, let''s make a deal," Lin crossed her arms. "I''ll give you two months to prepare. You have to reach Eternity by that two months. I''ll give you all the support I can give you, but you have to fullfil that two months." "What happens if I reach Eternity?" Allen asked. "Will I get to be free from your grasp?" Lin shook her head and smirked, "The ascension to Eternity is merely a requirement. You still have to fight for your freedom as well as serve the justice that the chairman deserve." "Miss Lin, I believe your offer is quite disadvantageous for my part," Allen said with a chuckle to try and ease the tension. "It heavily leans to you, and I don''t do deals like that. I want the deals to be equal to both parties and that both parties can enjoy the benefits of the other." "I''ll teach you everything that there is to know about the Primordial Beast Codes," Lin said. "That''s just the first offer. I''ll also give you a highly detailed report of the other Primordial Beast Bearers, their stats, profiles, backgrounds, everything." "Miss Lin," Allen sighed. "That''s not something I need. Frankly, I don''t care about you Primordial Beast Bearers. I only care about myself and myself only." "Then I won''t spill the fact of your identity," Lin threatened. "Does your teammates know? Do they know that you''re a criminal? And if they do, would they be willing to go to prison with you once I report you?" Allen stepped back for a second. Either his disguise was perfectly close to perfec that he was able to fool Lin or this woman was just unaware of the Code to create puppets. Allen had to admit that he stillcked control over his Bodies, but Lin mentioned his teammates, so it means that she didn''t know about Vince being a puppet. "What will it be?" Lin asked with a smirk, making Allen deadpan. "The choice is yours. I''m merely stating your options." Allen sighed and decided to give up. He needed the power and influence anyway. Most importantly, he will get more information after this deal. He can study the Primordial Beast Code more with the help of the perspective of a Code Bearer herself. "I would like to ask you one simple question first," Allen said. He just remembered the dream he had of Drake and Drafara. They said that it wasn''t just a dream, and there''s no way Allen would wildly guess the information that they shared him. "What''s your question," Lin asked. "If you''re gonna ask me anything, make sure it''s relevant to our deal." "Do the Primordial Beast Codes get wotn out after it has been passed on?" Allen asked. "If they do, then what happens after they get passed on too much. Will they lose their value?" Chapter 134: Identity Revelation Chapter 134: Identity Revtion Allen was testing the credibility of the Drake and Drafara that he talked to in his dream. They said that they were the real deal, but he still had to confirm the information that they gave him. After all, he himself had mental problems that he can''t possibly deny he had. Maybe he was getting caught up with his diseases that he''s imagining things, and if he does believe them, it will hurt him in the long run because of the mistakes he actually believed on. Now, Lin was in front of him. She was a woman who has a Primordial Beast Code, and has fully mastered it to its core. She had reached the highest world of all the Hunters and is currently being looked as the next chairman of the Hunters. She can answer the dreaded question. "I assumed you already knew about this," Lin chuckled awkwardly. "You have your information from somewhere and that information is too credible. I just knew it." "So," Allen spoke. "Which Bearer has the weakest Code and which as the strongest?" Lin smirked, "I have no choice but to answer you, so here goes. Listen well to all the things I''ll say to you because if you''re going to want to catch up to us, you have to look out for these clues." Allen nodded, "Okay." "Tiger and Dragon has the first generation Code, while the Dog, Rabbit, and Ox has all third generation Codes. The rest have second generation," Lin said. "Only Drake and I have the full raw power of the Primordial Beasts, but I''m not abatant, so I had less power than him." "Second generation," Allen whispered. "So, that means Louis is also a second generation? The one whom agrees with you that I''m not behind the attacks?" "Yes," Lin nodded. "Louis is just like me who believes that you''re just a weak Hunter now. You can''t possibly create all the things that they point that you did." "Okay," Allen sighed. "At least I know now that I have people on my side." Lin suddenly offered her hand, "Take my hand and receive all the Codes here. I''ll give you more instructions when we''re transferring." Allen wasn''t himself when he took the woman''s hand and received the Codes she was giving. Their numbers were so many that he was thinking of throwing some of them. His slots couldn''t possibly aodate all of these Codes." "You then go to the camps that are near here. There are approximately seven," Lin instructed. "Card." On her hand was a glowing light that morphed into a card. This was the same Inventory feature that Allen had with his Snake Code. Lin also had one since she was also a Bearer. "Show this card to the guards and they will know what to do," Lin said. "While you, you go to the Skill Altar and burn these Codes so you could level up. I gave you sixteen Grand grade Codes. That should be enough to reach Eternity." "No," Allen said, making Lin tilt her head in confusion. "I''m not going there alone. I need more people with me." Lin sighed, "I guess that is the case." She offered her hand again. "Good thing I''m a future thinker." Lin gave Allen a total of fourty Sacred grade Codes along with the initial Grand grade Codes after their meeting. With this much Codes, Allen could reach Eternity and bring three of his friends with him in a blink of an eye. After the woman gave these to Allen, she nodded and left. This made Allen wonder what her true intentions were. He was still wary of the fact that this could lead to a trap. When he said this, Lin gave him something that he would barely believe that the woman would do. Allen was in a rooftop of the camps where he wasying on the ground as he watched the photo. It was a photo of Lin and Drake, smiling at the camera while they were on top of a dead giant beast. Photos in the otherworlds were hard enough to capture because they said that the Otherworlds have different frequencies of light. Cameras are barely urate in terms of color and proid cameras were rarer than the Primordial Beast Codes. There were only three captured photos and this was one of them. Someone who has a very rare item and then they gave it to you because of the deal you''re going to make, that was an act that made Allen believed Lin. This photo wasn''t just any photo. In any way, shape, or form, this can''t be duplicated. When taken to Earth, the light would be different and this would permanently distort and damage the proid. When taken a picture on their Otherworlds phone, the light would also be different. And they can''t possibly retake the photo because one of the people in the photo was already dead. These were the points that Allen reconsidered in trusting Lin. The boy sighed and after a couple of minutes of reflection, Allen finally took his phone out. "Hello? We need to talk." There was a deafening silence in the room as the boy paced back and forth in front of the couch. The people in the couch looked at each other in worry, thinking that Allen did something wrong. "Did you get a girl pregnant?" Gary finally spoke and broke the silence. Allen looked at him in shock, then shaking his head no. "Then did you get a boy pregnant?" "Gary, what the hell," Allen grunted. "I called the three of you here because I have something very important to say to you." Jeremy was smirking the entire time. He thought he knew everything there is to it about Allen, so he was confident that he wouldn''t get shocked when he heard the news Allen was going to tell them. "Do you think he got someone pregnant?" Gary asked to which Gwen answered with a shrug and pursing of her lips. Meanwhile, Gwen and Gary were still confused. They were still looking at Allen and then at each other in hopes that they could at least get a hint of what he was going to say. Allen was sweating and he was thinking that he was going to make a very wrong decision, but after all that they''ve been through, he felt like he could trust them. "I''m actually not Dante," Allen said, making the three look at him in shock, even Jeremy did not know about this. "No, I mean I''m Dante, but Dante is not my real name. Jeremy, I think you''ll hate me for this, but I''m Allen Nightshade." "Y-You''re who?" Jeremy stood and looked at Allen in the eyes. "Why do you know that name?" "Three months ago, when Chen split me from the group, I found the Primordial Snake. I killed it and got its Code. The next day, I was transformed into this body and here I am now," Allen said. "But I had little to no memories about my past. I didn''t even know who I really am until now." "So, you don''t remember me?" Jeremy asked. "Allen" Allen shook his head, "I''m sorry, but I don''t remember you. For soen reason, my memories were distorted and I believed lies up until now." "Wait, why does your name sound familiar?" Gary asked. "You''re" "The crying boy when the Fire Dragon Incident happened," Allen said. "I suspect that after that incident, I mistakenly and unconsciously buried my memories. I don''t know what happened after, or what really happened at that time." "If you''re really Allen, then why are you telling us this now?" Gwen asked. "Why choose to speak now of all times? Dante or Allen, we''ve been friends for months. Why are you just telling us this now?" "Because I need your help," Allen said calmly. Even when there was an intense amount of pressure in the room, he maintained his calmness as he spoke. "You know there is a killer on the loose, right? This person or these group of people are hunting the Primordial Beast Bearers. And if they get sessful, they will rule the world." "What does this have to do with us?" Gary asked. "Let the Primordial Beast Bearers handle this. They''re strong already." "But they''re actually not," Allen said. "Not all of them has the same capabilities of the other, and I can be the strongest possible Bearer if you could help me. Please, I can''t do this alone." Gary and Gwen suddenly stood, making Allen lose his head for a bit. He looked at the two who were approaching the door, the tension getting even more intense as the seconds passed. Allen looked at them who were facing behind him. Gary ced his hand on the doorknob. When Allen thought he was going to twist it to go out, Gary suddenly pressed the lock while Gwen locked the other lock that Allen installed. The two turned around and smirked with Gary speaking, "Were all in this together now. So, what''s the n?" Chapter 135: Unbothered Camp Chapter 135: Unbothered Camp The next day, the group followed Lin''s instructions and went to Camp Tw''s Skill Altar to burn the Codes and gain EXP so they could ascend. While Allen was convinced that Lin was on their side, the others were still too skeptical about it. "Hello," Allen simply approached the guard. He showed him the card that Lin gave him and the guard nodded right away. "Can we enter now?" "Of course, you can," the guard bowed. Allen looked behind him where his friends are, eyes wide open as he was in shock by how the guard reacted. When they got inside, he whispered to them instantly. "What the hell?" Allen whispered. "He didn''t have to bow like that." "Wait a minute," Gwen pursed her lips. "Give me that card." Allen showed the woman the card, to which Gwen gasped."You little twat. You have no idea what this card is." "What is it?" Allen asked. He looked at the card and was equally as surprised as she was. "Diplomatic pass? I never realized that this was a thing." A diplomatic pass was an authority given to certain people. These people has the rights to not be investigated and their records shall remain anonymous. The diplomatic pass was usually given to a royal family member or someone with a very powerful background. "That exins the bow," Jeremy smirked. "He must thought that we''re VIPs. To enter the Skill Altar, you have to log into the system and then when you exit, you have to log the skills that you have burned. But with the diplomatic pass, we don''t have to do that." "But why does she have to let us burn into different camps? She can just let us burn here in Camp Tw since our records aren''t logged." "But the Skill Altar has a maximum burning limit per day," Allen said. "The reason why Miss Lin told us to burn into different camps because the skill altar has a maximum of ten thousand EXP limit. A couple of Sacred grade Codes amounts to that limit, making the Skill Altar stop working. This would raise the suspicion on us." "That makes sense," Jeremy nodded. "But since Lin had already prepared this for us, all we have to do is follow it. We have the blueprint, now we work on building this entire parade up." "Right," the others responded. After they finished burning one Sacred grade Codes each, it was their turn to leave the altar. Allen was still looking around in case anyone would identity him, wary of the things that might happen when he lets his guard down. Nothing happened, and it was time to leave the camp. Allen showed the card to the guard and the woman smiled at them, bowing as they left. The old man who tried to made a deal with Allen was nowhere in sight. This led him to believe that the man was only there to wait for him to act. Lin knew that Allen would and will act, so she ced a man there for him. The woman really had an incredible mind, Allen was now sure of that. It took them about a day to get to the next camp. It was called Camp Saber named after Saber Malek who died after reaching Paradise. He was killed by a giant whale when he tried to hunt in the ocean. The whale swallowed him and the grinding machine-like system of the stomach of the whale secured his death. Camp Saber was famous for their rather tropical vibes. They said that this ce felt like Hawaii ind, filled with happiness and joy and a lot of floral t-shirts. But that was not the case right now. Like Camp Tw, Camp Saber was almost like a ghost town. The streets were barren with people, and the buildings and businesses were mostly closed apart from some. Allen felt anger towards the person who killed Drake Nelson and attacked the other Bearers. The Hunters were retiring one by one, returning to life on Earth who was harder than hunting. The ones who chose to stay are not living anymore, barely getting by of what they have in their pockets. "I''ve been here before," Gary said. "This ce used to be filled with bright smiling faces. What happened to it?" "This is why we need to get stronger now," Allen said. "We''re currently the hope of these people and if we don''t act, they''re not going to live properly again." Three days have passed and it was the moment they''ve all been waiting for. Three days into the forests and different camps, and they arrived at the final camp that would let them ascend to Paradise. Their final destination was Camp Valentina. This camp was named after Valentina Jade who is now reigning Eternity with her group. She was a mage type and was regarded as the most powerful non-Bearer mage. Valentina has a Code which allows her to mimick a Code that had been used by a Hunter. This allows her to be a multi-role because of the nature of her Code. She could cast a powerful destructive skill Code or mimick even a weapon Code for a period of time. Valentina was a force to be reckoned with and her legacy had lived on. In fact, inside the camp was like none other like the camps that the group had been on. In their view from the gate, instead of the typical barren and lifeless camp, Camp Valentina was filled with joy and music. People were littered on the streets, drunk and screaming with happiness. A lot of businesses were open even when the night had arrived. "Is this it?" Allen asked, walking into the gates where arge man was guarding. "Hello." He showed the man the card, and the man narrowed his eyes before nodding and letting them enter. This nearly made Allen''s heart fall from his chest, thinking that Lin had betrayed them. "Been a long time, Jeremy," the man suddenly said, making Allen turn around and form an O with his mouth. "Your father must''ve sent you here." The reason why the guard looked at them funny befor letting them enter was because he knew one of them. And since diplomatic pass are only given to people in royal families and strong family background, the guard must''ve thought that Jeremy was given one by his father. Allen wanted to p himself for worrying over nothing. He had be a man who had nothing better to do than worry about unimportant things. Just because of the anxiety that his responsibilities had given him. "You know I can''t say that, Bruno," Jeremy smiled. "We''ll talk more soon. For now, I have something to do here." "Do what you must do," Bruno the guard said. "I''ll be here and I''ll protect you." "Thanks," Jeremy smiled and then he followed his groupd who was waiting for him a couple of meters away. "He was a friend a the police academy. He''s actually my best friend, but then my father thought friendships were too feminine, so he promoted Bruno to be a high guard even before we graduated. Then Bruno was assigned to a camp far away. Pathetic, ain''t it?" "Your father is really a b*tch," Gwen groaned. "I remember meeting him one time and his aura was cold as hell. Then when we talked, hecked substance. As if he was nothing but a shell talking nonsense." "He''s still your father though," Gary suddenly said, and then chuckled. "I wish I knew my dad." Allen nodded and ttened his lips. He, too, didn''t get to meet his father or mother. He was left in an orphanage while he was still a baby and he has never known any family member ever since. His definition of family was even blurry by the fact that he doesn''t know what to feel about them. Jeremy felt this presence and he suddenly cleared his throat, "If I ever get to choose my family. It''d be you guys. You''re so much better than my dad and my b*tch of sisters." Gwen cheered yfully, "I feel the same way." Gary nodded and they all looked at Allen who was also looking at them, smiling. "Yeah. Me too." "Make way!" A male voice suddenly screamed from behind them. Allen instinctively ran to the back and ced both his hands in front of him, just in time to stop a cat from running over them. "Oi, my car!" "Is everyone okay?" Allen asked as he checked on his group. He didn''t notice that there was a car behind them and he didn''t even notice that they were in the middle of the street. The crowd was too dense to even look at which part of the city you are. Everyone was partying and having no care at all. It was hard to notice all the details at the moment. "Why you little" the man walked out of his car and suddenly dropped jaws after seeing the group. "It''s you, guys!" "Matthew Gray?" Chapter 136: Road to Paradise 1 Chapter 136: Road to Paradise 1 The crowd was wild and obnoxious. Apparently, Camp Valentina had a tradition where they party all week when the moons of the Otherworlds align. And the day after tomorrow, the moons will align. "It''s been a while," Matthew said. He brought them in a rooftop where he reserved the entire venue for them. There were no other people there except for Matthew and Allen''s gang. "Matthew, how have you been?" Jeremy asked. "After the incident, we have never heard from you." "I was demoted because I allowed such tragedy to happen," Matthew chuckled. "The world is tough to those who doesn''t have power like me. I can only rely on my talents." "As if we''re any better," Gwen sighed. "Everyone''s at a disadvantage one way or another. I even got kicked out by the police with Jeremy, but you don''t see us being a b*tch about it." "That is true. So, you''re here because?" Matthew asked with an impressed smile. "We''re here for a reason that we cannot disclose," Allen replied. "I''m sorry, Matthew." "No, it''s okay," the man nodded slowly. "I understand. But since you''re already here, why don''t we party and have fun? Just for one night." The others looked at Allen who had a skeptical look on his face. He pouted for a moment before sighing, shrugging and then nodding. "I guess one night won''t hurt. But we have to stay together." "Got that," Jeremy nodded. "We''re going to control ourselves and not let anything distract us." Beep. Beep. Beep. "Turn that sh*t off!" Allen groaned as he rolled to the side, only for the sunlight to hit his face. He opened his eyes and realized that he was still in the rooftop, entangled with the bodies of his friends while they formed a big lump of flesh on one corner. "You''re finally up," Matthew entered the rooftop with a tray of food in each of his hands. "Your rm was beeping since earlier, but I didn''t want to wake you up, so I let it be." "What time is it?" Allen sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling the effects of the alcohol that he drank the night before. He didn''t want to go all out, but he got caught up in the moment. Matthew handed him a bowl of soup, "It''s already noon. About half past one." "One thirty?!" Allen gasped. He immediately pushed his friends'' bodies apart and nudged them one by one. "You need to wake up. We need to go." "Five more minutes, mom," Gwen replied with a scruffed voice. Her voice was nothing like the Gwen that Allen was usually talking to. She sound more like an old man than a woman at the moment. Allen turned to Gary who was sleeping on his stomach. The man wasying his face t on the ground, making Allen scrunch his face as he was the one who felt the pain. "Gary, wake up." "If you let me y basketball again, I''ll stand," Gary groaned. This made Allen also groan as he looked at the one who he trusted most out of the the three. Allen ced both his hands Jeremy''s shoulders and shook him vigorously. This made the man groan and his eyes fluttered open, seeing the sun way above the skies as it rained down its heat upon them. "What the hell happened?" "Everyone cked out," Allen said. "We need to go now. We don''t have much time until the Skill Altar closes again." "Oh? That''s perfect," Matthew said. Allen wanted to facepalm after forgetting that they weren''t alone. Matthew has heard of their conversation and will now be suspicious of them. "I''m actually assigned at the Skill Altar as the afternoon to midnight shift. Let''s all go there together." Allen, even though it was against his heart, nodded. This way, at least the one they knew would let them enter and not just some stranger. If Matthew lies about the time they entered and basically about everything for the sake of their friendship, Allen would feel much better. Allen was also only trying to lessen the casualty in case something would happen. If Matthew was one of the guards in the Skill Altar, then they have a much bigger chance of getting out if Lin decided to nt a trap. "Okay," Matthew mmed both his hands together. "Wake those two up. I''ll prepare myself." The man left, leaving the two for themselves. They have to wake up Gary and Gwen before Matthew returns, but judging from the state of their unconscious friends, it would be a hard task. "Wake up!" Jeremy nudged Gary. He was now vigorously shaking therge man like what he did to Jeremy, but it was no use. Gary was still snoring like a big baby. "Jeremy? What about Gwen?" The woman was now sitting up. Jeremy had somehow found a way to wake her up, while they still tried to wake Jeremy up. Not a momentter, when Allen and Jeremy were kneeling in front of Gary, a water was sshed onto them. Allen looked behind him and saw Gwen grinning at them. "Time to freshen up." "I''m drowning!" Gary suddenly sat up and reached up. "Oh, my god what happened?" "Wake up, big baby," Gwen said. "We have a task to finish." The Skill Altar of Camp Valentina was much like any other Skill Altar. Apart from the litter and clutter on every possible street in the camp, there was no difference from the others. When the first Hunters built the buildings for the altars, they decided to file a blueprint for all the Skill Altars in the Otherworlds. Each world have their own Skill Altar blueprint and would only differ in terms of color, depending on the climate that the camp is on. The Skill Altar was located inside arge building that looked like a church from the Renaissance. There wererge decorations made of stone and marble that made the altar looked religious, but it birthed more darkness than light. Inside therge white iron gates was a short but wide hall that formed a patio and lobby for the Hunters. On the end of the hall were the counters where the Hunters would log in themselves. The people in the counter would hand the Hunters gate passes. If a Hunter without a pass would enter past the lobby, the rm would go off and the Hunter would be brought inside the police station for questioning. The gate pass is actually a wrist band which can only be locked or unlocked at the counter. Once you enter the Skill Altar, you have to log into the system and the wrist band wille be attached to you. After you burn the Codes, you go back to the lobby and log the Codes you burned. The screen that the system used has an advanced technology in them, making it set the rm off once the Hunter that logs the Codes they burned caught lying. Every press was read by the system and somehow, they had this kind of system. Allen was impressed too. They have this kind of technology, but they don''t have cars or effective cameras. He then realized that the founders focused more on how to makes things like these systems work instead of thr unnecessary cars and cameras. After the lobby, you will go past an arch where the gate passes are read. When cleared, the arch would lead to the main hall where the Skill Altar was located. It''s arge dome-shaped hall and the Skill Altar is located in the middle. Everything was made of white stone, and the lights inside the hall were maintained so it wasn''t dark. Adding the fact that the center of the dome was made of ss, the hall of Skill Altar was really designed well. "We''re here," Matthew said. "You show them that card and I''ll be back soon, okay?" Allen nodded and entered the iron gates. He questioned the two former police officers how the diplomatic pass would work on the scanning arch and the two answered him. Apparently, when a diplomatic arch is shown, the arch would be temporarily overriden and the people who were with the pass would be able to enter the arch. The scanning arch will read the people and identify them so they don''t have to show the counter the card. There not a lot of people in the Skill Altar, so they didn''t have a hard time getting through. Jeremy joked about how the Hunters in the camp were too hangover to work and the othersughed at him. But Allen thought that he wasn''t too wrong about what he said. After all that partying, everyone must be hangover. Allen got inside the Skill Altar hall and he approached the stone altar. A wide stone tform with a protruding altar in the center. He went close to the Skill Altar and burned the Codes he needed. ''Congrattions! You have reached Level 60. You are now able to ascend to the higher worlds.'' Allen smirked as he spoke to himself, "Finally, I can go to Paradise!" Chapter 137: Road to Paradise 2 Chapter 137: Road to Paradise 2 Ascension. The process where a Hunter from one of the Otherworlds get promoted into higher worlds. This process is not asplicate as everyone might think, but there is just one long and taxing job before a Hunter could ascend. "Why on earth do we have to write a report with what happened to us since we began?" Gwen groaned as she roll around Allen''s apartment floor. "This is so tiring. I wanna go home. I don''t want to ascend anymore. Tell Lin that I quit." "After taking all the Codes enough to make you ascend? I don''t think she''ll let you go easily," Allen chuckled. "Come on, it''s not that hard. This form just wants you to tell them most of what happenened to you and your Hunter journey. It doesn''t say that you have to report every single thing." Gwen sat up and raised her finger, "Regardless! This is tiring. I was a Hunter for years. They still think that I know every single thing that had happened?" Allen only shrugged after hearing his friend''s tantrums. He wanted to help them as much as possible, but this task requires the Hunter themselves to write the report. It''s impossible for him to write for them because he doesn''t know all the things that had happened. "First Code I got," Gary whispered and pursed his lips. "I think it was a skill Code that lets me aim properly. This was why I got intetested in th harnessing my talent with my role as a ranger." "Err," Allen hummed the suddenly smiled. He remembered his first Code, a weapon that was a brittle bone of a fox. The dagger served its purpose, but since it was a weapon Code, it had its integrity. One day it just broke. Allen still had the broken parts of the Code. It was an item that was trash to most people, but to him it was the weapon that made him start with his journey. It was the weapon that he used to kill the Snake and gain its Code, as well as the weapon he used to survive the attack of the wasps when he was nothing. "Brings back memories, huh?" Allen awoke from his daydream after hearing Jeremy say. The man smiled and ruffled his hair, "Me too. This report gives me all the vibes." "Yeah," Allen just said. After he confessed that he was Alle, a rift was created between Jeremy and him. The two didn''t speak to each other as often as before as well as they don''t see each other eye to eye anymore. They both knew that there were words left unspoken, but neither of them wanted to break the fragile ss that was enclosing those words. "Done!" Gary suddenly cheered, making everyone look at him. "If the three of you didn''t daydream or whine like I did, you would have finished too." Gwen crawled over to Gary and narrowed her eyes. "As if I believe you''re already finished." She took Gary''s folder while the man stood. The woman scanned through the pages of the papers inside it and could only gasp after reading it. "Holy sh*t. He''s actually done." "That''s right," Gary nodded, looking as though he was an all-knowint monk on top of a mountain. "If you really did try to answer it quickly, you''ll be finished. I''m gonna go cook something for us." Allen smirked as the man left the living room but immediately went back. "Allen, could you please stop it with the Bodies? They feel ufortable." "I''m sorry," Stacey said per Allen''s control. "Did I make you feel ufortable?" "Knowing that it''s you that''s talking, yes," Gary deadpanned. "Dude, don''t be creepy, please." Allen couldn''t hold hisugh at Gary''s reaction. He acted like a baby even though was a huge man withrge arms and muscles. His pout, his gaze, and the crossing of his arms. "Stop," Allen said. "I''m practicing to control them. Please, don''t stop me. I''m trying to master on how to control these Bodies." "What''s so hard about controlling them anyway?" Gary asked. He sat beside Allen and let Stacey do the cooking for them. After seeing the weird smile on the female Body''s face, he just gave up and instead decided to join in the talk with Allen. "In controlling the Bodies, you have to maintain the connections between the two of you," Allen said. "You have to control them as well as control yourself at the same time, kind of like having two bodies at the same time." "Weird," Gwen whispered. "But anyway, let''s and sort these reports. I need to go home and pack my things. Tomorrow, we''re going the portal and I need more time to prepare myself emotionally." The portal that Gwen was talking about was the one they are going to use to go to Paradise. There are portals in Haven that are heavily guarded by the Hunters organization, these portals would lead to higher worlds. Although these are heavily guarded, not everyone can enter them. Only those who has actual qualification to enter Paradise can pass through these portals, the others would be blocked by an invisible barrier and if they try to force their way inside, they will be burned to crisp. A lot of Hunters have tried to enter the portals and all of them failed at it. Most of them had died while the others were left severely injured because of the portals'' rules. Of course, most of these happened at the earlier years of Hunters when nobody knew anything. They discovered these portals, but were confused when it didn''t lead back to Earth. This started the theory that there were more worlds apart from the one they were in. The Hunters tested, experimented, and tried to read the glyphs of the portals and tried to break the codes that were in them. A few years of trying and the first Hunter to sessfully enter the portal came. A German navy captain with three years of grinding in the forest, the man was named Adolphus Schmidt. He was regarded as the "First Hunter" after he entered the portal that led to another world. Not a weekter, Adolphus vanished in Paradise and no one had heard from him ever since. Nobody else could enter the portal for about two months after Adolphus, so there was no way anyone could rescue him. After what happened to Adolphus, the Hunters who were eligible to enter the portal were grouped. This was the first initiative to create a better hunting effectivity ofbining roles and the sess rate for each group with the number of roles. After more years, when humans first entered Eternity, a huge clue of the Otherworlds was debunked. It was the number of worlds there are that exists to this very day. The portals wererge stone rings, as tall as a two-story building while its width isparable to tworge buses. Inside the stone ring was arge light that is contained inside the ring like ss. It was color purple ans the light has small spiral mists inside it. Meanwhile, on the stone ring exists texts and figures that were unknown to humans. These texts had been read and tried to be decoded by the scientists and Hunters, but they failed all the time. There was barely any clue as to where they started, that was until they saw the second portal. Scientists were convinced that with these three portals alone, they could know most of the information regarding the Otherworlds, and this included the number of worlds that existed. There were six of them, and in each world exists stronger and stronger beasts. On the first world, the beast could kill a number of families. On the second world, the strongest beast could destroy a vige, the next world could destroy a city, and thest one could wipe out an entire. These worlds were named from lowest as Haven, Paradise, Eternity, Star Nest, God''s Den, and the final world was named Cradle of Life. In each of these worlds were trantions of the worlds. Many believed that there''s meaning behind the names, and the humans were still in Star Nest, so no one could possibly answer that question. It was also a good thing that the beasts from higher worlds do not have a way of getting down to the lower worlds. If that was the case, the ones in the higher worlds would havee to Earth. "Allen?" Jeremy said to Allen suddenly. "Can we talk for a bit?" Allen gulped in nervousness. This was the monent he had been waiting for. Jeremy''s words made Gwen and Gary look at them in worry. There was silent for a moment before Allen decided to nod. "Let''s go to my room," Allen said to which Jeremy agreed to. On their way there, Allen was nerve wracked. Each time he take a step, it would feel like his body would get heavier and heavier. He had been waiting for his talk. What was he so afraid of? Chapter 138: Search for Allen Chapter 138: Search for Allen "You''re Allen." Allen immediately froze after Jeremy mentioned his name. He gulped and looked up only for him to be wrapped up in the arms of the other boy. The warmth from Jeremy''s body felt familiar yet weird for him. It was a different kind of warmth from Hilda''s hug, like another feeling. When the woman made him feel like he was a son, Jeremy made him feel like a friend. Like someone was actually waiting for him, and that someone was his ally. "You don''t know how much it affected me after you were lost," Jeremy said. "I was made at Kyle and the others. It took us a week before I finally talked to them. Do you know how much I was worried?" Allen was speechless. He looked at Jeremy to see the sincerity in his eyes, but all the boy could see were tears. Jeremy was crying. "Alice was gone, and then you," Jeremy chuckled in sorrow. "You were the first person to ever talk to me, yet you Allen." "It''s okay now," Allen returned the hug as he did his best to keep his tears at bay. He didn''t know that Jeremy was bottling this much emotions inside, and he almost didn''t care. He was too filled with the rage of revenge and the fear of everyone knowing his identity, that he unknowingly disregarded the feelings of the people around him. "I''m sorry," Allen whispered. "I''m so, so sorry." "It''s fine," Jeremy replied. "And I''m sorry too. Believe me, I tried to look for you, but I didn''t get the chance to seed." Allen shook his head and smiled. "That doesn''t matter." "What?" Jeremy mmed his hands on his desk. A policeman was standing in front of him, gulping as he saw the seething anger that was around Jeremy. The man was mad. "There was a report that was filed not too long ago," the man said. "Allen Vermillion was lost in the forest at 4:47 PM, Haven Time. There was no trace left of the boy and his teammates are unaware of his location." Jeremy fell to his chair, helpless by the fact that his friend was reported as lost. He looked at the other police officer in the eyes, trying to see if the man was lying to him and that the report was only a joke. "Why did this happen?" Jeremy ran his fingers through his hair. "I need to know where he wasst seen, Eric." Jeremys stood, prompting Eric to stand in front of him and stop him. "I won''t let you go out there right now." "My friend is misisng and you really think that I''m just going to sit here and wait?" Jeremy growled. "Eric, get out of my way before you get hurt." "No," Eric said firmly. "You know too well the dangers of the night brings. You can''t just go out there." "But" Jeremy paused after seeing eight more police officers stand. They all looked at him with smirks on their faces, proudly telling Jeremy their mind through their actions. "You''re not going there without us," Eric smiled. Ten police officers from Camp Tw were dispatched in search for the missing boy. Allen Vermillion, 19 years old, 164cm, white hair, pale skin, and mute. He can hear, but there''s scratches on his neck that the doctors suspect to be the cause of his disability. His build was frail and thin, can easily be mistaken as an early teens based on his build alone. His movements are soft and feminine, fragile to be exact. Last seen was on Blue Ivy Marsh in the forest near Camp Anton. He wasst seen by his teammates when they were hunting for Blue Ivy Mockingjay when Allen was suddenly separated from the group. Time missing, 4 hours. "I can''t believe I''m part of the search and rescue operation," a woman groaned as she held the light for the path they were taking. "I wanted to enjoy my evening and eat something nice. Soon is my birthday and I''m on call that day." "Cheer up, Gwen," Eric chuckled. "The world will be kinder to you soon. Get as much bad luck as you can now while you''re young. If you don''t, all bad luck will pile up when you''re old and fragile. You want that?" Gwen visibly cringed at the thought. "Of course, not. Who would want something like that?" "Can we please focus on the goal?" Theie conversation was interrupted when Jeremy spoke. He was looking at the two, visibly frustrated and was narrowing his eyes. He looked like someone you don''t want to mess with or it will cost you your life. "Allen?!" Jeremy yelled. "Allen, I''m here! If you could try and follow the light, it will lead to me or my colleagues. We came here to rescue you!" Jeremy kept on yelling as they walked on the dark path of the forest. The route they took was the one that would lead to Allen''s camp, near the area where he went missing. There were also police officers that were dispatched in other camps around Allen''s camp that searched en route to the said camp, hoping that they would meet Allen halfway. This order was from the power of the Minister of Defense. Jeremy had to beg his father to do this in exchange for something. He didn''t want to let his friend die just yet. He needed strength to go on and he will do anything to look for Allen. "This is quite impossible," a police officer groaned. He moved arge leaf off of his face as his shlight lit on a dark and muddy path. "A low level Hunter, lost at night. That''s not something you would heard of a lot." "And why not?" Another police officer asked him. "Is it that rare?" "Of course, it''s rare," the first officer said. "When a person like this went missing, he''ll be reported as dead. That''s why you don''t get to hear that news." "Is that so, Neil?" Jeremy asked from behind him. This startled the man, prompting him to take a deep breath after he recovered from the shock. "You surprised me," Neil chuckled nervously. He watched Jeremy clench his fist, making him quirk his brow up and cross his arms. "What seems to be the problem, Jeremy? Am I wrong?" "Tell it straight to my face," Jeremy said. "If you had a problem with me, you can tell me. You didn''t have to stand with the others to volunteer if it was against your will." This made Neil scoff and looked around him, seeing the eyes of the other police officers on them. He spat on the side before looking at Jeremy, "You actually think everyone around here is trying to help you because they like you?" "What?" Jeremy scrunched his face. "We''re only here because of your connection" "Neil" the other police officer tried to hold Neil out, but the man shoved the other man''s hand off of his arm. "No, Ferdy," Neil said to the other police officer. "He has to know this because he seems to be blinded with power." "Stop," it was Eric this time who tried to stop them. "Neil, go back to your position. We still need to look for the boy." "No," Neil said, his voice nearing the sound of a growl. "He has to hear this. Listen well, Jeremy. Everyone is only here because your dad is powerful. We don''t actually like you or anything, but we know that you can pull a stunt like this." "Like what? Search for a Hunter?" Jeremy quirked his brow up. "Is that so wrong to look for a Hunter?" Neil shook his head andughed, "Search for a Hunter. You actually thought that we don''t know the sh*t you pulled just to let ten camps dispatch ten police officers each just to look for a boy that doesn''t even worth anything" Jeremy mmed his fist into the side of Neil''s face. The sound of a cracking bone echoed the silent forest, rendering most of the police officers around them gasp. "Invalidating the life of a Hunter," Jeremy said. "You think that''s reasonable?" "You think trying to search for a dead person will make the world a better ce?" Neil said. "Think, Jeremy. Your friend can''t even talk. He must be dead by now. Think" Neil was cut off by a sound of pping. This time, instead of gasping, the other police officers cheered. A beef that had long since boiled had just been heated again. "This is going to be good," Eric said to Ferdy, while thetter smirked and shrugged. "He deserved it," Ferdy said. "You''re a wuss," Gwen said as she crossed her arms. He had the bravery of standing up agaisnt a man that was almost twice her size. She crossed her arms and sighed. "If you were a cat sitting beside you, everyone will think that you''re the pussy. And you did not deserve that promotion. That position of being the team four''s captain position was supposed to be mine. F*cker." Chapter 139: Not Leaving Again Chapter 139: Not Leaving Again Neil retaliated by raising his hand. He conjured his weapon, which wws a mace, as he slowly retracted his arm. He was about to hit Gwen when the others had to step in. His leg was held by Ferdy, his body was held by Eric, while his hand was held back by Jeremy. Thetter was ring at Neil, hatred and anger was present in his eyes. Nothing else was there. "What do you think you''re doing?" Neil growled. "She hit me first." "And you decided to use a weapon against her?" Eric chuckled. "I am still this rescue team''s captain, and I order what you have to do. I only let you fight because I thought you''d still have your honor. Neil, where is your honor as a Hunter and as a man?!" Neil was silent. They stayed in that position for a few of minutes, no words were spoken for that time until Gwen decided to clear her throat and nudge the men off of Neil. "Let''s focus on our actual goal now." She said. "This bastard is not worth your energy." Like what the woman said, the others left Neil alone. They were still ring at him like he killed an entire n. The man was left there standing with his mace on his hand. Jeremy stood under the moonlight, right by a tall cliff. Gwen approached her and ced her hand on his shoulder, "We''ll find him." The man was still entranced by the beauty of the moons. He was looking down as the light from the sky shoned the thorny and deep ravine that was in between the two cliffs. "Jeremy?" Gwen called out, making Jeremy flinch and look at her. "You spaced out. Are you okay?" "Yes," Jeremy smiled at her. "I''m okay. Let''s go find Allen. I''m sure he''s here. He''s still alive, I know it." "Of course," Gwen smiled. "He''s still alive." As the man left her by the cliff, Gwen took a peek below and nearly gulped in fear as she saw the death that awaits anyone below. She looked at Jeremy and then at the cliff. When an odd thought came inside her head, she shook her head and followed her group. "It can''t be," Gwen chuckled at herself. Allen Vermillion, 19 years old, 164cm, white hair, pale skin, and mute. He can hear, but there''s scratches on his neck that the doctors suspect to be the cause of his disability. His build was frail and thin, can easily be mistaken as an early teens based on his build alone. His movements are soft and feminine, fragile to be exact. Last seen was on Blue Ivy Marsh in the forest near Camp Anton. He wasst seen by his teammates when they were hunting for Blue Ivy Mockingjay when Allen was suddenly separated from the group. Time missing, 6 days. The dispatched patrol teams have returned to their camps and back, and there were still no sign of the boy. He was lost in the woods, and the hope that was represented by a tiny strand of string was left to be severed. "There''s nothing we could do about it," arge muscled man with a full mustache said. He was sitting on what seemed to be a golden throne while a cigarette was lit up in his right hand and a cat sat on his left arm. "We did everything we could, and what happened? Nothing." "But father, I am sure that he is still alive," Jeremy reasoned. He was talking to his father through a video chat. The man''s device was ced quite far away from him in a distance that was enough so his entire throne was shown. "Clean this mess up," John said. "Return the dispatched and I''ll talk to your chief. From this day onwards, Allen Vermillion is pronounced dead." Jeremy dropped his phone in disbelief. He sat in his desk, staring in the empty space as the distorted feed of his video chat with his father was ended. The man was left there, feeling paralyzed with grief and pain. He couldn''t say anything, he couldn''t do anything. Gwen approached him, but her shoulder was held by Eric. When she turned back to face the captain, the man shook his head and gave her a t smile, "Let him be. We should give him the space he needed." Gwen reluctantly agreed to Eric''s suggestion. She returned to her desk right before she saw Jeremy walk out the door. The woman was worried about her colleague. Although everyone was worried about him, the situation affected her more than the rest. A couple of hours went by and Jeremy was still out. Gwen watched the clock and saw that it was time for her to go home. Jeremy and her shared the same work hours, but the man was still out from the office. "Could it be" Gwen didn''t let herself finish her sentence and immediately clocked out. She ran outside the gates as she saw the skies getting nearer and nearer into the twilight. The sky was orange and the clouds were looming over the world, darkening as the seconds passed by. Rain was going to pour and it wasn''t a good ambiance for someone who had just lost a friend. "Please, run faster, legs!" Gwen growled at herself. She was going as fast as she could in the ce that marked her. "Please, don''t let me arrive toote." Not a couple of minutester, she was right. Jeremy was there standing by the dangerous cliff. She was nervous at first, thinking that the man would take his own life. But when Jeremy sat by the cliff, her entire body exhaled in relief. "You scared me there," Gwen chuckled. She walked up to the man and sat beside him. "I thought you''d do something crazy." "What makes you think that I''m not going to do it?" Jeremy suddenly spoke. He turned to look at Gwen with a yful smile on his face. "I''m only kidding. I''m not going to do it." "Just make sure that you won''t," Gwen growled. "You made me feel worried." "I''m sorry about that," Jeremy said. "It wasn''t my intention. I just feel sad and guilty." "Guilty?" Gwen asked, tilting her head to the side. "Why?" "Because I never get to treat Allen right," Jeremy replied with a sigh. "He''s a mute and I didn''t get to learn the signnguagepletely. I had to rely on his notebook for me to know things." "Oh," Gwen hummed. "But you don''t have to feel guilty." "I don''t?" Jeremy asked to which Gwen answered by shaking her head. "Of course, not," Gwen chuckled. "We can''t control anything in this world. Not life, not death. There isn''t something external that we could control. What we could do is control our internal. We control our feelings, we''re the masters of our emotions most of the time. They both chucked. "But," Gwen continued. "With that in mind, we can say that nothing in this world that''s external could we me ourselves for. Unless the decision came internally that you decided to make Allen lose his path, that''s the only time you should feel guilty. But since you didn''t, why feel the need to be guilty? You''re only wasting your time and emotions." Jeremy chuckled, his gaze didn''t leave the sun as it sank deeper into the horizon. "Okay. I already decided anyway." "Decided what?" Gwen asked, this time turning to face Jeremy. "To live my life not only for myself," Jeremy said with a smile on his face. He reached out to the dawning sun and smiled. "But for Allen too." Silence had visited them for a couple of seconds. There wasn''t anything that Allen could say. He was speechless. He didn''t know any of what Jeremy had told him. The silence was maintained for a few seconds more until Jeremy decided to break it. "Did you really got the Primordial Snake Code?" he asked. "And did Lin really ordered you to get into higher worlds?" "You think I''m lying?" Allen yfully quirked his eyebrow up. When he saw Jeremy''s surprised face, heughed lightly. "I''m just teasing you. But yes, I did got the Snake and Lin ordered me to get stronger. Actually, a lot of people had already invested in me." "And you''re okay for you to disclose that information?" Jeremy asked, wary of the dangers ahead. "I don''t want you to have problems with your clients." "It''s okay," Allen smiled. "You''re all part of my team now. You''re the secretary, so it''s natural for you to know." Jeremy took a deep breath. "I can''t do this without you, Jeremy. I need you too." Their hands touched and Jeremy smiled. He squeezed the other boy''s hand and smiled. "And I''ll be here. I''ll be your guide and I won''t leave you. Not again." Allen smiled as his heart was filled with joy. It was the first time in his life that he felt this way. "Thank you." Chapter 140: Welcome to Paradise Chapter 140: Wee to Paradise "Here''s my report." Allen handed the folder that contained his detailed report to the woman on the counter. She scanned the seal of the folder, verifying of its credibility. They were inside a building that was going to be their one way inside Paradise. The building was like an ancient Greek temple, but instead was made of marble and ss rather than stone. This was called the Portal House. Most of the workers inside the Portal House wore green uniforms, indicating that they work for Haven. Some of them were wearing blue uniforms, indicating that they work for Paradise. The uniforms for the male were a pair of suit and tie that fit their bodies well. It seemed like it was a requirement for the male workers to be fit in order to work at the Portal House. This assumption was made by Allen after he saw their buffed up arms bulging out of their stretchable clothes. The women on the other hand also had a requirement of being beautiful and to have a body that not normal women could have. A pair ofrge breasts and huge butt, but the waist should be slim as though it was a roll of arge can. They wore a suit as well, paired with a skirt that reaches up right above their knees. They had a small hat on like a flight stewardess and this has the logo of the world they were working at. The logo for the men was found on their left chest, a pin that symbolizes their world. The logo for Haven was arge hand that forms a sphere around a dove, Paradise on the other hand was a picture of two trees while in the middle was a road that led to a sun over the horizon. Allen has never seen the logos for the other worlds considering that the workers for the Portal Houses were forbidden to go outside. This being said, not all of the Hunters who wanted to get inside the House were allowed to go in. They are being scanned for their eligibility either for the application for ascension or to ascend to higher worlds. "Thank you, Dante Reed," the woman over the counter said to Allen. "You may now ascene to the Second World, Paradise. You can go back here any time using the portal in that world. There are no portals that leads directly to Earth, so you have toe back herbefore going there, is that clear?" Allen nodded, "Yes, ma''am." The woman smiled and bowed, "Congrattions. You may now step into the tform for your ascension." "Ah, uhm, can I wait for my teammates?" Allen asked the woman, but she frowned. "I apologize, but the portal can only aodate one Hunter per ascension," she said. "The ascension process for the first timers will have to charge, but if you wish to return to Paradise after you have ascended, you can be in a group." Allen looked behind him to see that his group was smiling at him, raising their hands in a thumbs up as encouragement. This made the boy take a deep breath and slowly approach the stone tform where the portal was. "Okay," Allen breathed out. "Let''s do this." His foot was one inch away from the stairs of the tform when a guard gently shoved him to the side. Allen was dumbfounded after he saw himself on the side, seeing more guards line up that created a path. They were all standing straight and were looking right in front of them, their bodies stiffening as a presence reached the Portal House. The presence was overwhelming as well as it was terrifying. Allen shivered slightly, feeling the presence approach the Portal House''s doors. Everyone there stared as therge wooden doors opened and a woman walked in. Fantasia rk. A Hunter that was the level of Sebastian Lincoln. She was part of the highly suspected illegal Hunter group, Barandi. Her profile was highly protected and only a few knows her background. Her role in her group was the mage, and by stats alone, she had the highest damage output among all Hunters, even surpassing Drake Nelson. Though after all that, she couldn''t surpass Sebastian Lincoln''s group since shecked versatility and presence. Her magic was overwhelming, but she can barely keep up in a fight because she was stiff. She only relies on her three Codes, which included the skill Code that has the highest damage output, which means that it was rather easy for everyone to counter her. The employees bowed down to the woman as she walked down the aisle of the guards. It wasn''t a question why everyone was acting like this. Fantasia had a reputation of being a woman with a sour mood and an even more sour attitude. She was abundant in power, but she highlycked empathy. Hermunication skills were low, and so was her pity. It was reported that the woman would kill beasts regardless of their threat, as long as she gets satisfied after killing them, Fantasia would kill. Allen didn''t know, but when Fantasia reached him, he also bowed. His presence caught the attention of the woman, making her stop on her tracks and look at Allen. "Madam Fantasia, please this way to the portal" The old man which was an employee of the Portal House was cut off after Fantasia pushed him to the ground with a wind attack. Although he was unharmed, everyone was still shocked at the scene. "Do you think I''m blind?" Fantasia growled. She then looked at the guard who shoved Allen, making him move wordlessly. "You, boy. Why are you near the portal?" "I-I''m here to ascend, ma''am," Allen said. "To ascend or to go?" Fantasia asked. "What do you mean?" "To ascend, ma''am," Allen replied. "This is going to be my first time in Paradise." His statement made Fantasia''s eyes grow wide. She immediately recovered her posture from the shock and cleared her throat, pretending that she didn''t just visibly jawdropped. "Fine. You take care out there. Paradise is not a yground for children." "Yes, ma''am," Allen said. He was still bowing, making Miranda grab his chin and making him stand up straight. "You don''t need to bow," Miranda ordered. "What''s your name?" "Dante Reed," Allen replied. "My name is Dante Reed, ma''am." "Well," Miranda shrugged, taking her hand off of Allen. She leaned in closer to his ear while her hand offered him a card. "Dante, I sense an incredibly great intensity of magic in you. If you ever reach Eternity, call me. I will help you until you can achieve Star Nest." Allen couldn''t help but not as the woman smiled at him. She tapped his shoulder onest time, looking at Allen and sighing before she walked into the tform and vanished into the light. ''Fantasia rk'' XXX-XXX-XXXX Allen looked at the card and then at the portal where Fantasia just passed through. His mind was upied with the question as to why was the woman leaning towards his presence. She looked at him straight in the eye and there were words that she wasn''t telling him, but were evident in her mind. "She knows," Allen found himself talking to himself. He then was snapped out off his thoughts when a hand was waved in front of his face. It was Jeremy. "What happened?" Jeremy asked. "Fantasia just casually walked here and talked to you. She even smiled. Allen, what the hell?" "I also don''t know what happened," Allen confessed. "She just came close to me and then speak to me. I know too well who she was. She''s the best 12 Hunters below the Primordial Beast Bearers." "Maybe she sensed your presence," Gwen said. "Allen, are you sure you''re keeping your aura levels in check? You''re not leaking powers?" The boy looked up and saw that everyone is looking at him. The people around them were whispering at each other while looking at them with judgement eyes. Allen shook his head to answer, "Of course, not. I''m very safe" "That''s what you think." Their conversation was interrupted when a short man said from behind them. Allen spun and saw Rourke there, crossing his arms and sighing. "Your friends are used to your energy, that''s why they feel nothing. But to people like me who rarely see you and for those who first see you, they will suspect that something is off." "Rourke" Allen trailed off. "You mean, I''m leaking my powers?" "Pretty much, yeah," Rourke shrugged. "But don''t worry. I''m going to help you. Ascend first, I''ll tell you in Paradise." Allen was called to the tform. The guards were already dispersed and the eyes that were once locked on him had long since gone. The boy stood in front of the stone ring that contained the portal as the light from it brightened. Allen closed his eyes and let the lights wrap around him, pulling him inside as he heard the voice in his head say. "Congrattions! You are now in Paradise." Chapter 141: Ranked Chapter 141: Ranked Paradise. A ce filled with stronger beast than its preceding world. This world had three suns and seven moons, all appearing on different time. No sun nor moon would show up in the sky at the same time. Allen just ascended. He opened his eyes and found himelf standing in a tform that was simr to the ones he entered on. The same-looking portal, the same-looking building, but the people looked different. The boy also realized that his position was changed. Back in Haven, he was facing the portal, but now he was facing away from the portal. A smile made its way to his lips and the boy grinned at himself. "I finally reached Paradise," Allen whispered. He was then led away from the tform as the portal lit up again, this time Jeremy was the one who walked out. "Jeremy!" Allen waved his hand. "We''re finally here." Soon, Gwen and Gary also came. They walked towards Allen as the guards grouped them up. The four were ecstatic, smiling at each other as they finally reached the second world. This was one step closer to their goal, and this was definitely a big step towards it. A woman approached Allen and bowed to him, "Congrattions, everyone and wee to Paradise. My name is Rachel and pleasee with me so we can get you started." "Get us started?" Allen tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?" In order to fully register into Paradise''s system, a Hunter that had just ascended was required to undergo a series of tests. These tests were necessary in order for the system to understand each Hunter better. The first test was a medical test where the medical personel in Paradise were to examine the newly ascended Hunters. They were tested for blood type, brain scans, and otherboratory tests even psychological. The second round of tests were the physical test. The Hunters were to be tested by their capacity inbat. Each one of them are assigned in their respective roles, given the fact that not all Hunter have the same stats. Thest round of tests was the interview where the Hunters are going to face veteran Hunters while they answer questions regarding their hunt. These tests were necessary because part of the system in Paradise was the raking system. Hunters are ranked based on the result of the tests, each rank contains a bracket of the number of points the Hunter got from their tests. Higher rank means more benefits, while lower ranks will have less, albeit not game-changing, benefits. "So, basically if you''re strong you get treated right and if you''re not, you get treated like trash," Jeremy scoffed. He watched the envelope which contained his schedule in anger. "This is trash. No wonder Allen wanted to change them." "This is only part of it," Allen sighed as he showed them their folder, the three gasped after seeing the one letter that was on Allen''s file. "They also want everyone toform." Rank D There were four ranks in Paradise that a Hunter could belong to, D, C, B, and A. A means the highest while D is the lowest. The benefits of having a high rank was that you could go to queues over the others, and will have more discounts and better service in the establishments The A rank Hunters were basically treated like kings in the world. They could trample on another Hunter''s entire existence, and nobody would stop them. Not even the other A rankers because they are all the same. The Hunters organization think that this was only right because the A rankers are the Hunters that are in line into ascension to highe realms. They said that since everyone in Paradise had experienced hardship in Haven, they know the process of getting stronger. The ones in D rank won''t stay in D rank forever. Instead, in time, the Hunters that are at the bottom will rise because that was the essence of being a Hunter. There are currently only fifty A rankers in Paradise. They are all in line to Eternity, so they should be given the best treatment. That''s what the Hunters organization believed in. That being said, on the other end of the spectrum, the D rankse to y. If a D rank is in line, for say coffee, a higher ranked Hunter is not only allowed, but obligated to cut in front of them. This kind of treatment was a way to motivate D rankers into getting stronger, that''s what the organization said. This rule doesn''t work in other ranks. Say, a C rank Hunter was in line, a B rank Hunter is not allowed to cut in front. The middle ranks are only there to filter the ones who are about to get stronger and those who are ways behind them. These were all part of the Hunters organization''s view of what the future generation would look up to. They wanted the Hunter to strive and grow in order to progress into better worlds. But their vision was blinded by the fact that they do not know what it feels like to be at the bottom. The Hunters organization''s key personel are the Primordial Beast Bearers and the rich people who owned bigpanies. They think that what they are doing are going to be a good reflection of themselves, but it wasn''t. That was because there was a factor that they didn''t anticipate. A factor that was right under their noses, but for them who only looks at what''s in front of them, they couldn''t see it. That was abuse. As Allen and his group walked to their own apartment units where they are to stay while they''re in Paradise, he saw how much difference each rank has. Since the other three are still unranked, they were to stay at a regr-ss units. Him however, who was refused to be given another rank after he refused to get a role, was given an apartment unit at the slums of the camp. "Bullsh*t," Jeremy growled as he watched the room Allen was assigned on. It was dark, the room was small and it was unclean. There were litter everywhere and the area stinks like people died around the building. "Why are they treating you like this?" "I told them that I don''t have a rank nor do I want one," Allen said. "They got mad and put me here." "They''re so pathetic," Gwen growled. "I can''t believe this is what Paradise looks like. It''s worse than in Haven. At least in Haven, equality existed. Somewhat." "This is more reasons why we need to get stronger fast," Gary said. "If this keeps on, more and more Hunters will leave." Allen leaned his back on the kitchen counter as he crossed his arms and smirked, "Do you know how many A rank Hunters are in this camp alone?" "Fifty," Jeremy replied. "You already told us that." Allen chuckled, "But do you know how many D rank Hunters are there in this camp alone?" The other three looked at each other. When they didn''t know the answer, Allen just raised his finger to his lips and shushed them gently. It stayed like that for a couple of seconds until he broke the silence, "Do you hear that?" Gwen shook her head while trying to reach her ear out, "I don''t hear anything." "Exactly," Allen smirked. "That''s because in this building where the D ranks are supposed to board, only my unit is upied. Among thousands of Hunters in Paradise, only twenty are D rank. The others quit." "What?" Jeremy gasped. "I thought no one would stay a D rank for too long because they would get promoted to higher ranks?" Allenughed lightly. "That''s that they say so nobody would panic and question them." "Wait a minute," Gwen raised her hands and walked in front of Allen. "How did you know all these?" Allen shrugged, "Let''s just say that I know someone who has information of everything." The door of Allen''s room opened, making everyone look at it. A person walked inside, yawning as he slouched on the sofa. "You left me behind. I was looking all over the Portal House for you." "A woman took us all away," Allen said. "She said she''d bring us to test us for our ranks and then we came to her." "She''s really mad," Rourke hummed. "Fantasia, I mean. She was threatened by Dante''s power that she used her own power and abuse it. She was the one who ordered that woman to make you live like hell here, so that you wouldn''t catch up." "W-What?" Allen asked. "But I thought it was a due process?" "It was," Rourke stood and walked closer to Allen. The man was almost a foot shorter than Allen, so he had to do his best so his hands could reach Allen''s shoulders. "But as someone who doesn''t have any role, you are to be tested in all roles and get the average points. Then you will be ranked." Chapter 142: Arrested Chapter 142: Arrested "What does that even mean?" Allen asked Rourke as he sat back on the floor. There wasn''t any furniture in the unit he was assigned to, so he had to be sit on the floor as his legs lost its strength. "You will undergo the tests with different variations, for assassin, warrior, tank, mage, ranger, and support," Rourke replied. "If not, then you will be left in D rank." Allen suddenly had an idea in his mind, "What if I don''t show up in at least one of the tests? What will happen?" Rourke paused, "Hmm. Well, for the first test, you''ll only be examined once since it''s just a medical test. However, for the other tests, you must be present in all of them so you''ll be ranked. If not, then I''m sorry but you''ll stay in D rank." Allen nodded, grinning at himself. "Okay, I got that. Thank you, Rourke. I owe you one." "You can pay it back right now," Rourke suddenly said, making Allen tilt his head to the side. "Butter my name up to Jack when you meet him. Make sure to tell him all the good deeds I did for you, but don''t you ever tell him that I told you to do so." "Why is that?" Allen asked. Rourke opened his mouth and he suddenly stopped. He looked away to hide his reddening face as he cleared his throat and recovered hisposure, "Too many questions. Just do it. I''m gonna go now. People are waiting for me in Eternity." With those words, Rourke left the group and vanished like his presence wasn''t here at all. He didn''t leave a single trace, just like a ghost that was gone in an instant. Jeremy turned around to see a grinning Allen, making him scrunch his face, "Why do I feel like you''re going to do something ridiculous?" Allenughed lightly, "That''s because I am." Hospitals. Allen didn''t have a lot of memories in the hospitals even when he was constantly injured since he couldn''t afford to be in one. Jeremy then rified this saying that Kyle would pay up for the hospital bills whenever Allen was admitted. The first test was a medical test which examines the biological stats of the Hunters. This was necessary in order for the system to recognize the capabilities of the Hunter that was being examined. A tank should have an x level of muscles in their bodies whereas a support should have a healthy mental health in order to focus on their roles. There is also a bracket regarding this and the test score will be decided depending on the bracket that the Hunter''s stats belongs to. Allen was confused for a moment. His schedule was not the same as the other three when they were sent to Paradise at the same time. It was also weird how they had the same schedule while he was scheduled ahead of them. He was sure enough to at least suspect that Fantasia was behind this ploy. She wanted him to be separated from his friends, that was why she did this. Her biggest and perhaps only mistake was that she didn''t know that Allen was used to being alone. If he hadn''t met Jeremy and the others, he would''ve been climbing the ranks of the Hunters alone, with nobody by his side. The boy could only smirk as he waited for his turn to be assessed. "Dante Reed?" The tests went by pretty quickly. The day was over and Allen was on his way back home. He was tested for his blood, his strength, height, and weight and such The hardest and most awkward test was only the fertility test where Allen thought that he''d do something lewd, but the doctors had a machine that would examine the person''s fertility automatically. It was a good thing he held out his question to ask for a cup, or else it would be too awkward for him. He got to the unit he was assigned the day before, to no ones surprise. He knew that Fantasia did something to the employees, maybe threatened them or bribed them into making Allen''s life a living hell while he was in Paradise. They said that the unranked units were all upied at the moment and that Allen had to go back to his old apartment unit in the meantime. This caused an outrage with his friends. They were made and were about to get even madder when Allen told them his n. This made them all grin and immediately agreed. A first step into the stairs of his apartment and he heard a person walk neabry. Unlike Haven where the apartment units were stuck in the walls, Paradise had buildings much like condominiums in Earth. The condominiums were the most hasic housing of the B-C ranked while the A rankers would be in mansions. Meanwhile, the D rankers would stay in the ce called Forsaken. This was a small building with two floors and old design. There were fourteen units, so of the Hunters that are in D rank woudl exceed the capacity, two would share their rooms. That was how ugly the treatment for D rankers were in Paradise. "Oh, well if isn''t the only D ranker." Allen finally hear the person speak. This was the same person that he heard walking behind him. The boy felt the air and felt four more people behind the man. "What''s wrong?" Allen asked, turning around but not stepping down from the stairs. "Is there anything that I can help you?" The man raised his hand to show a badge. This was a metal badge with a silver outline showing arge letter B sign. "I''m a B ranker, so you should obey me." "I read that the D rankers would only let high rankers treat them unkindly in queues or the like. It didn''t state that D rankers would have to be your ves. Is it there?" Allen said confidently. He looked at the man ij the eyes, showing off as much intimation as he could. He also used the level of their height as an advantage, he was on the higher part of the stairs while the man was at the bottom. "Do you have a death wish?" the man growled. He leaped off of the floor and leveled himself with Allen. He used a Code that made wind wrap around his legs so he could hover in the air. "I am a B ranker. Which means, I''m just a couple more steps into Eternity. Do you know what you''re doing?" "You didn''t even answer my question," Allen said, sighing at the same time. "Is treating D rankers a ve for the higher ups a rule?" The man didn''t answer. Instead, he growled and raised his hand above him. He used a Code that summoned a sword, shing it forward so it would reach Allen. ''Enhanced Instinctsn II activated.'' The man moved swiftly, but Allen was faster. His instincts had kicked in and he rolled to the side. Allen then conjured his Sunset Dagger, maximizing its passive skill since it was already nighttime. "That''s a rare weapon," the man behind their leader said. "Howe he had that, Bryant?" Bryant scoffed, "He probably wh*red his way with the rich men. You know those fools. Ugly f*cking bastards with ugly f*cking tastes." Allen sighed and kept his dagger. "You guys are losers, do you know that? You attack helpless weaklings just because nothing? How pathetic could you get, huh?" Bryant grit his teeth. He growled and lunged for Allen, his sword was swinging around like he was whipping a whip in the air. Allen smirked at this, letting Bryant let lose. The stairs were destroyed as well as the hallway. Everything that was in front of Bryant, he would destroy without any question. He was angry that was no question. After a while, Allen was bored and now he had to finish this. He wasn''t intending on killing anyone. That would just ruin his reputation. He didn''t fight back because he was afraid that he would be med for everything, but now that the damage was enough, he decided that it was enough too. The boy vanished in the air, making Bryant stopped from his rampage. He looked around and felt a weird sensation behind him, and suddenly, they were all knocked down on the ground. Bryant was the only one left conscious. He looked up to see Allen standing there, grinning at him. "Hello there, Bryant. Your name sounds awkward with the T in it. Are you sure your parents liked you?" "You filthy rat!" Bryant growled. "Just shut up and die!" Allen didn''t hesitate to swing his sword and create a pool of aura around Bryant. The man screamed as the aura got smaller and smaller until he was suffocated inside, left unconscious. Just before he fell, Allen felt a sudden urge to leave. He saw a smirk on Bryant''s face before he fell to the ground. "Dante Reed," a woman appeared out of the blue. "You are hereby arrested for hurting your fellow Hunters." Chapter 143: The Pillars Chapter 143: The Pirs Allen stood in disbelief, seeing the woman quirk her lips up to form a smirk. This is when Allen got suspicious. He looked around and saw that there were several police officers around him, five to be exact. Allen raised his hands up to show surrender but then spoke, "Madam, I don''t know why I''m being arrested when these fellow Hunters are the one who came into the D rank building and decided to attack me. "This got out of hand when they started the fight. I merely fought back," Allen reasoned. "If you''re doubtful about my words, you can check on that surveince camera." The boy showed a victorious smirk and pointed at the camera by the corner. It was positioned at the corner of the stairs, making it able to capture everything that had happened. "That camera is disfunctional," the woman crossed her arms. "The organization thought that it would be a waste of money to let the cameras record events when there are no people here." "But madam," Allen said. "What about the fact that these folks have attacked me in the building. They''re B and C rankers, meaning that they don''t have any business here." The woman sighed and shook her head, "Listen, juste with me to the police station. I''ll let the higher ups handle this matter. For now, you are to be detained until" "Right this second." Their heads turned to the side after they heard the familiar soft but chilling voice. A figure of a man walked out from the darkness as he was smirking at them. "I have seen all of the events that had happened here. Mr. Dante Reed is free to go." "But Mr. Sebastian" the woman was cut off when Sebastian ced a finger on his lips to silence her. "Sir, roger that." The long-haired blonde man looked around and scrunched his face after seeing the mess around him. The building was almost copsing due to the attacks that came from Bryant, and the old leaking pipes were spraying water everywhere. "This is pathetic," Sebastian sighed. "Dante,e with me. You shall stay in my room for tonight." "But sir" Sebastian ced his finger over his lips again, pursing it harder this time. "Don''t you dare try to order me. Know your ce." The female police officer was left to look down in shame. She was shaking after seeing the intense and terrifying aura that was seeping through Sebastian. If she wasn''t a police officer that had Codes that guards them, she''d be falling to the ground in fear. Allen followed Sebastian down the hall and into outside. The boy''s eyes widened after he saw a car outside, something that not all people could afford. One car in the Otherworlds would cost at least thirty to fourty million dors. That''s how expensive it could get. "Get inside," Sebastian ordered as he opened the passenger seat. The car was a supercar model, meaning there are only two seats avable. Allen got inside and watched Sebastian as the man raised his hand in the air while the other ced two fingers in his mouth. Wheet. A bird the size of a van leaped out from nowhere, flying down and slowly shrinking in size as itnded gently on Sebastian''s arm. From the size of a van, the bird was now merely a bit bigger than a dove. Sebastian rubbed its head as the bird melted in his touch, shaking its head for its master. Allen watched this and was wondering if he could tame beasts too. There''s only one way to exin this but Sebastian had a beast pet and he tamed it into his pet. Then, just as Allen though that Sebastian would enter the car, the man pursed his lips and said something, making the bird glow and pop like a bubble. This made Allen''s jaw fall, which something that Sebastian saw andughed at. The man entered the car and smiled at Allen, "Wikkan Avian. A pet-type Code." "Pet-type Code?" Allen tilted his head to the side. "Is that a new type of Code?" Sebastian shook his head, "No. But it is rare. A pet-type Code is something that''s only found in Eternity. There are no other ces to look for it. Not even here in Paradise." "So, they''re basically pets?" Allen asked. "You order around to do simple tasks and such?" Sebastian shook his head, "Pet Codes can do muchplex tasks other than fetch a ball or stick. Like the one I used now, I watched over you." "And why is that?" Allen asked. "Why do I need to be watched over?" "Barandi has their eyes on you," Sebastian said. "They know that you have an incredible amount of power. And right now, you can match Barandi''s weakest member, isa Verdes. Your power isparable to her, that''s what the spies are telling me." "Fantasia was the one who said that to them, right?" Allen asked. "Before I ascended, the woman talked to me. Her gaze was like they were going to bear holes in my head. It was ufortable to say at least." "I really see a great potential in you," Sebastian said. "Even Bernard wouldn''t be too brave enough and too rash to suddenly point his fingers. The man was a thinker through and through, but you" Sebastian suddenly sighed and stopped the car, "You rely heavily in your intuition and this intuition is not far from the truth. Keep this up boy." Allen smiled and nodded. Sebastian on the other hand chuckled and tapped the boy''s shoulder, "We''re here." Allen exited the vehicle and was instantly blinded by the bright lights from outside. Sebastian''s car was heavily tinted and his apartment building had barely have any lights on, so this kind of brightness is new to him. "Are you okay?" Sebastian asked. "You looked like you''d pass out." "No, I''m fine," Allen replied as he shook his head. "My eyes just got didn''t use to the light." "Snakes thrive in the darkness they say," Sebastian said. "Come on." The apartment building for the ones who have ascended was nothing like the ones that are still in Paradise. When A rankers are treated like kings, the ascended Hunters are treated like gods. The bright gold and white stone materials used in the building was a statement that everyone who lived there weren''t people who you''d mess with. Sebastian told Allen that not only is there a level requirement to ascend to Eternity, the Hunter must also reach a quota with their money and assets. The Hunters must have at least five hundred million dors in their name, or else they couldn''t ascend higher. That sum of money was huge, in fact, it''s so huge that it could feed all the starving Hunters in Haven with a single Hunter''s money alone. However, due to the fact that beasts in Paradise were also costly, it wasn''t that hard to umte the money. "Five hundred mil," Allen whispered. "That''s a lot of money." Sebastian chuckled, "They made it sure that the Hunter can provide for themselves. After all, in Eternity, there are only a very few vendors. You couldn''t buy things as easily in Haven or even here in Paradisepared to Eternity." "Right," Allen nodded in understanding. He got where Sebastian wasing from. The Hunters who have ascended to higher worlds weren''t exactly merchants. It was rare for merchants to ascend since theycked the grind in the forests. They use their money to buy Codes and then sell these Codes. If they don''t sell the Codes and instead use it to burn for levels in the Skill Altar, their money would go down the drain. "The only ones who sell in Paradise are about four Hunters," Sebastian said. "And each and every one of them are huge business tycoon owners. They have several businesses in Earth that generate their ie so they could ascend." "But that n isn''t sustainable," Allen said. "The price of Codes to burn would increase, until such time that it would demand a huge sum of money." "That''s not such a huge problem for people who has chains of businesses in Earth and even in Haven," Sebastian said. "They''re money is infinite as of this point. Even when they buy ten Sacred grade Codes, it wouldn''t hurt their pockets." "Wow," Allen was left dumbfounded. "So this is the power move of the rich and powerful, huh? And then they would leave the poor and starving to the ground, helplessly trying to beg for a bite off of their food." Sebastian opened the door, making Allen''s eyes widened. "That is why we need you to get stronger now. The Barandi had acknowledged your strength, making it mean that they are going to keep an eye on you and try to make your life hard so you wouldn''t surpass them." "And that''s why we''re here," Bernard grinned and raised a thumbs up. "We''ll be your pirs so you could change this world for the better.", Chapter 144: Black Rust Chapter 144: ck Rust Inside Sebastian''s room were Bernard, Remy, Keh, Jeremy, Gary, and Gwen. There were a total of six of them that were going to fully support Allen, three of which were Primordial Beast Bearers and one with almost the same level as them. "W-What?" Allen couldn''t believe it. He was shaking his head in happiness, smiling at the joy that he was feeling. He always have known that a lot of people are looking forward for him, but he didn''t know that this was the power of his influence. Three Primordial Beast Bearers were going to help him. Apart from Lin who is only going to help him once he gets strong enough, these three were going to help him get to the point of absolute strength. "There are seven of us that''s going to help you get stronger," Sebastian said. "Four of us are going to help you from the top while the three are going to be by your side. Dante, you can''t fight this battle on your own." Allen nodded. He still haven''t told anyone else about his true identity and he was nning on keeping it that way. "Okay. But why do I need protection? I don''t get why Barandi and Fantasia is so eager to get me." "For them, you''re a threat," Remy replied. It was a good thing that the other two Bearers and her that got attacked a while ago had already healed. She was now able to move like nothing happened. "Barandi has illegal connections but there''s someone from the top that''s protecting them, so we can''t eradicate them. "But since you''re someone who has the potential to be stronger and get to the top, they will do whatever they can to kill you," Remy continued. "And I did not exaggerate when I said they''ll kill you. If they have the chance to do so, they will. So always be on guard." "There''s also one thing that you have to know," Keh said. From the three after the attack, Keh drastically changed. He didn''t wear too feminine clothes like before. The past bunny girl-looking boy was now wearing gender-neutral clothing. "Barandi has the police officers in their hands, so it would be quite useless if you try to rely on them." "Is another Bearer helping them?" Allen asked. "You said they have help from the top. That could only mean one thing. A Bearer is helping them, am I right?" "No," Remy replied. "At least we don''t know if that''s true or not. What is true though is that a sponsor of the organization is helping them. A man that is the CEO of a huge corporation and has a lot of businesses in the world." Allen''s mind was running on its own when he said, "One of the three businessmen in Eternity." "Correct," Remy nodded. "Felix White. The man behind his father''s White Enterprise, one of thergest businesses in Earth that deals mostly with illegal goods as well as thepany that provides technology in the Otherworlds. It''s no wonder why they''re rich and powerful, they''re rich because they are powerful." "Is he a dangerous man?" Allen asked. "If he''s just a businessman, he''s not much of a threat then." "That''s where you''re wrong," Bernard was the one who replied this time. "Felix is both abatant and a businessman. His tycoon had earned him billions, but not just because he could hire Hunters, but he is the Hunter that provides the service. He''s the suspected leader of Barandi based on our investigation." Allen nodded in understanding, "I see." The people inside the room continued to talk until the time camete. It was almost midnight when they decided to sleep. Sebastian''s unit had seven rooms, so it wasn''t a bother for them to sleep in each room apart from Sebastian and Bernard who decided to share. Allenid awake in the bed, his eyee wide open as he cannot sleep with all the thoughts that were running inside his head. He couldn''t focus on one thing and it seemed like the Intelligence attribute was also gettinggged by all the information that he had. He wandered around his Code slots when he realized that he had too much Codes and then it was almost a week and time to report to Hilda. He also couldn''t grind yet since the camp doesn''t allow unraked Hunters to hunt until they are ranked. In Paradise, the creatures would have different areas to roam at. In some areas, the beasts would be most located on, the A rankers were only allowed to enter. In most areas where the beasts were easy or average, the B to C rankers were allowed to go. Meanwhile, there was no ce for D rankers. A D ranker can only hunt when there are more than five B or C rankers in the group or two B or C rankers and one A ranker. That is another form of discrimination for D rankers but they just masked it as trying to help them. If a D ranker is forced to join a group with higher ranks, then they can''t level up unless the group they joined lets them get thest hit. If not, then they''ll be stuck in the same rank for the rest of their lives. It was hard to level up in Haven, and it was even harder to level up in Paradise. There''s going to be a higher level requirement and stronger beasts to y, and if a Hunter isn''t a strong and adaptive Hunter, then they''ll get left behind. A knock on Allen''s door woke him up from his daydreams. He stepped closer to the door to see who it was when he saw Bernard there. "Hi, is there something wrong?" "Uhm," Bernard trailed off. "Jake wants to talk to you." Allen''s eyes widened when hepletely forgot about Jake Summers. He didn''t realize that Jake would get angry if he get to Paradise first, leaving the man behind. Allen was thinking that Jake would be pissed because he would think that Allen had tricked him or something. "S-Sure," Allen said. "Where is he?" Jake pointed at the wall and Wayne was there, smiling at Allen while gesturing at the portal beside him. "This way." "Is he mad?" Allen asked to which Wayne answered with a shrug. "You''ll see." It was already a few minutes and Allen was feeling erratic. He was nervous while Jake was stirring his cup of tea, staring at Allen with a mncholic expression. "So, you made it to Paradise," Jake said, making Allen gulped. "Are you mad?" Allen asked. "Because it you are" "Why would I be mad?" Jake ced his cup down andughed. "I called you here because an old fool mentioned someone he was treating like a treasure to me and I realized we were treating the same treasure." Allen scrunched his face. "Treasure? Uncle? What?" Allen then realized that Jake was Jack''s nephew. Jake must be talking about the old man when he was saying that. And treating like a treasure must meant the way that Jack had treated Allen. The old man had only been kind to Allen, and he was yet to repay that kindness. He promised to himself that he would do so, maybe not now, but soon. Jake raised his hand and a man that was carrying arge case entered. The man wore a ck suit and tie with a pattern that was familiar to Allen. He swore that he had seen the pattern before. "He''s from Verta Carta," Jake said. "He''s here to deliver this package." The man was carrying a ck metal briefcase that he gently ced on the ss table. Jake unlocked the briefcase by typing in the Code and he showed Allen a bright, beautiful sword. "Here it is," Jake said. "Our congrattory gift to you for making it to Paradise." "Congrattory gift?" Allen asked. "I thought you were mad because I didn''t tell you that I made it into Paradise." "What do you mean? Why would I be mad when one of my men has reached a milestone?" Jake asked. "I''m almost there too, so don''t worry, we''ll see each other soon. And besides, it was not stated in the contract that you have to follow everything that I say or even not report things that are personal. That''s not required. You just have to send me Codes like always and then we can go into our own lives." Allen smiled as he received the gift. Jake said that Jack also paid half of the sword because it was expensive, a high tier Grand grade sword that can swiftly slice even the hardest metals in Paradise. The sword looked in and simple, but its sharpness and light weight was no question. It was a ck crystal sword that had no special markings on the de. It looked clean, but its power was undeniable once you get a taste of it. "Wow," Allen whispered in shock. "This sword looks amazing." Grade: Grand (Evolvable) Damage: 200 Chapter 145: Younger Brother Chapter 145: Younger Brother Allen held the sword up as he looked at it with twinkling eyes. The sword was going to be the current strongest weapon he have that is not a weapon Code. The ck crystal-like material of the de was in between shiny and matte, a texture that seemed ethereal. It wasn''t like any texture that Allen has seen before. The handle was made of the same material as the de, but it had a different property than it. While the de was tough and sharp, the handle was softer to the touch. It wasn''t maleable that when held, it would deform, but the feeling of the de was very pleasant. It beat the rubber and other materials when ites tofort. Grade: Grand (Evolvable) Damage: 200 Effect/s: (1) ck Rust - Passive - When the user inflicts damage using ck Rust, they will instantly inflict the same amount of damage to the same target. This effect has a 20 second-cooldown. (2) Passive - When the user has dealt 40% of the target''s max HP, their damage to the target will increase by 40%. This scales equal with the damage dealt to the target. (3) ??? Allen was impressed with the effects. This was another weapon for a prolonged fight, just like most his weapons. He doesn''t have a burst weapon or any Code that would shorten his battles, that''s what he was aiming on getting. Another peculiar part about the weapon was its two passive effects. Usually the effects of the weapons would start with an active effect followed by passive effects. This weapon, however, had only passive effects and not a single active effect. Perhaps because there is still one missing effect that Allen has yet to unlcok or the fact that this weapon was an evolvable weapon that is not even a Code. "Do you like it?" Allen suddenly awoke from his thoughts when Jake spoke. He smiled and nodded, now facing the man instead of the sword. "It''s unbelievable. Are you sure this is a gift?" "Uncle Jack would not stop nagging at me if I don''t give you that," Jake smirked. "I told you. That old man is very fond of you. He sees him in you, something that did not happen to me nor my brothers." "And is that a good thing?" Allen asked, gulping in fear that Jake would hold grudges agaisnt him. Jake nodded instead, "And why would that be a bad thing? Uncle Jack is a powerful man with lots of resources. He can get you anything if you''d only ask." "No," Allen said. "I meant for you. Is being good to Jack, makes me good for you?" "What?" Jake titled his head to the side in confusion. "Whatever do you mean, Dante?" "I don''t want any ill will between my clients and I," Allen said. "If Jack being fond of me makes you ufortable or anything like that, please let me know so that I could distance myslef" "Let me stop you right there," Jake chuckled, raising his hand. "Uncle Jack was the only one in my family that had treated me with kindness. He didn''t give a f*ck if I was weak nor if I was a support. He saw me as a human with human emotions and fragile feelings. Whatever that old man says, I follow." Allen nodded and smiled, "That''s good. Thank you. Store." He kept the sword in his Inventory and made sure that he still has space left for things that he might storeter on. For now, most of his items that he has were in Sebastian''s unit, on the room that he stays on. "Also," Jake said right before Allen left through the portal. "You''ll meet my brother tomorrow. You''ll know who he is right away." Allen didn''t ask any more questions and just nodded. He left Jake''s room with the man crossing his arms while looking at the closing portal. "I forgot to warn him about that loudmouth''s endless battle cry. But he''ll be fine." The door opened and Jack walked inside. He was smiling but then his smile faded when the room was void of the presence that he was looking for. "I guess I waste, huh?" "You are," Jakeughed lightly. "It''s not time for you to meet him again. You have to wait for a while." "Are you sure you''re doing the right thing?" Jack asked. "The boy needs my presence now that Barandi has their sight on him." "A nt will never grow if you keep plucking it off the soil and pretend like it''s your baby," Jake said. "Dante will only die if you keep babying him. Let him grow on his own. There are people that''s watching over him anyway." Jack sighed and sat on the couch. "I guess you''re right. All I have to do now is make sure that he''s safe. That''s your role." A figure walked out from the corner of the room. They nodded and vanished into thin air, making it as if their presence was never there in the first ce. "You''re keeping a close eye on him, huh?" Jake chuckled. "That''s good too. The closer we are, the better." "I just don''t want to disappoint him in the end," Jack sighed. "One of his closest ally is nothing but a puppet. That''s going to be harsh for him." "Don''t worry," Jake looked up to the ceiling. "He''ll be fine." It was the second round of the tests and Allen was not anywhere near excited. He was afraid that he''ll fail in mage and support tests because hecked the power and techniques of mages and support. It was a good thing that Remy and Sebastian were there to help him, both excelled in their roles of mage and support so he had at least a bit of training. Remy was a mage with a control specialty. Her Codes and techniques were mostly for controlling enemies while dealing damage to them at the same time. Although her power wasn''t burst like Fantasia, she still has more power because she can also sustain herself. As the Bearer of the Primordial Dog, Remy has extra abilities that were like the Snake. She has super hearing and can has an increase in movement speed and agility, higher than any Primordial Beast. Her fighting style was mostly longer in duration due to the fact that she doesn''t burst like most mages. She also wasn''t damage over time like the others, but what she has is as or even more dangerous than the others. Control, or sometimes called crowd control, specific skills from Remy are lethal. She could stun, paralyze, freeze, and even deal damage over time like burn, in her opponent. She pairs her specialty with high damage weapons, so she could seed in her hunts. On the other hand, Sebastian Lincoln was a support that Allen had somewhat knew of. Allen was already quite familiar with Sebastian''s healing and supporting techniques since he had seen it first hand. Keh was also a support role and he was supposed to teach Allen, but the boycked in skills when ites to teaching. All he knew was to impress Allen and show off his abilities, but he doesn''t know how to teach Allen the things that he needed to seed in the techniques. Before Allen could get even more confused, Sebastian stepped in and decided to take over with teaching Allen. He said that if his support techniques did not match Allen''s techniques, it would even be harder for him to understand Keh''s. As the Primordial Rabbit Bearer, Keh has the ability to increase, decrease, and even stop not just his own movements, but his opponent''s too. Hecked damage, having the lowest damage output within the Primordial Beast Bearers, but he has the highest mobility. He can not only move freely, but he can also hinder his opponent''s movements. This was a huge advantage for him considering his skill setcked the damage. Keh has Code skills and weapons that fit his abilities, making it hard for others to mimic him. Basically, Keh is one of a kind. No other Hunter is the same as him, especially his personality and hobbies. The Bearer remains unmatched. Unlike him, Sebastian has an easier technique sets. He provides heal ans protection to his teammates, and he can also deal a decent amount of damage to his opponents. Allen was now in the second round of his tests. He was walking inside the auditorium where the guard said where he''ll be tested when he felt a pair of eyes boring its gaze through his skull. Chills travelled through his spine as he tried to locate the direction of the source of the gaze. Right then and there, he heard footsteps getting closer to him. The silent building made the metal soles of the footsteps get louder, making Allen turn and see a replica of Jake Summers. "Hello, Dante Reed," the boy smiled at him. "My name is Jax Summers, I''ll be your examiner for today." Chapter 146: Physical Test Chapter 146: Physical Test "Physical aptitude test," Jax said as he raised a clipboard. "Today, we''re going to examine Hunter Dante Reed, unraked and has no roles." "Yes," Allen nodded. "What should I do?" Jax smiled and hid his clipboard behind him. He lowered himself to the ground and ced his palm on the cold marble floor. "Terrane change." Suddenly, the room shook and the marble walls and building copsed. Allen was shocked after seeing this, the boy clenching his fists after this. "What''s happening?" "Don''t worry, Mr. Reed," Jax said as he slowly stood up and smiled. "Nothing is happening." As if everything has shifted, they were now in the middle of a vast in field. The green grass, the blue skies, and the cold gentle breeze all seemed so surreal that Allen was questioning everything. "W-What" "Let''s start," Jax said. The man looked at his clipboard. "First test, tank." Allen felt something from under the soil. He took a look at Jax and the boy vanished from his sight. Allen didn''t move and just let the ground bulge and erupt, throwing him off as a collosal sword pierce through it. "What the" The sword erupted further from the ground, showing the giant arm that was wielding it. The arm stopped when it reached the shoulder joint, unmoving for a couple of seconds before it suddenly mmed the sword on the ground. Allen barely dodged the attack. If he was even a single second toote, his life would''ve ended. He was about to conjure his ive, but cancelled it when he remembered what Sebastian told him the night before. Physical aptitude tests are designed to test he capabilities of a Hunter in their specific roles. How durable a tank was, how high the damage a mage has, or how a support can carry their team. Allen realized this after remembering that this was the tank aptitude test. "Durability," the boy whispered to himself. He stepped back and conjured a craft he made not too long ago. A greatsword and a shield that were made from different materials, meaning they were two different weapons. "Okay. I once wielded two weapons. I''m sure I can do it again." The boy ran towards the giant arm and sword, full speeding towards it as it also was about to swing its weapon against the boy. "Let''s do it!" While Allen was taking the test, a group of people has been watching him through an invisible wall. High above where he was, seven people sat on a dimly lit room, Jax standing behind them. In the group, one of them was most prominent. A man that sat in a chair with a backrest that was taller than the others, made of gold while the others were made of silver. He was wearing a mask over his eyes while his blue hair was slicked back. His skin was pale and smooth, much like a doll. It was aplete opposite aura to hisrge and muscled build, his body bulging on his tight white suit. This man was the leader of the group. "This boy" the man said. "He''s holding two different weapons, correct? How is that possible?" From behind, Jax walked up to the man. He wasn''t looking at the others who were wearing different masks over their eyes, but they were wearing ck suits. "Sir," Jax handed him an envelope. The man with the white suit opened the envelope and his eyes widened after he saw what was inside. "This was when the Fire Dragon was reborn. He was there too?" The woman beside the man hummed in response, "He was the one who killed the beast. That must be how he got to Paradise so fast. A Hunter from Havenst hitting a beast that is the same level as the average beasts in Eternity." This woman had a red hair that she tied as a bun. She wore a crystal lotus pin on the side of her head while a mole was located on her right upper lip. Her skin was also light, but she wasn''t as light skinned as the man. "But weilding two weapons?" Another man said. This man had a darker skin and a buzz cut ck hair. "Let''s just go back to this quality real quick. How many Hunters can do that?" "Seven," another man replied, a man with a curly blonde hair. "Six, now that Drake Nelson is gone. Some could, but they don''t master it like they do." "And do you think this boy can master it?" The woman asked. "Is he one of the six remaining dual wielding?" "Yeah," the first man sighed. "Now this is why Barandi has their eyes on him. Jax, take care of him properly, okay?" Jax bowed, "Of course, sir." The first man raised a ss of wine, as the others followed him. His sleeve was slightly pulled back, showing off a familiar ck tattoo. A tattoo of a snake. "Good," Jax checked something on his clipboard and let a healer heal Allen. The boy tanked the damage of the arm, making sure to be as durable as he can while he was doing it. "You''re very good, Mr. Reed. And those weapons don''t belong with each other don''t they?" "No," Allen said with a deep sigh. "I know how these tanks and assassins, some even rangers, could have dual weapons because the weapons are part of a set, but not this one. I''m just using this because it''s convenient." "For convenience," Jax narrowed his eyes. "Interesting." Grade: Rare Defense: 100 Effect/s: (1) Active - 10s taking damage, a shield equal to 20% of the damage taken. This stacks up to 120%. (2) Passive - Gains 40% of max defense as shield. Grade: Grand Damage: 200 Effect/s: (1) Dual de - Active - Can switch the affinity to Defense or Damage. (2) Passive - Gains 20% stats every 20 seconds of taking damage. Stacks up to 200%. (3) ??? The shield was a good defense item for Allen. It was a standard shield, but it also gives high scaling the longer the fight gets. The sword on the other hand was the true glory that Allen used. It had a high stats from the start and what''s makes it more interesting is because the active skill can change the stats from offense to defense. When in warrior mode, Allen could use the offense while in tank mode or when he needs to take huge amounts of damage, he can switch to defense mode. What''s more is the scaling of the sword. The passive skill will scale up to 200%, making it a huge shield for him. Then the passive skill of his shield willpliment the huge stats of the sword by 40%, making Al practically impregnable. During his tank aptitude test, the first few seconds were the hardest. He was just gaining shield and his defense stats were low to begin with. He could barely keep up with the beast. In three minutes of taking damage, Allen felt almsot nothing anymore. His shield had reached 400%, and it was still scaling because the two effects of his weapons would still increase each other. He continued taking damage while he continued to get stronger and stronger. It was also a good thing that his hyperregeneration would require a heavy amount of damage before it would activate. He didn''t have to exin himself to the healers why he has been tanking the damage and he was uninjured. "Are you ready for your next test?" Jax asked Allen after the healer had fixed him up. The boy nodded and Jax smirked with the determination he got from him. "Okay, the next one will be mage test. Good luck." "Mage," Allen sighed. Jax vanished again and he was left in the fields once more. The arm and the sword were also gone, along with the hole it came out with it, as if it wasn''t there in the first ce. "Mage, mage, mage." When the ground shook again, Allen knew that it wasing. This time, before the thing could even reach the surface, he had dodged the bulge on the ground where something woulde out of. This time, a staff came out. It was being carried by a stone old man with a robe and a very long beard. The old man was wearing a pointed hat while it was pointing its weapon at Allen. "Aw, sh*t" Allen couldn''t even finish cursing when the stone wizard fired a me ball at him. Allen groaned at how this was going to be a hassle for him since he expected this, but wasn''t too fond of the idea. He was going to have a mage battle with the stone man. The boy sighed and took out something that he borrowed from Remy. It was her offensive weapon Code that had easy mechanics that Allen didn''t have a hard time understanding. He took out a staff with a glowing pointed tip. "Shoot for shoot. Let''s go, wizard fool!" Chapter 147: Practice Chapter 147: Practice Huff. Puff. Allen fell to the ground after seven long grueling hours of tests. The healers were able to recover his energy and his physical state, but not his brain energy. He was drained mentally in short. "Congrattions," Jax said with a smile. He checked thest box in his clipboard before bowing. "You havepleted all the tests. You may now return to your unit and wait for thest round. Thank you for your cooperation." Allen bowed at Jax in gratefulness. The man was unlike his brother or his uncle. While Jake and Jack shared the simr traits of being wild and outspoken, Jax was different. He was calm and proper, only speaking the right words without saying any unnecessary words. The man returned the ce into the testing hall from the green grass fields. Allen was still amazed by that ability but he was too shy to ask if it was a Code or just technology in the building. After he had rested for a couple of minutes, he left the testing hall to see his friends waiting for him. He smiled at them while they returned the smile. "Did you pass the test?" Jeremy asked. Allen was baffled for a moment. He turned around to see the door of the hall and then towards his friends. "I didn''t get to know my result. They didn''t say it. They only checked the clipboard every after test." "Check the clipboard?" Gwen pursed her lips. "I could swear that they should tell you the result of your test. I asked one of the Hunters here and they would reveal your score after." Allen only shrugged. "I don''t care. I have a n in mind anyway." "Right," Gwen said slowly. "But are you really going to stick with your n? You know being D rank is hard, right?" "I will create a legend," Allen smirked. "And show them that not all people under them are weak." For the remainder of his stay, Allen wasn''t allowed to exit the camp nor return to Haven. He was allowed to go to ces inside the camp in Paradise, but not outside. It was a rule so that the Hunters who are yet to get their ranks would be present when their ranks are revealed. But Allen was a boy who couldn''t just roam around and do nothing. The instincts of the Snake that was imbedded in his body was always kicking in, making him feel adrenaline rush at random times. His friends knew about this so they tend to help him relieve the pressure by going to the gym. They were staying in a luxurious building, and there was a private gym avable for them. Allen stood in the middle of the gym''s hallway and was taking a deep breath when Gwen appeared beside him. The woman wears a wide grin as she whipped her sword at the boy. "Gotcha!" Gwen cheered. Right when she shed her sword, Allen vanished from her sights. Shended on the ground, looking around only to feel a spike of pressure behind her. "What the" "Reverse kill," Allen chuckled. He used the pommel of his Twilight Dagger and mmed it right on Gwen''s stomach. The woman''s eyes widened in shock afte receiving the heavy blow. She couldn''t believe it and she couldn''t recover in time for Allen to damage her once more. The boy raised his sword and mmed the pommel on her shoulder, throwing her to the side where she was about to sh with a wall. Zoom. Gary appeared right before Gwen''s body hit the wall. The man caught the woman in a split second, making them both groan with the impact. "Allen, you didn''t need to be so harsh," Jeremy said. "You could''ve injured her badly." "She can heal herself," Allen said with a smile. "She''s a good healer after all." Jeremy shook his head and smiled. "Well then, let''s see if I can keep up with you too." The man twirled his Emerald Spear on his hands. The crystal weapon glowed under the bright florescent light of the gym''s hall. It was a beautiful weapon, worthy of all the praises it can get. "It seems like I have to match you," Allen grinned, summoning the diamond sword. They have the same calibre of weapons, but the only way to determine the stronger one was through battle. "Hiya!" Allen yelled and dashed first. He leaped up to swing his sword but Jeremy replied with a smirk and a step to the side. Allen crashed his sword on the floor, creating a huge crater on it. He wasn''t going in full strength but he was already able to do this much. "A weapon with this much damage isn''t to be messed with, huh?" Allen chuckled and swung his sword again, Jeremy still dodging it all. "Why do you keep on running? Face me, Jeremy. You have to fight me." "I''m just warming up," Jeremy said with a smirk. He held his spear with both his hands to block the sword that Allen swung from above him. He was raising his hands as they trembled from the force of Allen''s attack. "You really are strong." They shed their weapons with each other, perfectly synching with the moment as they continued to create sparks with their des. They were weilding weapons that were equal to the Primordial Beast Code in their world, meaning that they have so much potential. "You know," Allen said. "If we die today and meet in the next life, would I still be your friend?" "Of course," Jeremy said with a grin. "I''ll always be your friend, in this life and the next." "Good," Allen smiled then suddenly vanished. He reappeared behind Jeremy and was about to do the same thing he did to Gwen. He retreated his sword and pointed the pommel on Jeremy''s back. "Because I''m going to do this" Allen was a second away from hitting Jeremy when they heard strings being yed. The instrument was not a guitar, but it still uses strings as its main source of sound. "What is that?" Gary asked as he carried Gwen towards Allen and Jeremy. "This sound feels odd and creepy." "Stand back," Allen said. "There''s something wrong about this music." The string istrument continued to y with a mellow but slightly peculiar sound. The group of friends were looking at each other in worry, thinking that someone was going to attack them. "The orange leaves fell as the temperature drops below zero," a beautiful female voice sang. "As the cold winds blow and the trees fell asleep, you came to me." The voice seemed to be singing with the string instrument. She was beautifully speaking the words, describing a scene as the gym hall''s surroundings became disoriented. "What is happening?" Gwen asked. "Why did it suddenly be cold?" "A beautiful forest filled with gorgeous trees," the woman sang. "I was in the middle of it." The space around them slowly became more and more distorted. Allen didn''t want to panick, but he was gettint scared. Never has he seen something like this before. "My feet was drenched in water as theke overflowed all night long." Water started leaking out of the floor and the scenery became clearer. They were in the middle of a forest, the trees had white trunks and brown to orange leaves. The ground was filled with water and the air was heavily covered with mist. "Who are you and what is this?" Allen asked, but nobody answered. "Hello?" Out of nowhere, an arrow was shot in their direction. Allen''s reflexes made him move and his instincts made him sh his sword forward, blocking the arrow before it could hurt them. "What in the hell is that?" Jeremy gasped. "An arrow. But we''re in a private gym. Who could attack us?" More arrows started to shoot towards them, so the three of them formed a triangle around Gwen and blocked the arrows. After each arrow was blocked, it would fall to the ground and get swallowed by the clear water to the soil and vanish. Allen was still thinking who could be behind this but he was in a cornered thought. He had nobody in mind. After the second round of arrows was finished, the group had the time to breath. "Finally," Allen groaned. "Now what?" The strings yed again and the woman continued with her song, "The rain that was heavy, it was apanied with blood." "Don''t tell me it''s gonna rain blood!" Jeremy grunted. "I hate blood." The woman finished and the guitar had ended, but the three didn''t lower their guard. Gwen recovered from the damage she took from Allen and was now restoring her friends'' energy. She was also providing them buff so she could at least help them. A slow pping sounded from nearby. Allen looked at who it was and saw a woman in a Japanese traditional clothing. "Congrattions." The woman smiled. "You have passed the third and final test. You may now know your ranks based on the email that has been sent to your phones." Chapter 148: Return to Haven Chapter 148: Return to Haven Rank: D Allen grinned after he saw his rank. Barandi clearly wanted him to have a hard time rising up so they could get more power while he was still climbing thedder. "I''m D rank," Jeremy said and the others followed. Everyone was ced in D rank, making it too obvious that whoever was affiliated with Allen was going to fall to the bottom. "We''re all D ranks," Gwen pursed her lips. "Now it''s even harder for us to ascend." "No," Allen said. "This just made everything easier. Let''s go back to Sebastian''s unit. I have a n." The other three looked at each other as they followed Allen who had a huge grin on his lips. He was proud and they didn''t know why. Meanwhile, at the other world higher than where Allen was, amotion was starting. Whispers, gossips, and other words were being circted, about a Hunter being eyed by Barandi. "Are they going to recruit him?" "I heard Fantasia gave the boy a hard time." "Seems so. Maybe they don''t want him in Barandi." Words flooded the streets as Rourke walked around with Franco and Lay. They were one of the leading group of Hunters in Eternity. Albeit not equal to Sebastian or Fantasia, the group was still respected and were also feared. "These rumors are getting out of hand," Franco sighed. "I don''t think my mind can keep up with how many times its been altered." "Perhaps it''s because you''re so short?" Rourke chuckled. "I could use you as my javelin, you know. Why do you even need to keep up with the gossip when we know the facts?" Franco scoffed and crossed his arms, turning to Lay to ask for help. "Your friend is a bully." "He''s right," Lay said. "Not about the javelin part. But the part where he said that we don''t need to keep up with the gossip. Why should we when we know who Barandi is after?" "Yeah," Rourke seconded. "They''re after that boy and if they have their hands on him, it will be hard for everyone. Especially for us because Jack will kill us." Franco crossed his arms, "What''s so special about him, anyway? He defeated the Fire Dragon, yeah sure. But that''s only because Bernard left it in the brink of death." Lay handed Franco his tablet and yed a video. Thetter was silent for a moment before gasping. "Is this even legit? How was he able to do this?" "We suspect that he''s not just a regr Hunter," Lay said, making Fraco scoff and snort. "No sh*t," Franco said sarcastically. "It''s obvious that he''s not a regr Hunter. But what''s hidden beneath his smile and his persona? That''s what I want to know." The group entered a gigantic building and the woman of the front desk greeted them with a smile. She bowed at them and they just waved her hands at her, Franco passing his hand through the woman who turned out to be holographic. "We beieve that he''s someone that everyone has been looking for," Lay said to Franco as they entered an elevator. "We believe he''s the missing piece of the puzzle, the Bearer of the Primordial Snake." "Snake!" Gwen yelled as she leaped off of the bed and into the ground. She conjured a dagger as the little beast approached her, crawling through the carpet with swift yet soft motions. "How did a snake get here?" "That''s holographic," Keh crossed his arms while leaning on Gwen''s doorway. "A lot of things here can be created through holograms. Especially in Eternity. They have almost everything robots there." "Because no one would work?" Gwen asked, now rxing. She tried touching the snake and her fingers passef through. "That makes sense." "It does, doesn''t it?" Keh chuckled. "Anyway, I''m heading out. You guys stay here. I''ll be back in an hour." Gwen sighed in relief and went to the living room where the others were. They were in the middle of a meeting when she excused herself so she could shower. When she got out, she saw the snake. "Let me get his straight, you want the Wandering Trader to start here?" Jeremy asked. Gwen missed this part of the conversation, so she was now asking Gary about everything they talked about. "Allen wants to start the Wandering Trader plot here," Gary said to Gwen in a whispered voice. "He said it''s time for them to start reaching bigger stars instead of just the ones in Haven." "I don''t see why not," Gwen said. "Why do you disagree, Jeremy?" Jeremy sighed. "It would be too obvius if we start now. Especially when a lot of eyes are on us because we''re D rankers. We just entered Paradise and suddenly, this Wandering Trader appeared? Too obvious." "But we can make it look like none of us are him," Allen smirked. "And it would be a huge no no for them to notice because we are D rankers. The Wandering Trader is a person who can equal the power of strong people here." "And how are you going to do that?" Jeremy asked. Allen smirked and shook his head in amusement. "Maybe you forgot. I have an ability." Allen''s hand glowed and he shot the orb of light in the air, the orb forming a figure of a boy. The boy fully manifestef and he looked at them in the eyes. "Hello, my name is Oliver." "You''re gonna use a Body," Jeremy pointed out, now slowly getting convinced. "Yeah, that is usible. If you could use a body that doesn''t look anywhere near any of us, then yeah. Oliver fits that bill." "Exactly," Allen said. "I could start canvasing for clients through Stacy and Vince, and then make the deal with Oliver. They wouldn''t find them because they aren''t real." "Have you been nning this from the start?" Jeremy asked with a smirk. "Allen, you keep impressing me day by day." Allen just shrugged. "I told you, I have all the plots I needed. We will seed." "Wee to Haven." Allen walked down the stone tform along with his friends. He was now even more inspired to do his plots after he was able to control his Bodies even when he was a world away from them. He was going to risk it. Back in Haven, he tested his length of control and he was able to make the bodies run four camps away and then return to him in a blink of an eye. He took the risk and decided to go back to Haven while the three Bodies stays in Paradise. He got through the portal and he could still control his puppets. He made them walk around he camp in Paradise while trying to look for a client. "Wee back to Haven," the woman in the counter greeted. "I would like for you to fill out these forms and you may leave the portal house right after." Allen followed the instructions and answered the survey that was given to them. It was mostly just personal information and a short report on what they did in Paradise. Allen answered truthfully, saying that he was only there to take the exams. "I get why you''re going back," the woman smiled at hemfortingly. "Paradise isn''t exactly the best ce for us weak ones. It''s impossible to rise there." "Yeah," Allen just replied. He then realized that the woman was also a Hunter who was able to ascend to Paradise. She just went back because she was a D ranker and she didn''t have any other choice to rise in the ranks. Allen was both happy and sad for her. She couldn''t feel what its like to be strong and dive the deepest forests and fight the monsters in those woods in Paradise. She couldn''t also get to slowly rise in the ranks and get stronger and richer. But he was also happy for her because here in Haven, she was treated as an equal. She may have already reached Paradise, but the people in her workce weren''t at all intimidated by her. "You can stay in Haven for as long as you like," the woman said. "Don''t worry about those *ssholes. They will get their time." Allen didn''t want to talk anymore so he just smiled and left. They still have about two hours of walking so they could get to Camp Tw from the Portal House, so the group started walking. In the middle of their walk, Allen felt a presence in Oliver''s point of view. He immediately focused on Oliver and there he saw a grieving man. He was sitting in the middle of a dark alley while kneeling on both his knees and crying. "Is there something wrong?" Allen as Oliver asked. The man slolwy looked up to see a hooded figure wearing a wooden mask. He had a short height and the slender body of Oliver was obvious even when he was wearing a baggy cloak. "I have no money," the man cried. "A thief stole it. A theif!" Chapter 149: Soul Burners Chapter 149: Soul Burners Allen was hesitant to ept the man''s plea. If this was a simple case of theft, then he doesn''t need to be concerned. There were police officers to do that job for them. That was until he saw the mark on the man''s forehead. It was a symbol that was faintly glowing with a purple light. The symbol was shaped like a tip of a trident, but thicker. "Who gave this to you?" Allen asked the man, cing his gloved fingertip on the man''s forehead. "And what does this mean?" The man did not respond, prompting Allen to look at his face, only for him to be shocked. The man''s eyes were rolled to the back of his head and his mouth was slightly opened. Allen took a step back, only for him to collide with a body. "What" He spun and saw a muchrger man than Oliver''s tiny body. He leaped a couple of meters back, raising the dagger that he used as Oliver''s weapon. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Therge man did not respond. Instead, he ran towards Allen, conjuring arge broadsword that was the size of Allen''s current body. The man raised the sword and did not think twice on shing it against Allen. The boy rolled to the side to dodge, sessfully doing so but failed to see the woman who was on the side, grinning as she mmed her palm on his face. The impact from the m made Allen''s frail body st away, crashing to the wall with a loud thump. He forgot that Oliver had little to no defense when ites tobat. The Body was a support/healing role therefore his defense is easy topromise. He also had barely any damage, so he can''t do a lot when ites tobat. "You are a person who shouldn''t be involved," the woman said. "This isn''t your turf, so you have to make way, child." "Turf?" Allen asked, coughing blood out as he did. He may be in a puppet''s body, but this body was still human-like. He could still cough out blood. "I don''t know what you''re talking about." "In the darkness, we roam," the man said. "We don''t need another person to roam in our darkness. Thisnd is ours, go back to Haven, the Wandering Trader." Allen''s eyes widened after the man called his title. He looked at them in the eyes, both of them were still emotionless. "Y-You know me?" "The ck Market has their own circle of information," the woman said. "You should examine what they know about you rather than if they know about you. You may never know, you''re already caught." "But why are you doing this?" Allen asked. "That man got robbed and now you killed him. Why?" "We didn''t kill him," the man said. "This person is our target, we merely did our job." Allen scoffed, "By killing him? That was your job?" "Four counts of murder, seventeen counts of assault, six counts of plunder," the woman spoke. "This man did all of those, and you don''t think he deserved this?" "II didn''t know" "But now you do," the man cut Allen off. "You should go back now. You may have your business in Haven, but here in Paradise, the Soul Burners will do our job. Goodbye." The two looked at each other before vanishing from existence. Allen was left alone in the alley, still confused about what just happened. He couldn''t believe it, but he had no choice but to do as they say. There are already anti-heroic people here in Paradise. He looked at the man once more, seeing the innocent look of the petrified man. "You really can''t judge a book by it''s cover, huh?" With that, the boy returned his focus in his real body and let Oliver, Stacey, and Vince go back inside him. He discovered that when he lets his Body equip something from him, when he takes them back, the thing would go to his Inventory automatically. The only condition for this was that the item should have been in his Inventory before he sent it to his Body. Therefore if a Body would pick up a stone from somewhere and Allen recalls them, the Body would return but the stone would remain where the Body picked it up. Thid was a cool feature for Allen especially if he ns on making Oliver the new figure for the Wandering Trader. If the Body was cornered, he can just recall him and his items like the cloak, the mask, and the equipment set, would return to him too. "We''re almost there," Gwen spoke, waking Allen up from his daydreams. "Are you okay?" "I''m fine," Allen replied. "I just needed to think for a bit." "Okay," Gwen said back, distancing herself to let Allen think. The others and her would do this when Allen needed time to think. They know how hard it is for Allen to keep up with all the problems, so they do their best to help him in any way that they can. "Hey Gwen," Jeremy called out and walked beside Gwen. "What do we do once we got back to Camp Tw?" "We''re going to greet Hilda," Allen said. "I can''t start the Wandering Trader plot in Paradise because a group had already started that kind of business there." "A group like you?" Jeremy asked. "They also deal with people''s problems?" "I don''t know what they do," Allen sighed. "This is also why I want to go back here. I need to talk to someone and ask him about it." The three of them looked at each other once Allen turned to a path that did not lead to the camp. "Where are you going?" Allen did not answer them. He continued walking on the path until they saw arge fence that was tall and looked deadly. There was a sign on the side warning them about the possible dangers if they try to touch the fence." "Hey," Allen said. "May Ie in?" Bernard smiled at them, running towards the gate of the fence. "You''re back. What made you visit?" "I want to ask a couple of things," Allen said. This made Bernard smile and open the gate for them. The other three behind Allen were looking at each other, thinking how would Allen knew of this ce. The path to Bernard''s cottage was confusing. He designed a path that would make it hard for any Hunter to suddenly stumble upon his fence. However, due to Allen''s intelligence attribute, he was able to remember the path they took when he went back to the camp. "Come in,e in," Bernard ushered for them to get inside and so they did. "Woah," Jeremy gasped at the sight. "You built all of these alone?" "Yeah," Bernard said, also looking up to admire his home. "Though I did ask Sebastian for some help, but most work was done by me alone." "Sick," Gary smiled. "I always dreamt of having a cottage in the middle of the forest, but I''d get too scared of the beasts that would roam free." "That''s why I installed a fence," Bernard uttered. "The fence is enough to keep even the Rare grade beasts away from me, and that''s fine.," Allen cleared his throat, making everyone look at him. "Bernard, I have questions for you." "And I''ll answer them all," Bernard replied. "Just ask away." "Do you know the group called Soul Burners in Paradise?" Allen asked. "You know I''m the Wandering Trader, and they said I couldn''t do that if I''m in Paradise because they are already there." Bernard''s smile dropped after hearing the name of the group. He was quick to recover hisposure, but slow enough that everyone had already saw the fierce anger in his face before he could rpose himsef. "That is a group of people who steals people''s EXP," Bernard said. "I don''t know how or where they got such Code, but their victims would be left like stone afte they do thier job. Soul Burners have been a problem in our *asses for almost a year now. They keep doing this and we keep reviving the people they they chose to be their vicitms." "But I thought they only go for criminals?" Allen asked. "I saw them working earlier and their vicitm was only a man. But this man had a lot of criminal cases in his name that he deserved what he got." Bernardughed lightly and sarcastically at what Allen said. He smirked and shook his head, "What you saw today was only one of their victims. They don''t care if the person they''re going to attack is a man with a million pending cases or a man without one. As long as they get money, Soul Burners will do their job." "And what happens after?" Allen asked, gulping in fear that he might not like the answer to his question. "To the victims, what will happen to them?" Chapter 150: Hildas Son Chapter 150: Hilda''s Son Bernard smiled tly while tapping Allen''s shoulders, "They lose their EXP." Allen was confused for a moment, "And then what happens?" "What happens to the Hunters who tries to cross the higher worlds?" Bernard asked. "If they forced their way through the portal, what happens to them?" "T-They die," Gwen said in shock. She couldn''t help but cover her lips with her mouth, her eyes widened at the news. "T-They die. That''s what happens." "But the Soul Burners said they wouldn''t kill anyone," Allen muttered. "Did they lie to me?" "Yes, and no," Bernard said. "They lied to you about not killing anyone yet, indeed, but again, they didn''t kill anyone yet. When the EXP loses their hosts, the Hunter would be stuck in a frozen mental state. They aren''t able tomunicate or bemunicated. They just stay there, lifeless and pale." "That''s what happened to the man," Allen said. "I saw his eyes. There wasn''t any sign of life in them." Bernard nodded, "As Hunters, our EXP are connected to our soul. Actually, it is essentially our soul when we became Hunters. EXP and the Hunters are connected not just through the interface, but beyond life itself." "But why do you know all of these?" Jeremy asked. "I mean, I get that you''re one of the highest order, but in the police station, there are gruesome cases that we even hide from you guys. Actually, we hide most gruesome cases, thinking we can solve it. We only publicize it when it gets out of hand or when the chief says so." "There is a rift in the information dissemination as you know," Bernard said. "But that rift does not include us. We have bridges that deliver us the information we needed to get on with our lives. We''re only watching you guys solve all the cases and will only interfere when, as you said, it gets out of hand. "The only ce that does not receive such information is the middle part of the hierarchy. The ones at the top clearly knows what''s going on, we just want you to think that we don''t," Bernad chuckled. "And if you ask why, it''s because y''all act cute like that." "He''s a weird man," Gary whispered to Gwen and thetter chuckled. "Why would they like that kind of interaction. So weird." "I admit that the higher ups doesn''t have that much fun with our lives," Bernard sighed. "But anyway, Dante, do you have any more questions?" "About Lin," Allen said. "Is she our ally?" Bernard paused for a moment. He took a moment of silence and took a deep breath, "Lin is a woman who is selfish and will only go to the side where it benefits her." "She''s the one who gave me the Codes to level up," Allen reasoned. "Miss Lin helped me to get to Paradise." "But that doesn''t mean anything," Bernard said sternly. "She has always been in Nelson Drake''s side, being his sidekick along with Louis. The three of them are the invincible trinity. Now that their leader had died, the two of them are stuck in a limbo between helping the weak and protecting themselves." "They wouldn''t know what it feels like to be like us," Jeremy was now the one who spoke. "Lin, Nelson, Louis, the three of them leads mankind when the Otherworlds are involved but it doesn''t mean that they know what it feels like to be here." "Exactly," Bernard chuckled. "That''s why us second and third generation Bearers are working two or three times as hard as them just to keep up, but they don''t see that." "Wait," Allen raises his hand to stop Bernard from proceeding. "Does Lin know that different generation users have lesser powers?" Bernard paused and thought for a second, "I think they do. She''s with Louis all the time. And that man is a second generation user." "So, maybe she doesn''t know what it feels like because she doesn''t know about that fact?" Allen said. "Maybe you think Lin is only trying to save herself because you don''t know her side of the story." "Allen," Bernard massaged his temple. "Just stay away from Lin, okay? She might help you now that you have a use for her, but she will only think of you as the next Nelson Drake. We can''t trust her." "She basically wants you because you''re a first generation user too," Gwen said. "That kind of kinky." "Gwen!" The group left Bernard''s cottage not long after they talked. Allen was silent throughout their journey back to Camp Tw, the boy contemting whether who to believe. "Do you think I should trust Bernard''s judgement?" Allen asked, turning behind him to look at his friends. "I''m now doubting myself." "Allen," Jeremy ced his hands on the boy''s shoulders. "The only thing you have to focus on is to trust your insticts. You have a great instinct, and you should trust that. The rest of us are going to follow wherever you go." Allen smiled and nodded, "Mmm. Thank you so much. I will." "Good," Jeremy said. He ruffled Allen''s hair, earninf him a grunt from thetter. "We''re here for you, so don''t you worry." "Okay," Allen smiled. "Okay." They continued walking back to Camp Tw and not long after, they have arrived. The tall metal gates and the silent city-like camp. It got even barren than when they left, making all four of them feel ufortable. "ID," the guard asked them as they entered. Allen watched the guard and examined her face. She was a tall woman who had wide shoulders and rounded hips. Her posture was firm and solid, much like a soldier. "If you keep staring at me like that, I''ll gouge your eyes out." Allen immediately removed his eyes from the guard. His friends wereughing beside him, all of them clutching their stomach as they tried their best to stop theirughter from getting louder. "I don''t get why you still get tough even at the midst of this crisis," the guard said and quirked her brow up. "You think you''re all hrious when people are suffering." "M-Ma''am," Allen said. "We have just returned from Paradise. We don''t know what happened here." "Oh," the woman hummed. "Then let me tell you. Hunters who are under twenty and over sixty are to be sent back to Earth. The higher ups think that they would only hinder the case of Roger Huntsman." "Roger Huntsman?" the group chorused in asking. "Roger Huntsman!" The woman repeated. "The rogue Hunter who killed Nelson Drake, the police had given him a nickname and they already sent aposite sketch for him even the basic information." "I-I" Allen trailed off. He looked at Jeremy and the man was looking at him too. "What do we do?" The group went to the police station where Jeremy and Gwen asked for their former colleagues to get the information. Allen was scared that the Snake would still be med for the death of the Dragon Bearer. He knew to himself that he didn''t do it, and now he was afraid that everyone will think it was him. "Here you go," the colleague said. "Why do you even need this information? Are you going to investigate about this too? Like what you did with the Fire Dragon?" Jeremy and Gwen looked at each other, both speechless. They didn''t know how to answer the man and were a moment away from returning the file when their former colleagueughed. "I was just kidding," the manughed lightly. "We need as many brains in this case. The police is cornered right now and we don''t even know where to start investigating. So if you want to independently investigate, don''t hesitate to ask for more information." "Thanks Paul," Jeremy said. "I owe you one, big one." "I just want this case to be done and over with," Paul sighed. He was about to leave when he turned and speak. "This is just pure personal thought, but I find it hard to believe everything that has been written there. It seems too random." With that, the man left the four of them in the alley on the back of the police station office. Allen took the envelope that Paul gave and kept it in his Inventory. "You''re not going to read that?" Gwen asked to which Allen shook his head in response. "I''ll read it once we get back to Paradise. For now, I have to say goodbye to a friend," Allen replied. "You two should find something to do. Jeremy, can youe with me for a moment?" "Of course." The four of them parted ways and Allen was walking to the shop with Jeremy. He opened the door and saw that everything was already packed. He smiled at the thought of saying goodbye to one of his leg, but he can''t do anything about it. "Hello?" a man called out from inside the shop, making Allen and Jeremy look at each other in confusion. "Oh, it''s you! My name is Erwin. I''m Hilda''s son." Chapter 151: The Hunters of Different Worlds Chapter 151: The Hunters of Different Worlds Erwin was a tall man who had the same features as Hilda. He had ck hair, button nose, and narrow eyes. Although he looked like his mother, his thick eyebrows and his full lips differ from the woman''s. "Oh," Allen turned to Jeremy. "So, you two met already?" Erwin nodded, "My mom contacted me a while ago, but I was afraid that she was mad at me, so I didn''t respond. I visited her the other day and was curious why she wasn''t in her old shop. I just knew that she''s in a better state." Allen chuckled sarcastically, "You left your mother when she had nothing, when she was broke, when she was hungry, and after you knew that she''s not in that state anymore, that''s the moment you decided to help?" "I know I''m in the wrong, but" "But what?" Allen growled. "Your mother was so pitiful that if I hadn''t helped her, she could''ve starved to death." "Listen to me first, damnit!" Erwin yelled, stopping Allen from continuing. "I am so grateful for your help, but I was about to say that I have always helped her all these years. It was her who failed to take the money I sent her." "The what?" Allen tilted his head to the side, pursing his lips in confusion. "Money? What money?" Erwin smirked, "I have been sending her money all these years. Every month, without fail I send it to her bank, but she never checked, thinking that she was broke." "What?" Allen gasped. "You mean in two years, Hilda did not even try to look at the bank?" "No," Erwinughed lightly. "I was upset at her because she just let my dad ruin our lives, so I couldn''t face her. But when I heard the news about the new rule, I had to go back. I couldn''t just let my mom go alone. That''s when I heard about everything. She was talking about you non-stop and to be honest, I was kind of jealous." Allen massaged his forehead and sighed, "At least you two have met. That''s what she had always dreamt of, for her to see her son again." "Yeah," Erwin smiled. "I missed her too, so much. But now I''m back, I''ll return to Earth with her. We will live peacefully there, burying this part of our lives." "You''ll retire?" Allen asked. "But are you sure you can live just right? What will your source of ie be?" "I am an A rank Hunter in Paradise," Erwin replied. "Only a few million more and I''ll be qualified to ascend. I think I have enough money so I can livefortably." "That''s good," Allen said, offering his hand. "Please take care of Hilda. I couldn''t say goodbye to her in person, but please extend my greetings." "Of course," Erwin took his hand and shook it. "We will be forever grateful for your help. My mom could have never survive without you." Allen and Jeremy left the store and stood outside for a couple of seconds. Allen was still disappointed that he had to let go of his buddies, but he had no other choice. The new rules restricted Hilda in the Otherworlds, she can''t sell anything here. She could build a shop on Earth, but it wouldn''t be worth it. There were barely any Hunters in Earth, she hill have zero customers and even zero sales. The only Code shops that could survive Earth are the big ones, ones that are also part of a bigger store. "You''re drifting away again," Jeremy said, waking Allen from his thoughts. "What are you thinking?" "Just things," Allen replied. "Care to share?" Jeremy tried to budge, but Allen just shrugged. "Oh, well then, why don''t we go eat? I''m sure you''re hungry." "I actually am," Allenughed lightly. "I''ll go to a nice fancy restaurant this time. I deserve a good meal." "What about the other two?" Jeremy asked. "We have no way of contacting them." "They''ll find us," Allen said. "I think." The two of them went to a restaurant near Hilda''s shop. It was the most expensive on the street with a single steak costing four hundred dors. Allen wanted tough at the price, thinking how this much money was already three days of hard work for him before he got the Snake. "I have always wondered what could happen if I didn''t got the Snake," Allen suddenly said out of the blue. They were waiting for the steak to be cooked when he suddenly had them thought. "I would''ve died in that forest." Jeremy smiled, "Or we could''ve found you." Allen looked up to see the smiling face of his friend, grinning at him andughing lightly. "Yeah, that is also a possibility." "It is, ain''t it?" Jeremy said. "Then I''d adopt you and you''ll live quietly in Camp Tw. I''ll be your daddy." Allenughed out loud, lightly punhing his friend on the shoulder. "You''re so random, really." "Maybe I am," Jeremy said. The two of them ended looking into each other''s eyes andughed at each other. Their voices were the only loud thing inside the fancy restaurant. The people around them were staring at them, but they didn''t care to notice, they were too busyughing. Boom. Allen and Jeremy stopped, everyone fell silent when a loud explosion came out from outside. They looked at each other and ran outside, seeing arge smokeing out of a building not too far away. "What happened?" Allen asked a random man who was running for his life. "There''s an attack," the man said. "We''ve been attacked!" "What kind of beast attacked?" Allen asked but the man shook his head. "Answer me, sir." The man didn''t speak. Instead, he pointed at the air behind Allen, prompting the boy to turn around. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw. It was a man hovering in the air, a thick burning aura of red light was wrapped around his body. "That''s a human," Allen said. "That''s a human! Why is a Hunter attacking a camp?" "That''s not a human," a man spoke beside Allen. He turned to where the voice came from and saw Jake Summers. "That''s a Serrata. A kind of being that''s not supposed to be in Haven." "Serrata?" Allen asked. "What?" "A creature from another world that is not on the Otherworlds," Jack replied. The old man walked beside his nephew while his men stood behind him. "Think of the six worlds of the Otherworlds as six spheres that form a vertical line. Their size would be small torge, from bottom to up. "These are the Otherworlds. The higher you ascend, the bigger the world gets. Haven is the size of Earth, while in estimation, the Sixth World is the size of Jupiter. But that''s not where Serratas are from. Out of the straight line of the Otherworlds, there exists other worlds," Jack continued. "They are called Serrations, and these worlds containe Serratas, abnormal beasts that have humanoid appearances and a power equal to a Hunter who has ascended to Eternity." After Jack finished his narration, two of his men leaped from the ground and attacked the Serrata. Rourke spun his spear around him as though be was a helicopter while Franco raised his dagger. The two of them came from different directions and their movements seemed to be faster than how the Serrata couldprehend. With one passing strike, the two of them sessfully killed the creature, making its body fall to the ground with a loud thud. "That''s the power of Eternity Hunters." "Four Haven Hunters tried to subdue the creature, but they were powerless against it." "I saw how they were instantly pulverized by the creature''s power. How incredible." The crowd gathered around the Serrata''s corpse long before the police arrived. Rourke and Franco who killed the creature had reported to the police as Jack invited Allen in a room. "You know," Jack said as they walked to a private unit in Wealth Valley. "He owns a mansion there, an act that isn''tmon with the higher world Hunters." Usually, when they build a permanent home, they would choose Paradise. The fact that it was closer to Eternity, the people there were also less crowded with only five hundred Hunters in each camp. Some chose Eternity for less crowd, but they would feel ufortable. Eternity currently has only two camps, the North Camp and South Camp. Each camp contains approximately two hundred Hunters each. The Hunters wouldn''t feel as safe in either camp because it wasn''t fully fortified. If a high tier beast would attack, they don''t know if the camp could survive. "Wee," Jack said as they entered his manor. "We have to talk about something, something that I only knew just yesterday." Allen was confused about what the man was talking about. What could be so important that Jack had to go meet him himself. Then, a series of high heels'' footsteps was heard. Allen turned to the source and saw Lin walking towards them. "W-What" Chapter 152: Surpass the Dragon Chapter 152: Surpass the Dragon Lin sat on the couch where the group sat. Allen was sitting beside Jeremy on one long sofa while Jake and Jack sat on the opposite side, their men were behind them. On a single couch that looked more like a throne, Lin sat. She looked at Allen and smiled, but the boy did not return the smile to her which made her worry. "Is everything okay, Mr. Dante?" Lin asked. "She only cares about herself." "She''s not an ally." "She just thinks of you as the next Nelson Drake." The conversation between him and Bernard not too long ago echoed in his mind. He was now doubting his own decisions after thinking it through. Lin indeed helped Allen reach Paradise quickly, but she was only rushing him. He has yet to face a high tier Rare grade beast and he was already in Paradise. Rare grades are like Basic grades for Paradise Hunters, and Allen should already master how to deal with them. His ascension was premature all because Lin wanted him to be stronger quicker than how he should grow. Allen was thinking if the woman was only indeed wanting for him to be the next Nelson Drake. She relied too much on the man and now that he''s gone, she can''t function properly. She wanted another Nelson Drake for her own desire, not because she wanted to overthrow the system. "I-I''m fine," Allen lied. "What brings you here, but the way, Miss Lin?" "Oh," Lin formed an O with her mouth, feeling that the boy was lying to her. She just shook the thoughts off and continued. "I''m here to tell you something that you might not know the answer to." "That''s what Jack had told me," Allen said. "So, it was you who wanted to see me." "Yes, indeed," Lin said. She reached out of her chair and ced a finger on Allen''s forehead. "Primordial Network." Allen felt his body being pulled down. He felt like he was swallowed by the ground, making him close his eyes. When he opened them, he found himself inside a marble perg. The perg was in the middle of arge in fields of grass that were being blown by the wind continuously. Allen tried to feel where the wind wasing from, but he felt nothing. "We''re in a privatemunicationwork," Lin said. "Since this is the first time that we talk, I had to touch you. But the next time, I only need to see you so we can talk." "Miss Lin, I have no idea what you want with me," Allen confessed. "Why do we have to talk here and not outside? And wouldn''t it look weird for us to be in a paused state while the rest of them look at us?" "Primordial Network allows for our minds to speed up with their function hundreds of times faster," Lin said. "An hour here would be approximately two seconds outside. Also I brought you here because I don''t think Jake knew of your possession of the Snake. Albeit I know the child himself and he has no interest in taking the Code, I don''t want to reveal unnecessary information that you don''t want to reveal yet." "Thank you for respecting my privacy," Allen said. "But I want to know what you need from me now." "Right," Lin said. "I came here to warn you about the dangers in Paradise. If you failed to notice, higher grade beasts are in Haven''t. That''s all because the Primordial Beast Code is altering the beasts around it. It unconsciously upgrades beast and attracts stronger ones towards its user." "That exins the abundance of Grand grade beasts in Haven," Allen said. "I was indeed curious on how they were here. I know now, thank you Miss Lin." The woman smiled and bowed lightly. She stared at Allen, making the boy feel slightly ufortable. "Uhm, can I go now?" Lin nodded and cleared her throat. "You just remind me so much of Nelson when we were younger and only starting out like where you are right now." Allen confirmed what Bernard spected. She was indeed only looking out for him so she can have another Drake Nelson. It was evident in her eyes that this was her true intentions. "So, okay," Lin said and pped her hands once. She smiled at Allen onest time before she released Allen from thework. They returned to the real world and now Allen woke up from the trance-like feeling. "I''m sorry, I just wanted to touch you to confirm something," Lin said. "Now that I confirmed it. I apologize." "It''s okay, miss," Allen said with a smile. "But what did you want to talk about?" "I''m here to make a deal with the Wandering Trader in partnership with the Summers," Lin said. "I think we can reach a clear agreement because I''m looking forward for this." "What is it?" Allen asked, looking at the Summers who were smiling. "I want to sponsor you," Lin said. "And I partnered with Verta Carta and Summers Corp with this. I need to build a champion so we could find out who the real Roger Huntsman is." Jack nodded, cing his ss of wine on the coffee table. "I think this would be a good opportunity to build the talents of this boy. Jake, you saw how good he is and you even used his powers for your own benefit." Jake blushed lightly, "I You know, it was me who saved him from the forest. I don''t think you should even try to me me for taking my reward." Jackughed lightly. "Reward. You''re a user, that''s what you are. But that''s good. Seeing as you took care of your asset well." Lin smiled and handed Allen a folder. "This contains all of the treasures and the money you need to ascend even more. In Paradise, it will be harder because there are more Grand grade beasts there. Although the curfew is inexistent, you still shouldn''t stay in the woods for too long." Allen nodded and took the folder. He opened it and read the files inside, seeing the multiple amounts of vaults scattered around the camp in Haven and in Paradise. There were so many of them that Allen was wondering if he really needed all of them. "There''s so many of these," Allen said. "And with different roles too." "That''s because you''re not alone," Lin replied. "You have your allies now." Allen nodded and thanked the woman. After a while, they left the manor and were now walking to the ce they agreed to meet with Gary and Gwen. "Where were you?" Gwen asked. "We were waiting for an hour. We thought something happened to you guys." "Did you see the attack?" Gary asked. "I never knew Serratas would attack Haven. This is the first time." "You know about Serratas?" Allen asked. The three of his friendd looked at each other and then at him. "What?" "You have learned a lot of things from books that involved Codes, but not about Serratas?" Jeremy asked. "Serratas are popr in fictions because they''re literally extraterrestrials. People dig that." "I don''t read fiction that much," Allen chuckled. "But Jack exined it to me now. I know what they are already." "Good," Jeremy said. "Because I saw the folder and the files. We need to be quick to get everything." "Everything?" Gwen asked. "What everything?" "Supplies," Allen replied. "Lin and Verta Carta gave us supplies." While the group were running around the city, Lin was left in Jack''s manor. They were left in a state of silence as Lin silently drank her tea while her eyes were closed. "Err," Jake broke the silence. "Miss Lin, could I ask how you discovered Dante?" Lin opened her eyes and smiled, "I have enough information to know that he''s the Wandering Trader and he deals with clients. I happen to have a request for him, and he agreed." "So, you''ve seen him fight?" Jake asked. "Like when he fought the Fire Dragon?" "What happened at the battle of the Second Coming of the Fire Dragon was something that your uncle orchestrated," Lin said, turning to Jack and smirked. "He wanted to see how much poweful Dante was, so when he saw the chance, he forced his men to hold back and let Dante work." Jake turned to his uncle, "So, you''re the cause of the revival of the dragon?" This made Jack spit his wine and shake his head, "Of course, not. That''s too much of a hassle. And why would I even do that? Chen decided on his own. That cousin if yours is a lunatic, you know that." "So you just wanted to test Dante," Jake hummed. "Want did you find out aftet the battle?" Jack pursed his lips and thought, "Hmm. First, Dante is a Hunter who is already equal to the top Hunters of Paradise. Currently, he''s up for ascension only if he has the EXP and money requirements." "And?" Jake urged, making his uncle sigh. "He has the ability to go beyond," Lin was the one who answered. "If this keeps up, in three months time, he will even surpass Drake Nelson." Chapter 153: First Hunt in Paradise Chapter 153: First Hunt in Paradise "We''re ready," Allen said to his group as they prepared to head out for their first hunt in Paradise. He has to realize that he has lessbat experience than his friends, so he should learn from them. Even when he could say that he''s stronger than them, experience was still a powerful tool when ites tobat. That wasmon sense. "Alright," Jeremy said as he held out his phone to view the map. "Currently, we are in the camp. Our destination is four kilometers east, right by Crane''s Beak." They assigned their roles in the hunt. Allen was the leader, Jeremy was the navigator, Gary was the beast detector, while Gwen was the medic. Although these roles were simr to the roles they have inbat, the role in their hunt was different. They did this to avoid getting cornered by beasts in case a beast did try to attack them. It was better to y it safe considering they were still new to this world. "They gave us D ranks too," Gwen said. She had beenining about the rank she got from the tests. "If Sebastian didn''t help us, we would be living in that old copsing building." "It already copsed though," Gary said with a chuckle. "Remember when Allen was attacked? Bryant did the building dirty and destroyed it basically. Then they tried to frame Allen for it. Thank God Sebastian was there to help." "We owe Sebastian a lot," Gwen said. Gary and her continued to talk until they got out of camp and started their journey. Paradise and Eternity had no curfew hours and days like Haven. The higher ups though that it wouldn''t be a hassle to control the Hunters in the higher worlds considering they were only so little of them. The number of Hunters in Paradise was equal to the number of Hunters in a single camp in Haven. That was why they implemented the curfew on the lowest world instead, more people basically meant more ce to hide. At least that''s what the higher ups are saying, but Allen knew better. They only implemented the curfew hours because they want it to look like they''re doing some progress in their hunt for Roger Huntsman. In fact, they were already failing the moment they got strict with the gates. Roger Huntsman could hide anywhere, even in Earth. This was something that the higher ups knew but don''t want to public to realize or it will cause a mass hysteria among them. Just the thought of the organization being so obsessed with the Snake was enough for Allen or even anyone if they got the rind thinking process to confirm this. They want to have a scapegoat, and the Snake is the only one they got right now. As this case progresses, Allen had no idea what to do next. The secret to Drake Nelson''s assassination should be through the people that surrounded him. When Allen saw the footage, he felt something was off. "We''re here," Jeremy said, walking Allen up from his thoughts. "Crane''s Beak." "That was quicker than I expected," Allen said. "Look for arge bird that looks like a crane. I need it''s Code." They walked deeper into Crane''s Beak which basically was a hill that loosely resmebled a crane. There was arge pointed rock that hung horizontally on the side of the hill, that''s why it looked like a crane. Another reason for its name was the abundance of birds in the area. Around the hill were marsh, forests, and savannah that had diverse kinds of beasts, but the different species of birds were more than the others. Caw. Caw. Caw. A crow hovered above the four. It pped its wings while looking at them, making Allen look at it. "What''s wrong with that crow?" Caw. Caw. Caw. The crow''s eyes became red and it screeched again. This time, different parts of the leaves from the trees around them turned ck. The number of ck chunks of leaves rmed Allen, making him draw his Fervent ive out of his Inventory. "What''s happening here?" Jeremy asked. "Did the crow burned the trees without fire?" "Those aren''t burnt leaves," Allen said, just in time for the ck leaves to move and shake. This time, everyone else had conjured their weapons. Gary took out his sniper so he could use the scope to see what the ck leaves really are. His eyes widened when he saw a pair of eyes from one of the ck leaves. "Those aren''t leaves! Those are" Caw. Caw. Crows emerged from the ck areas of the trees. Turns out, the ck chunks of leaves were the crows, hiding in blind spot. They flew closer to the bigger crow which was the one who hovered overnight Allen''s group. They formed a giant sphere made of crows, looking at the group while pping their wings to suspend themselves in the air. Allen gripped the handle of his ive, thinking how they could survive this of attack. A crow alone wouldn''t be too much of a hassle. There were four of them, so even when the beast was a Grand grade, they could easily handle it. But the fact that there were hundreds of these crows, that was the rming part. The crows could easily rain down upon them and it would be the end. Or they could shoot air beams at them, all collected into one shot. This would also be the end for them. "We''re going to fight," Allen said confidently. "Whatever happens, happens. The imporant thing is that we fight to survive. Fight as hard as you can, okay?" "Let''s go!" Jeremy raised his emerald spear. "We''re going to survive this. I just know it." Allen just smiled and nodded. "After this, I''ll go take a bath at the river. The map says there''s a river near here." "Let''s all go, then," Gwen said. "Bring it on, crows. We''re not afraid!" Caw. Caw... Caw! The crows had fired themselves towards the group. Allen was in fight along with Jeremy, Vince, and Stacey while Gary and Gwen were behind them. Allen summones his twobatant puppets because he needed all the help he can get. The beasts weren''t much of a threat because they were weak, but the mere fact that there were hundreds of them, Allen had no choice. He wasn''t too afraid of failing to control his puppets too. After all, he already mastered to control their basic movements. Things like this wouldn''t be too hard. "Ouch!" Allen growled after Vince had been hurt for the fourh time. He was a tank and he needed to aggro or attract the attention of the beast. He was the one who often gets hurt and Allen was linked to Vince, that was why he gets hurt too. "I''m sorry," Gwen said. "I''ll heal faster. I''m so sorry." "There''s just too many of them," Gary said helplessly. He wanted to hit the crow leader, but he keeps failing. There were so many of the grows that it hinders his vision. "Can''t you guys at least decrease their numbers? I can''t do this if I can aim properly." Allen nodded and used several skill Codes to try and lessen the number of crows. The notification was already blowing up but he was still stacking with enemies. "Stop and Freeze." A familiar soft male voice spoke. The crows suddenly stopped moving excluding the leader of the murder of crows. "You guys need to spot summoners," Keh said. He leaped up to the level of the crow leader and cut its head in a swift decisive motion. His movements were graceful and swift, making it look like he was an assassin. "Keh!" Allen cheered. "Thank god you''re here." "I have been following you all this time," Keh said. "Just to know if you''re safe." Allen smiled, "Thank you so much. We owe you." "This skill," Jeremy blurted. He looked up to see the frozen in time crows. "There wille a time where their frozen state wears off." Keh looked at him and shrugged. "Don''t worry about it too. I killed their leader. They should just fly away when they wake up." Allen saw the phone that Keh had. It yed the video of Drake''s assassination. "Maybe those people were blocking his movements or something," Allen whispered, making the others look at him. "What?" Jeremy asked. Allen snapped his fingers, as if a lightbulb burst its lights over his head. "Drake Nelson was assassinated by a group of people who can control his movements, like how Keh can restrict one''s mobility." "But it was clear that Drake Nelson could move," Gwen said. "He even raised his sword and took a step back, remember? The person who walked in front of him clearly overpowered him." "Keh could slow down or increase the speed of your movement in an instant, right? Just like now, the crows were instantly frozen right before they tried to attack, that must be it," Allen said. "The people around Drake must have the same Code as his. They needed a lot of people to make sure that a powerful man like Drake could be stopped thoroughly." Keh pursed his lips, "You''re right." Chapter 154: Overthrowing Paradise Chapter 154: Overthrowing Paradise "You''re right," Keh said. "But that''s until you should realize that my Code is exclusively for me. My Primordial Bunny Code is a Code that only I own. My other Codes only support my original one, but there''s no other effect like mine. How could your hypothesis be true if this was the case?" "So, only the Bunny can slow down or speed up movement?" Allen asked to which Keh answered with a shaking of his head. "Anyone can speed up or slow down or evenpletely halt their movement," Keh exined. "But nobody else can restrict their enemy''s movements. Only I can do that from what I know and what the collection of Codes in different databases said." "Oh," Allen paused. There was silence that wrapped among them as the crows fled the scene. The series of cawing are the only sound you could hear for a couple of seconds. "By the way, Mr. Bunny," Gwen suddenly said. "Why are you here?" "Sebastian asked me to help you out," Keh grinned. "And yep, he was right. You did need my help." "We''re not too familiar with the paths and the beasts here," Jeremy said. "We have limits on what we know based on the avable data. The people here are toozy to add information." "Wee to higher worlds," Kehughed lightly. "There are things you don''t know about Paradise and why it''s called the Red World by some." "Red World?" Allen asked. "Why?" The Second World, Paradise is oftentimes referred to as the Red World because of the bloodshed that it has. The world has more fatalities than any other worlds, even in Haven where Hunters basically are only an edge more powerful than ordinary humans. In Paradise, even when the Hunters are capable, thepetition is hot. It was the middle of the lowest world and the highest a non-Primordial Beast Code Bearer could achieve, so everyone wants to get ahead. People are selfish in Paradise, that was an obvious fact. The ten percent who are not selfish would either go back to Haven or die in the world without receiving any help from anyone. That was another fact. In this world, the strong rules. This may be because of the obvious favoritism among strong Hunters. They are ssified into ranks instead of having the same rank. The ones on top are more privileged while the ones at the bottom are obviously discriminated upon. The ones in the middle could not even do anything, fearing that they too would suffer the same fate as the ones being discriminated. That was why there''s a rift in between the strong and the weak in Paradise. The first Hunters did not even bother adding any information to the WDS, or World Database System, in which the information regarding areas and beasts were peer added so everyone can know what to expect when Hunting. The WDS in Haven ispleted in every single area. The nooks and crannies of the expkored world have been added to the system, so the Hunters could easily hunt in the forests. In Paradise, however, groups created their own WDS. Only they have ess to it or if anyone wanted to have the information, they would have to payrge sums of money. Thest and obviously the root of the problem was the treatment of the organization with their Hunters. A rankers are treated as kings while D rankers were treated as trash. They were bluntly stating that they do not need the weaker Hunters in the Otherworlds. "Hmm," Allen hummed after listening to Keh. His mind was thinking a lot of ways to topple the monopolization of power in Paradise, but he was having a hard time to do so. "I want to do something that would shame the A rankers," Allen said. "But if the to see me, they would do something about it." "What''s your n?" Keh asked. "Maybe I could help you out. Actually, I will still help you out. I think it''s the time for Paradise to change too. Plus, I really don''t have anything to do." "But Sebastian told me that you guys are scared," Allen said. "That the ones in Eternity would catch up to you." Kehughed lightly, "I don''t need to be scared. Those guys still need four milion EXP to catch up. That''s a lot of EXP." "F-Four million?" Gwen gasped. "That''s how much it costs to ascend in Star Nest?" "What? No," Kehughed. "You need ten million EXP to ascend. Those guys already have six million. But back to Dante, what''s it with your n?" "Barandi put us in D rank," Allen started. "What if we show them that we''re more capable than A rankers while disying our ranks?" "Ohh," Keh giggled. "That''s so smart. But what seems to be the problem?" "What if they decide to promote us?" Allen asked. "If they will put us into A rank, or at least B rank, we will lose our brand." Keh shook his head, "A Hunter can only be promoted when applies for promotion." "What?" Allen asked. "Promotion? Howe we didn''t know any of that?" "They intentionally didn''t tell you because they don''t want you to promote yourself, with your current power, you can be in A rank already," Keh said. "But essentially, promotion basically means that you have to get tested again. Then after the resultes out, you''ll have your new rank or retain your old one." "So, if we don''t take that" "You''ll stay in D rank, obviously," Keh said. "If Barandi would pull a stunt to force you into take the promotional test, that''s when we''ll interrupt." "You''ll make us fail the test, right?" Allen asked. "Just like what Barandi did to us." Keh wiggled his eyebrows. "You''ll stay in D rank and spread the word into the streets. A couple of D rank Hunters able to feed in the WDS? That''s going to give you part of the spotlight since the Soul Burners still have the top spot, but at least." The man then sighed "Aw, thank heavens Sebastian is so smart. If I hadn''t tell you, you would''ve just proceeded with another n. This one is already good. And you have to make sure you do things that nobody else does but is essential to the growth of Hunters." "Growth of Hunters?" Allen asked. "Like what?" This is where Keh grinned and waved his hand in the air. He was looking at someone behind the four, which made the four look behind and see a familiar man walking towards them. "Why are you here?" Allen asked. "An old friend asked for my help," -- repied. "I can''t decline his offer or else he''ll stop giving me entertainment." "Y-You," Keh punched -- in the guts, making him cough out loudly. "Shut up and just help them. You have all the information in all worlds." "Of course, I do," -- said. "Now, Dante. Every Wednesday, I will send a man in your room and he will give you a thumb drive. This will contain all the necessary information that you''ll put into WDS." "What?" Allen tilted his head to the side. "Why would I put information ohh, I get it. To show them that mere D rankers can do something that they couldn''t do!" "But how will we put the information when we are not in the area?" Gary asked. "I think they will know." "They won''t," -- said. "That''s because you are going on," he quoted the air, "hunt, in the forests. You go every Friday morning ande back every Wednesday afternoon. Then when you return, you put the information in WDS by Thursday at noon where the Skill Altar is the busiest." Allen smirked and looked at Keh, "How long have you been nning this? This seems to perfect to be nned in a rush." "Three years," Dennis said. "But in those three years, we don''t have the avatars to do these for us. Not a lot of people have the same vision as us." "Drop the BS," Allen smirked. "You can call us what we really are to you, pawns. You''re using us, we''re using you. It''s a mutual agreement, so we don''t have to fake anything." This made Dennisugh. Keh smiled beside him and shook his head, both men incredibly impressed by Allen. "This is why Sebastian is so fond of you. Well, Jack too and basically everyone else." "Wait," Gwen suddenly interrupted. "If we go out to pretend hunt, what if someone follows us. Then they would spread information regarding the faked hunt and this would be ultimately the cause of our demise." "That''s why I''m here and Dennis is here, so is Kevin and Jack''s gang," Keh said. "We will be at the spot where the area is, hiding while letting you guyse and stay for a moment. You basically would just have to be there and we''ll do the rest." "So," Dennis pped his hands once. "Are you ready for this or what?" "We are," Allen replied. "We''re ready for this." Chapter 155: Skirmish in the Streets Chapter 155: Skirmish in the Streets "W-What is that?" "Who are they?" "Are those A rankers?" Words and whispered voices flooded the entire camp when a group of four arrived. Two of them were dragging a giant beast that looked like a gori. "Silverthorn Gori," a man walkes up to them. "This is ssified as a high-tier Grand grade beast. How could mere D rankers hunt this? And within a week? Impossible!" "I really don''t want to argue with a brainless grump right now, Bryant," Allen sighed. "This beast was killed yesterday and it''s starting to stink." Bryant''s face flushed in red while his eyes widen in shock. "I-In just four days, you hunted this beast? But how?" "I thought beasts in this world were hard to kill," Allen shrugged. "I guess, the thing was not from the beasts at all. But from nevermind." "From what?" A new man asked. This man was tall and had a body like a weightlifter. He wore a tight blue bodysuit while a leather belt was buckled in his waist which contained pouches. What the pouches contain, Allen didn''t have any idea. This man had a helmet on with a vizor that covered his eyes. The helmet was pointed to the back and its color matched the blue that the man wore. He overall looked like a Hunter that would use his head in the battle, literally. "I didn''t say anything," Allen said. "It''s up to you how you''d interpret my words" Without giving the boy a chance to think, the man grabbed Allen''s cor and raised him from the ground. There was an obvious size difference between them, so it was no wonder that the man could raise Allen off of his feet on the ground. "Say it to my face!" the man growled. "What is the thing?" "Zayn," a female voice called out, making the man lose his grip and drop Allen. The boynded with both his feet firlmy on the ground. He looked at what Zayn and Bryant were watching and saw Fantasia herself. The voices that were whispering at each other got even louder. More people crowded around them as Fantasia showed up. "Oh, it''s you. The boy I met on the Portal House." "Yes, ma''am," Allen grinned. "I was just talking when your friend here interrupted me and lifted me off of the ground. Tsk, tsk. So hot headed." "I have to vouch an apology for Zayn," Fantasia said, bowing lightly. This made Zayn try to stop her, but the woman raised her hand in his face, causing him to stop. "He is a member of Barandi in Paradise. As one of the leaders of our group, I could not bear to watch him bully an innocent Hunter. And worse, in the middle of such a huge crowd." Allen wanted to say a lot more things, but he figured that this would not help him. He needed to stop the scene from escting even more, so he decided to end for now. "I am sorry too, Ms. Fantasia," Allen said, following the woman''s slight bow to show his own apology. "It was also partially my fault for being reckless with my words." "Ah," Fantasia smiled. "I guess we''re both at fault. Well then, let''s just hope that this never happens again." "I do hope for that," Allen said. "For now, we have to take this corpse to a Hunter mortician. We need parts so we could be more powerful." "Of course," Fantasia stepped to the side to let the group pass. She was smiling but it was obvious that she wanted to skin Allen alive, and the boy just grinned as he walked by. "Wow," Gwen whispered. "Her aura is intense. How could her allies stand that?" "They have the same aura," Allen said. He looked behind him once and smiled when he saw that Fantasia was still looking at him. "Foul and disgusting." "Alright," a man said as he gave the group arge box. "I will incinerate the body. These are all the parts that you could use." They were in a what''s called as Parts House. When a Hunter hunts beast that has edible meat, they go to a ughterhouse. But when they hunt beasts that has no edible meat, they go to parts house like this one. The workers in the parts house would remove the parts that the Hunters could use as raw materials, hence the name. The remaining parts were going to be burned and incinerated and turned into fertilizer for experimental nting. Right now, they have threerge bags that containes the useable parts. The gori was the size of a bus, so its parts were also gigantic. "Aww, the n worked after all," Gary said. "Everyone was staring at us while we went to the parts house. Could you imagine what must be in their minds as they watched a couple of D rankers drag a high grade beast? They did even know that we only dragged it back. Keh was actually the one who killed it." "My mind could only wonder," Gwenughed lightly. "But I bet we intimated them enough so we could start on with our actual n. D rankers getting all the glory that the A rankers could never." "That n is really awesome in the sense that it''s so evil," Gary could onlyugh. "I really like it." "Well, you''ll like this even more," Jeremy showed them his phone where a blog was opened. "Someone was talking about us in the camp''s blog. They even took a photo of it." "But a photo? They spent a lot of money just to post in a blog?" Allen asked. "Nope," Jeremy said. "It has been discovered that the higher the worlds, the easier it is to build the technology." "What?" Allen asked. "You mean in Star Nest" "They have almost the same everything as earth," Jeremy said. "Atmosphere, air pressure, even the wavelength of light. Everything is almost the same, which is incredible." "These worlds have more mysteries to them than we think," Allen said. "Now, we should go to Sebastian''s room. We have to n the WDS information feed." "Okay." The group headed to Sebastian''s room. They have the permission to enter and have the keys to the room, so they were free to enter and exit anytime they wanted. "You know, if people really talked about us a lot, then we are like celebrities," Gwen said. "That''s not too bad. I like the sound of it." "You''re thinking too deep into the fame part," Allenughed. "You still have to remember that we need to feed WDS tomorrow. This stunt will just disappear tomorrow or the next day. We need to give them more and more rumors." "What if the Soul Burners coulde to us?" Jeremy wondered. "Barandi could just hire them and then let the people kill us." "You wouldn''t have a problem with that," Bernard''s voice came from Sebastian''s room. He walked out and yawned stretching his arms in the air. "It''s already afternoon. I slept for the entire night." His half naked body, made Gwen swallow loudly. She was staring at Bernard''s glory, earning herself an elbow from Gary. "What? He''s so hot." "But wait, why don''t we have to worry about it?" Allen asked. "The Soul Burners don''t function like I do which seeks justice. They just get hired and do as they pleases, don''t they?" "Wrong!" Sebastian said rather cheerfully. He also walked out of his room but he was in his pyjamas. "The Soul Burners does things like you too. They implement justice and do the right thing in the shadows. In fact, they have more sessful cases than you do." "Only because there''s a lot of them And they''re connected with a lot ofworks," Bernard said. "I''ll go make ourselves coffee. I''m tired." "Go ahead," Sebastian said while the other man left. "You guys should also not worry. I know people from Soul Burners. They''re good folks. They also are in the Snake''s side in case a war would break out, they just don''t want you to interrupt with their work." Allen nodded and slowly understood the nature of Soul Burners. They are the ones who serve justice in Paradise, seeing as the justice system in this world was practically nonexistent. He was also d that they are doing it, he could focus on his other tasks while they do the job for him. Inside a dark abandonedboratory, a woman was walking around a man that was tied to a chair. "You made me bow for an apology just because of your temperament." "Madam, I apologize deeply," Zayn pleaded. "I won''t do it again, madam. Please, don''t do it." "Of course, you won''t do it again," Fantasia said. "Or more like, you can''t do it again. Go ahead." The woman left while two poeple who woreb gowns entered. Zayn was screaming his pleas, while the two injected something in his arm. "Fantasia! I will kill you!" "Ah," Fantasia smirked. "I''d like to see you try." Chapter 156: Peg the Hierarchy Chapter 156: Peg the Hierarchy It was a n for Allen''s group that whenever they are in Paradise, they have to stick to each other as much as they could. That was until they make names for themselves individually. "So basically, we be celebrities?" Gwen asked, grinning at the thought. "I can''t say that I don''t like the sound of that." This earned her a smack on the back of her head from Gary, "You think this is all fun and games until these smaller groups try to recruit us, or even worse, hurt us." "That''s inevitable," Allen said. "Barandi can just send a few words about four D rankers and the ones above us, which basically is everyone else, will try to take us down. They have their huge ego at stake here." The group arrived at the Skill Altar dome where the WDS machines were installed. They were simr to ATMs in earth but instead of giving money, they give out information. This is also where Hunters who wish to put in information goes. The Hunter will feed the information to the machine and the organization will confirm this. This process will take more or less two to three days depending on the information they feed it. For their case, they will feed the information where the nest for the Silverthorn Goris are. The organization will send scouts to observe the are and then confirm it on the system. Allen thought that it would be much easier for the organization to just send in scouts to feed information, but Bernard said that the organization are not willing to spend the money for that. The information that the WDS needed were detailed. From the type of terrain, approximate number of species of beast, to the number of nts and sometimes even areas of grass. To hire scouts that would take in these information, the organization would have to spend trillions of money. They decided that it was better to let the Hunters explore these areas while they sit back and send in troops just to confirm that the gist of the information was right. This would sometimes cause a rift between Hunters when others would feed the wrong data. The organization would handle this matter by simply updating the information in the WDS. As the days passed, the database is updated until such time that it would only have the right data. But not in Paradise''s case. "Only this?" Gwen asked out loud, shocked by what she saw. "This is barely anything. The information with Camp George is the fuana around the camp''s walls? And just a bit of a forest up north, but that''s it?" "They have told us before," Allen said as he ced the thumb drive on the slot. "People here are as selfish as theye." He fed the information in the WDS and wrote their names on the source. They confirmed this with their IDs scanned into the slot. This was to prevent further misinformation. The author of the said data is added and this was going to be confirmed with their IDs. Through this way, when the information is heavily different from the one the scouts found, they will be interrogated. "The flora and fauna here in Paradise is extremely different from Haven," Jeremy said as they walked out of the building. "I think this is why people don''t add information. They are going to be persecuted if they put in the wrong stuff." "They''re just selfish and the organization just let them continue being selfish," Allen said. "The organization is not doing anything to prevent any type of problem at all." "They mostly focus on Haven and Eternity," Gary said. "I heard this one from the conversion of Remy and Keh the other day. "Paradise has the least budget from the organization. This ce is simr to a middle child of a family. It only want to seek attention from its parents, which is the organization." "Who leads Paradise anyway?" Allen asked. "Do they have some sort of council? I don''t know what happens in the higher ups." "Hmm," Jeremy pursed his lips. "Okay, I''ll exin it to you." The Hunters organization was built with a hierarchy just like all other organizations. The ones on top are the main sponsors as well as the Primordial Beast Bearers. These bracket has the chairman and vice chairman of the organization that is required to be a Bearer. Below them are the secondary sponsors and the representatives from worlds apart from Star Nest where the Bearers are. Each world has four representatives, they are divided into divisions with different functions. One division was the health, military, exploration, and science. Each representative are going to meetings regarding what happens to the world and what ns does the organization have for them. Below the representatives are the ministers. They are the ones who are in the worlds, seeking information and rying it to the representatives who goes to the meetings with the higher ups. Jeremy''s father, John, is a minister. He is on the division of the military therefore he handles the security and the weaponry of Haven. John has no power in Paradise or Eternity, while the Ministers for Defense in Paradise and Eternity have no power in Haven. The world they are assigned at does not mean anything regarding their power. Each of them are equally strong in terms of individual strength, economic strength, and evenwork strength. Below the ministers, which includes, their groups of people that serve their own roles for the Hunters, are the Hunters themselves. They are at the bottom of the hierarchy and there were too manydders that they needed to climb to reach up. "So basically, the structure of the organization is already trash," Allen said. "No wonder their policies are no different." "The hierarchy would always require power," Jeremy said. "The more power you have, the higher you can go." "And that''s why we''re going to change it, right?" Gary said. "We''re going to peg this hierarchy starting from being celebrities." "Yes!" Gwen cheered. "You finally agreed. We are like celebrities." "Hiya!" "Heal!" "sh!" The group were in the forest again. This time they are going to stay for a week and wait for the time toe back to the camp to feed the WDS more information. It had been four days since they left and Allen was now wondering what happened to the information. "Do you think Barandi blocked the infromation?" Jeremy asked Allen as they rested on the cold forest floor. "I''m worried about this part all the time." "Here we are, in the middle of the forest and you''re wondering if our information made it?" Allen chuckled. "That was simply a stunt so that we''d look good, you know. The machines were outside of the Skill Altar building. People already saw us there and from the looks of it, there aren''t as many people who goes to those machines." "I even overheard a group of people who entered the altar," Gwen butted in their conversation. "I heard something like D rankers being ipetent and such." "This is part of the problem with these dudes," Gary said. "They think that they''re superior if they follow the ones ahead of them and they would look down on the people who does things differently and for this case, things that arebeled as weak." "This is how their power increases," Allen said. "The more they implement these stereotypes, the more people would look at them like gods. This is stupid, but hrious at the same time. People in the middle just looking at these Hunters who are stronger than them like gods." "If they only know that following these gods wouldn''t help with their ascension." A voice came from the top of the tree and there was Keh. He was grinning at them while hended on the ground silently. Behind him was Dennis who came from behind the tree. "You guys were missing for a couple of days," Allen said. "I was worried that something happened." "Barandi blocked your information," Dennis said without any hesitation. This made Allen''s heart drop. Although it was indeed just a stunt so people would talk about them, Barandi blocking the thing that they worked hard for still felt like a blow. "Dumb," Keh said. "You scared them. Yes, Barandi did try to block your information, but they never got the chance to do it. It was Louis himself who confirmed the information by going to the site." "Louis?" Allen asked. "The Primordial Rat Bearer?" "Yes," Keh said. "He got a whiff of what we were doing and decided to help. He is regarded as the weakestbatant in the Bearers and he wanted for everyone else to not go through the same discrimination he went through. That was why he wanted to help us." "Louis is a pretty strongbatant though," Dennis pursed his lips. "Whatever did he meant by being the weakest? Anyway, you guys can rest now. I have the information right here. Take this and then you can rest until the timees that you''re going back to the camp." Click. sh. Chapter 157: Serrata Attack Chapter 157: Serrata Attack A hooded figure was sitting on tree, holding a phone in their hand as they captured a photo of Allenmunicating with Keh and Dennis. "Hey!" Keh yelled, pointing at the figure. "D rankers getting help. Unauthentic," he said, swinging both his legs on the trunk. Their voice seemed to be distorted by a device that they ced behind thier goblin mask. "Keh, being linked to amunications mogul. This is hot. Goodbye!" The person waved their hand and was about to jump when Keh activated his skill. The person froze midair,nding on the ground with a loud thud with his phone breaking from the fall. "This is a power of a Primordial Beast Bearer," Allen said in his mind. It was instantaneous how Keh blocked the movement of the person. It was as if a split second decision that the person froze midair and fell. Keh and Dennis appeared on either side of the figure as it tried to reach for their phone. Keh sighed and stomped his foot on the phone, shattering it to pieces. "No!" the person yelled. Keh only smirked at this and leaned into the person whoid t on the ground. "That was my phone!" "You brat," Keh growled. He forcefully took of the mask and the hood of the figure and found that it was a girl. "Demi Poodle. What are you even doing here?" "I just wanted to know who my brother is hanging out with and what their intentions are with him," Demi replied as Dennis helped her up. "Brother, I think this Keh is going to kill me. He even destroyed my phone!" Demi hugged Dennis and showed her tongue to Keh, making the Bunny Bearer scoff and cross his arms. "Dennis, I think your sister has brain problems. You need to take her to an orphanage, quick." "The both of you should behave," Dennis said. "Demi, what you showed was not good. You should feel bad about what you did." The girl only scoffed and crossed her arms, following Keh''s expression. "What if I don''t want to?" "Then I won''t be recing your phone," Dennis grinned. "It''s basically that simple." As the three of them interacted, Allen and his friends were looking at them as if they were watching a TV show. Their eyes would follow on either one of them, waiting for that person to do something. "I feel like I''m watching a soap opera," Gwen snorted. Her words made the three remember their presence. "But in those operas, they never break the fourth wall." "Everyone, do not worry about her," Dennis said. "This little girl is my younger sister, Demi. She followed me here because she thinks I''m hanging out with bad guys." "Your brother runs a business that spies on people," Jeremy leaned in close to Allen to whisper. "Little girl, he is the bad guy." Allen couldn''t help but snort. When Dennis turned to them to ask what was going on, he shook his head and denied it. "Nothing happened, don''t worry." They talked more for a couple more minutes until they decided that it was time to go. Keh, Dennis, and Demi left the four in the forest, leaving another thumb drive for them. "I think it''s good that we have another ally," Gwen said. "And it''s Louis. He''s a man who has tons of connections. I feel like we could be in a better position because of him." Allen wanted to say otherwise, but he didn''t want to discourage his friends. His instincts were kicking in as he thought about Louis. The man who has the Primordial Rat Code. From what he could remember, Louis was the most controversial Bearer. A Hunter beside his unit in Haven was supposed to have the Code of the Rat but he was brutally murdered. Louis came to the rescue and the man gave him the Code before he died. This was why Louis was a second generation Bearer. The culprit too was eventually caught, but he denied the said motive of the crime. He said that he murdered the person because he tried to steal the culprit''s wife. This angered the culprit so much that he snuck into the victim''s apartment in the middle of the night and ughtered him. The only regret he had was he left the scene too early without thinking that the victim used a Code to extend his life. Whenever the scene was mentioned, Louis would be emotional about it. He said that he was still traumatized by what happened. He saw too much blood that now, even when he was abatant, he couldn''t fight another Hunter. The culprit was found guilty and the wife was charged as an essory to the crime since she was the one who gave the culprit the key to the apartment. There was no other rtive of the victim, that was why Louis got the Code. His role is a warrior but he often fights on the backside like an assassin. The Rat gave him the ability to blend into the darkness and sneak into this opponent, taking down the kill almost instantaneously. Apart from this issue, Louis has a clean track record. He is a known phnthropist and is also known as a businessman. Apart from being a Hunter, he also adopts animals in shelters, helping them and giving people jobs. Among all the Bearers, Louis had a halo above his head. Drake Nelson was respected because of his power and leadership while Louis was celebrated for his kindness. These two were always together too, which often made people call Louis the second chairman. "I think Lin is jealous of Louis," Gwen said after Allen finished Louis''s biography. "The three of them are trinity of power, right? They are often together even when they could handle things alone, but Lin was always behind the two." "True," Gary seconded. "Drake and Louis are always celebrated while Lin felt like she only existed to add femininity to the group. I think this would also be a motive for her." "Lin," Allen hummed. "I read about her biography too. But it''s muchplicated." Lin Wen is a child prodigy in her school. In her early days, she could memorize even medical terms that none of the ones in her school knew. Lin was always sent topetitions because of this. As she grew up, Lin was found to be caring for others. She had always wanted to be a doctor to help the people in need and sure enough, at the age of thirteen, she earned her medical degree. Although she was not allowed to practice medicine yet, Lin had studied more degrees as she waited. That was until she discovered being a Hunter. When she was in the hospital observing the doctors, she found a Hunter that was heavily injured. A beast broke out of the portal and attacked the nearby houses, the Hunter responded but failed. Lin watched the healing Hunters mend the man, thus inspiring her to be one herself. With the power of her father who was a billionaire, Lin found her Primordial Beast Code which gave her the ability to support her teammates well. Lin was happy until she came to Eternity and get closer to Drake and Louis. It was said that the three encountered a powerful Serrata. This Serrata was the one who paved the way for their friendship and bond to grow. As they attacked the creature, they found their powers to bepatible. The three was never separated since. "The three of them has a bond that''s not easily severed," Allen said. "These two couldn''t have done it. They''ve been working together for almost five years. How could they just kill their friend like that?" "What other Bearers could have their motive?" Gwen asked. "Monkey? Rooster? Sheep?" "I don''t know anymore," Allenid himself on the ground. "It gets tooplicated the more we get deeper, it''s hurting my brain." "That simply means that we''re getting closer to finding out the truth," Jeremy said. "You don''t have to worry. Sooner orter, we will finish this and finally flip the power imbnce. Peg this hierarchy." "Yeah," Allen sat up and grinned. He ced her hand forward, looking at his friends and waited for them to do the same. "Come on. Let''s do this." They stacked their hands on top of each other, everyone grinning at themselves. "Peg the hierarchy!" Right before they could raise their hand in the air, a beam of light shes through the trees above them. There was silence for a couple of secondd before the path where the beam was exploded, creating a st. "That was in the direction of the camp," Allen said. The four of them rose from the ground and climbed the trees where the beam did not reach. The ones that it did pass through were already burning. As they rose, Allen felt nervous. He took a peak above the trees and saw the camp getting a huge part of it destroyed by the beam. Allen felt a terrifying aura above them. He looked up and saw a Serrata hover over them. It wasing for the camp. Chapter 158: Top Hunter in Paradise Chapter 158: Top Hunter in Paradise "Mind telling me why were going towards it instead of going away from it?" Gwen asked as the group was rushing towards the camp. The Serrata wasing for it, it was a humanoid figure with a long straight hair. The sex of the creature seemed to be female judging by the curves of its body that was contained under a cloak. It was hovering in the air, not moving as it moved closer to the camp. The Serrata was also not attacking the camp unlike Allen initially thought. After the first beam of light that it shot, the Serrata did not attack again since. "What is it doing?" Gary asked. "It''s moving so slowly that we can just go past it." "No," Allen said. "I read about Serratas the other day and found that they have odd behavior. They looked human, but they act nothing like us. They also think nothing like us." "Their main behavior is attack and destroy," Jeremy said. "I don''t think it''s too hard to understand that, Allen. Serratas just destoy and destroy until they are killed." "But not really," Allen argued. "There are Serratas that are just like this one. Some would not even attack at all until it finds a cue. Either a color or an object. It''s hard to tell what Serratas are thinking." "Let''s just hurry," Gary said. "I feel weird just watching the camp being destroyed. Where are the prideful A rankers?" Just after Gary finished his sentence, six people got out of the camp and faced the Serrata. Each of them were weilding their weapons, raised high as they rushed towards its direction. Meanwhile, Allen halted their movements as he waited. He wanted to observe what the Serrata and the Hunters would do, and what they can do to prevent further damage to happen. This was an opportunity to see what the A rankers of Paradise can do. "Hiya!" the warrior of the group was the one who attacked first. The tank was behind him while the assassin had vanished into thin air, hiding and waiting for the right opportunity to attack. The warrior raised her sword and was about to sh when the Serrata stopped its motion. It stayed still in the air, just standing as the Hunter approached. Just before the woman could attack, a beam was fired and her head had vanished. The tank who was behind her froze as he saw his lifeless ally''s body fell to the ground with a thud. "W-What happened" Another beam was fired and this time, it wasunched towards the tank. He panicked and raised his shield, just enough time to protect himself from the attack. Or try to protect himself. The beam swallowed the man and he was instantly pulverized. The mage, ranger, and support who was a couple of meters behind him froze in the spot. They were speechless after two of their teammates were killed not even a minute apart. "Shannon!" the woman yelled. She seemed to be the support judging from her clothing. "Shannon,e here. We need to retreat!" A thud sounded from a nearby tree, prompting the three to look at the source. There, they saw the body of their assassin, burnt to crisp like a charred barbecue. "No!" the mage screamed. He looked at the Serrata but it was gone from the skies. He looked around and turned behind him when the creatures was already standing there. Its paper white skin that was as shiny as porcin, together with its wide blue eyes and its red lips with a red dot on its cheek were all gruesome to watch. The creature just stared at the mage, the man just realizing that all of his allies were already gone. He was the only one left and their opponent was standing right in front of him, its face so close to it that he could almost hear its breathing. "P-Please don''t kill me. I don''t want to die. Please." The man could only close his eyes and waited for his demise. He waited for a couple of seconds, but the terrifying presence that was just in front of him had vanished. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Serrata was already in the air again, hovering and traveling back to the camp. The man fell to his knees. His head turned to the direction of his friends'' corpses, seeing them one by one. He ced his hands in front of his face as he sobbed in despair. He was the only one left. "That was gruesomely horrendous," Gwen groaned after they watched the scene. They could only watch from afar as they saw six A rankers getting killed one by one by a Serrata. The sight was a one sided massacre. "This just goes to show how vast the gaps between worlds are," Allen said. "An average Serrata is equal to the power of an average Eternity Hunter. There were already six A rankers in the scene, meaning that six A Rankers is not equal to the power of an Eternity Hunter." "True," Jeremy added. "If we calcte an estimation, it would be at least fifty A rankers that is equal to one Eternity Hunter. I saw that article before." "I saw it too," Allen said. "Before, I would not believe it. I meane on, I''m not going to lie but A rankers are already powerful Hunters. They could take down powerful creatures on their own and fifty of them is equal to a single person? That sounded ridiculous. "But after what we just witnessed, this changed my perception heavily," Allen continued. He sighed and then turned to his friends. "We''re equal to A rankers in terms of power. To get even stronger, we need to multiply our current power to fifty." The group continued to run towards the camp as they followed the Serrata. When it reached the camp, it hovered over the hole that it destroyed, waiting for a couple of seconds before entering. "A Serrata!" "The Eternity Hunters had just fled. What do we do now?" "Call them! Call all of them." The Hunter inside the camp had already panicked. They just saw a Serrata destroy their wall and kill six A rankers. It wasn''t just until a couple of minutes ago that the people were still cheering after the group of A rankers walked out of the gates to deal with the problem. "Let''s stay here and watch," Allen said. "We need to see how powerful can these Hunters be. They prided themselves with power, now let''s see how this goes." The Serratanded on the fron of the gate inside the camp. It stood still for a few minutes before opening its eyes. "Humans. Leave. Now." "It can talk?" Gwen gasped. "They have the samenguage we hage too. What could this mean?" "I don''t know, Gwen," Allen sighed. "I don''t know." Allen had read dozens of articles in one single night regarding Serratas. Turns out there were a lot of information that Dennis could give him, the man just waited for Allen toe to him first. With the boy''s intelligence attribute, he had learned all the things that were written in the article. But not this one. There has never been any record for a Serrata to talk or have a voice. They would usually make a gutteral sound, much like groan that had a raspy tone to it. This sound were also in a different wavelength much like light from the Otherworlds. "From all I dislike, I really don''t like it when someone messes with my camp," a man stepped out from the crowd. He was wielding a ck iron bat that he was swinging around as he walked in front of the people. "This ce is mine, punk. You have to deal with me first." "Wesley is here." "We''re saved. The top Hunter of Paradise hase." "Praise Wesley! You kill the Serrata, Wesley!" "He''s going to die soon," Gwen sighed. "His stupidity is mistaken as bravery. What an unfortunate soul." The Serrata did not respond. It slightly moved, making everyone gasp and step back. In a sh, the Serrata had fired a beam towards the man. "See?" Gwen sughed. "He''s dead. I''m right" "Was that all?" the man arose from the mist of dust that formed a cloud around him. He was grinning while swinging his bat on one side, looking at the creature who was wrecking havoc. The Serrata did not move for a few seconds. It finally raised its right hand and pointed the palm at the man. The mouth of the Serrata slightly smirked, making Wesley''s eyes widen. "Everyone, run as far as you can. This fight is going to get bloody." The Serrata fired multiple orbs of light towards Wesley. It was firing rapidly like a gun that was endless. Meanwhile, Wesley was now covered with a mist of the dust that formed as clouds. "Yep," Gwen sighed. "He''s finally dead. He didn''t stand a chance, why didn''t he just call out for help?" "Amazing!" Wesley yelled. He shed his bat forward, clearing the dust in front of him, revealing his unfazed body. "That was indeed amazing." Chapter 159: Fixing the Building Chapter 159: Fixing the Building The A rankers of Paradise have their own system of their ranks. This is based on the potential of the Hunter to ascend into the higher world, being ranked by numbers. Currently, the top spot among A rankers is held by the man that was standing in front of the Serrata, Wesley Day. He is a fighter with a high damage output as well as speed that isparable to an average assassin. Wesley has caught eyes of groups such as Barandi, but the one he chose to follow was being independent. This was viewed as a wed move for him because he was not a son of a rich family, meaning he doesn''t have any connections whatsoever. "How did he survive?" Gwen asked in shock. "That was the same energy that was fired with the others back in the forest. Howe me came out unscathed?" "Because he''s already matched with higher people in Eternity," Allen whispered. ''New feature unlocked '' Passive With the Snake''s sight and instincts for power, the user shall gain a view of the level of the target''s power. Allen had just gained a new feature from the Snake. It was unclear to him if the features were activated with time or an event that could trigger it. Thest time he got a feature was when he was still in Haven. Allen nced at Jeremy who currently have the second highest power in his team. The man had 40,000 power. He then turned to Wesley, gulping when he was not mistaken at what he saw earlier. Above the man disyed the number, 80,000. This mean that Wesley had 80,000 power, double that of Jeremy who almost parred even Allen himself. He then nced at the others, most of them ranging with powers from 20,000-30,000. This sort of relieved Allen since Gwen only has 28,000 power. She was behind the three of them, with Gary having 32,000 magic power. But even so, Allen was d that they were ahead of a lot of Hunters in Paradise. "The only reason why he isn''t in Eternity is because he doesn''t have the money," Allen said. "His father was a Hunter and the man drowned their family in debt, owing the mafia three billion dors. Wesley is still working to pay off that debt." "Three billion?!" Jeremy gasped. "What kind of man is he? He''s not normal." "That''s because he isn''t," Allen said. "Wesley''s father was a gambler and a prominent customer of the casinos in Haven. He gambled his money and even borrowed a lot more money and then suddenly vanished. He was also a candidate for Eternity. That was why he was confident in doing such borrowing." "Dennis sure has deep connections," Gwen seethed. "He''s a man we don''t want to mess with or else he''ll show everyone our photos while we''re taking a bath." They watched Wesley leap on top of one of the tall buildings of the camp. He was mncholic now even when he was grinning widely earlier. He held his de to the side, a yellow sword with a thin bell on the pommel. "It''s sad," Wesley frowned. "I have to kill you now." The man vanished from where he was standing. This made the Serrata lean back and try to look for him, only to feel Wesley behind it. "Urk, urk." "So, you can really speak, huh?" Wesley whisperer. "Speak for me." "Humans. Die," the Serrata screeched. It raised its hands and conjured a gigantic ball of light. The light was so huge that it measured to a quarter of the size of the camp. "Humans. Die" sh. Pierce. Wesley killed the Serrata by hacking his sword into its back, deeply burrowing the de into its flesh until the tip reached the Serrata''s chest. "It''s you who is going to die. I''m sorry." Tears fell from Wesley''s eyes as the brightness from the giant ball of light slowly faded. He slolwy removed his sword from the creature, catching its body before it could fall to the ground. "Wesley the Mncholic," Allen said. "A man who knows no emotion." The group returned to the camp in hurry. They wanted to collect more information about what happened, and why such a powerful Serrata attacked a camp. Usually, when Serratas attack, they would get inside the camp first. The creature hovers in the air, so they have no trouble passing through the tall walls of the camps. However, this camp was attacked first. The Serrata fired a beam of light that destroyed the wall of the camp, then attacked on the inside. This was a new type of attack from the Serrata, not anyone in the camp knows why this happened. "What would happen now?" Jeremy asked. "What will the organization do with this? First, Haven was attacked, and now this. The creatures are getting more and more enraged." Allen looked at the man and stared into his eyes, as if he wasmunicating through their minds. Jeremy caught the message and nodded. They were nning on talking to each other about the extra powers they have. "Wesley Day," a police officer bowed in front of Wesley. The crowd had formed around the man as he carried the corpse of the Serrata in his arms. "Thank you sir for saving the camp. I was so scared that it would be the end for us, but you saved us. Thank you so much." Wesley grinned, "My job as a Hunter is to hunt. I was just doing my job, officer." "Thank you," the officer cried. "Thank you." Wesleyughed as he walked past the officer. The people in front of him stepped back to form a path for a man. Before he went away, Wesley nced at a certain direction. His eyes met Allen and then he smiled and continued walking away. "He looked here," Gwen whispered. "Do you think he knows?" Allen shook his head slowly, "I don''t know, Gwen. I don''t know." Allen was walking to Sebastian''s unit when a guard blocked his way. "Sir, you are not permitted to enter the building." "What?" Jeremy asked. "But we have a friend here. His name is Sebastian Lincoln, he''s the one who lets us stay here." "Mr. Sebastian is not here at the moment," the guard said. "The building does not permit outsiders to enter." "But we''re not" "Aww, the D rankers want the same treatment as an ascender?" a voice said from behind the guard. It was a familiar voice that irked Allen to his core. "How pathetic would it be?" "Bryant, we didn''te here to fight," Allen said. "We only came here to" "To what?" Bryant crossed his arms. He tapped the guard''s chest to let him know that he got this and that the guard should go now. When the guard left, Bryant turned to the group with a proud grin on his lips. "Hmm, I guess this should be enough so you should go back to your dump." Gwen wanted to punch the man in the face, but Gary stopped her before she could. "Let''s not stir a fight here." "Let''s just go," Allen said. "We don''t have to do this here. We have things to do." "Okay," Gwen sighed. "Let''s go." As the four of them walked away from the building, Bryant wasughing hysterically. The man was looking at the group with a disgusted look. "Pathetic." Gwen was grunting while they went back to the building for D ranks. They saw the destroyed state of the building, sighing in frustration. "I can''t even believe that they didn''t even try to fix this," Gwen groaned. "They couldn''t find the budget in their very deep pockets to spare a few change here?" "This is good," Allen said, making the others turn to him, all with expressions of disbelief. "Since we''re nnint on showing off, we have to look as D rank in terms of physical appearance as possible. Let''s show them our power and not our rank." "Okay," the others responded. They were about to enter the building when it glowed with a dim green color. This made them raise their guard, but lowered it right after they saw Remy walk towards them. "Allen told me about your n so I got you evicted," Remy said. "Then we''re going to fix this up just so they could see how much you have power." "So" Gwen trailed off. "Won''t this get us in trouble? We''re touching public property." Remy raised a paper, "This will help you in case someone tries to trouble you." "And this is" Allen trailed off. "Oh, a permit? You got a permit? But how?" "I''m Remy," the womanughed lightly. "I can get it any time." The dim green light faded which made them look at it, seeing the newly furnished building. It wasn''t even like the old and shabby state of the D rank building before, it was like this was brand new. "Good luck," Remy raised her hand and waved it as she disappeared into the dark alley. Chapter 160: I Permit You Chapter 160: I Permit You "What building is this?" "This wasn''t here yesterday." "Are the D rankers inside?" A crowd was formed outside of the new building in the outskirts of the camp. While in Haven, the poor are treated as lowlife and are in the Rundown Street, in Paradise, D rankers are ced in an abandoned street. Behind their building was the dumpsite where the trash are thrown in a daily basis. The smell was foul and the scene was even more disgusting. This was just one of the ways why the D rankers are treated as. "You know," Allen hummed as his friends and him watched the people outside through their window. The ss was tinted, so they could look as much as they want without worrying about the people seeing them. "Even though this is just another drama for our poprity, I find it quite amusing," Allen said. "With how they look at the building, baffled and angered, it''s entertaining to watch." "I sometimes feel like you''re a lowkey sadist, no?" Gary pointed our, earning a snort from Allen. "Yeah, you are one." "I''m just d," the boy rified. "To think that they would want us to put in our ces and now they''re having breakdowns just because we resist. It''s really amusing." The four of them decided to go out to get something to eat. Of course this was another stunt for them, to go out while there were still a lot of people and they were still the content of the rumors. Allen walked down the hallway and he was seen by the people outside. The whispers got even louder and the people got more curious about the newly built building. "Hey," Bryant''s voice rang the loudest as the group exited the building. They pretended to be shocked about how many people gathered outside of their building. "What''s all this?" The man gestured his hand up and down the three storey building. He was furious judging by the look on his face alone. His expression tells everything and it was so easy to read. "What''s all what?" Allen asked. "You guys told us that we were not allowed in Sebastian''s unit, so we went back to our building." "But then we saw that it wasn''t in the best state so we fixed it a bit," Jeremy added. "Just so we would befortable living inside." "Ahh," Gwen smelled the air and scrunched his face at the smell. "I miss the smell of pine trees inside. The outside world smells like dump." Bryant growled and grabbed Allen''s cor. He pulled the boy close to him as he continued to scowl. "What games are you ying at? You''re nothing supposed to touch public property! Boys, this is a citizen''s arrest." Three more people got out of the crowd and helped Bryant in capturing Allen. "As a good citizen of Paradise, I hereby sentence you to prison for destroying public property." "We fixed it. Have you seen the ruined state of the building?" Jeremy growled. "What do you mean destroy? You should be thankful for us because we''re here to help out." "But D rankers are supposed to live in a ruined state building," Bryant smirked andughed. "You guys are low lives. You don''t deserve the money given to you by the organization." "Hmm," a familiar voice spoke behind Bryant. Everyone spun to see who it was and saw Wesley there. "I was told to inspect a building here, one that wasn''t here before. Sure enough, I checked and saw that there was a new building." He walked over to where Bryant was. Bryant was still trying to tie rope right around Allen''s wrist. "Come on, Wesley. Help me arrest these fools for public property destruction. This is unaptable." Wesley nodded and took out a rope that was wrapped around his thigh. It was long that it''s a wonder how he could still walk properly, let alone why he tied the rope in the first ce. Bryant had a victorious smirk on his lips as he saw Wesley preparing the rope. The smirk however was wiped off when Wesley pulled Bryant''s wrists and tied the rope to him. "Wesley, what are you doing? You''re tying up the wrong guy." "If you were a good citizen," Wesley started. He kicked the back of Bryant''s knee, causing thetter to kneel on the ground on one knee. "If you were a good citizen, you would have investigated further and asked the people in the office. There I found that these good folks received a permit for them to fix the building." "What?!" Bryant gasped. "But how? They are D rankers." "Oh, don''t ask me why I know," Wesley scoffed. "I just do. After all, I am a good citizen." After Wesley tied up Bryant, he gazed at the other three who were tying up Allen''s friends. They immediately loosened their rope and ran away, leaving their leader behind. "I''m sorry that this has to happen to you," Wesley sighed. "These people are just the worst. They have nopassion whatsoever. They only think about themselves." "It''s okay," Allen smiled. "I got used to the treatment here." "It will be better," Wesley smiled back. "I promise you. You will have more to you that you can ever imagine." "Thank you, Wesley," Allen bowed. "Thank you so much." "It''s no biggie," Wesley said. "Just ask me for help if you need it. Here, take my card." Allen took the phone number of Wesley as thetter walked away. The crowd that gathered around them dispersed, making a path for Wesley. "Oh, I forgot." The man got back and dragged Bryant out of the scene. He used the back of the rope to drag him, the man just letting the man drag him away. The peopleughed at the scene after it looked like a mother was dragging her son away from the toy aisle of the mall. "That should create a news," Gwen chuckled. "Good thing Bryant created that scene. Or else Wesley wouldn''t havee and the people wouldn''t have talked so much." They were justughing when they turned to an alley and found a man that was being beaten. Allen raised his hand to the side to stop Jeremy from advancing. Thetter had already conjured his spear. "Allen, don''t stop me," Jeremy growled. He gripped Allen''s arm and was about to push it off but Allen switched hands. "Allen" "Shh," using his free hand, Allen ced a finger over his lips. He then used the finger to point up. When Jeremy and the others looked up, their eyes widened at the sight. "They are on duty." There were four cloaked people above the building of the alley. Each of the side of the building had two people, standing in front of each other. "Soul Burners." The four people leaped down and mmed their iron boots on the ground. nk. The sound silenced the people who were beating the man, each of them looking up to see what themotion was, only to see four Soul Burners behind each of them. "You havee," the beaten man cried. "You finally came to rescue me." Each Soul Burner grabbed a head of the people who were beating the man. They then ced a hand over their target''s faces, slowly pulling their hand as a thin mist was wrapped around their hands. Their targets'' eyes rolled to the back of their heads, the men creating guttural sounds as they fell to their knees. The man who ordered the Soul Burners, cried in joy after seeing his assaulters slowly lose consciousness and humanity. "Your order is finished," one of the Soul Burners said. "We have received the payment. Congrattions, Cory. You''re free from these men." The Soul Burners nced at Allen and his friends. They ced a finger over their lips and chorused. "Shh." In an instant, the cloaked figures leaped on top of the buildings. It was then that the man who was the victim of the beatings sighed in relief. He then fell to the ground with a loud thud, making Allen ran to him. "Call the police," Allen said. "We have a case for them." They took the man to the hospital where they were rejected multiple times. It was Gwen who had a loud voice in the front desk, arguing with the woman behind the counter. "Hey, you listen to me," Gwen said. She rubbed her forehead and narrowed her eyes threateningly at the woman. "A man is severely injured. We don''t know him, we just found him in an alley." "Ma''am," the woman behind the counter said back. "Let me also tell you this, we are not to be serving the D rankers when we have B and C ranks in queue. We are short on medical staff and there are a lot of Hunters who are lined for their check up." "But this is an" "I permit you," the victim said to Gwen. "You''re a healer, right? I permit you to heal me." Another door has opened for their plot. Chapter 161: The Grand Burner Chapter 161: The Grand Burner When Lin gave Allen several Codes for them to burn in the Skill Altar, the woman had given them a lot of Codes and high quality ones too. Each of them have the necessary level and EXP to ascend to Eternity, with Gwen having the most basic level. It was required to be level 60 to ascend from Haven to Paradise, and then level 150 to ascend to Eternity. While Allen was level 159, Gwen was at level 151, meaning her level was more than most of the Hunters in the world they were in. This being said, her capabilities of her healing Codes had greatly increased. The four of them took what they need and burned what they didn''t, that''s why they had Codes that were saved from being burned and they were using now. Gwen kneeled in front of the man, making sure that there were eyes on her. Their n was to fuel all the rumors to increase their poprity, just so the Hunters would question the ranking system. It will then be nothing but chaos. "Sir, your wounds are deep and you need professional medical help," Gwen said with a loud voice. "I am a mere D ranker. I don''t know if I can heal you." "Just do it," the man sighed. "I do not care anymore. Just relieve the pain, even just until the medical teames." "Yes, sir," Gwen said. She ced both her hands on the man''s chest, taking a deep breath as she activated her Code. "Weeping Glory." Weeping Glory, a Grand grade Code which allows the user to cast a powerful and effective healing spell on a target. This skill Code searches the base of the wound and intensity the regeneration abilities of the target, healing even deep cuts in just mere seconds. Gwen''s hand glowed with a soft green light. The light covered the entire body of the man, drawing people''s attention towards it. In just a matter of ten seconds, the beaten up state of the man hadpletely vanished. His cuts and bruises were gone, as if nothing happened to him at all. Gwen faked sighed and almost fall to the side to pretend that she used her best to do the healing process. Allen wanted to smirk, but he held it in. Instead, he helped Gwen get back on her feet. "Thank you, Dante," Gwen said. "I just feel quite dizzy." "You''ll feel even more dizzy after you see the looks on everyone''s faces," Allen chuckled. "Look." Gwen looked up and saw everyone''s gaze at her. Although they were some that were mixed with jealousy, fury, and even admiration, themon mix was shock. How could a D ranker cast a skill that healed wounds in a brief moment of time? "Impossible," the woman who refused them gasped. "But she''s a mere D ranker. How could she do it?" "Wait, isn''t that" the other woman whom she was working with trailed off. "Jefferson Parish," Wesley entered the hospital, making everyone look at him in shock. "I heard from a little birdy that you were mugged in an alley. Are you okay?" "Of course, I am," Jefferson grinned. He turned to look at Gwen and bowed at her. "Thank you, ma''am. I am truly grateful for your help." Gwen was lost for words. The dirtied and beaten up state of the man earlier was gone and yet she just looked at his face, to see a handsome man with perfect everything. This man also looked a lot like Wesley, which made her think that they are rted. "Sir," the nurse from the counter who refused them ran towards Wesley and kneeled. "I did not knew it was him, I''m so sorry. It was because these D rankers brought him inside that I did not check on the patient. They''re the ones to me." "Oh?" Wesley tilted his head to the side. He walked past the nurse and stood in front of the four, his eyes showing no emotion that Allen could read. Even when this man was nothingpared to Sebastian in terms of power, he has a superior talent for hiding his aura. "These four?" "Yes," the nurse stood and red at Allen and his friends. "If they weren''t the ones who brought him in, we would''ve helped Mr. Jefferson right away. Maybe they even beat Mr. Jefferson and bring him here just so they could look like they''re heroes." "Uhm, excuse you, but we''re newbies in Paradise," Gwen said while snapping her fingers in the air. "We don''t know anyone here and we''re still trying to figure out how politics works around here, because truthfully, it''s different." "Of course it is," the nurse scoffed. "But it''s easy. You D rankers deserve to be kneeling on the ground" The nurse didn''t get to finish when a sound of pping shocked the entire floor. The woman fell to the ground, her hand ced on her cheek and her eyes were wide in shock. Wesley stood in front of her with a wide smile. "I really don''t like loud people," Wesley''s smile vanished. He turned around to face Allen and his friends, this time Allen was now standing in front of his friends, defending them from the dangerous man. "Oh, I''m also not violent. She just irked me to the point where I had no other choice." "Mr. Wesley, what do you want from us?" Allen asked. "I don''t think you can have anything from us D rankers." Wesley chuckled. "No, I just wanted to thank you. Pleasee with me to the rooftop real quick. There are too many people here." The four had no choice but to follow Wesley and Jefferson on the rooftop of the hospital. They were standing in the middle while Wesley was facing them, Jefferson was around the area patrolling for any kind of spy. "A healer that was my friend was about to take over your healer when the light started to glow," Wesley said. "He reported that Jefferson suffered deep cuts and very dark bruises that even he would have a hard time healing. But your healer did in under a minute. Which is quite impressive if you ask me." Allen was on edge. He didn''t know what conclusion Wesley would have from this, but what he knows is that if their identity and goal would be found out and Wesley refuses to cooperate, they have no other chance but to offer him to the Soul Burners. This option would be much better if in case something happens. "So?" Allen asked rather bravely. "What is it that you wanted to tell us? That our healer is too good and you want to take her with you?" Wesleyughed, "What? I have a healer already. Two is not good, don''t you think? It gets too crowded." "Then what do you want Gwen for?" Allen asked. This is when Wesley got serious. "Oh, nothing," Wesley chuckled. "I forgot what was I about to say. But anyway, I''m going now. See you allter." Wesley left with Jefferson trailing him, but before thetter could exit, he ran over towards Allen briefly, "He was actually trying to thank you for saving me. He''s not good with words, you see. Also, he wanted to let you guys exit the crowd that was forming. There were surely people who will try and ask you a couple of things." "Oh," was all Allen could say. "But what''s your rtionship with him? Why does he seemed to protective of you?" Jefferson nced at the door where Wesley exited. He then turned to the others and smiled, "I''m histe fiance''s brother. My sister told him to take care of me, so that''s what he''s doing this. As a legacy for her." "Oh," the four chorused. It wasn''t long until Jefferson left them in the rooftop. It was indeed a favor from Wesley when he brought them to the rooftop. The people downstairs would surely be boiling with questions, and they would try and ask Gwen things, but what Wesley didn''t know was that it was all part of their n. "All that publicity stunt," Gwen groaned. "All wasted." "No," Allen said. "It''s not wasted. We still have something to look forward to." The boy raised his hand and a piece of paper was there. "Wesley gave this to me secretly. It''s an address and the address points to an alley." "What does it mean?" Jeremy asked. "We will find out." Smack. Smack. Smack. "rgh!" Allen and his friends arrived at a scene where the Soul Burners are doing their job. They were now targeting a man that was on his knees, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. "What the hell is happening?" Allen gasped. They tried to step back and leave but another Soul Burner blocked their path. "Excuse me, we have to go. We didn''t mean to intrude with your job." "The Grand Burner would like to speak with you. All four of you," the man said. "Please follow me." Chapter 162: Soul Burners Base Chapter 162: Soul Burners'' Base Allen and his friends had no other choice but to do as the man said. They followed him into the rear part of the camp, close to the building they were staying. In the dump area, arge monolith stood. Although the monolith was ten foot high, it wasn''t a wonder why not a lot of people noticed it. It was in the part of the dump site where the smell was most foul. The stench of all the waste from the camp was concentrated there, creating an odor that would literally kill the weak. "That smell is horrendous," Gwen said. "Why are we here?" "To see our Grand Burner," the man said. He didn''t speak again. Instead, he ced his hand on the monolith and chanted something under his breath. It was then that the ground beside the monolith opened, creating a path that led underground. "Follow me." A couple more minutes of walking and the smell was gone. There were ck metal poles on the side of the tunnel which the man said absorbs the smell from outside. Allen wanted to investigate about the material that they used to make these, but he was going to save that question forter. For now, they must talk to the leader of the Soul Burners. As they ventured deeper into the tunnel, Allen noticed that the lights were bright and consistent. They were walking for about a quarter of a mile now, but the lights that the Soul Burners used were still glowing brightly. They must''ve used a lot of power for this tunnel alone. "While we''ll be here for a while, let me tell you a couple of things about our camp," the man who was leading them broke the silence. "As you can see, the poles that absorb the smell has ended at this point, meaning that the smell could not reach further. "The lights that we used are all bright but economical. We have found the perfect material to be used for these lights and that the power source is our Soul Core that is located deep within our base," he continued. "I even forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nathan, and I''m a pioneering member of the Soul Burners." "Nathan," Allen whispered. "Could it be?" They reached the end of the tunnel and were now facing a giant metal door. Nathan raised his right hand and formed a peace sign. The door opened at this, revealing the even brighter inside of the Soul Burners'' base. "Woah," Allen gasped as they stepped inside. The base waspletely different from the world just above it. And not even the dump site, but the entire camp itself. They must''ve traveled a long way to get out of camp and into the forest. There was a slightly ttened dome shaped roof that was made of ss overlooking the entire base. It looked like a camp from Haven except the fact that everyone here was not miserable. Although this was much smaller than any other camp, the base was filled with the bright, smiling faces of the people inside. They looked free and calm, unlike when they were in the camps where they have to be on guard most of the time. "There are currently two hundred members of the Soul Burners," Nathan said. "But our camp is only upied by half just do we don''t get suspicious." "Your base looks awesome," Garyplimented. "This is a much better base than all the camps. How did you even manage to do all of the construction?" "Our Grand Burner, the founder of our organization, is a man who has many resources," Nathan replied. As he walked past the houses of the people from the base, everyone was waving at him. This was odd since Allen thought that the Soul Burners'' base would align to how they do their job. In his mind, the Soul Burners would upy an abandoned warehouse and they would live underground where it''s dark and filthy. This wasn''t like that at all. This was theplete opposite of what he had in mind. "The Grand Burner" Allen trailed off. "Is he a powerful person?" "You''ll know," Nathan said. "When we get there, you''ll know." It wasn''t long until they reached the end of the base. There was a giant building that was attached to the soil with only its front part and the head-like structure of the highest floor''s ss balcony was visible. On the ss balcony, a man stood, looking at Allen and his friends. He wore a mask with a skull of a human that was burning on the sides, covering his entire face. "That''s the Grand Burner," Nathan introduced. He led the group up where the Grand Burner was at. "Grand Burner, they are here." The man was still facing the window. The mes of his mask reached behind him, and the ck cloak he wore had burning rims instead of the usual fur. When Allen took a step back, the man turned, sending them all in shock after he took off his mask and saw his face. "You?!" Allen gasped. "But why?" The man smirked, "Because I am powerful. That''s why." "Deadly Crusade!" Louis leaped andunched seven swords into a giant boar that he was fighting. The mannded on the ground gracefully, summoning one more sword to seal the deal. "Hah. These beasts are so hard to kill." Louis looked at a tree branch and smirked. "I know you''re in there. You don''t need to pretend, Remy." The woman appeared and leaped from the branch of a giant tree she was hiding. "Howe you sensed me when I clearly hid my aura well?" Louis tapped his nose and smirked, "You can''t fool a rat''s sense of smell." "I thought rats rely on sound and vibration?" Remy crossed her arms. She then shook her head and offered her hand. "I finally did what you told me to. The D rankers'' house is fixed." "Good, good," Louis took her hand while Remy gave him the Code. "You know, Drake gave me this Codest year. I kept on breaking my house because you know how much I like to y. So he decided to gift me this Code so I can fix my house any time." "He was a good man," Remy sighed. She finished sending the Code back when Louis spoke again. "Those kids" Louis trailed off. "From how you guys support them, they must be special, huh?" "They are," Remy replied. "Much special that we initially thought." "Okay," Louis sighed. "I''ll keep my faith onto them. May they change the world we live in." Remy opened her mouth and was about to say sorry when they heard a ruffling sound in the forest nearby. The both of them immediately raised their guards, preparing themselves for an attack. "What was that?!" Remy asked in shock. She equipped a staff that she usually used for a battle. "Sounds too heavy for a human isn''t it?" "I think it''s a beast," Louis said. "But I just cleared this area. Howe a beast is here?" From the leaves that covered the base of the trees, a giant paw stepped out. It was already the size of a car and the Primordial Beast Bearers could only imagine how big the entire body was. "That''s gigantic," Louis whispered. "Can we do this alone?" "Of course," Remy rotated her staff and pointed at the paw. "zing Burst!" A spiral mes encircled her staff from the bottom up to the head where it formed a giant ball of mes before firing into arge beam. The beam hit the paw, making the beast take it back. "That should scare it off," Remy sighed as she put down her staff. "I haven''t seen such humongous beast before. I know our Codes attract them, but" "Look out!" Louis pushed Remy away from the beam that was fired from point nk. The both of them rolled on the ground a couple of times before they hit arge rock which resulted in Louis getting unconscious. "What the hell?!" Remy growled. She used her staff to push herself up, standing on guard. She raised her weapon and fired three fireballs in the air, signalling that she needed help. "Please, help." "Remy, the Primordial Dog Bearer," a voice spoke. "Louis, the Primordial Rat Bearer. Your times are up." "No!" Remy yelled as six men approached them. She mmed the head of her staff to create a sphere as shield, but it was tote another man was standing beside her. "Goodbye, Remy." "B-But how?!" Allen gasped. "That''s impossible. But you''re" "The top Hunter in Paradise?" Wesley smirked, taking off his mask fully. "I''m just a dreamer, Mr. Dante. And my dream is for us Hunters to get the better end of the deal." "But all your heroic acts" Allen trailed off. "They''re all lies?" "Not exactly," Wesley said. "But they''re not all of me. This. This is all of me. I am the Grand Burner." Chapter 163: The Zodiac Codes Chapter 163: The Zodiac Codes Allen''s friends were just as shocked as he was. The renowned top Hunter of Paradise was the leader of a group of mercenaries who happen to be serving people''s desires to get revenge. "If we rely too much on the Bearers, we won''t be getting anywhere," Wesley said. "That''s why I took it all on myself that we should be moving up on our own, doing our best in order to create a better life." "So, you''re doing this because you wanted to overthrow them?" Allen asked. "Do you think this is the right thing?" "And the Wandering Trader did the right thing?" Wesley asked, shutting Allen out instantly. The man ced his hands on his desk and sighed. "We can''t have all the good things in the world. We must sacrifice something. This also goes as we can''t be good at all times and just doing good deeds. We must do something bad in order to be good sometimes." Allen was speechless from what Wesley was saying. Because primarily, the man was right. If he did the Wandering Trader plot, the he doesn''t have a say in what they were doing when they were only doing something like him. "I''m sorry," Allen said. "It''s just that, your method is too harsh that I think it gets out of hand." "Our method is just right," Wesley said. "The Code that was blessed to us by our savior is the right path for us to reach our peak and take over the tyrants that are the Bearers." This made Allen''s eyebrow quirk up. "What do you mean savior? Who is your savior?" "Take them to the altar," Wesley said, turning around once more. "I''ll follow you in just one moment." Nathan nodded and he did as was told. He led Allen''s group out of the room and into the ground floor where they stood in front of a rock. Nathan knocked on the rock twice, once, and then two more times, making arge boulder roll out of the way to reveal a path. "Shall we go?" Nathan asked, gesturing for Allen to walk first. "We''re going to the path where our sabior sends us prophecies. We use these prophecies to determine which person is willing to sell their lives for justice." "Sell their lives?" Jeremy was the one who asked this time. Albeit they know that the Soul Burners would steal as much EXP as they could from their victim, they didn''t know what was the end of the deal for their clients. How these people pay these Soul Burners were a question that was still unanswered. "When a person seeks revenge and justice, we seek them through this device. This detects the desperation and distress signal in all the camps of Paradise," Nathan said. "When we can confirm this, we will send people in that person''s aid. We help them seek justice." Allen was now even more skeptical about this. He hasn''t heard of something that would detect desperation and stress signals from a world that was asrge as three times the size of Earth. How could these people possibly achieve this? "Here we are," Nathan said. They entered a giant marble stone cave which had the map of Haven. The cave itself is a map and each Hunter that was in the map was represented with a green dot of light. The green lights dominated the map, but there were also yellow and red lights. "This is the savior," Nathan said. "This tells us which people need our aid. That is why we can see who wants to seek justice." "How is this even possible?" Allen could only trail off as he walked closer into the map. "This is something that''s tooplicated to be built by humans." "When the Grand Burner was lost in the forest one day, he encountered this cave," Nathan said. "Then he said that he got a Code and a prophecy from another world." Allen and Jeremy looked at each other after hearing this. From what they knew, they were the only ones that had contact from another world. No one else has reported such anomaly. But then, it would be dangerous if they did. "I want to speak to Wesley," Allen said. "This is something of importance, so please tell him to meet me now." "Don''t fret," Wesley entered the cave. He was now wearing a suit and tie unlike therge grandiose cloak he wore earlier. "I am here. Mr. Dante, what do you want for us to talk about?" "What Code did you get?" Allen asked without any more hesitation. This took Wesley aback, making the man narrow his eyes and look at Allen weirdly. "What Code did you get?" Allen and Jeremy chorused when they summoned their Codes that they got from the cave. The Great Diamond Sword Code and the Great Emerald Spear Code. They raised their weapons, making Wesley gasp. "What are those?" Wesley asked. "This is the Code that I got." Wesley waved his hands in the air, conjuring a ck whip that had bluish white dots in them, sparkling like the stars. The handle was made of a transparent blue crystal, the same glowing white dots present in the handle too. "I have the Zodiac Capricorn Code," Wesley said in shock. He looked at the weapons of Allen and Jeremy, shaking his head to see if they have the same kind, but no. "They''re not from the same world." "They aren''t," Allen said. He raised his sword and stared at it, his eyes wide in shock. "So, there are more than one other worlds that have been here. Then I don''t know anymore." "I am as lost as you are," Wesley sighed. "But don''t worry. I won''t try to kill you for them. I know that these Codes would lower their power when received by another. I don''t need a lot of weak Codes. I need more strong allies." "But what exactly is your goal?" Allen asked. "The mission of the Soul Burners is still very vague for me and I''m having a hard time understanding your ideals." "We collect the EXP and burning them into this altar so we can have more of the Soul Burning Code," Wesley said. He led them towards the center of the cave where a small altar stood. The altar was a small column that had a hole in the middle. The hole had a sphere of yellow light, hovering above the column as it spun in a clockwise motion. Wesley ced his hand on the sphere, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. "Here, I am going to burn EXP for a Code." The man then took his hands off of the sphere of light and offered it to Allen. "Take a look and see." Allen took the hand and Wesley gave him the Code. Grade: Grand Type: Skill Effect/s: (1) Soul Burn - Active - The user shall steal 90% of the target''s max HP. This skill has a 300 second cooldown. (2) Passive - The user shall absorb all excess EXP after the limit is reached. The EXP surplus will return after the user would go out of the limit. (3) Passive - Each time the user would reach the EXP limit after using Soul Steal, their EXP limit will be increased by 20%. Allen was shocked after reading the skill''s description. Howe such Code existed? This was a Code that was terrifying and very dangerous when fallen into the wrong hands. "The Code" Allen trailed off. "What is this?" "That''s the Code we use for our jobs," Wesley replied. "What it did not tell you is that if we burn enough EXP in this altar, then we will have an ultimate power." "What kind of ultimate power?" Allen asked, but Wesley shrugged in response. "You don''t even know?" "The message said that we can have a duplicate of the first generation Zodiac Codes," Wesley said. "When that happens, I will level them all up and face the Primordial Beast Bearers. I will show them the true meaning of power." "They know already," the woman spoke to a man as they faced the hill. "They now know of our existence, Leo. What shall we do?" "Let them be, my dear Virgo," the man said. "Capricorn tried to betray us and created that altar, but it won''t be long before we destroy it." "They haven''t even know of its true powers," another woman, a woman who was half horse and half human said. "I can feel it. The true power of the Zodiac Map is still unlocked." "Then we will move when it''s released," Leo said, smirking. "Can I count on you on that, Sagittarius?" "Of course," the woman bowed and stepped back into the darkness. Meanwhile, Virgo walked over to Leo and ced her hands on his chest. "We will rule these worlds together, right?" "Of course," Leo grinned. But in his peripheral view, he was looking at another person. A figure in the darkness that was also looking at them. "My love, we will rule." Chapter 164: Dominant Beasts Chapter 164: Dominant Beasts Allen''s group left the Soul Burners'' camp. They were now back in their room, contemting the offer that was handed to them by Wesley. "They want us to be one of them?" Gwen scoffed. "No way in seven hells. Oh, my goodness what is that?" Stacey walked out of the kitchen and served them their food. It was already time for dinner, and Stacey was the one cooking. "I made them do errands," Allen said simply. "That was why I was spaced out a lot of times before." "Mmm," Gwen narrowed her eyes and inspected Allen. "It seems so." "What now?" Jeremy asked. "Allen, what''s our next move?" Allen sighed and shook his head. "Nothing. They have their separate cause, and we have our own. We have different principles now, different goals." "What if we''ll meet in the middle of it all?" Jeremy asked. "What will happen then?" "We fight," Allen replied. "That''s all we have to do." A few days came and the group ventured into the forest once more. Their n should continue even when they had a little break. Words hade from the streets about them, the D rankers with impable abilities. "You''re here, finally," Keh said. He leaped from a tree and mmed a giany bear on the ground like it was nothing. "Bad news. Remy and Louis were attacked." "What?!" Allen gasped, his eyes wide in shock. "Are they okay now? What happened?" "Still unconscious," Keh said. The sadness was evident in the man''s eyes, he didn''t try to hide it. "It''s just so hard to lose another one. It''s a good thing that we didn''t, because if we did, I don''t know what to do." "It''s okay," Allen ced his hand on Keh''s back. "That''s okay, Keh. They''re alright." "You think?" Keh looked up, making Allen nod and smile. "Okay. I''ll almost down." "So, this is the beast we''re going to take home?" Gwen asked. "This is quite big, don''t you think? "Just a quarter bit bigger than the gori," Keh said. "Speaking of, do you still have some of those Silverthorn Gori''s raw materials?" "Yes," Allen opened his hands and summoned the bag that contained the gori''s raw materials. "Here. What are you going to do with it?" "Let''s just say that I have extra materials," Keh smiled. He took the bag and looked inside it, taking out the ones he needed. He then took the raw materials and crafted an item. "Here." Keh gave a giant scythe to Allen. "Jungle King Killer. Hit a beast with it and they''ll definitely run for their lives." "What the" Allen trailed off as he watched the giant scythe that was being handed over to him. It was a long scythe with the de forming arge curved crescent shape. The de originated from the head down to the end of the pole, making it look like it could also be used as a two-pole weapon. The overall color of the scythe was green with yellow ent colors on the head and the end of the pole. It had grass-shaped leaved protruding on a lot of its sides except for the pole which was a smooth green surface. Grade: Divine Damage: 700 Effect/s: (1) Jungle King Killer - Active - When the weapon hits a target, the user shall gain 3% lifesteal for 30 seconds. This can stack up to 30 times. (2) Passive - When the stacks reaches max, the user shall gain 300% damage, 200% attack speed, and 300% movement speed. (3) ??? (4) ??? (5) ??? (6) ??? Allen could only marvel at the sight of the weapon. It was an overpowered weapon, that wasn''t able question. The active effect alone could easily push him up thedder of the ranking system they have in Paradise. The weapon has an overpowered set of effects. It has lifesteal, damage, attack speed, and movement speed all in one. It''s not even worth mentioning that this was only two of the effects that was unlocked. Allen could only wonder what the others were. It was also a Divine grade weapon, which means that this is one of the second highest gradeweapon. Although it wasn''t an evolvable type, Allen didn''t bother about that. Just the effects alone is enough for him. "But this is" Allen''s trailed off. "This is incredible. How is this even possible?" "Be careful," Keh said. "Although you might get excited because of its effects, you still have to consider the strain on your body. As much as you can, you cannot surpass five stacks." "Oh," Allen was mildy disappointed. It seemed like he wouldn''t be able to get the maximum stacks at the moment, but the fifteen percent lifesteal and the high damage was enough for him. He has other items that he can use, that would not be a huge problem for him. "So," Keh mmed his hands together. "It seems like everyone of you are now being watched by a lot of people. And this is me putting the pressure in your shoulders because you should feel pressured." "What do you mean?" Allen asked, earning him a scoff from Keh. "What you did in the hospital that included Wesley''s brother?" Keh crossed his arms together. "Don''t pretend that I wouldn''t know about that, because I do." "What about it?" Gwen asked rather sassily. "I just helped the guy, it wasn''t really part of our n to do it." "Yes, but now that all eyes are on you guys, you need these," Keh opened his hands and summoned three more weapons, a bow, a wand, and a spear. "These weapons should protect you in case something happens," Keh said. "Only use them whenever it is inevitable. We can''t let just anyone see them." The three took one weapon each and nodded. They now have Divine grade weapons in their arsenal. Not just one, but four of them, each being taken by a single member of the team. "Bernard and I crafted those," Keh said. "And just like what I told Dante, you should not use all of these weapons to their limit just because you want to use them. Your bodies will strain and it will take you a lot of time to recover." "Thank you," Gwen said as she raised her wand. "Thank you for this, and I''m sorry because I was sassy earlier." "Don''t worry about it," Keh smiled. "Now that you have those, here. You can go back to the camp and feed the WDS. Dennis couldn''t make it today." Allen took the thumb drive and nodded. It was now his turn to drag the giant beast that Keh hunted for them. He wasn''t sure how a support hunter was able to hunt such a beast easily, but it didn''t matter. Keh should have a high damage outoutpared to the worlds below him, even if his role wasn''t meant for damage. "This beast is quite huge, don''t you think?" Allen chuckled. "How did Keh get this one?" "He''s a man who can control your speed," Jeremy said. "I bet he restricted this beast''s movement and killed it with ease." "Yeah," Gwen chuckled. "That kid is a person who''s not to be messed with. He is still after all a Star Nest Hunter, Paradise Hunters like us couldn''t do a thing to him even when he''s a support." "Keh is Keh," Allen said. "He''s" There were a lot of people in the gate as they watched the group approach the camp. Behind them, a giant boar was being dragged and it didn''t look weak, not one bit. "They''re all looking at us," Gwen whispered. "Is this okay?" "Publicity," Jeremy replied. "This is all for publicity." When they arrived at the entrance of the camp, the person who greeted them was none other than Bryant. He had his arms crossed and one of his eyebrow quirked up. "Another big catch, huh?" "Yeah," Allen said and pretended to stretch. Although it wasn''t actually pretend since hid body was actually sore from dragging such a huge beast from the forest. "Another catch from lowly D rankers like us. I don''t even think we would be able to get anything at this point." "Are you mocking us?!" Bryant growled. "You think we can''t catch something like this?" "Of course, you can!" Allen said with a smile. He grabbed one of the legs of the boar and proceeded to drag it. "You''re A rankers. This kind of job would be basic for you, right?" Bryant clenched his jaw as he watched the victorious smirk that was ying on Allen''s lips. His face was red with anger and his fingers curled into firsts. He looked like it was only a momentter that he would punch Allen''s face. "Basic, huh?" Bryant seethed. "Let''s see if this thing is legit. Because you know, we have seen a lot of fake beasts before. There arerger beasts that hunts these types of small ones" "That''s the Giant Boar Gust!" a young voice gasped from the crowd. Oliver walked out and ran towards Allen. "Sir, is this what you caught? I have only seen this in the files, this is one of the most dominant beasts out there. Basically, nothing can kill it!" And Bryant''s anger burned even brighter. Chapter 165: Challenged Chapter 165: Challenged It wasn''t inevitable that what Allen told Bryant would be the talk of the town. The man was so insulted that it caused him to walk out,pletely pissed. "You''re doing a good job," Gwen said with a suppressedugh. They were now in the Parts House to get the raw materiald of the boar and Gwen was stillughing about their encounter with Bryant. "I am?" Allen asked. "I''m just following our format. It wasst week when I heard about Bryant''s reputation in this camp. He''s a man who is a famous bully and nobody else can stand up to him since he has Barandi to back him up." "So, you''re trying to show everyone that he''s not that of a threat?" Jeremy asked to which Allen nodded. "Hmm, it is quite interesting to see a D ranker beating an A ranker to a pulp." "That will be another talk of the town," Allen said. "We will continue this and so on, just until we have all eyes on us that Barandi will make their move for us to take a re-test in the rankings." "Here you go." Their conversation was interrupted when the butcher who mauled their beast gave them the bag. "All washed up and ready to be crafted." "Thank you," Allen also received the payment for the meat as took the bag. It was one huge sack that contained the tusk, fur, and hide of the boar, as well as some of its teeth. The meat was going straight to the meat factory, this is why he was getting paid for. Allen was wrong when he initially thought that ughter houses existed in paradise. There weren''t any. All the beasts, whether they have edible meat or not, would go straight to the Parts House. Usually, the cost of the meat is way bigger than the cost of the service in the Parts House, so when a Hunter brings in a beast, they would be paid instead. The group left the Parts House and wanted to stop by for a meal when a woman blocked their way. "Mr. Dante Reed, Bryant is challenging you for a duel. If you back out now, you will have to pay the penalty of ten million dors." "That''s preposterous!" Jeremy was the first one to react. "Why should Dante go, anyway? It''s not like they have a written agreement or anything." "It''s the rule of Paradise," the woman said. "When you beat him, you can have his title, his rank, and his worth since he''s the one who challenged you. When you lose, which will basically happen, you don''t have to lose anything else. Just your pride." While Allen let Vince explore the camp when they were aware, he had learned about this event. It was a famous, yet medieval thing where a Hunter challenges another one for a duel just to show off who''s the more powerful one. Just like the woman said, the hunter who challenged the other would have everything at stake while the other one would have nothing to lose. This was usually done when a Hunter wants to assert dominance over another Hunter, and is often used to abuse others. "I will go," Allen said without hesitation. "I''m not sure, but I can''t afford to pay the penalty right now." "Okay," the woman smirked. "Good luck to you. You will meet him in the Barren Arena in two hours." The woman left the group with Allen wanting to smirk as much as he could. The others looked at him in shock while he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. "He will beat you up," Gwen said, reminding Allen of the dangers he was going to face. "And he will beat you up. Plus, he will have his group help him and he will cheat. You can''t do anything about it since it''s Barandi who''s going to move against you." "I don''t mins," Allen shrugged. "Let''s just go back to my room and then decide what to do with these parts." This time, Jeremy stood in front of Allen to block his path. "Aren''t you scared? They might kill you." "Oh, they will try," Allen chuckled and stepped to the side but Jeremy still blocked him. "Please, move." "They will kill you, Allen," Jeremy repeated. "You know that something like this would happen." "They can''t kill me," Allen smirked. "I am the best." His three friends had no other choice but to respect his decision. They were just scared of what Bryant would do to their friend when they have embarrassed the man on multiple asions. But for Allen, however, he wasn''t a bit scared of what might happen. He had already examined Bryant''s power level and the man was way beneath him. Even if Bryant receives a mega buff from his support, he won''t stand a chance. And if there''s something else that would be going on, then Allen has his countermeasures. He was staring at the scythe on his interface as he waited for the match. They arrived in the arena an hour early just to show how punctual they are, also because they wanted to insult Bryant more. The more he gazed at the weapon, the more it intrigued him. This weapon was of a Divine grade, so this was nothing to be messed with. The lifesteal alone was enough to be scared of this weapon, so Allen wanted for this weapon''s debut to be grand. Sure enough, people started crowding not even half an hour before their match. Rumors spread like wildfire and when Allen used Vince again to catch up to these rumors, they said that Bryant was nning on a shameless D ranker. Allen wanted to make Vince p the woman who told him, but he stopped himself. He was using Vince for two weeks now, just to spy on a lot of people, especially with the rumors. He can''t ruin Vince''s reputation. "Are you really sure that you won''t back out?" Jeremy asked. He was talking to Allen and was still trying to convince him. "There are twenty members of Barandi here. They will try to do everything to interfere with your match." Allen tapped Jeremy''s shoulder. "No worries, I''ll be fine." "But, we can just pay off the penalty," Jeremy said. "Ten million is nothing if we grind some more on the forest." "Shh," Allen chuckled. "Trust me. Don''t you trust me?" "I do," Jeremy sat back on his seat and sighed. "We''ll just do our best to try and let you have the cleanest fight as possible, even when we''re sure that it won''t be." "Worrywart," Allenughed at his friends. It was now time for the match. The arena was a huge coliseum where a stone tform was ced in the center. The stone tform was reinforced with a lot of shields just so it would be protected from the fights that would be happening on top of it. There wasn''t any side railing on the tform that is used as the ring, so when a Hunter is thrown to the side, they will go straight into the bleachers and will be eliminated. Allen wanted to go for this, but he was sure Bryant''s team would just force him back before he could even get past the tform. "Are you ready?" Bryant asked with a smirk. "I killed a lot of people before, you know? And all of those people tried to beg for me to spare them." "And did you?" Allen asked simply. This is where Bryant smirked and spat on the side before replying, "Why would I?" "Good," Allen said. "Because I won''t hold back either." Bryant growled at this response while Allen just let him. The more he eggs on the man, the more he will lose his focus. This was hugely beneficial for Allen. "Okay," the referee walked in the middle of the two. "You two will fight as much as you can, but be sure to avoid fatalities" "I can''t promise," Bryant growled, making Allen look at the crowd and shrug. "Shameless *sshole." "Just make sure you don''t kill each other," the referee said. "We have a group of medics and healers on standby, so we can assure you that you''ll be saved in case something happens." "Oh, something will happen," Bryant added. This made the referee sigh and shake his head. "Now, to begin, when I shoot my fireball, the fight will start. It will go on for ten minutes and the one who received more damage side will lose. We have a damage counter right on the side." Allen and Bryant looked at where the referee is pointing. It was a giant orb on the side with a two holographic numpers written on each side. One was yellow, and the other was red. "You''ll be the yellow," the referee pointed at Bryant. "And you''ll be the red." It was then that Allen knew that everything was actually set up. The referee leaned closer to him and whispered. "It symbolizes the color of your death." Chapter 166: Allen vs Bryant? Chapter 166: Allen vs Bryant? If there was anything that was clearer to Allen, it was that this match was all a set up against him. Everyone, including the referee and healers that were said to be on standby were all men from Barandi. "I guess," Allen whispered back to the referee. "I have to deal with all of you. This is war." The man was frightened when Allen released a sh of ominous aura around him. It was less than a blink of an eye and the range was short, just enough so the referee would drown by it. "H-How" the man could only trail off while Allenughed. "Good luck." In the sidelines while they waited for the match to start, Gwen, Gary, and Jeremy held their breath. They knew what Allen was capable of, but they weren''t sure if he can handle this many of them. They watched every single person in the arena and they could feel the vibe that these people give off, and they were not pretty. "You''re sure that this is going to be filled with a crime?" Matthew asked them as he sat on the side. He was wearing a cap, a ck mask and a pair of sunsses to hide his identity. Jeremy had already contacted him, just in case something would go wrong. A challenge or any even that would take ce in the arena is considered sacred for the Hunters. Any anomaly could result in imprisonment or even more severe punishment like suspension as a Hunter or even kicked out from the field. "Thank you foring," Jeremy said. They had a distance between them and Matthew as to not raise any suspicion. Since nobody else sat in the few rows above and below where their group was at, Matthew was free to sit anywhere there. "I would alwayse for you guys," Matthew said. "You saved me before. Now, it''s time to return the favor." After their short conversation, they focused themselves in the match. The referee had just finished talking to them and was now raising his arm. Once he slides it down, the match will start. "Alright," the referee said, shing his arm forward and vanishing from their sight. "Now!" Bryant did not waste any time. Just after the referee left, heunched himself towards Allen, equipped with arge mace that he used once before. "Die!" Allen spun to the side and sessfully dodged the attack. He was scrunching his face as he saw Bryant''s aggression, "Jeez. I still wanted to talk to you." Bryant mmed his mace to the ground again, and just like before, Allen dodged it easily. This continued for a couple more minutes until Allen had enough. He can''t provoke the man anymore since he was so focused on killing him. "I guess we''re not talking," Allen sighed. He took out his Fervent ive and spun it around his body using both his hands. Bryant saw this and took a step back, growling and using a skill Code to enhance his speed and damage. "That''s not going to work on me, sir," Allen smirked. "I''m quite fast." Bryant suddenly vanished from where he stood and instantly appeared behind Allen. He had now switched weapons and was using a broadsword,rge enough so it could cut a centennial tree in half. ''Enhanced Instincts II activated'' Allen also vanished from where he stood. It was now his turn to appear behind his opponent, his ive right by his side and ready to swing. "Poor soul." Allen felt a shift in the wind. His foot suddenly became heavy and when he looked down, he saw a ball of air wrapping on each of his feet. Bryant smirked and bowed, causing Allen to miss his attack. This made thetter''s eyes widen as hended on the ground, taking a couple of steps back. "Go, Bryant!" "He missed. That pathetic D ranker. Know your ce!" "Kill him, Bryant! We''re here to back you up!" The crowd was wilding with cheers and hollers, all to support Byrant. Allen nced at his friend and saw them just smiling at him. He doesn''t believe a loud crowd just so he could be inspired. He needed heart and pure intentions. Ones that actually want him to win this and not just because of shallow intentions. "So, this is how you want to y it?" Allen sighed. "I guess you''re in for quite a treat." Allen spun his ive on one hand while he raised his hand forward and summoned a weapon that everyone''s eyes widened at. A clear bluish diamond sword that had enough power to make their hair stand. "What is that?" "That must be a bluff. He''s going to use two weapons at once?!" "That shameless D ranker. He needs to be put in his ce. Show him, Bryant!" The crowd was initially shocked after Allen revealed his weapon. After their regained themselves from that shock, however, they started to cheer on Bryant and boo Allen again. Allen smirked a this and evenmended their loyalty. They are fools in his eyes. "Are you seriously going to use two weapons on me?" Bryant smirked. "You must be kidding. You already had a hard time when using one, now you''re adding more to the difficulty?" "Oh, no," Allen chuckled. He closed his eyes and his vision parted into three. One was in his room unit cooking and cleaning, one was walking around the street to look for anything or witness anything worthy, and the other was gossiping in the market. Just like what Kevin had told him before, controlling his Bodies would only be hard at first. Once he gets used to it, it would only be as easy as breathing. Allen finally understood this concept and had never stopped using his Bodies. He was a single man in four bodies, and if he can do that, then he can do anything. On his left hand, he was spinning his ive while his right hand held the sword tightly. He watched Bryant''s reaction, seeing the scared expression of the man. "What?" Allen asked. "Where did your courage go? Down the drain?" "Shut up!" Bryant yelled. He ran towards Allen, switching into another weapon this time. Now it was a warhammer with a long pole, long enough so it can be used at a distance. "Shut up and just die!" Allen did not block this time. He knew that he was more powerful than Bryant, so he didn''t need to be scared. He got this. The boy raised hid diamond sword and right before it went in contact with the warhammer, Bryant''s number changed. ''300,000'' It was toote to hold back. If he goes back now, the warhammer will only get him. He didn''t know what exactly happened, but right now, he has to gather up all his energy to block this attack. ''New feature unlocked '' Allen''s ear rang as he heard the words. It felt as though the two seconds that he was about to sh into Bryant was slowed down, like time itself stopped. His eyes zed over the words in his interface, understanding everything that was written there in a fraction of a second. He sighed and closed his eyes and them opened them. "Skill Spam!" It was like there were hundred waves of force that was released from inside Allen. All his Skill Codes were activated all at once, giving him an incredibly overpowered boost. "What" Allen''s opponent wasn''t even able to finish his word when the boy was now above him. Allen''s eyes looked bored and dull, and this time, it was his opponent''s turn for everything to feel like it was on slow motion. With his ive, Allen swung it to crash the warhammer to the ground and for his opponent to let it go. He then used the pommel of his sword as hended on the ground to push out his opponent''s stomach, causing him to cough out blood from the impact. "How is this possible?" Allen''s opponent asked, eyes still wide in shock. "But you''re just a D ranker." "That''s because I am a D ranker that I can do this," Allen said. "You don''t know me and you don''t know anything about me or them. Change your ways now or you''ll forever live like this." Allen spun and was now in his opponent''s back. He released his weapons and used his bare hands to push his opponent to the ground with a giant collision. Smoke-like dust covered the entire arena, the crowd fell silent as they watched the reinforced stone tform crack in the center. They were speechless and shocked. The opponent was now fast asleep. Allen watched as the skin of his opponent slowly melt away, causing him to flinch and scrunch his face in digust. It suddenly opened its eyes and spoke with a familiar female voice. "T-That was impossible. But he''s only a D ranker," the woman said, her eyes wide and her lips were apart. She then nced at Allen and scowled at him. "How dare you?!" "Fantasia?!" Chapter 167: Allen vs Fantasia Chapter 167: Allen vs Fantasia To say that everyone was surprised was an understatement. Every single person that wasn''t part of the Barandi were shocked. "This is not over!" Fantasia screamed. She stood back up and conjured a staff, pointing it at Allen''s direction. "We''re not over yet, so fight me!" Allen sighed. He raised his sword and ive, crossing it as he waited for the woman tounch her attack. "Thene and get some." "Hah!" Fantasia screamed. The head of her staff glowed with a dark purple color and me-like aura seeped out from it. "Mamba Strike!" The woman took one step forward and spun, shing her staff and firing the attack towards Allen. The boy sighed and mmed the de of his ive to the ground, raising his sword right if front of him and shed from over his head. "Skill Spam!" Allen looked like he multiplied a lot of times. There were six astral-looking apparitions around his body as he struck his sword on the attack. His de and the mes shed, creating a giant force. "Stop this, now," Gwen said to Matthew. "That woman is a Hunter that is a world above Allen. Stop this now! Argh!" Gwen stood and was about to get into the fight when Matthew appeared in front of her, blocking her path. He shook his head. "My true role here is not because of a request from you, but a request from him. This is my role, to stop you from going in." "What?!" Gwen growled. "But he''ll die!" "Trust him," Jeremy said, making Gwen look at him and scrunch her face. "What do you mean? You saw Fantasia''s practice match with another Hunter before. She almost killed him. The Hunter wasn''t able to hunt after he lost the will to survive." "But that man wasn''t our friend, is he?" Jeremy asked. This made Gwen slightly calm down. She sighed and shook her head. "Trust. Him." "I" Gwen sat back down and nodded. "Okay. I''ll trust him. But the moment I see danger, I''ll pull you three with me." As his friends understood his request, Allen just finished cancelling out all of Fantasia''s attack. He was panting, admitting to himself that the woman did indeed have the highest damage output in all the Hunters. "Impossible!" Fantasia gasped after she saw her opponent still standing after receiving her attack. "But you should''ve been pulverized by now. How is this even possible?!" "Are you done?" Allen smirked. "Because I think it should be my turn." Allenunched himsel straight to Fantasia. On his way to her, he snatched his ive that was still on the ground and leaped, spinning and creating a whirlpool of aura that he shot toward the woman. Fantasia countered this with a tap on her staff, creating a dome that protected her. Allennded right in front of the doom and just like before where there was six apparitions of Allen, he shed his weapons on the dome. "That''s her strongest shield. It''s impossible for him to break such Code." "Fantasia is only warming up. He will die now." "Why are we even nervous? Fantasia got this." The crowd relieved their fears with their words as they continued to bash on Allen. They knew that they were lying to themselves and they only wanted tofort each other with words that they wanted to hear. Crack. It was inevitable. Seven Hunters that were as fast as an assassin with the damage output of a warrior shing on a shield in a couple of minutes straight. Any shield would give up. Crack. Crack. Break. Fantasia''s eyes widen as she watched her dome fall apart. Allen took a second to breath before heunched himself towards the woman a again, now he was ready to fight. "Don''t you dare underestimate me!" Fantasia yelled. She shed her staff and fired multiple balls of fire to Allen. The boy merely dodged the attacks even when there raining on him from the front. "Miss Fantasia," Allen said. "Your mistake is that you substituted your henchman in the middle of the fight. That''s number one." Allen used the pommel of his sword and mmed it in the woman''s stomach. "Mistake number two is when you used a lot of your energy into that one attack. You do have the highest damage output in all the Hunters, but your secret is that youck stamina." Allen then used his ive to dance with the woman''s staff before he shed it away, disarming the woman who was now falling on her knees. "And finally, yourst mistake is when you tried to go up against me." The boy leaned in and showed Fantasia his menacing and ominous arua, making it as ck as he could. "You don''t win an unfair fight against me, got that?" Allen''s hands were swift. In a blink of an eye, he used the side of his sword as a paddle to fire Fantasia away. The woman coughed at the impact, feeling the strength of the gem sword on his stomach. "rgh!" Fantasia''s body rolled to the ground a couple of times. Each time, giving her scratches, bruises and even cuts. That was how powerful the impact of Allen''s attack was on her. Then, right when Fantasia was about to roll out of the tform. Allen conjured a chain and threw it on her. The chain was wrapped around the woman''s feet and Allen used this to pull her back into the stone tform. The crowd was now silent. They watched one of the top Hunters get beaten by a mere D ranker. This was an impossible feat in all and every angle there is. Allen walked towards Fantasia and pointed his sword at the almost unconscious woman''s neck. "You''re petty." He kept his weapons back in his inventory and raised his arm. The crowd wasn''t able to cheer yet. They looked at the referee who was still stunned by everything. "She''s not unconscious," Allen said. "I''m still not the winner, right?" The referee woke up from the trance and nodded vigorously. "Y-Yes. You have to knock her unconscious for you to win." "Okay," Allen said. He walked on the edge of the tform and with onest look at Fantasia, he spoke. "Keep your everything, I''ll only take your pride." Allen stepped out of the stone tform, shocking everyone even more. They were speechless, clueless, and lost in the middle of it all. No one could utter a single thing. "A-As the challenged has forfeited his match by exiting the ring," the referee took as much courage as he could to speak. "The winner of this match is Bryant I mean, Fantasia!" "You little rat!" Gwen ran towards Allen and wrapped her arms around him. "Howe you knew this would happen? You even hired a bodyguard for us to not go there." Allenughed and returned the hug. "I know these guys would never fight fair. I just used fire against fire. But my fire was stronger, so it''s not my fault that this happened." He then nced at Jeremy who was pale. "You okay?" "Just nervous," Jeremy replied. Allen grinned and open his arms. "No, I am not going to hug you hey!" "Hugs!" Gary cheered and pushed Jeremy towards Allen and Gwen. The four of them shared a hug as theyughed at each other, proud of what their friend had made. m. Meanwhile, in a tower near the arena, a metal desk was split in half. A man was seething in anger as he watched a screen that showed Allen and Fantasia''s match. "How could she lose like that?!" "Sir, we''re still investigating the identity of these D rankers," another man, a shorter one, said. "They are D rankers but seemed to be strong." "Everyone can see that!" the man growled. "You saw how that boy tarnished the reputation of Barandi and beat Fantasia like a pulp. Do you think I''m blind, Alvin?!" "No, sir" "Then show me their files!" the man yelled. "Don''te back until I saw every single thing that these cockroaches are hiding. If I see you here in this building, I will kill you myself." "Yes sir," Alvin bowed and ran outside as fast as he could, leaving the man alone in the dark room. He took a deep breath and fixed his hair. "Everything is fine, everything is okay." He was inside a room that was vast but empty. The only furniture was the metal desk that he split in half and his dark wooden chair. The desk faced away from the window that had the ss from the floor to ceiling. "You already killed Drake Nelson," the man whispered. "This boy isn''t a threat to you." The screen was paused and it showed the panel where Allen spoke to Fantasia for thest time, right when he released his aura. The man smirked as he zoomed in close to Allen''s face. "There you are." Allen''s eyes had morphed, they looked like they were eyes of a snake. Chapter 168: Reverse Card Chapter 168: Reverse Card It seemed like everything was on their favor until it wasn''t. Barandi still have the upper hand even when there were hundreds of witnesses in Allen and Fantasia''s battle. Although Allen expected for the rumors to be twisted for some reason, he didn''t expect it to be too intense. "Mr. Dante Reed," a man said from their doorway. "You and your allies are hereby invited to the Skill Altar Hall to be reevaluated. It seemed like we are suspecting you of cheating in your cement test by tampering with our machines and, or, hiding your true powers." "Okay," Allen said and smiled. "We have no problems with any reevaluation, sir." The man didn''t respond and instead just left the building. Allen closed the door and watched his friends have baffled expressions stered on their faces. "What?" Allen asked. "I told you, this was bound to happen. It seemed like the higher ups finally heard our noise and are now taking action on it." "But will we be okay?" Jeremy asked. "What if they try to trick us again. What if they frame us?" Allenughed lightly and shook his head. He walked over to the coffee table and sat on the floor, his friends following him so they were now upying all four sides of the table. "When I went to Earth a couple of weeks ago, I saw this ancient game." "Allen, this is no time for games" Jeremy was silenced when Allen ced a finger on his mouth. "Argh." "It has cards and you pile up the cards until such time that you run out of turns," Allen continued. "I saw this one particr special card. It reversed the turn and up until the twentieth century, they used this term." "Which is?" Jeremy asked to which Allen grinned. "We pull the Reverse Card." It was all too familiar for Allen. He had been there before. He was examined before and had been through the tests once. He knows what happens after these trials and he knows the result. "You seem to have a quite sturdy body," the doctor said, waking Allen from his thoughts. He nced at the doctor''s nametag and it says Dr. Jackson. "Dr. Shania Jackson. I''m originally a healer but I turned out to be one of the three doctors in this camp. Hunting is too tiresome for me." "You don''t miss hunting?" Allen asked, making Shania chuckle. "Hunting feels good, you know." "It does," Shania replied. "But once you get bored of it, you just seem to look for another thing to do." "There''s a lot of things you can do though," Allen said. "You can even fly if you want. It''s all up to what or how you want to do things." "Yeah," Shania nodded as she wrote something on her clipboard. She hummed and skimmed through the test results again. She then looked at Allen and crossed her arms. "You definitely are not a D ranker, yet you''re also not a C ranker either. Either you''re something more or you''re nothing." "What do you mean?" Allen couldn''t help but ask. "You know how when you cook you have to wait for a certain time for your food to be prepared, right?" Shania asked to which Allen answered with a nod. "You''re like that but then you''re cooked too early, and now you''re something that''s raw yet vorful and good." "You can see those things?" Allen asked to which Shania chuckled at. "I mean, how?" "You don''t need to be someone good to know that someone is special," Shania replied. "You just need to have a keen eye. And gossip. I heard you beat Fantasia in a challenge." Allen''s guard instantly went up from the mention of the match. It was a good thing that he didn''t revealed a lot of things and talked about anything yet. This way, he can still slowly fall back when he feels like is cornered with the questions. Shania may well be a spy." "I don''t know," Allen said. "I just fought with whatever I can." Shania smirked and yed a video. "This was taken by a special reporter and sent it to me. It doesn''t seem like you''re anyone that''s fighting with whatever you could. You look like you''re strolling in the park." The woman had now shown a lot of signs of red gs. Allen had to finish their conversation with as little words as could mutter. He can''t trust anyone here anymore. "It''s not like I''m part of Barandi," Shania suddenly chuckled, making Allen even more suspicious of her. No one had mentioned the group nor any members of the group, yet she just brought it out of the blue. "You''re just too good to be a D ranker, even defeating an Ascender. But whatever it is you''re nning, I can help you." This is when Allen stood and bowed. "Thank you for the examination, doctor. But I''ll be leaving now." "Think about my offer," Shania said before Allen could walk out of the door. The boy nced one more time and this time, his eyes widened after seeing Fantasia show him a photo of the mask of the Wandering Trader on her phone screen. "I got your back," Shania said. Allen immediately left the room and went outside. For a moment there, he was nervous. He didn''t know how Shania got a hold of his information, but he will find out soon enough. "Dante, here!" Gwen called out as Allen walked out of the ss door of the hospital. He walked towards his group and greeted them with a smile. "What''s wrong?" Gwen asked to which Allen answered by shaking his head. "Nothing," Allen said. "I just talked with the doctor that examined me and she knows the identity of the Wandering Trader." "What?" Jeremy gasped. "That''s not nothing, you know." "No," Allen turned to the hospital once more, seeing the doctor on the window looking at them. "It''s nothing." The tests continued and the results were out. Bryant was outside of the building, crossed arms and wore a scowl on his face. The rumors were still spreading all throughout the camp and the nearby camps. There wasn''t much camp in Paradise, only one to two per country. Since the countries have been condensed throughout the years, there are only seventy countries in the world. In the approximate one hundred camps, a rumor like this would spread like wildfire. "So," Bryant hummed. "What do you think is going to be your result?" Allen shrugged. "I don''t know, but all I know is that I''m truthful with whatever the tests were. I didn''t cheat." Bryant wanted to pounce on Allen, but he was stopped by hispanion. "You know what he did to Fantasia. Calm down." Thepanion said. They waited outside of the camp hall to wait for the results. As the words came by, more and more people started to gather. There were now approximately one hundred people outside of the camp, that''s a huge number of Hunters. "See this crowd?" Bryant smirked. "If it''s proven that you cheated on your first test, you will be arrested and your Hunter license will be revoked. Good luck to you." Allen didn''t bat an eye as an official got out of the building and handed Allen, Jeremy, Gwen and Gary their test results. He nodded at them and went back inside like nothing happened. "Open it!" "Too slow. We''re here to beat you up when you''re revealed to be a cheat. Haha!" "Go on, Mr. Fantasia-Beater. Open it and prove to the world what you really are. A cheater!" The more these people scream against Allen, the more he was inspired to prove them wrong. He was not excited to see their faces when he revealed the result. He opened the envelope and raised the paper inside. A paper that shows arge D watermark under a pile of words. This was a shock to everyone which includes Bryant who''s smirk was wiped off of his face. "W-What?" Bryant gasped with wide eyes. "But how?" Bryant then felt someone pull his wrists. He was about to resist when he saw the blue uniform with the golden badge on it. He froze and watched Matthew walk closer to him. "Mr. Bryant Sachs, you are hereby convicted of the crime of tampering with the sacred Challenge," Matthew said. "You are one of the thirty people who are part of the crowd that tainted the sanctity of the said event." Bryant couldn''t believe his eyes. He turned to Allen''s group and they were smiling at him. Gwen even waved her hads goodbye, showing a sarcastic pout. "This is" Bryant wasn''t able to finish his words when he saw a familiar woman nearby. Fantasia was standing by the hall, her hands cuffed behind her while four officers surround her. Everyone gasped at the sight, one of the most powerful Hunters, being escorted by police officers. "For these crimes, your Hunter licenses," Matthew said. "Are hereby revoked." Allen raised a card that had two arrows pointing at each other, as he gave them a victorious smirk, "Reverse card." Chapter 169: Council of the Snake Chapter 169: Council of the Snake They arrived back in their building while carrying a bag filled with big meals. They were celebrating their victory from Fantasia. "You know," Jeremy said. "Prison won''t really hold Fantasia for too long. She''ll get out eventually. Plus they might attack us again, right when we''re defenseless." "Who cares?" Gwen yelled. "We won today, we''ll fight another day. That''s the cycle. If they won''t stop then we won''t too. Simple as a pimple." "You really need help," Jeremy scrunched his face at the woman while she just skipped. They were almost at their building when Allen felt his insticts kicked in. "Wait!" Allen yelled, making everyone but Gwen stop from walking. His body felt like it was on fire, making him flinch. "Gwen, stop!" Gwen turned around and scrunch her eyebrows. "What''s wrong?" She took a few steps closer to Allen, just before their building exploded. Allen growled and summoned Vince right on time. He made Vince wrap Gwen in his arms and turn his back on the building, shielding Gwen from the debris. "What the hell?" Jeremy gasped and walked forward. He equipped his spear and spun it in front of him, creating a shield that blocked the debris that tried to reach him and the two behind him. "Argh!" Allen yelled as he felt the pain from Vince. He fell to the ground, feeling the burn and the impact of the debris. "This is why I hate powerful people. They can pull stunts like this at any given time." "Those imbeciles," Gary growled. He kneeled beside Allen and tried to help the boy as much as could. It was then that Gwen arrived and healed Allen. "Are you okay?" Gwen asked. "Is there a part where it''s painful?" "What do you think you''re doing?" Allenughed lightly. He fell to the ground and sat, raising his head to the sky. "That was a Body. I could only share the pain he felt but I didn''t actually got it from him." "Oh," Gwen calmed down and lowered her hand. They then turned to the direction of the explosion, their building. "What''s gonna happen now?" "No." "There are no vacancies avable here." "Go to the next one." They have went through all the hotels in the camp and found nothing. The owners were scared of these four, not because they are too strong for D rankers, but they''re scared of what Barandi might do to them. The group unspokenly cklisted Allen and his friends and now, even the establishments are turning away on them. They have nowhere to go. They even reported the incident and the police are still investigating on it. It won''t take long before Barandi would interfere and rule the incident as nothin but negligence, and even make them liable for what happened. "How about we just end Barandi altogether?" Gwen suddenly asked as they sat on the grass just outside the walls of the camp. They decided to just leave instead of stay there. Lancaster Camp A, or the camp they were in was located right by a grasnd. The grass was filled with different kinds of herbivore beasts and nowhere near the camp would a predator woulde near. "It seemed like you encountered a dead end," a voice spoke from beside the grass theyid on. Allen sat up and saw Jax there. He turned his head over the group and smiled. "What? You think you''re the only ones who are after Barandi?" The others also sat up and looked at Jax who was now sitting cross legged on the ground. "Your group is a really curious group. I''m more than excited to learn your secrets." Allen cleared his throat, "What do you mean? We''re not after Barandi. If there''s anything, they are the ones who are after us. They want us dead, that''s a fact." "That may be true, but you''re not nning on getting back at them?" Jax asked. "Ms. Gwen just told you guys about it. I can find a curious group to help you out." From where Allen was now, he had received a lot of help. This means that he had owed a lot of people already. The "help" he was receiving was actually debts. Now that he used their "help", he needed to pay them back one way or another. "What do you say?" Jax asked. "These people are good and they don''t want anything else in return, just take down Barandi and you''ll be fine." "What''s in it for us?" Allen asked. "That''s one question. And why can''t you guys do it? If you''re too strong and all, why not just do it?" "Because weck something that you have," Jax said. "A figure. We don''t have a champion to go against Barandi. But after your fight with Fantasia, we saw that figure in you. Dante Reed and Barandi had created a fray that was widespread throughout Paradise. You''re the one we need right now." "But you haven''t answered my first question," Allen said. "We can deal with Barandi on our own, but what can you offer to make us be your champions?" "Power," Jax said. "There are overall thirty board officials of the Hunters organization, ten of which are the Primordial Beast Bearers, seven are Barandi and nine are part of our group. The others are smaller people that we can just absorb." "That makes you almost half of the board," Allen hummed. "Tell me an identity of any one of the board officials you speak of, one that''s popr and I might reconsider your proposal." "Chairman Genesis Summers," Jax said. "Father of President Jacques Summers, Director Jax Summers, and the problematic child sh ck sheep Jake Summers." Thest part made Allen wheeze. He knew that Jake and his family didn''t get along well, but he didn''t know that they had bad blood towards each other. Jake''s younger brother even called him problematic child sh ck sheep of their family. "So" Jax trailed off. "What do you say? Should you meet them?" "Okay," Allen said. "But nothing is set in stone. I just want to listen to their proposal said. Then I''ll decide what to do after." "Fair enough," Jax nodded. "They''re waiting for you. Come on." Jax ced his hans on the ground and the next thing they know, they were falling on an endless pit. Allen wanted to scream, but before he could, they already arrived at a room filled with people. Just like what Jax mentioned, there are nine chairs that surround one side of a circr table. In each chair was a person, but they tried to hide their identities by hiding in the darkness and pointing the light at the front where Allen and his group were. "We have arrived," Jax said and bowed before walking behind one of the chairs. What these people doesn''t know was that Allen could see their faces clearly even when they were being blinded by the lights and the people in these chairs were hidden by the darkness. His eyes are very adaptive to differ circumstances, so a thing like this was nothing to him. "Mr. Dante Reed," Genesis Summers spoke first. "Perhaps you know the reason why we called you here." "Yes," Allen said. "We know. Jax told us everything there is to know about this potential deal." "Potential?" a woman asked. She was another one of the prominent businesswoman in earth, Dana Olsen. She led her entirepany and revived the fasion industry, then she turned to the Otherworlds in hopes to serve her talents here. It did not prove her wrong. "The moment you stepped in here is the moment you agreed to do the deal." "Perhaps you didn''t know yet," Allen smirked. "Or has Jax did not notice you ahead of time, but I am not nning on taking a random agreement with strangers. I''m only here to listen to what you have to offer. Then I''ll decide on what to do about it." The people in the table started to whisper amongst themselves. They started arguing on what to do with Allen. "So," Allen smirked. "What''s it going to be now?" Three people suddenly appeared from the light stands. Tracey, Vince, and Oliver spun the lights and were now pointed at the nine people. "What the hell?" "What happened?" "Where did those peoplee from?" "I don''t know the name of your group, but you have to listen to me first," Allen said. "What you have now is something that''s fragile, that''s your ego. Why are you trying to hide under a dark light when you want a one-sided deal with someone?" Genesis ced his hand on the table, "That''s riching from the person who plotted the Wandering Trader incident." "That was a two-sided deal," Allen scoffed. "In this one, you just need our help. Show us your bright and smiling faces to us and then we''ll do this." "The Snake Society will not stand this insolence!" Dana suddenly stood and growled. Allen''s smile fell from his face as he watched the tattoos on their arms. "T-The Snake Society?!" Chapter 170: Snake God Chapter 170: Snake God Allen wanted tough at the revtion. If only all of these people know who they are serving, they would swoon and beg for his mercy. They were screaming at him now, trying to put him in what they think is his ce. Jeremy looked at him, a quirky smirk was on the man''s lips. Allen only rolled his eyes and shook his head, trying not tough. "Let them." "And what are you whispering now?" Genesis growled. "Are you trying to plot against us?" "We''re just thinking how we would definitely defeat Barandi without your help," Allen said. "You guys make almost half of the board officials, you say? Well, I would like to formally say to you that I will destroy the board of officials myself. You''re the ones who are trying to make life harder for poor Hunters, after all." "It''s not our fault that they arezy and ipetent," Dana said. "We''re only aiming to support the strong ones, the ones who are clear to strive." "Ugh," Allen grunted. "I hate business people. But it''s your fault that they ended up like that, you neglected them." Genesis mmed his hands on the desk and stood. He pointed at Allen and growled, "You don''t know what you''re doing. This is a big mistake that you will regret in the future." "I''ll let my future self handle it then," Allen grinned. "Also, you''re not the Snake Society. The Snake does not allow such people to be in hismand. Jax, let us out. We''ll go now." Jax was about to do as Allen asked for when Genesis stopped his son from doing it. "No. Call the arms. Kill them." Allen smirked after hearing themand. He sighed and closed his eyes as a door opened and several Hunters came inside. "So, that''s where the exit is." The Hunters surrounded them. There were at least fifteen of these Hunters and they had their guards raised, showing killing intent. "Kill them," Genesis ordered. "We''ll make our own champion. One who had hunted the Hunter that defeated Fantasia." The Hunters tried to attack but Allen was already one step ahead of them. He vanished into thin air along with his friends except for Gary who mmed his foot on the floor and sighed. "Time to shoot." The man equipped his shotgun from his back, shooting the Hunters that tried to approach him. Gwen, Jeremy, and all three of Allen''s bodies appeared behind the Hunters, attacking them all one by one. "What''s happening?" Genesis gasped. "There''s only half of them. How could you get beaten like this?" "That''s mainly because I focus on quality," Allen said from behind the board officials. He walked out of the darkness and showed them his diamond sword. "You just focus on how many people you''re going to send up, but you''re not thinking on how these people would survive there. "From my weeks here in Paradise, I saw a huge gap between the levels of the beasts here and the ones in Haven," Allen continued. "I can''t imagine how much stronger the beasts in Eternity is, and then you''re just going to send Hunters who can''t really do anything about it." Allen mmed his hand on the table and showed everyone his snake eyes. "I really didn''t want to do this, but it seems like I have no other choice. I already have half of the higher ups." "Y-You''re" Dana trailed off. "The Snake?!" All nine people who were on the desk kneeled in front of Allen. Just a moment ago, they were screaming at him and now they think he''s some sort of god. They lowered their heads to the ground while kneeling, begging for Allen''s mercy. "Aww," Allen chuckled. "You''re all so cute. But it wasn''t a problem for me. My allies and I can just do well on our own." Genesis looked up when he realized that the Hunters who were fighting Allen''s allies became silent. Then he saw the people he senty lifelessly on the ground. His entire body shook in fear as he slowly turned back to see Allen who was smirking at him. "They''re intense, huh?" Allen chuckled. "From now on, I''ll be the ones who decide and you''re not going anything to do about it." "W-What do you want us to do, sir?" Gebesis asked. "You''re the ones who rule us now." "Disband," Allen said, making their eyes widen. "Either that or create new programs for the weaker Hunters. I don''t want you to leave people behind. Give them one more chance." "But that will require much more cost, sir," a man said. He was a chairman of one of the most prominent oilpanies in Earth. In the Middle East where he was born and raised, when the business started to fall, he raised the industry from the ground. "Prince Khaleed," Allen said. "I know money is tough for you and your billions of dors, so could you please spare some of those for the poor?" Khaled had no choice. He couldn''t help but look away, shamed by the person they were worshipping. "I''m sorry, sir." "Also," Allen hummed. "I allow you to continue this fanatic group of yours, but you have to keep my identity a secret. One wrong spill and I will immediately end every single one of you." "Y-Yes sir," Genesis responded. They all kneeled again and let Allen walk back to his friends. "Jax, send them back. Mr. Dante, I will prepare the biggest suite for you. When youe back to the camp, everything is prepared." "Okay," Allen said. "Until then, I''ll see you around." Jax sent them back into the field of grass. The man looked at Allen, seemingly having something to say to the man but he couldn''t do so. "What is it?" Allen asked, turning to Jax with a t expression. "You have something to say. Tell me." "It was odd," Jax said. "I meant how you revealed yourself to those people. It was odd." Allen pursed his lips and looked at Jax. "Why did you think that it was odd?" "You''re" Jax trialed off. "I don''t know why it was necessary for you when you decided to reveal your identity when you were hesistant the whole time. It was as if you decided to do it out of the blue." Allen raised his arm and pointed on the hair there. "See this? Most of my life is dictated by these strands of hair. They are the ones who can decide what I can and what I should do and not do." "Odd," Jax bowed. "If you''ll excuse me, Mr. Reed, I will go now. Your unit in Saint Halley''s Hotel is already prepared. Pleasee and tell them the code, ''Beginning, middle, and end''. The staff knows what to do after." Without saying any more words, Jax sunk into his portal. Allen watched the man disappear from his sight, smirking as he turned to his friends who wore curious faces. "What now?" Allen asked. "Well, I did not n on doing it but since my instincts kicked in, I had no choice but to do it." "You heavily rely on your instincts," Gwen said. "Is that going to be a problem in the future?" Allenughed lightly. He crossed his arms and smirked, "My terribly urate instincts got us where we got now. It was the one who ruled over me when I was just starting and now it''s deciding what to do next." "What does it want to do next?" Jeremy asked to which Allen answered with a shrug. "I don''t know," Allen chuckled and walked first back to camp. His friends sighed and had no other choice but to follow him. He was their leader after all. Back in the camp, Allen arrived at the biggest hotel. The staff and all the other clients were mostly looking at them with odd looks, judging them based on the rumors that they heard. "Sir," a guard stood in front of Allen. "You are not allowed in this establishment. We don''t want to deal with your business." "Beginning, middle, and end," Allen said, making the guard''s eyes widen. "Are you okay now? Are we clear? I want to rest in a bed." "Right away sir," the guard said. Just when everyone thought that the guard would escort them out, the guard led them to the front desk. This shocked every single person in the lobby. Some of them even approach Allen and his friends to talk to them. "They know the code," the guard said to the front desk woman. She immediately nodded and pressed a green button under her desk. "Mister Dante Reed," the woman handed Allen a key card. "Wee to Saint Halley''s Hotel, were here to serve you as our VVIP client. Please, follow me." "How did you trust them that easily," Jax asked his father while they drank tea in their mansion''s living room. "He could be well just a normal Hunter who''s stronger than most. So, why?" "That''s because when I stared into his eyes" Genesis trailed off. "I felt like a small mouse that''s in front of a snake''srge open mouth. Never in my life had I felt such inferiority. It''s no doubt, son. He is the Snake. He is our god." Chapter 171: Zombies Outside Chapter 171: Zombies Outside "This is the life," Gary moaned as he enjoyed a sip of his martini while overlooking the camp from the twentieth floor of the hotel. He smiled as the others rxed in the suite, calmly talking with each other. "Get their support more," Jeremy said to Allen. "I wouldn''t mind living like this every day." Allen chuckled, "Don''t forget why we''re here, yeah? To flip the system and create another. We don''t need this life, everyone does." "Too serious, Allen," Gwen grinned and raised her ss. "To the Snake Society." "To the Snake Society!" It was midnight but Allen was still awake. There were four bedrooms in the suite, so each one of them had their own rooms. But for some reason, this made Allen ufortable. Back in the D rank building, their rooms were so close together that they could hear each other snore. This hotel had a lot of soundproof materials, making the room feel too silent. "I can''t do this," Allen grunted and opened his door. There he saw Jeremy, also awake while leaning in the ss floor to ceiling window. "Hey." "It feels too silent and ufortable," Jeremy said, making Allen chuckle and agree. "I don''t like this fancy life. I take back what I said earlier. This is too suffocating for me." "The more space we have, the tighter it feels," Allen said. "We got so used to living the simple life, didn''t we?" Jeremy opened his mouth to say something when they heard a series of aggressive knocking on their door. "Help! They''re everywhere!" "Stay here," Allen said to Jeremy as he went towards the door. He first felt the aura outside. It looks like it was a person who was in panic, like he was being chased by something horrific. "Hello?!" the person screamed. "Please help me. There are zombies here. Please." Allen narrowed his eyes and kneeled on one knee. He then ced his hand on floor and slowly released a ball of light that passed through the small gap below the door. The light exploded outside, Stacey showing up. "What the" the man gasped while another approaches. "Who are you?" Allen asked through Stacey. He conjured the dual dagger that he assigned to the Body as a weapon and raised it defensively. "Answer me or else you''ll regret it." The other man did not respond. Instead, they saw him twitch and lean to the side. "He''s a zombie!" the man begging for help yelled. "I swear to you, he''s a zombie." The zombie suddenly roared andunched himself towards Stacey. The Body spun to the side and dragged the crying man with her, letting the zombie go pass through her while she opened the door and threw the crying man inside. Stacey then ran towards the zombie and tried to sh it when the zombie disappeared. "What the" Screech! The zombie was agile and its movements were swift and calcted. Stacey could not respond on time that Allen could only recall her before he could feel the damage that the zombie might inflict. "What was that?" Jeremy ran towards them after hearing the noise. It didn''t take long for Gwen and Gary to react, getting out of their bedrooms and changed into their fighting outfits. "There''s zombies outside," Allen said in panick. "I don''t know why or how, but there is. I already sent Oliver to scout and the entire camp is flooded with them." "Zombie? Flooded?" Gwen scrunched her face. "What''s happening? Is it the Fire Dragon again? How many times do we have to kill it?" "No," Allen said. "These zombies are not aligned with any beasts. The zombies that were affiliated with the Fire Dragon had red burn marks on their bodies, these ones do not. They only have ck veins travel all throughout their bodies." "This is not normal," Jeremy said. "What if" Screech! They all spun when the crying man suddenly screeched. They raised their weapons and watch it flinch as it walked towards them. "Please kill me." Allen was about to sh his diamond sword and cut the man''s head off when it grinned and vanished. They huddled back to back, raising their weapons while waiting for the zombie to attack them. "This is crazy!" Gary yelled. "Now he''s infected? What if he bites us too? Will we get infected?" "This infection is not normal," Allen said. "I saw a badge from the zombie earlier, he''s a celebrity Hunter, but he could par the powers of Fantasia or even more." "Fantasia?" Jeremy asked. "Are you sure? Maybe you''re just hallucinating or something. That woman was a beast in itself, but a zombie the same level as her? We can''t dodge its bite." "We can," Allen said. "We just need to strike first." It felt like his entire body shivered when he swung his sword beside him. The zombie appeared, just in time for its head to be cut off and for it to fall to the ground. Blood oozed from its severed neck, ck blood that spoiled the white fur carpets. "Eww," Gwen flinched after seeing the gorey sight in front of her. "What the heck is that?" "A zombie corpse," Allen said without flinching. He took the celebrity Hunter badge from the corpse and raised it to their level. "This one is also a celebrity Paradise Hunter, but its speed was more than an Eternity Hunter." "It did vanish in a blink of an eye," Jeremy added. "But why is this happening? What''s the reason behind all these?" "Barandi," Allen whispered. He stared into the air on his original body while he focused his attention on Oliver. The Body was on top of a tall building, one that overlooked the entire area. From his view, it was clear as day that a group of people were standing in front of the Portal House. Fantasia and Bryant were just two among several others. Around them were only chaos. Hunters were running around and some were even fighting back but they were all in vain. The zombies received a massive boost in their stats, making them invincible to the average Hunters. "Your reign of terror hase to an end!" a voice yelled from the building in front of the Portal House. There stood Wesley on his metal horse along with the Soul Burners that were also riding metal horses. "Barandi, your group hasmited unimaginable damage to the camp and the Hunters, the people. You are hereby sentenced to Soul Burning!" "Let''s try it then," Fantasia grinned. "You''re just a measly Paradise Hunter. Where did you get the audacity to evene and challenge me, Fantasia?!" "From the souls of the crying people," Welsey whispered. He raised his hands and rode his horse straight to the Portal House. Fantasia smirked and conjured a giant ball of mes, one that sheunched towards Wesley without hesitation. "Prepare Shield of Light!" Wesley yelled. His folks nodded and three of them rode in front of him. They raised their swords and created a shield made of aura. This shocked Fantasia, but didn''t shook her. Instead, she fired several more fireballs which were all blocked by the shield. From behind the lines, Wesley leaped over the shield and spun hisnce. He shed it to Fantasia who barely dodged the attack. One of her men was caught by the weapon and was sliced in half. "You little" Fantasia conjured a massive cloud around them. They were surrounded by the fog when it started to rain inside. The water poured instantly and Fantasia who was now outside along with her henchmen ced a finger on the cloud, zapping them all. She could taste victory on her tongue but she failed. Wesley and his peopled were inside small bubbles that protected them from the lighting strike that Fantasia struck upon them. "Die!" Fantasia yelled. She now created a vortex which sucked in all the people from the cloud. She continued to attack them but the Soul Burners kept on shielding themselves. They were all doing their best to shield while the woman unleashes her wrath upon them. Meanwhile, back in the hotel, Allen regained his focus. He let Oliver stay in the same spot while he tries to exit the hotel. "The Soul Burners and Barandi are currently fighting," Allen said. "It won''t take long before Barandi would discover our hiding ce, so while the Soul Burners are keeping them busy, we need to call for help." "But who do we call?" Jeremy asked to which Allen answered with a sigh and a shrug. "I don''t know," Allen said. "But we shouldn''t stop hoping. Let''s go." They walked downstairs and were lucky enough to not encounter any zombies on their way there. It seemed to quite which irked Allen so he sent Stacey ahead. Even when everything fell in chaos, the immacte beauty of the hotel remained. Allen was watching the paintings when they suddenly felt a shaking action. He then felt something kick him on the side and realized it was from Stacey. He nced at the direction of the attack and saw one massive zombie approach them. Chapter 172: Zombie Boss Chapter 172: Zombie Boss Arge mass of seemingly smoking muscle that formed a man with thick crystal armor all throughout its body. There were ck smokeing from its skin, as if there was a furnace inside its body. Its head was covered with a pointed helmet that was too familiar to Allen that it would be a shame if he didn''t recognize the man. "That''s Zayn!" Allen pointed out. "The one who pulled my cor a couple of weeks back." "What?" Gwen asked. "But howe he''s arge zombie? Is he like the boss zombie or something?" "I think he is," Allen said. "For now, we don''t know the reason why." For a quick moment, Allen switched his vision on where Oliver was. The Soul Burners and Barandi were still fighting head to head. Their powers were almost equal with each other, but it won''t take long before one of them makes a grave mistake and would cost them the battle. "It''sing!" Jeremy yelled, prompting Allen to switch back and dodge Zayn who was running towards them in full speed. He lowered his head and bent forward so the sharp tip of the helmet would be facing his front while he dashes full force. The hallway was already narrow enough for him to fit, dodging him required a great amount of calction and execution. Allen bent down and rolled on the gap between the wall of the hallway and Zayn''s legs. In his zombie form, his head and his torso were tripled the normal size but his legs and feet remained the same. They used the gap on his lower end so they could escape the attack. "What the actual f*ck," Gary could only curse after they barely managed to scrape through. Zayn crashed onto the end of the hallway and was threatening oning back. "We need to defeat him," Allen said. "The moment he steps away from us is our chance. We do the same thing but this time, we instantly attack once we get behind him." "Revenge!" Zayn yelled. "Revenge! Fantasia. I will kill you!" "Fantasia?" Jeremy asked out loud. "Why is he calling her name?" Allen thought for a moment. His Intelligence attribute had now moved and his recollection of the things that had happened so far led him to one conclusion. "Barandi did this to him," Allen said. "When we met Zayn, Fantasia was embarrassed by his actions, I saw the worried look on his face. Barandi stood outside of the Portal House, meaning they have something to do with this catastrophe, and now Zayn is calling Fantasia''s name. There could only be one answer to that, and that is how I arrived in my conclusion." "Smart," Jeremy smirked. "Very smart." "Revenge!" Zayn yelled. This time, he managed to startle the group when his helmet was set aze. They all watch him as his body erged even more, making his head half the size of the hallway. He barely fit and the walls that tried to cage him were being destroyed by his growth. "Revenge! Fantasia, revenge!" Zayn roared one more time before he dashed full speed ahead. Allen sighed and switched his weapon from the Diamond Sword to the Aqua Lance. This had a great elemental advantage over Zayn''s burning helmet. "This would end you," Allen whispered and ran straight to Zayn. "Hey, but what about the n?!" Jeremy asked, but Allen was already halfway. Allen suddenly mmed one of his feet forward, turning to the side and stopping his movementpletely. "Gary, do the thing with the waterfall." "Right," Gary said. He raised his shotgun and moved forward, aiming in front of him as an orb of water appeared on the tip of his weapon. "Underwater Cave, Burst!" Bang. A surge of water exploded from Gary''s shotgun. The water flooded the entire hallway, submerging Allen and Zayn inside it as the water continued to flow seemingly endlessly. "Nice!" Allen yelled. It was like everything was in slow motion as Zayn approached him, the helmet was now soaked but the fire that burned it continued to light up. "Try this!" sh. sh. sh! ''Drown casted on the target.'' Allen smirked after hearing the notification. Zayn stood back and watched as Allen continued to sh his weapon at him. The boy already had 110% increase in his damage after he was submerged underwater and when the Drown was casted. "Whatever they did to you," Allen said. "On behalf of those awful people, I apologize." sh! sh! sh! With one more strike, Allen cut Zayn''s head off just in time for the water to stop flowing. He stood in front of the giant headless zombie who was getting pulled by the water. "Allen!" Jeremy yelled. "Did you know how risky that was? If it wasn''t for oh, so you nned this?" "I just figured out that based on the smoke that wasing from Zayn''s body, his element should be fire," Allen pointed out. "It was only a matter of how long until I could make him use the fire is where I had trouble." "Smart," Jeremy sighed as he repeated his words from earlier. "Very smart." The group continued to get out of the building and saw the entire camp slolwy getting back together. Many stronger Hunters from different camps had already arrived and helped their own camp. "Portal House," Allen said. "We need to get to the Portal House." "Says who?" Allen spun to see Bryant behind them. He was with several more members of Barandi and they looked like they came for a fight. "You cannot got to the Portal House just yet. Wait till Fantasia finished off Wesley, then you can go ahead and die in her hands." "I already beaten her once," Allen shrugged. He conjured his Diamond Sword and smiled. "I don''t mind beating her the second time." "Ugh!" Bryant growled and pointed at Allen''s group. "Kill all of them. Don''t spare anyone." "As if," Allen chuckled. "You can try, but you won''t seed." Jeremy and Gary stood beside Allen while Gwen prepared herself behind them. She was going to be their support and she was going to boost them as much as she could. "I''m ready," Jeremy said, spinning his Jade Spear around his body. "I can always attack." "I''m ready too," Gary said, aiming his shotgun. "One shot, one kill." The groups shed with Bryant and Allen fighting in the middle. Allen''s group was outnumbered by almost three times, but the collective power of Bryant''s entire group couldn''t even par the power of Allen. It was like strolling through the garden for them as they continued to fight, Bryant struggling to even win. When he watched almost half of his men fall to the ground, he couldn''t take it anymore and yelled for help. "Aw," Allen teased. "What''s wrong? Where''s your bravery now?" Allen kicked Bryant in the stomach, causing thetter to fall to the ground andnd on his butt. He watched Allen approached him while the crystal diamond sword was raised to the light of the moon. Bryant knew that the next destination of his weapon was his skin. "Goodbye" nk! Allen''s wrists were wrapped with a chain. He turned to see the origin of the weapon and saw a woman nearby. She was an assassin based on her outfit which wasposed of a tight ck bodysuit and a small belt that had six chains on six sides. "You called for me, Bryant?" the woman asked, making everyone turn their heads in her direction. The woman walked out of the darkness and reved her face. She was a beautiful young woman with narrow eyes and curly red hair tied to a ponytail. Her body was slender with an hourss shaped, extenuated by her tight suit. Her long ck heels nked as she moved forward. "This is the enemy of the Envoy?" "Yes, Yen!" Bryant cried. "That''s him. He was the one who defeated Fantasia in the battle. Kill him!" "That''s Yen Jacobs," Jeremy said. "She''s one of the strongest assassins in Eternity. She''s from the first group of Barandi while Fantasia is only from the second one." "First group, huh?" Allen nodded. "Okay." Allen grunted and pulled his wrists away from each other. It didn''t take long before he broke the golden chain, making Yen''s eyes widen. "B-But how?" "I already survived Fantasia''s attacks," Allen chuckled. "There''s nothing that''s scaried than that, so I don''t think anything else could faze me." "Fantasia did indeed have a high damage output but she has her limitations," Yen said. She threw the chain that once tied Allen and took two more from her belt. "The first requirement on being a powerful Hunter is imagination and a driving force." Yen suddenly vanished and appeared above Allen. The boy felt her and looked up, bearing a deadpan on his face. "I already have those." With his diamond sword and a movement that not anyone else can see but him, he cut all of Yen''s chains. Allen then pulled her feet and mmed her to the ground, shocking everyone. "I''m a woman!" Yen yelled while Allen continued on mming her. "Stop! I''m a woman!" "So what?!" Allen grunted. "I''d do this to Gwen too if she gets too naughty. Woman or not, you''re naughty, so shut up!" Chapter 173: The Eldest Summers Chapter 173: The Eldest Summers Yen was staring into the reddened skies. The smoke that came from the fire they started covered the stars with a red nket of smoke. "What happened?" she asked herself as she tried to recall what happened. "One moment I arrived, the next thing I know I''m here, down and defeated." Allen pointed hisnce on her neck. "What are these zombies? I know you have something to do with it." Yen suddenly frowned, "And why would I tell you that? After I got defeated, my life was over. I don''t have the face to show Barandi anymore. Defeated by a mere D rank Paradise Hunter. What is that?" "Fantasia suffered the same loss, you know," Gwen pointed out. "If she can do it, then you can." "That woman has a calloused face and her pride is inexistent," Yen smiled bitterly. "Everyone knows she can only fire with full power once and then her entire energy will be depleted. That highest damage output facade was only because she has one chance at attacking." Allen felt his skin crawl while Yen talked. There was something about the woman that irked him, activating his enhanced insticts passively. Yen was doing something under their nose, but what it is was what Allen does not know. "I have my pride with me," Yen continued. "And if I got defeated in battle, this will be myst battle." She suddenly leaped and stood. Another chain was wrapped around her arm. Right when Allen was about to think that she would attack them, Yen threw the chain on a railing and tied the other end on her neck. "I bring with me my glory!" In an instant, Yen Jacobs pulled the chain and cracked her neck. This instantly put her in a quick but painful death, making her body hung from the railing like a pendulum. "What the hell" Jeremy trailed off as they watched her body swing slowly. "She just killed herself just like that." "Doesn''t matter anymore," Allen said. "We have to find a way to get to the Portal House without being bothered by the Barandi." "Looking for me?" Jack suddenly appeared from under his invisible nket. Lay, Rourke, and Franco revealed themselves with separate nkets. "Let''s go. Jacques is already trying to hold them off." Allen pursed his lips. "Jax?" On two gigantic orbs of murky water, the Soul Burners and Barandi were being held captive. Their eyes were wide open but they looked like they were unconscious as if they were sleeping with their eyes open. "What the hell happened here?" Allen asked while he walked towards them. A man stood in front of the two orbs as they approached. He was facing away from Allen and he thought that it was Jax. "Hey, Jax?" The man spun and revealed a man with a simr but older face than Jax. It was much different from Jake which was odd because Jax and Jake shared the same features. "I''m sorry?" While the rest of the Summers had blonde hair, Jacques had a dirty blonde one. It was abination of blonde and dark brown which was pushed back to the back of his head. His build was tall and muscled, just like Bernard only much taller and much thicker than the Ox Bearer. Jacques also had a huge snake tattoo that traveled from his neck down to his body that Allen couldn''t see because the man was wearing a tight ck suit. If he was a member of the Snake Society, it wouldn''t surprise Allen. After all, his father was a core member and if he turns out to be one, it would only make sense. "You''re not Jax" Allen trailed off. "Who are you?" The man offered his hand while showing his pearly white teeth. "My name is Jacques Summers, the older brother of Jax and the nephew of Jack." "Ah," Jack walked in front of Jacques and watched the two giant orbs of murky water. "These are the two biggest criminals in the record. Good call, Minister of Defense." This time, Jeremy''s ears had quirked up. He nced at Allen who shared the same confused look. "What do you mean, Jack?" "Oh," Jacques formed an o with his mouth after he saw Jeremy. "Don''t worry. I am Eternity''s Minister of Defense. I hold the highest authority in that world in terms of the military. And these folks are from Eternity, so they are my responsibility." Jeremy calmed down and nodded after understanding Jacques. He took a deep sigh and smiled. "Right. I forgot about that." "Don''t worry," Jacques smiled. "Your father is a very strong man, one that I could only wish to achieve the power of. He won''t be reced as easily." Allen knew all to well that Jacques was lying. Just the orb of the murky water that contained both the Soul Burners and the Barandi in two separate orbs should speak on how much power Jacques have. Even Allen would have to admit that he would have much trouble just trying to maintain one team, but Jacques effortlessly defeated both. He was in Bernard''s level, or even more. "So," Jacques bowed. "If you''ll excuse me, I''ll have to take these people with me." He raised both his hands and walked away, the orbs of the murky water seemed to be following him. It looked like he was pushing both orbs as he walked away from the scene. It wasn''t long before more police officers arrived and helped clean up the camp. The fire had been settled down and people were rescued. The zombies were also eradicated after they found out that the boss zombies would deactivate the other zombies when it was killed. The morning came and the sun had risen from the horizon. Allen sat outside of the hotel and was eating his breakfast that was served by the hotel. They were lucky enough to be the only few guests to have survived he attack. On their floor, only Allen and his group were alive. The rest were eaten but the zombies while some got infected. This was by far the biggest incident in Paradise, which made it the headline of all the news outlets. "Barandi is gone," Gwen announced. She handed Allen a paper which was the daily newspaper. "BARANDILLA ERADICATED AFTER ZOMBIE ATTACK." Allen read the headlines and forgot about his meal. He continued reading the article until he learned everything that happened that day. Barandi had been experimenting on people. They created serums to make someone stronger, and make them be a more effective Hunter. This serum worked, but it costed a price. To boost their power, they must first inject the serum into a Hunter. The Hunter''s body will process this and filter the serum, this was the part where the humans would turn into zombies with high power because they have been exposed to such method. After the Hunter haspletely lost their humanity, the serum will be extracted from their bodies once more and this time it will be ced in a Hunter that is the one who receives the boost. Fantasia, Yen, and the high ranking members of Barandi all have the serum of power while the lower once would be zombies." The idea of this alone bothered Allen so much. This was a messed up n just so they could gain power. This is just one more reason why he needed to be stronger quicker than light. If this keeps going on, what will happen to them? It''s not like Barandi is the only dark Hunter group in the world." "They experimented on people." Allen woke up from his train of thoughts after he heard Gwen. "They are messed up and they would do anything just to have power. Now we know why Fantasia could spam her destructive skills even when we all know she could only cast it once in a while." "But the zombies," Jeremy said. "Have they all been identified?" "Fifty and counting," Gwen said. "The police are still investigating about it and are still interrogating the members which was hard because the moment your eyes leave them, they would try to kill themselves." From what Yen had told them, they have pride unlike Fantasia. This meant that when they are defeated, they would rather choose death than to face the shame of losing. "And the Soul Burners are also caught," Gwen said. "They are in custody of the police and it''s still hard to identify ever yone of them because they are so many." "What will happen to them now?" Gary asked. "And do they pull the same stunt as Barandi?" "For a weird reason, Soul Burners are rather behaved." Matthew spoke and walked towards them. "Gwen got all her information from me and I can tell you real time updates." "In exchange for what?" Allen asked, making everyone look at him in shock. "You''re not doing this for free and I know it. What''s your catch, someone who''s definitely not Matthew?" "You catch on real quick," the impostor smirked and his face slowly melted, revealing his true looks. "How is it to live as the Snake, Mr. Allen Nightshade?" Chapter 174: Kenneth Chapter 174: Keh Allen took a step back as Matthew''s impostor show her real face. A beautiful young woman with shiny straight ck hair. She wore a white body suit that had a skirt on the back portion paired with a pair of metal boots that had spikes on the sole. "Who are you?" Allen asked, taking out his sword and pointed it at the woman''s neck. "And what do you want from us?" "Rx," the woman raised both her hands as a sign of surrender. "I am not here to fight you. Instead, I''m here to warn you. You know how it is, Mr. Allen, as a Bearer. You have the power and the strength, but it''s hard for you to risk everything because everyone is looking at you, wanting the power you have." "She''s talking gibberish," Gwen growled and was about to pounce on the woman but Allen stopped her. "What? Why?" "Who are you?" Allen repeated his question. "And how did you know my real name?" "A messenger of the gods," the woman replied and handed Allen a small envelope. "The Twelve High Gods are not happy with a being that is able to hold two Celestums. Only one per customer." With this, the woman left and vanished in the air. Allen immediately opened the envelope and read its contents. "Mr. Allen Nightshade, you are hereby warned for having two Celestum items with you. You cannot do this as it breaks the rule of the Deities. Please release one, break, or pass it down. You have twenty four hours before weunch an all out attack into your location." It was clear what this message meant. They were referring to him having the Primordial Snake Code and the Great Diamond Code at once. What he didn''t know was that these Codes were actually called Celestum items and there''s another world that''s filled with more humans. If he could remember clearly, this new threat were called High Gods and they seem like the ones who regte the powerful Codes. The fact alone that they sent a representative to tell someone that they have two Celestums was a proof of that. This made Allen wonder how many humans and how manys are there in the universe that they live in. It was vast and most of it were unknown even with the advancements in the technology. Allen shook his head to clear it and turned to Gary who was too busy reading the newspaper. "Gary?" The man looked up to see Allen''s concerned face. "Why are you giving me that look?" Allen offered his hand and sighed. He mustered a lot of courage in him to let the Diamond Sword Code go. This was already a huge setback with the Code''s power since one effect would be lost forever. "Take the Diamond Sword," Allen said to Gary. "I don''t want to risk being attacked by other humans, so it''s better if you hold on to this for me. I''ll keep the Snake." "Y''all don''t want to give an overpowered Code to me?" Gwen suddenly asked, making everyone chuckle. "Hey, I''m serious. I want a Code like that too." "Just hold on to what you have for now," Gary said to her and took Allen''s hand. "We''ll all be strong soon, I know it." Days went by and it seemed like the tragedy that struck their camp was only a bad dream. For the Hunters, moving on as quick as this was a normal thing. There are always death in this field, so the less it could affect you, the better it is for you. Allen and his friends were Hunting in the forest when he felt something odd. It was like someone was watching them from afar and the look wasn''tfortable for him. It didn''t sit right for him, so he nced at the woods. "Are you okay?" Jeremy asked to which Allen answered with a nod. "I''m fine." He swept the thoughts out of his mind and focused himself in hunting. He wanted to create a new weapon for his Bodies to use. They have strong weapons right now, but they still need to keep up with his actual strength so he''s nning on crafting a weapon that will reach Grand grade. Meanwhile, in a forest two worlds ahead of where Allen was, Keh was running for his life. There was a huge shadow figure that was running after him, and it was running as quickly as he was. "But I''m already speeding up as much as I could!" Keh growled. When he saw a small clearing, he stepped in the center of it and fire the emergency re gun that he had. This should signal everyone else his location while he tries to fend off the beast that was following him as much as he could. It shouldn''t take long before the other Hunters would locate him so he just had to try his best to survive until then. He shouldn''t fret because no mater how strong the beast is, he was still a Primordial Beast Bearer. Hisbat abilities is still superior. "Show yourself!" Keh yelled. "Show yourself or else I''ll make you do it for me." The beast stepped out of the dark part of the forest. A giant ck dog with fur made of burning ck shadows. It was a terrifying sight to see, but Keh stood still. "Why are you using a familiar instead of showing your actual self, huh? Scared?" The dig growled and leaped off from where it was. It was going to pounce on Keh, but the man had restricted its movements. "Nice try, doggy. But you should''ve done your research first." The dog fell to the ground with a still expression as though it was stuck between the moments in time. Itid there on the ground frozen for a couple of minutes before four more dogs appeared. This shook Keh. The size of the dogs were simr to the buses with two floors back in Earth. One of them was already hard to restrict, and four would be impossible. "Five more minutes," Keh said to himself. "I''ll stop you all for five more minutes!" The dogs pounced at him and he all restricted their movements too. He stopped their entire motor functions while he stood in the middle, body leaning forward and his hands stuck in the air as he tried to cancel all other abilities just to focus on the dogs. "You''re trying too hard, doggies. I am not going down." Just when Keh thought he could handle this, a much bigger dog appeared. It was able to split down trees as it walked closer to him, eyes calm and movements were steady. It was a bigger dog but without the other''s killing intent. The boy released his grip on the other dogs and leaped on a tree to gain an advantage in terms of vision. He was now trying to devise a n on how he could escape these dogs while not leaving the area just until the rescue arrives. The Primordial Beast Bearers have made a pact that whenever one needs help, they would respond as quick as they could. This would maintain the healthy environment between them and make them realize that they are Hunters not for themselves, but for the entire humanity. Before Keh could continue thinking of a n, the four dog had leaped from the ground and into his level. Keh conjured a dagger and stabbed one in the eye while he leaped on its head, running away and leaping into s other tree. The dogs were still able to follow him no matter how much he jumped and increase his movement. He wasn''t able to restrict them even for a little because this would dy him and could cause his own death. "Hiya!" Keh leaped to one branch but thergest among the dogs was there. It fired a roar that was able to throw Keh off of his bnce and fall to the ground. When Keh knew that this was his apparent defeat, he realized that the bigger dog was nothing but the aura of the owner of the other dogs. He looked down and saw that instead of four legs, the giant dog had single limb that connected to a person as if it was that person''s shadow. "Y-You?!" Keh''s eyes widen after the person''s face became clear to him. "Why are you doing this?" The person did not respond. Instead, it showed Keh his palms and lowered himself, grinning. That was the only thing Keh saw before everything went ck. "Allen!" a voice shook the forest as Stacey ran to where they are. She was still controlled by Kevin and even though she was only a body and can''t feel exhaustion, she panted. "I heard some news. Please go back to the camp." "We''re waiting for Keh," Allen said. "Today is the scheduled date for us to meet him and do the weekly n." "Cancel that right now," Stacey said. "Keh is found lifeless in Eternity. You have toe back to camp now." Chapter 175: The Bag Chapter 175: The Bag Allen hurried to the unit that Sebastian rented. There, he met Kevin''s original body and they all went to the room to find Keh lying on the bed talking to Remy. "What" Allen cut himself off, then he turned to Kevin. "You said that Keh died." Kevin raised his hands up, "What? I didn''t say that. I just told you that he was found lifeless, not found dead." "Err," Allen hummed. He was about to chuckle when he whiffed the seemingly dark and sorrowful aura inside the room. "What happened? Keh, are you okay?" "It stole my Code," Keh said. "My Bunny Code. Four giant wolves and a man stole my Code." Allen froze after hearing Keh speak. The sadness in his eyes, the pain, and the anger burned like an endless hearth. Keh wanted tosh out, but his body was filled with bandages. He was unable to do anything at this point. "They didn''t do anything else," Keh spoke again. "They just took it and left like they didn''t just take something that is the life and soul of a person." "Calm down," Remy tried to say but Kehpletelyshed out. "How am I supposed to calm down?!" Keh yelled. "That Code was the only thing that made me stay at the ranks of the Bearers. Now, I''m nothing but a mere Paradise Hunter. You saw how much I froze, right? I wasn''t able to move until I got here." Sebastian entered the room and led Allen''s group out. "You two need to talk this out first. Keh, calm down. I''ll talk to youter." Sebastian closed the door of Keh''s room and went to the living room while the group followed him. He sat there and sighed, opening a briefcase filled with papers. "Uhm, what the hell happened?" Allen couldn''t stop himself from asking. "What happened to Keh? And someone stole his Code? And the Primordial Bunny Code at that." "After Keh was found by Remy, he was frozen like a victim of the Soul Burners," Sebastian exined. "This meant that his EXP was depleted, so they tried to take him to Eternity, but he was still frozen. When they took him back to Paradise was when he got stable vitals. When they checked on him, the Primordial Beast Code was missing and it was the one who gave him so much EXP." "He ascended to worlds just because he had the Code?" Allen asked. "W-What, I don''t get it. Bernard said that the Codes aren''t strong like they are made to look like. That they are just a bit stronger, but notpletely dominant over all others." Sebastian fixed his sses while his eyes never left the papers in front of him. "That''s what we thought was the case. But I guess we were wrong, big time. The Codes, even when they are in a far generation of user, is still powerful." "That''s why the person who took it wanted the Code," Bernard spoke as he walked towards them. He sat beside Sebastian and helped read all the papers. "These are reports from different people who saw what happened to Drake Nelson. We''re still trying to identify if his case and Keh''s case is the same or connected in some way." "You mean it''s done by the same person?" Allen asked. "--- did these things?" "Not yet clear," Bernard said. "It will take time before we could even confirm these reports, but one thing is clear as day. Keh''s description of the dogs matched the ones that the witnesses saw when Drake Nelson was attacked." Sebastian called out for someone and a woman with a giant TV that was being dragged by a cart went inside. She positioned the TV so it would be facing Allen''s group while she turned it on, then left. "This was taken from a hand phone device that was from a witness," Sebastian said. "These information are highly ssified, but we''re sharing this to you because I know you have a knack for these kinds of things." "Since the Soul Burners are gone, you''ll have all the alleys to yourself," Bernard said. "You don''t have to worry about us telling you this because you won''t get in trouble." They yed a clip from a mobile device back in Earth where the hotel was at. It was taken from the next building, a building that was a couple of floors higher than the part where the attackers destroyed. "What''s happening?" "Is this an exhibition?" "That''s Drake Nelson, but who are those guys?" The people on the phone started talking. They watched the hooden person which seemed to be the leader walked closer to Drake Nelson who was standing there. From this angle, the one where Drake''s face was fully visible, it could be seen that Drake was smiling. He was seen talking to the hooded person before thetter cut his head off like he was slicing a cake. "This too," Sebastian switched to another video and this time it was taken from the ground. Fourrge dogs that carried two people each ran through the streets and leaped into the building. This was the time where the entire floor of where Drake Nelson was and the floors above it were destroyed. "What''s happening?!" "What are those?" "The building exploded. Call the fire department!" The person who took the video panicked and started to ran away while pointing his camera at the scene. Even when his take was blury and he was one hundred floors below the scene, he could still feel the impact from the attack on Drake Nelson. "See?" Sebastian pointed out. "Those dogs are like the gods that Keh saw when he was attacked. This was a huge mystery and they seem too simr." "The attacks," Allen trailed off. "Is the one responsible for this attack the same one that attacked Reny, Keh, and Bernard before?" "I don''t think so," Bernard said. "I saw the attacker and he was wearing a ck hooded coat. There wasn''t any dog in sight at that time, only the beasts that we hunted." "You mean they are different people," Jeremy finally spoke. "But the question is, how did they get to Start Nest unless they''re Bearers. There''s no other exnation." "Yeah," Sebastian messaged his forehead and nodded. "They are Primordial Beast Bearers. We just didn''t know who or why." They talked about what happened for a couple more hours until it was time to sleep. Allen was inside the room he was assigned at, staring at the window. "This is really tiring." He decided to open the windows and ced his hand outside. "Time to live another life." With an orb of light falling from his hand, Allennded on the ground with one knee. But this time, he was in Vince''s body. He wore the Cloak of Nobody and the wooden mask that he used as the Wandering Trader. His trading of Codes has long since finished and today, he was going to find out the truth. Who was attacking the Bearers and what was their purpose? Through Vince''s body, Allen ran towards streets and inspected on every nook and cranny. He wasn''t sure what he needed to see or what he wanted to search for, but if there was something that would happen, it would be in the alleys. Oddly enough, it''s where most of Allen''s adventures started. A couple of hours more and he saw a familiar ck hole in the wall. He stood slightly far from it with just enough distance for him to escape in case something happens. He waited for a couple of minutes before he saw Winston walk out of the hole. Allen hid himselfpletely in the darkness, making sure that he was invisible. Winston had arge bag that he threw on one of the trash bins. He pped his hands clean before he walked back inside the hole and the hole vanished. Curiosity swallowed Allenpletely and he ran towards the garbage bin to inspect the bag that Winston threw. He opened the bag and saw raw materials inside, all of which were branded with the logo of the Summers. "Don''t move," Winston said from behind Allen. He had arge scythe with him, the de pointing at the boy''s neck, threatening to cut him if he moves suspiciously. "Who are you?" "What were you going to do with the bag?" Allen asked. It was a good thing that he was in Vince''s body. He was much safer this way and he didn''t have to lose Winston''s trust. "Answer my question first," Winston asked. "You''re going to die if you don''t answer right now." "Okay," Allen said with a sigh. "I''m nobody. Just a wanderer." "You''re copying the Wandering Trader?" Winston asked with a smirk. "You even have the same cloak and mask. How odd." "Now, answer my question," Allen said, raising the bag and showing the contents inside. "What''s in here?" "Winston?" They both turned their heads to the direction of the voice and there they saw a man. Allen''s eyes widened after he saw the face of the man. "Lewis Nixon." Chapter 176: Another Attack Chapter 176: Another Attack Allen was so confused as to why Lewis was there. Lewis was the leader of his group with Kyle, Selena, Irene, and Alice but after th Fire Dragon Incident, it was rumored that Lewis got stronger. "You''re here," Winston fixed himself and pointed his palm at Allen. "Let''s move on with the deal." A ck hole appeared below Allen to which he fell. He immediately recalled Vince''s body and woke up in his own, panting after not being able to believe what just happened. "Lewis knows Winston," Allen said. "Does he know Jake Summers too?" Out of curiosity, Allen couldn''t help but send Oliver to the alley where Winston and Lewis met. The men weren''t present after he arrived and the bag was gone from the trash bin. Allen surveyed the scene for a couple of seconds before the lights turned blue. His eyes widened and immediately looked for a screen or at least try to hear the announcement. When the lights would turn ck, a Bearer died. But when it turns blue, a Bearer is attacked and is on their way to get treated. If the blue would be darker, the Bearer is in grave danger. If they die, the light would turn ck and if they didn''t, the lights would turn back to normal. This was some sort of a nod of respect to the Bearers who are leading humanity as they explored the new worlds. Among all Hunters, the Bearers would have the least assistance because only they could enter Star Nest. "Good evening everyone," the announcer spoke. "The Primordial Rat Bearer, Louis, has been found in grave danger as he was attacked by an unknown threat. The other Bearers are still investigating on what happened and Louis is now in a stable condition." The lights of the camp slowly turned back to normal as a heavy sigh of relief escaped Allen''s mouth. He was still unsure who or what has been attacking the Bearers but he was suspecting that it had something to do with the humans from others. Unlike Serratas who were the only powerful Otherworldly beasts that could create disasters, the other humans were strong. Just the fact that they could threaten an entire camp in case that Allen does not give away one of his Celestums. But for whatever reason, the other humans are attacking the Hunters from Earth. This was slowly making Allen''s head hurt, so he recalled Oliver and went to the kitchen with his original body. He cooked himself something to eat just in time for him to see Bernard creeping out of a room. Allen hid his presence and watched Bernard walk out of Sebastian''s room, suspiciously looking around before entering his own room. This made Allen smirk and shake his head. These two are so secretive that they are nning something in the middle of the night. From Allen''s perspective, they are somewhat of an odd pair because they could''ve nned ahead when no one was inside the unit but them. Why did they talked when everyone was around? Sweeping the thoughts off his mind, Allen continued cooking. That was when he saw Jeremy walk out his room and wipe his eye. "Can''t sleep?" "No," Allen said. "Have you heard the announcement?" "Announcement?" Jeremy asked. Before Allen could answer, more and more people got out. Bernard was first and then Sebastian, then Remy who was taking Keh in a wheelchair. "Louis was attacked," Remy said. "I''m afraid that this was the same person who attacked Keh." Allen nced at Keh who was in a wheelchair. He seemed to be in a much better state than he previously was. The bags under his eyes were gone, it was just he was less and less effeminate. Much less when he had his Code. "Roger Huntsman," Keh said. "If I see that person again, I''ll kill him for sure." "You have to remember how powerful he made you feel," Remy reminded. "We''ll go and investigate about Louis. You stay here with Sebastian." Remy and Bernard went to the Hunters organization headquarters where they were going to discuss what would happen next. There, they would have a conference along with all the board officials of the Hunters, which included the ones from Barandi. Allen hated to admit, but when Fantasia was caught, it did little to no damage on Barandi. It merely took a dirt out of the way considering that Fantasia was a woman who was shy and would always cause trouble. Without her, Barandi could peacefully do their own work without leaving too many traces. "They must''ve forgot that I''m a board official too," Keh chuckled after seeing the two left the unit. He shook his head and moved his wheelchair right by the floor to ceiling window where Allen and Jeremy followed him. "It''s so pitiful," Keh said. "I feel so worthless right now. Even Louis could lose his Code and we can''t do anything about it. I feel pity for myself and I don''t know what to do." Allen wanted to say something but he wasn''t sure what. Words could be far from healing Keh and he knows that. The man was broken and only he himself could fix him. "You know," Jeremy suddenly spoke and sat on the floor beside Keh''s wheelchair. They shared the view of the night camp and talked. "I was always unsure of myself. I thought I was strong. But when I thought I lost a friend and every single day after that, I felt petty." Jeremy quickly nced at Allen before he continued. "Then I strived to just live and not do anything anymore. Just live. When I saw my friend again, well and alive, I had another purpose. And that''s to support him as much as he can with as much as I could. My friend is the most important person to me right now.", "So, you''re living your life to serve someone else?" Keh asked, making Jeremy purse his lips and shake his head. "Then, what?" "I''m living my life to do what I have to do, and that''s to help Allen," Jeremy said. "You lost your Bunny Code, but it doesn''t mean that you lost everything. You still have your unique fighting style and your ability to support. That''s not something just anyone could take away from you." This made Keh stare at Jeremy for a couple of seconds. A smirk was formed in his lips and he removed his gaze from the man. He then stared at the window where the city lights slowly died down as everyone prepared for the arrival of the sun. "It''s daytime," Keh smiled and stood. "This is the first time I''m going to do things that I want to do for myself." Jeremy also stood then smiled at Keh. "You''re alright now. You''re alright." "Louis is already okay," Remy reported to Sebastian when they got back to the unit. "I also talked to him and he was staring into space. I know what that looked meant. It''s what I saw on Keh when I helped him." The door opened and Bernard came inside, pushing Louis on a wheelchair. Thetter was staring nkly into space, looking like a zombie with stress in his face. "Louis," Sebastian walked over to them. Louis nced at Sebastian, stared for a few seconds, then returned his gaze on the empty space in front of him. "I lost everything," Louis said. "I lost everything. All my hard work, all everything. I lost them all." Allen gulped after realizing that Louis meant that he lost his Primordial Rat Code. Even when Keh looked down when he lost his own Code, Louis looked worse. He wanted to ask why, but he actually knows why. Louis has been regarded as the weakest Primordial Beast Bearer. He relies too much on his Code that the moment he lost it, he didn''t know what to do anymore. Keh had a different fighting style and he can always replicate it using different Codes, but Louis does not. The moment his Code was stolen from him marked the end for his journey. He was now a man without a strong Code. "Wake up," Keh said to Louis. "It''s not the end of the world, so why are you staring into space like that? I lost mine too, but I didn''t act like a baby." "They took everything from me," Louis said. "Along with the Rat, they stole my high grade Codes. I only have Rare grades now." This shook the entire room. They looked at each other and sympathie for Louis. He not only lost his main power, the person who attacked himpletely annihted him when he also stole Louis''s Codes. Louisughed bitterly as he stared into the ceiling. "What do I do now? I don''t know what to do anymore. Should I just be an ountant in Earth? I think it''s what I have to do." Allen felt worried as he listened to Louis talk gibberish. He was also a Bearer of a Primordial Beast Code. What if he was hunted next? Chapter 177: Collecting Gossip Chapter 177: Collecting Gossip After they visited Louis, Sebastian made sure that he never left Allen''s side. Even when Allen and his friends went out to eat, he was there, getting all the states and whispers from everyone. "Ignore them," Sebastian said as he took a sip of his tea while he read something in Braille. He was blind, so whenever he was reading something, it had to be in Braille. In some cases, he would just listen to a narrator. "How can we ignore them when they''re all literally staring at you?" Allen asked. "You are the center of attention right now. Sebastian Lincoln being with the D rankers of the camp. That''s news for these media folks." "It is, but your safety is still of the utmost importance," Sebastian replied. "You cannot just roam around without protection. If Roger Huntsman did try to attack you, at least I am here to let you escape. He can''t take anything from me." "What if they take your life?" Allen suddenly asked, making everyone in their table silent. Jeremy nudged him, trying to calm him down but he was starting to feel guilty. "I don''t want more people to die for me. One is enough." "What happened to miss Alice was an ident," Sebastian said. "If you said one is enough, then I''ll be the first. Besides, we have sixty people around the area. They''re part of my group." "They''re here to protect me?" Allen asked, slightly impressed. He was about to smile when Sebastian replied. "No, silly. They''re here for me," Sebastian said. "Everyone knows Achroma can''t function without me." Achroma was the group that Sebastian was in. It was like Barandi which stretched from the board officials, down to the Hunters in Haven. Bernard, Keh, Remy, and Louis are their sponsors. Sebastian was the one who led the majority of their members which are the Hunters from Eternity. "Half of the people are from Eternity," Sebastian continued. "Half are from here. So if Roger Huntsmanes to you, even if he could beat the Bearers, he couldn''t possibly beat seventy people." Allen slolwy understood Sebastian''s point. It was also cleared by the Hunters organization that Star Nest would be locked down temporarily. The Bearers are to be escorted by at least ten Hunters from Eternity and forty from Paradise. This would ensure their safety in case they were attacked. "So, you believe that Roger Huntsman did all these?" Allen asked Sebastian to which thetter answered with a firm nod. "There''s no other person who could par the Bearers like that," Sebastian said. "Plus, they suspected that Roger was someone in Star Nest, meaning he''s also a Bearer. This was spected because nobody else can enter Star Nest except for the Bearers. Both Keh and Louis were attacked there." "Since Keh and Louis were attacked, it could be them. Among eight of the Primordial Beast Bearers" Gwen trailed off. "Who''s the most suspicious?" "That would be a mistake if you exclude the two," Sebastian said. "It''s not because that they''re attacked, they''re free of suspicion. They''re still potential suspects of the Roger Huntsman plot." "Ooh," Gwen nodded a couple of times. "So, who''s the most suspicious?" "That would be the Primordial Sheep Bearer, Russel Alfonso," Sebastian said. "For some reason, he''s too silent about this crime. He often hides himself in the corner whenever the case is mentioned. I saw the footages from the meetings Bernard sent me. "Among that, the biggest clue of alle was how Russel fight," Sebastian continued. "I have seen him fight before right before he ascended to Star Nest and we were fairly new to Eternity. Russel was the sixth to ascend even when he had the third rank inbat. That''s because he takes his time into killing his prey." Russel Alfonso was suspected by his peers and by the ones that saw him to have psychopathic tendencies. When he hunts, he made sure that the beast would suffer a painful death before it dies. This was the opposite to what most of the Hunters do, which kills the beasts instantly. Russel was also seen with an underground room which served as his torture chamber. He would bring barely alive beasts there and torture them to his delight. When everyone thought that the Primordial Sheep Bearer would excel in doing something passive like sewing, they were proven wrong. "Okay, he''s a psycho, but then who''s the least one to be the culprit?" Gwen asked. "I bet it''s Marco Bennington, the Primordial Boar Bearer. He only wants money and doesn''t care about all these." Sebastian chuckled slightly at this, "You''re so right about that part. Marco is clean whichever angle you look at it. Even if you try to torture him, he''ll stille out pure when ites to this cases. He''s too busy managing all twelve of his giant businesses." "Who else is suspicious?" Allen asked. For some reason, there is a name that he wanted to hear. A name that has been floating around him ever since he came to Paradise. "Miss Lin," Sebastian said, making Allen feel a gush of relief through him. He didn''t know what caused this, but it just did. "She''s a woman who wanted to have Drake Nelson all for herself. It wouldn''t be a shock if she killed him to get him all for herself." "If that was the case, then why did she have to attack the others?" Jeremy asked. This made Sebastian nod once, "And that is exactly why she''s not the first prime suspect I have on my list. She''s too attached to Drake that it would be hard to think of Lin being interested in someone or something else." They had to agree on everything that Sebastian just said. Lin''s character heavily revolves on Drake Nelson. The moment he passed away was the moment that Lin lost her sense of character. Even when she was indeed the one who killed Drake, she had no reason to attack the others. Allen''s head was starting to ache whenever he thinks about who could it be and what could their intentions be. It was too vague for him to have a starting point and now he has to rely on clues which will be given to him by Sebastian in the future. They continued to discuss about this and Allen was starting to have a perspective on Sebastian''s point of view. He was still trying to figure out what will be Sebastian''s next step, but he knows his own. "I heard that they were attacked by the same person who attacked Drake Nelson," a woman said. "Young man, you''re a very handsome man who''s tall and bulky. Even when you look like that, you could still be a target. This culprit seemed to be interested in handsome men." "Here you go, Edith, suspecting random things again," another woman rolled her eyes. "Young biy, you only started to gossip here not too long ago, but I trust that you know that Edith has crazy tendencies." "Yes, I do," Allen said through Vince''s body. His original body was back in his room while he left Vince in the market to collect information. The market is a big ground for gossip, if there was anything here that wasn''t reported to him by Sebastian, it would be a huge help. "Do you have an idea on who could have did this to Keh and Louis?" Allen asked Edith. The woman pursed her lips and shrugged. An older man walked up to them. "It was the Snake, there''s no other reason for it." Allen wanted to roll his eyes and lecture the old man, but he stopped himself from doing so. Instead, he turned to the man, looked at him from head to toe and then turned back to Edith. "Hey," the old man grabbed his cor and pulled him up to look at him. "I''m talking to you, why are you ignoring me? Are you a god?" Allen rolled his eyes and still forced his gaze to look at Edith. "Do you have like an apple slice? I want to eat apples" Allen fell back after receiving a blow from the old man. The old man wore a scowl as he growled at Allen while thetter was fixing himself. Although he didn''t have to worry about receiving an attack from an average Hunter since he was in his most durable Body, his pride was still hurt. This could affect his poprity with the yers if he fight back. "I don''t hurt old people," Allen replied. "So please, if you have anything against me, don''t continue it. I''ll apologize for what I did earlier, so please." Pang. Allen''s cheek collided with a fist. This time, he felt the power of the man. He used a Code to reinforce his punch, making it force Allen to stumble back and fall back to the ground. Allen smiled and stood. He sighed and then cracked his knuckles. "You really did it this time. I was just holding back earlier, but you fored me do this. Ha!" Chapter 178: Investigation of Clowns Chapter 178: Investigation of Clowns A sh of zing anger and fury escaped from Allen. Just like what he did to Bryant and Fantasia, bit this one was much more menacing and it had a shorter range due to the fact that the market had a lot of people around them. "You know," Allen said as he stared at the old man who was now on the ground, shaking in fear. "Get to know who you''re messing with before you actually do something, yea? Not everyone is nice like me." "W-Who are you?" the man who was sprawled on the floor as he shook asked. "I''m Vince McMahon, a local busybody," Allen introduced then turned to Edith. "I''ll go now, miss. I have to gossip more." Allen didn''t notice, but a crowd has already formed around them. It wasn''t a big crowd that he couldn''t move around, but it was enough to intimidate him. He didn''t want Vince, or any of his Bodies to have as much attention or catch a lot of people''s eyes since he was going to use them in his scouting job. "He''s the one who made the old man fall," Allen heard a woman whisper. He walked up to them and smiled. "I didn''t," Allen said. "He fell down on his own. I merely talked to him and he just did that." Allen pointed at the old man who was still shaking in fear. "Oh, see?" He wanted to punch himself after this. He wanted to have less attention on him, he should''ve just walked away, but no. He had to talk to the people in the crowd. Allen made Vince turn to a corner and was about to recall the Body when he felt a gaze beside him. He turned around and saw Lin there, crossed arms and shaking her head. "You should be as low-key as you could," Lin said. "It''s not like it''s only me who''s relying on you, everyone is. You should keep your Bodies tobat and not gossiping." Allen wanted to scoff, but he stopped himself. "No, I''m collecting information here. The market has the hottest gossip and the most urate ones, you just didn''t know." Lin nced at the busy street outside of the alley. "Really? Bur they''re merely gossips. Howe they''re urate?" "The people in this market aren''t just people who''s randomly gossiping," Allen exined. "There are a lot of people here who do so much research before they go spread the word. Although there are a lot of these gossipers who alter the words, that is why you have to at least get to ten sources and find themon information, that''s probably the most urate one." "I have never thought about that," Lin said as she stared at the people talking in the streets. "I don''t see myself interacting with these people. I feel like it doesn''t suit me." "These people?" Allen couldn''t stop himself from raising his voice. "These are Hunters who are neglected by the ones at the top you. You and your people are the ones whobeled us this way, at the bottom and has less chances in life." "I didn''t mean that" "What did you mean, then?" Allen asked. "How did you know that I''m me? I never told anyone about the Bodies except for myself." Lin was speechless this time. She cleared her throat and sighed before giving up, "I can see the strings that attached to this body and you. I think this is only a Level 1 feature because I can''t see Lewis Nixon''s Bodies anywhere." Allen froze at her words. He could remember, Lin was the one who helped Lewis and others in their fight agains the Fire Dragon. This woman must''ve been someone who''s involved in Lewis on getting the Code. He wanted to ask her, but opted not to. Lewis was a man who''s not as famous as the others. It would be too suspicious if he asks about him. He was still unsure if the others underwent the same process as him, back when he was only a mute and transformed into this body he has right now. If he asks her about him, she would wonder what his rtionship with him was. Then she''ll try to investigate. Huge cases are given to Primordial Beast Bearers for one thing, they have high Intelligence attribute. They could investigate andplete the investigation in a fraction of time it takes most investigators. "I heard there are other people who has this Code," Allen said. "Lewis Nixon was one of them, who''s the other one?" "I do not know," Lin replied. "Only if I could give you everything you want, I would. I want to help you as much as I can, but giving you Codes and giving youmon information is all I can do at the moment." "At the moment?" Allen''s interest piqued at her statement. "You mean you can do more in the future?" "I''m currently the one leading the investigation about Drake Nelson''s case," Lin said. "My hands are full right now and we''re getting nowhere at all. We just arrived to the same conclusion over and over again, and I know it''s not true." "And the conclusion is?" Allen asked. This made Lin sigh and looked like she must''ve a lot of courage before replying, "That the Snake is Roger Huntsman and Drake Nelson''s case is connected to what happened to Keh, Remy, Bernard, and Louis. All three cases between these people." "Your logic is too wed for this," Allen couldn''t help but scoff. "You actually think the Snake has the capabilities to do all that? It''s not even a year since the stone glowed. How am I able to match up to your power?" Lin sighed again. She raised her hand to the side and created a portal like what Winston usually creates. This time, instead of creating it on a wall, she manifested one right in the air. Her arm went pasta through the portal and she took a folder from inside. "Read this," Lin said. "This is the copy of thetest investigation. I know the others will hate me for this, but you have to know everything especially since it revolves heavily around you." Allen took the folder and his trust in Lin increased significantly. While the others were suspecting him for doing elicit activities, his instincts did not kicked in when ites to her. She looked, sounded, and even felt honest. It was hard to suspect her of doing something horrendous. But even so, he still needed to raise his guard. He couldn''t trust anyone but himself. Even his closest friends might betray him, so he had to be as self reliant as possuble. Allen received the folder and ced it in his inventory. This was shared between him and his Bodies so he could ce something inside using his Bodies and get it in his original body. "Wait," Lin called out before Allen could recall back Vince. "Once you get to read this, please do not hate on anyone. This is based on what we found and what information is avable to us. They don''t know anything." Allen just nodded before recalling back Vince. He sighed after he refocuses on his original body. He then took the folder out and read its contents, every piece of paper would make his heart drop and continue to drop. The contents of the folder was indeed the results of the Bearers'' investigation. These were the proofs, receipts, even recordings of the events that would eventually lead to the conclusion on why the Snake did it. It all started when the stone te that contained the Primordial Beast signs glowed. The Snake whom everyone thought would be lost forever glowed, making it a huge feat for humanity. Finally, there was another of these super humans who could be the world''s power. Then they connected this to the Snake Society which was first founded way before Allen found the Snake, about a decade ago. They created the society to worship the Snake which was thought to be the most special among the Primordial Beasts because it was the final one to be found. There was a list of suspected members of the Snake Society and the list wad quite urate. There were pictures of these people and these contained the faces of the ones Allen saw when he was interviewed by Genesis. The investigation stated that the Snake Society provided Allen the Codes he needed to burn so he could ascend. They also changed his name and identity, hacking the database and installing the Snake''s new identity there. The investigation continued until they arrived at the conclusion that in just under a year, the Snake would be a force that could fight and defeat the Bearers. This part seemed to be too random but it was stated there. Allen wanted tough and scoff at this. The Bearers indeed used the Snake as the scapegoat. There were a lot of holes in their report, but they still continued. "Clowns," Allen chuckled. "What a bunch of clowns." Chapter 179: Blood Bride Chapter 179: Blood Bride Allen finished reading the entire report when he heard a knock on his door. "Allen? It''s me, Remy." The boy was curious for a couple of seconds. What could Remy want with him? If he could remember, the two of them weren''t close enough to act like that. "Coming." Allen opned his door and found Remy there. She looked like she didn''t get any wink of sleep for the past few days, maybe because the Bearers are being hunted one by one and she was afraid that she would be next. "Is it okay if we talk?" Remy asked to which Allen answered with a nod. He stepped to the side and let the woman inside. "I see someone gave you a copy of the reports." "Lin gave it to me," Allen said. It was no use trying to lie to this woman. He wouldn''t gain anything if he hide the source of the report. In any case, it would give him more path to take if he tells her who the person was. He could ask Remy about Lin. "What''s wrong, Remy? It''s already midnight." "I don''t think I can handle the pressure any longer," Remy said. "I''m always restless, and anxious, and scared. It feels like any moment now, Roger Huntsman woulde to me." "So you also believe that the one who attacked them was Roger Huntsman?" Allen asked, making Remy froze after she realized what she just said. The woman sighed and nodded multiple times, "Yes. I believe that the one that''s been hunting the Bearers is the same as the one who killed Drake Nelson. It wouldn''t be a surprise if Roger Huntsman turns out to be someone that''s so lowkey. We don''t know." For these people who was unaware that there are other people outside of Earth that weren''t Serratas, they would think it''s one of them. However, after Allen read the report which contained some factual information, he realized that the person who was Roger Huntsman might not be from Earth after all. His work was too wless to be from Earth. It was a marvel how the Bearers aren''ting up with any solutions when they usually solve a case in just a day or two, a week if it''s too hard. But this one was going on for almost a month, and they still didn''t have any lead. For now, Allen just wanted to know what Remy has to think of the other Bearers. He already knew from Sebastian quite a handful of information, but since Remy is the closest to the Bearers, she could provide him more. The information he was going to use this for was when he rises to their level. There, he could nitpick which Bearer he could trust and which he could not. He would ascend easier and much faster with this method. That''s what Allen has in mind. "Who do you think could be responsible for this?" Allen asked. "Honestly, I tried to ask Sebastian and he said he was still unsure. He didn''t have much ess to the information and reports like you have. You also share quite a hefty amount of time with the other Bearers. You should at least know a thing or two about them." Remy took a deep breath before answering. "Russel Alfonso." A ding sound rang insider Allen''s head as if he was in a trivia game. He nodded as Remy exined why she couldn''t trust Russel enough an she was giving him another perspective of Russel''s attitude. Mostly the part where he has psychotic tendencies. Remy exined the details between Russel and other Bearers. Although he did not have a bad blood between them, they also didn''t have a good rtionship with Russel. He was a spoiled kid that was born with a golden spoon on his mouth. He didn''t have to lift a single finger for anyone until he became a Hunter. It even turned out that the only reason why Russel was a second generation Bearer was because his father hired a thousand Hunters to find a Primordial Beast Code. One found a Code and then sold it to the Alfonsos. He didn''t realize that the worth of the Code he sold was much less than the money he would''ve earned while he used this. But since he needed the money so much, he sold it. The thousand Hunters continued to collect Codes and let Russel burn them to gain EXP. While they did that, he was trained by the pioneering Hunters in a safe and artificial zone where it would stimte a real life hunting ground. Since he was a child born out of wealth, Russel grew up to be an independent person and had his own beliefs. Although he really had psychopathic tendencies, Allen thinks that he showed too many red gs for him to be Roger Huntsman. It''s not him, but at least he knows that he shouldn''t mess with Russel. As Remy continued to talk about her thoughts, it wouldn''t slip Allen''s mind how Sebastian and her had the same exact thoughts. It was too suspicious to be left alone, so Allen thinks that there is something between this too. It could be that they are Roger Huntsman and they''re only using Allen or it could be anything else. But he has to remember that he was the only one he could trust. The other people were acquaintances and he was a solo Hunter. After their talk, Remy left Allen''s room and the boy was left there, sitting on the bed and contemting. He wasn''t sure what to do with his life at the moment. He wanted to find the culprit, Roger Huntsman, but he doesn''t know how. It would be even extra hard for him to find him if Roger turned out to be from another world. He doesn''t know where to go or what to do, which path to look for and which to turn back from. The universe was a vast ce and the worlds that surrounded the Otherworlds was alreadyposed ofplicated ones. Allen sighed and shook his head. He fell on his bed and stared at the ceiling. In his peripheral view where Oliver was seeing, he saw a woman in an alley. She was wounded and she was trying to stand up using her umbre but she kept failing. Oliver, who was on a building above her, watched as the woman coughed blood. Allen waited for a couple of minutes before he helped the woman. He had to make sure no one was chasing her. He took her into their unit through a secret door that Sebastian told him about, and then took her to his room. He used Stacey to clean up the blood that the woman left, cleaning every drop of the blood in before anyone could see. Allen then made Oliver heal the woman. His Bodies were equipped with the Codes that he gave them, so they could still function as Hunters and fight in the battlefield. The woman had deep cuts all over her bodies that stained her white wddding dress. Her hair was a curly brte that reached up to her lower back and based from the clump of hair on her back, it used to be a bun on her head but when she was injured, her hair was messed up. The blood stained gown that she was wearing was also ripped in a lot of ces. The bottom part looked like it was shed by a hundred swords while the upper part looked like it was scratched by a giant beast. There were also w marks all over her body, which made Allen question what exactly happened to her. If she was attacked by humans, why did she have these w marks? And if she was attacked by beasts, why did she have the sword cuts on her dress. The cuts were too thin to be made by w marks. It was a couple of minutester that Allen was able to stabilize the woman''s condition. She was still heavily wounded so he had to call for help. He used Stacey to silently knock on Gwen''s door. She opened it and Stacey led her to Allen''s room. "What in the hell" "Shh," Allen shushed her, cing a finger in front of his lips. "Just help me first before you say anything else." Gwen scrunched her face before she kneeled down and healed the woman with multiple Codes. It took her a fraction of time to heal the woman it took for Oliver to merely stabilize her. This made Allen realize how much far his Bodies have to go before they could keep up with him. "What happened to her?" Gwen asked. Allen shrugged in response making Gwen scoff. "You took her in and you don''t know?" When Allen was about to reply, the woman moved from her sleeping position and mumbled something under her breath. "They''reing," she said. "The gods areing." Then, an explosion sounded from outside. Chapter 180: The Wolfs Bride Chapter 180: The Wolf''s Bride The woman''s eyes widen and she curled down to a ball, gently rockint herself and whispering incoherent words to herself. "What''s wrong?" Allen asked. "What happened?" "I''m not from this world. And the one I came from has anger towards me," the woman said. "Please, don''t let them take me. They will kill me." Allen looked at Gwen, just in time for Jeremy to open the door. "Did you hear oh, my god. What happened?" It wasn''t long before Gary came inside and now the four of them surrounded the panicked woman. She was still whispering the words to herself while saying, "Please don''t let them take me," multiple times in between. "What was that sound from outside?" Allen asked to which Jeremy and Gary shrugged to answer him no. "I''ll go find out myself then." The boy summoned Oliver and let him run outside to see wha the explosion was. It was quite odd to how there was a loud sound but there was no wave of energy whatsoever. It was like the sound existed on its own without having the actual explosion. After a couple of minutes, they woman fell asleep and she was being bathed by Gwen before she could be ced on the bed. Even though her injuries were healed, her entire body was still covered with blood and it would be inappropriate for Allen to bathe her. "Who was that woman?" Jeremy asked. "And what was she doing in a bloodied wedding dress?" "I found her like this, all wounded up as if something inexplicably chased her down," Allen replied. "It was odd. There were w marks, but there were also sword marks. It''s like someone who had a w and a sword all in one, like a beast." Howl. Their heads turned to the window area where arge humanoid wolf stood on top of the adjacent building. Allen immediately sent Oliver right the area to inspect. There were several more of him. They looked like tall humans in the range of seven feet or more while their build were huge and heavily muscled. Some of these folks had armor with them, which included swords and other kind of weapons. Perhaps the biggest feature among these people was the fact that their skin and head were wolves. Their eyes ranged from bright yellow, from the single wolf that stood on the roof, and more pale shade of gold. The pale shade was held by the ones on the ground, the army which Oliver was suspecting to beposed of at least one hundred. "This is bad," Allen said. "I think I know who they''reing for." Judging from therge hands of these humanoid wolves, their ws could be responsible for the w marks. And the swords from the soldiers below could be responsible for the sword cuts on the woman''s gown. "Guys!" Gwen yelled from the bathroom. Allen, who didn''t want to move, sent Stacey there only to gasp at the sight. The supposed bride was now naked, but it''s not a she, but a he. "It''s not a woman." "Maybe this is the reason that theye after her?" Allen asked through Stacey. "Dress her up. We have to talk to these folks. My ability does not work on them, so I can''t read how much power they have." Gwen nodded and looked for some clothes in Allen''s closet while thetter told his friend about the situation. It was lucky that the werewolves were still not doing anything and Oliver can see if they try something, so they could react on time. "We got Keh-ed" Jeremy trailed off. "Again?" Keh-ed was a term they used when a man dresses up as a woman and they believed him. The first one that they saw doing this was the former Primordial Bunny Bearer, Keh. Since then, Jeremy and Gary have been using this term. "You could say that we did," Allen replied. "But that''s the least of our problems. More and more people had been watching the wolves outside. They''re being investigated and I think that they areing for that bride." "But what do we do?" Jeremy asked. "We don''t know if they even speak ournguage or something." A Hunter went to the roof where the golden eyed werewolf was. Allen saw that this man had a thirty thousand power, so he is quite strong. He walked up to the wolf who towered his size. "Excuse me," the man tried to talk. "Is this some sort of prank?" "Give us our queen!" the werewolf said. He was only speaking normally, but his voice was so loud that it reached up to the entire camp. "We won''t harm anyone if you hand over our queen right now. He has yet to finish his rights of passage." "Queen? Your queen is a he?" the Hunter chuckled, causing the wolf to look at him. "Is there something funny?" the wolf asked to which the Hunter shrugged. "I don''t know, man," the Hunter said, chuckling again. "I just find it odd for a queen to be a man. Well, repeating it like that, it is quite funny" Before he could even finish, his head started to roll down the roof. The crowd that watched the scene was silent, even Allen who was looking through Oliver''s eyes was silent. For a Hunter who has thirty thousand power, he should at least felt the attack and tried to move. But he didn''t. Allen barely saw the shing of the wolf''s w through the man''s neck. If he blinked for even half the time that the wolf attacked, he would''ve missed it. 75,000 Now, the number appeared on top of the wolf. Allen was horrified after seeing the digits. This was more than the power of his friends, and since they''re not far behind him, it might be higher than his. A disadvantage with the skill he got was that he couldn''t see his own power. He judged his own power by how high the number of his opponents he took down. Fantasia had a number of a whopping 70,000. Even her was shy of five thousand behind this wolf. If Allen could beat her, his power must be around this man. But he still can''t take the risk. He didn''t want tomit suicide. Allen watched the soldiers and found out that each of them had 50,000 power. It''s not near their leader, but it was still a huge gap between them and the top Hunters in their camp, or even in Paradise. They needed help from the higher worlds. There''s no other way. They can''t defeat these wolves on their own. "Give us our queen," the wolf said. "Or else we will take everything here, man, woman, and child." "Lucky for us, there are no children here," Allen made Oliver spoke. This was the only way he could get the information he needed while his original body try to wake the Bearers up. "We don''t want a fight, so please, state your intentions." "I told you my intentions," the wolf said. "We want our queen back and we know she''s right on that room. People are hiding her from us." "I''m Oliver," Allen introduced. "And I am here to ask you what happened and what''s going on. That''s how I want you to respond." The wolf seemed to be taken aback by Allen''s statement, but he stillplied. "I am Turon, King of the Lycans, and my bride deceived me. He had a smell of a female Lycan, but it turned out, he is a male. On the night of our wedding when I saw his true self, he felt too afraid and ran away. Now, we want him back." "To kill him?" Allen asked to which Turon answered with a shaking of his head. "Why would I want to kill my bride?" Turon asked, to which made Allen narrow of his eyes. "He lied to me and deceived me, but I do not love him less. I have ns on adopting close rtive''s children for us to raise. I want my bride." "Then why did he ended up with wounds?" Allen asked. "He was almost dead when I found her. Why do you want to kill your bride if you said you love her?" This seem to have made Turon confused. "But I didn''t hurt my bride, nor did my men. I chased him when he went out of the castle and into the forest, that''s where I lost him." "Then why did he say that you''re trying to kill him?" Allen asked. "He begged us not to let you take him away." "Leniel" Turon trailed off. "He said that?" "While curling on his knees and rocking himself," Allen said. "He doesn''t want you." "He doesn''t?" Turon asked. Another wolf which wore the same clothing as Turon stepped forward. He walked beside Turon to which Allen felt odd. "Leniel wants you, brother." "He do?" Turon turned to face the other wolf. The other wolf smiled and then raised a dagger. "It''s us that Don want him!" sh. Chapter 181: Pet Code Chapter 181: Pet Code sh. A red blood liquid was spilled on the roof of the building as everyone held their breath. A dagger fell to the ground as well as the one that held it. "Not on my watch," Allen said as he swing the Fervent ive to get rid of the blood. Before the treacherous Lycan could strike down Turon, Allen had alreadyunched himself off of the window and shed the traitor''s chest. The wound wasn''t deep due to the armor that thr Lycan had worn, but it was enough to send him into a shock which caused him to fall. "Brother," Turon whispered. "What''s going on?!" A few more of the Lycans leaped to the roof and drew their swords. They all raced to their leader, screaming their war cries as they try to assassinate Turon. Bang. Gary sighed as he shot one of them. He held a sniper rifle in his hands, aiming from the window of Sebastian''s home unit. He had this weapon from Allen a couple of days back when thetter asked him for versatility. Gary could not just rely on his shotgun alone. When they needed to fight an enemy in long range, he was their best bet that was why Allen gave him the weapon. "That was awesome!" Allen grinned. Jeremy went beside him and he summoned Stacey and Vince. "This is now us against about half of the Lycan army. This will be a tough battle, but I know we can get through this." Turon suddenly stepped in front of Allen and faced the Lycans. When the former tried to protest, Turon raised his hand to stop him. "Don''t worry. I got this. With a single blink of an eye, Turon''s men fell down. Allen did not feel anything, nor did he see anything. It was just one fraction of a second and everyone was down. "Order of the Alpha," Turon said. "They forgot that I am still their leader. Once I reject their entire existence, they cease to live. That is the rule of the Lycans." Allen watched in amazement as Turon leaped from the roof, straight into the room where his bride was at. He carried his sleeping bride, returning to the roof. "I know my people does not tolerate our rtionship, but I cannot live without my bride." "Turon?" the bride fluttered his eyes open, and then panicked. "I''m so sorry for deceiving you. It was not my intention" "You do not need to apologize for things that does not need no apology for," Turon said. "I know how much you love me, just like how much I love you, my dear Gromn." Gromn nodded and dove into Turon''s chest. The wolf leader smirked and then bowed at Oliver. "Child, you said you saved my bride?" Oliver shook his head and pointed at Allen. "He did. I just pretended that I did so you''d tell me something." "Okay then," Turon offered his hand. "Please take my hand. I shall give you a reward for saving Gromn." Allen took Turon''s hand and a notification rang. ''Turon wants to send you a Code.'' The Code has been transferred and Allen waited until the Lycans left to check it. Turon called someone from his remaining army and that Lycan hovered in the air and spun her staff above her as if she was a helicopter. A vortex filled with glowing runes surrounded the entire camp. Everyone was looking at the runes and in a sh, everything vanished. Allen woke up to the room that Sebastian lent him. He shook his head and tried to recall everything, the Lycans, the drama, and the Code. Everything felt so real to him. It was already sunset which was odd because he did not recall what he did for the day. What he remembered was that he dreamt about saving a woman which turned out to be a man and was a werewolf bride. He was chased by his groom which was the leader of their race and the groom was betrayed by half of his men, including his brother. Allen scrunched his face, feeling odd about the story. He opened his interface and saw an unfamiliar Code in his slots. His eyes immediately widened as a clearer, much more detailed memory was recalled in his mind. He ced his hand on his mouth as he read the Code. Type: Pet Grade: Divine Allen couldn''t believe his eyes. A pet-type Code. He has heard of this before and has never actually seen one. He gulped as he tried to figure out how to summon this pet. "Howl," Allen called out and an orb of light was ejected from his wrist. The orb slowly formed a gigantic dog made of light. The size was so big that it looked too tight on the room. Allen was about to scream for help when the light suddenly popped and the form of the giant dog became smaller, smaller, until it was the size of a puppy. Allen scrunched his face as he watched the little puppy on the floor. It was looking at him straight in the eyes. The dog barked and spun, dly seeing Allen as his new owner. The boy kneeled and the dog immediately ran up to him and gently tackled him. "Woah, you''re strong!" Allen gasped after he was caught off guard. The dog was small and looked soft, but it was strong. It was able to tackle Allen and cause him to fall to the ground with little to no force exerted. Allen, who was under the dog, smile and ruffled the dog''s head. "So, you''re Howl?" Bark. Lick. Lick. Allenughed as Howl licked his cheek while still standing on top of his chest. "And Howl, I guess I''m your father now?" Bark. Bark. Lick. Howl continued tickling Allen as it stood on his chest. It was happily wagging its tail while watching Allenugh. "What''s that sound?!" The door flung open and Jeremy''s face sprung out. He was panting and scrunched his face after seeing the dog on top of Allen. "What the dog doing?" "He''s a pet Code," Allen said. "I got him from somewhere." Jeremy paused for a second. It seemed like he was thinking something inside his head then suddenly asked. "This is caused by that dream, right?" "You remember?" Allen asked to which Jeremy answered with a nod. Then Remy walked inside. She casually sat beside Allen and pet the dog. "Does that mean you remember too?" "That was a skill called Memory Wipe," Remy said. "It''s been used time and time by the Extraterrestrials. Only the ones who bear Celestums are not affected by it." Allen looked at Remy, "You''re aware of the existence of the humans from different worlds?" "I''ve been here for quite some time now," Remy turned to Allen with a nk stare. "Of course, I know what going on. I''m not blind, and even though I hate to admit this, the others know too. Not just me." The Primordial Beast Bearers are not only facing problems regarding the discovery of their new world, there exists other humans that are more powerful than them. Although these humans not attack the humans from Earth as much, they would send crazy people from theirs. These would soon be called Serratas. Allen also learned that the non-Earthen humans are much stronger than they are in average strength. If they attacked without using Serratas and actually attack to wage war, humanity would not stand a chance. Remy handed Allen a folder. "After what happened earlier. The report had been changed." Remy left the room, leaving Allen with his friends to read he the folder. There was a thumb drive inside and there was a note saying ''Updated''. Allen was more than curious on what the updated note meant. It could mean anything, even just log notes from their investigation. But it wasn''t. This investigation was about the himans from other worlds, or as the Bearers call them, Extraterrestrials. They are now being viewed as the prime suspect that was responsible for the Roger Huntsman plot. These Extraterrestrials have the ability to open portals from their worlds to the Otherworlds. The portals would be created from a loud sound of an explosion, but the force of the explosion was nonexistent because there wasn''t any. The creation of the portal would produce the sound, but it wasn''t an offensive attack so the power was non-existent. Allen nodded at this as he pet Howl''s head. He continue to read and saw everything going to what he thinks. The Extraterrestrials do not have traces and it was hard to find their fingerprints, that was why they became the prime suspect of the assassination of Drake Nelson. Allen felt relived that their eyes finally left the Snake, but he was still worried. There''s another kind of threat for them already, yet he was still far from his goal. "I believe in myself," Allen said as he closed theptop. He watched his friends and now Howl. "And I believe in you guys." Chapter 182: Winter Time Chapter 182: Winter Time It was another day and Allen felt relieved. There was something that was off his chest and that was the pressure of being the apparent suspect of the Roger Huntsman plot. He wanted to sleep in because it was too cold but Gwen opened his door, mming it to the wall. "It''s winter season!" "What?" Allen scrunched his face before he watched the window. His eyes widened after he saw the white snow pouring out from outside. "So, that''s why it''s cold." Bark. Bark. Allen looked down and saw Howl on the floor, running around and turning a couple of times. Its tongue was out and its eyes glimmered as it watched he snow fall. "Outside is super cold," Allen said. "Let''s just stay in." Bark. Bark. How growled and pulled the sheets off of Allen. The boy scoff and heard Gwenugh loudly. "How dare youugh at that? You see this? It''s only been a week since we got him and look, he acts as if he''s the boss." "You''re so loud when it''s so early," Jeremy said from the door. He yawned while rubbing his eyes. "Come here, Howl. Let''s go walk outside." It has been a week since Turon''s arrival and departure and everything had been silent since. There weren''t many instances that Allen had to act and their weekly schedule had been wrecked by all the events that had happened. It was still vivid for Allen how much everything had changed over the case of the few weeks that had happened. Two Bearers lost their Codes, there was a zombie attack, then Turon and his men. It was all a big blur that happened. "You seem out of it," Gary sat beside Allen who wasying on his bed. "Let''s go out to eat. It''s Winter Festival and the Hunters are going to a firewood thingter tonight." "You mean bonfire?" Allen smirked. "You meant bonfire didn''t you?" "Firewood thing, bonfire, the important thing is that you got it," Gary pulled Allen''s hand to pull him up. "Let''s go." Allen had no other choice but to stand and follow his friend out of the building and into the cold outside. Everything was covered with a thinyer of snow and it was freezing cold there. "You should go out more," Gary said. "I know I''m acting like an old man again, but you really should go out more. Let''s enjoy this time where we don''t have much things to do. We should do things like this from time to time, yeah?" Gary continued his talk while Allen felt nk. He watched the snow fall slowly from the skies, the freezing cold air wafting all around his pale skin. Allen thought he should''ve worn thicker clothes. Seasons in the Otherworlds have simrities in the ones in Earth. Since the higher the world, the closer it resembles Earth, the seasons would be much closer to the one on Earth as the Hunters ascend from one world to another. Winter was the least favorite season for Allen. In the winter time, a lot of beasts would hibernate and even if there were still beasts outside, it was hard to hunt because it was cold. When he was still in his previous body, Allen would curl up into a ball in the corner of his apartment in Earth. He would do this to quench his hunger by falling asleep. That was until he remembered that his friends would knock on his door and would bring him food. He smiled as he remembered how much Alice gave him food and spoonfed him everything just so he would stay healthy. "Oh, Dante! Gary!" a familiar voice called out, making Allen look up. "You''re here!" It was hard to believe but Kyle, Irene, and Selena were standing in front of them. "W-What are you doing here?" "We ascended just a week ago," Kyle said. "We tried to find you in the second camp, but since you weren''t there, we tried here. We just arrived yesterday." "Thank god we arrived before the snow," Selena giggled. "It would be harder, or even impossible to travel in winter. You know how dangerous the beasts get." It wasn''tter that Jeremy and Gwen joined them. They all adored Howl before entering Sebastian''s unit. The man allowed them to do so and said that it was no problem for him. "So, this is where you currently stay?" Selena asked. "We got our cement test and we''re all A ranks, but our units are notparable to this." "Oh, this is Sebastian Lincoln''s unit," Allen casually said. "He''s a friend of ours." "Sebastian" the three trailed off before screaming. "Lincoln?!" "You know Sebastian?" Kyle ran up to Allen. "You should definitely introduce me to him." "Me too!" Selena cheered. "Me too! Let me speak to him!" "Same here," Irene said silently, almost under her breath. All of them caught up with each other and Allen had to make up lies. He told them that they hunted a lot of beasts, but he didn''t lie about being D rankers and how Barandi wanted to get them. Kyle and his friends felt sad for Allen, but they know that Allen could handle these things. Even when they know him as Dante, they saw how capable he was and how much his friends believed in him. "So, do you think you could go to the Winter Festival?" Selena asked. "I heard a band is going to perform tonight and I want to watch it." "I don''t think I''ll be able to go," Allen said. "I wanna stay here and be with Howl, cuddle with him until the sunes up." Bark. Bark. "Howl said that he doesn''t want that," Jeremy said. "He wants to be in the Winter Festival where he can be with other pets." "How do pet Codes function anyway?" Allen found himself asking. "I saw a couple before, but I don''t know how they are used." "I don''t know too," Jeremy pursed his lips and turned to the other which returned him a shrug. "Maybe we''ll ask Sebastian when hees back, but for now we just have to party all night." "No," Allen tried to refuse, but it was toote. Before he knew it, he was already standing in the middle of the crowd with the leash for Howl in his hand. The boy sighed. He tried to look for the area where the pets are safe to be handled and then he saw a pet cafe. All pets were allowed inside, so he came in. "Freezing cold," Allen muttered as he hung his coat on the rack. He took a number from a woman who guarded the rack and then entered the cafe. "Woah, this ce is huge." Allen walked around therge cafe were all sorts of pets were. There were runes on the side to suppress the urge of the pets to be angry, so all pets were happy and calm. He sat on one of the wooden deck that served as the booth with a small coffee table in the center. There was a small railing on the side and Allen figured out that this was where they tie the leash. "What would you like to order?" the waitress asked to which answered with what he wanted. A hot coffee and macaroons for him and dog macaroons for Howl. For some reason, the wolf liked macaroons made for dogs. "What a cute dog!" a woman with a plump chest came and hugged Howl. Allen was waiting for the order and didn''t want to entertain the woman, but he had to watch over Howl in case she does something to him. The members of Barandi are everywhere, so he shouldn''t let his guard down for one second. "What''s his name?" the woman who was wearing a very revealing clothing asked. She only wore straps of red silk, something that wouldn''t make sense because it was cold. "Howl," Allen replied. "His name is Howl, and he''s a pet Code." This took the woman aback. She pursed her lips and nodded. "I see. He looks quite strong, huh?" The woman leaned forward, causing her chest to almost pop out. Allen had to look away to avoid misunderstanding, but it seemed like he was toote. Arge man mmed his hands on his table and walked over to them. He pulled Howl away from the woman and was about to throw it but Allen immediately ran to them and gripped his arm. "Let my dog go." The man nudged his arm out and growled. "How dare you look at my girlfriend like that." "Like what?" Allen asked. "Like you want a piece of me!" the woman cried. "Everyone, he tried to feel me up and lured me using his dog!" Her voice caught everyone''s attention. The people around started whispering to themselves, looking at Allen with a weird look. Then, a p echoed around the room. The woman''s eyes widened as felt her cheek pained. "W-What?" "B*tch," Jake growled. "Know your ce. This isn''t your first victim." Chapter 183: Ophiuchus Chapter 183: Ophiuchus "What in the hell are you doing here?" Allen asked Jake who was now in front of him in the wooden deck. "You Ascended? But when?" "Right after you," Jake said. "You paved the way for me and Lin to meet. She gave me the Codes." "But your uncle could''ve asked you for the favor," Allen said. "You even pped that woman in front of everyone. They are going to talk, you know." "Let them," Jake shrugged. "I saw that woman two weeks ago and she did the same thing to a poor victim. She wore a dress like that to show off and then when the man would nce at her for even the slightest, she would lie and tell everyone that she was being assaulted." "Oh, she deserved that p," Allen chuckled. "She deserved more than one too." Jake just shrugged then looked at Howl who had been staring at him. "Is that a Code?" "He is," Allen replied. "He''s a pet Code and I don''t know what to do about him." "Feed him beast meat," Jake replied. "Cheshire." An orb of light hovered above Jake before turning into a cat. The cat slolwy draped to his shoulders like a falling nket, wrapping its long tail around Jake''s neck like a scarf while it rested on his shoulder. "This is Cheshire," Jake introduced. "It''s a Grand Level 3 Pet Code and it can create illusions." "Woah," Allen gasped. The cat looked at him and rolled its eyes before closing them. "And she''s sassy. Wonder where she got that from." "Me," Jake grinned. "Your pet is still Level 1 and you feed it a lot so it would level up and get stronger. What''s it''s grade?" Allen wanted to lie but he figured out that it would be useless to do so. Lying to Jake would not benefit him anything. "Divine." Jake almost choked on the cake he was eating. His eyes widened and he stared at Allen, shaking his head slowly. "No way." "He was given to me by an Extraterrestrial," Allen said. "I bet you know what they are." "Not exactly," Jake pursed his lips. "But I do know that they are humans from others. And much like us, they are sent to the Otherworlds but not where we are right now. I honestly quite don''t get it." "You seem to know everything," Allen said, his expression suddenly changing to seriousness. "Why did you choose me before? When you decided to make me your Code supplier, you could''ve taken anyone off the street, one that''s powerful. Why me?" Jake sighed and shook his head. "You have read through me." For all the months that Allen worked for Jake, there was nothing but a question he had in mind. There were thousands of capable Hunters, more capable than him to help Jake. So why did the son of a conglomerate chose him? That was until he got fully used to his intelligence attribute that he realized that there was much more than a curiosity and avoidance from his father. Jake didn''t chose Allen because it was the best choice, he chose him because of something else. Jake was about to stand when Jeremy and the others arrived. Allen paused and watch them sit on their booth, loudly talking about how fun it was outside. "You should''ve been there," Selena said. "There were so many things that I had so much fun." "You did?" Allen chuckled, trying to watch Jake who was smirking from the other side of the table. "We''ll talkter." Their conversation continued until it was nighttime. Kyle, Selena, and Irene were staying on their own units, so they left the group. Jeremy, Gwen, and Gary on the other hand wanted to watch the bonfire. Since Allen wasn''t that interested in the bonfire, he stayed at the cafe with Jake. "Tell me now," Allen said. "Why choose me?" Jake stood and recalled his pet. "Come with me." They walked out of the back exit of the cafe where Jake pped his hands three times. A ck hole appeared on the wall and Winston walked out, bowing when he saw them. "Good evening, young master, good evening Mr. Reed." Allen was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Winston. He didn''t know what to do so he just chuckled awkwardly. "Hello, good evening." "Let''s go discuss things in my office," Jake said. When he saw Allen hesitate, he smiled. "Don''t worry. I''ll just tell you things that are not safe to be discussed in public." Allen had no other choice but toply. He followed Jake though Winston''s portal and they all arrived in Jake''s office. Thetter satfortably on his chair, taking his shot ss and smiled. "Sit. Let me talk to you about what I saw back when I first encountered you." Jake arrived at the scene where Allen fell unconscious in the middle of a wrecked part of the forest. The trees were leaning to the side, some even uprooted and some torn in half. "What in the hell happened here?" Jake asked himself as he slowly approached the sleeping boy. "I can''t mend all of these things by myself! This is impossible!" As Jake approached Allen''s lifeless body, he saw the of the wounds from their fight get heal slolwy. He narrowed his eyes, asking himself how this was happening when he hasn''t even cast a healing skill yet. "His regeneration abilities is too great to be normal," Jake said to himself. "How could this be?" He inspected closer, leaning further into Allen''s body and used a skilk Code to look closely. His vision increased to up to thirty thousand times closer, his eyes widened after seeing this. Allen''s skin wasposed of millions of microscopic scales. The scales acted just like a human skin when its not zoomed in, but when looked closely, they are made up of soft scales. The scales had the hair and even have pores, just like how the human skin was. The fascination made Jake stare at Allen even more, but that was before he woke up from his trance and helped Allen heal himself. Even when he could heal his wounds, Jake wasn''t too sure if Allen wasn''t free of venom or infection. Based on the blood that was all over Allen''s body and the ones that sttered on the ground, his wounds used to be huge and might even deep. There were just too much blood loss that it was a wonder how Allen did not die. "Nature''s Healing," Jake cast on Allen, clearing the boy with any infectious viruses that might invade his body. Just when Jake was about to finish, he felt a boiling power inside of Allen. He narrowed his eyes and inspected Allen, the boy suddenly opening his eyes and unconsciously release a burst of dark aura with his eyes gold like a snake. "What is this?" Jake gasped, seeing Allen sat up and raise his arms in the air. "Hello?" "I am the Primordial Snake," Allen said in his sleep before falling back down again. Jake, who was there, slowly crawled away, backing up as the bright lighting from Allen die down. "What in the hell" A couple of minutes after, a man arrived. Jake was there, standing beside Allen''s body, staring at it. "Master Jake. I have been so worried about Master, who is that?" Winston asked. "Winston, take him," Jake said. "This boy might be the key to our goals." Allen froze after what he heard from Jake. The man crossed his legs and leaned back to his chair, smiling. "I didn''t choose you because of the reasons that I stated before. I chose you because I know you''re the Primordial Snake Bearer." Allen was still stunned. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as he saw Jake hold the cuff of his shirt. The man smiled before pulling the cuff up, revealing a tattoo of a snake. But this one was different, it wasn''t like the ones Genesis or the other members of the Snake Society had. While they have a ck snake curled around a pole as it reached up, Jake had a snake coiling on a stone. The stone had a symbol on it that Allen couldn''t quite describe. "The Snake Society isn''t the only one that''s supporting the Snake, Dante," Jake said, still smiling. "My father hates me because I founded another group, one that actually wants to help the Snake and not just use it for their selfish goals." "Jake" Allen trailed off. "I am the founder of Ophiuchus," Jake introduced. "And I''m here to be your servant." Both Jake and Winston kneeled in front of Allen. A couple men entered the room and they too kneeled. "Primordial Snake Bearer, bless us with your might and use our flesh and blood." There was a clear definition of how the two groups treated Allen. While the Snake Society served Allen as their king, Ophiuchus treated Allen like their god. And Jake was there, smiling at at him. Allen shook his head, "No." Chapter 184: Howl Chapter 184: Howl Allen stood and stared at Jake who had a confused expression stered on his face. "You don''t have to worship me likes I''m some sort of god, because I''m not." The others started to look up, all of them having the same confused look. Normally, when you know that you have a group of people who would blindly follow you like a cult, you''d feel empowered and use them as much as you could. At least, that''s how they see the world as. "But your majesty" "I''m not a king," Allen cut Jake off. "You and your father belong to the same group, you just divide yourselves thinking one is better than the other, but you''re just the same. Treat me like I am. I am not a god, not a king, not even a high ranking member of the society." "But" Jake trailed off, standing to match Allen''s gaze. "What are you?" "I''m a Hunter who''s going to change things," Allen said confidently. "And the best thing you can do for me now if you also want the change is for you to keep my identity a secret as much as possible." "We can all kill each other here," one suggested, making Allen''s seriousness fall apart and form a scrunched up face. "Yeah!" another agreed and drew his sword. The others followed him, sending Allen into panic. "Guys, no!" Allen yelled, raising both his hands to signal them to stop. "You don''t have to do something so extreme. You can just keep yourselves silent, or if it is inevitable that the whole world would know, you can help protect me." "We can do that," Jake said. He fetched a ring on his pocket and gave it to Allen. "This ring has a locator. If you twist the diamond in the middle, it will send a direct stress signal to us and Winston will open a portal right where you are." Allen smiled and nodded. He wore the ring on his right ring finger and smiled. "Do something simple like this. I like to work alone as much as I can, but since I know that''s impossible, I want everyone to have little to no stress about helping me." "Of course," Jake smiled. He suddenly offered his arms to which Allen looked at and pursed his lips on in confusion. "I want us to be friends at least." Allen took it immediately and smiled. "Of course." They shook each other''s hands before Allen left the room. He had Howl following him and he was surprised that his dog didn''t bark on Jake''s men. Howl was surprisingly calm and rxed, unlike most pets. "Good luck," Winston said right before Allen could walk away. "You will face a lot of things in the future, but we''re here. And still, good luck. May the odds ever be in your favor and may the gods not leave your side." "You''re some kind of poet, are you?" Allen teased. "But thanks. I will be careful in the future and hope that I''ll survive a lot of things on my way." "You will," Winston said. "I saw it. You''ll do good." Just like that, Winston closed his portal, leaving Allen standing in the dark alley behind the pet cafe. He ruffled the top of Howl''s head before they left to go back in his room. sh. nk! Whoosh! "Stop!" Gwen yelled as she run from a man almost twice her size. "Gary, you don''t know how to wield a sword. Stop!" "Why are those two chasing each other in the snow?" Jeremy groaned, watching his friends run around a frozenke. Gary wanted to try the diamond sword, but all he was doing was swing it around. Allenughed at how adorable he found Gary with his new weapon. The man was an expert when ites to guns, but he was nowhere when ites to weapons. Gwen decided to run deeper into the forest while Gary groaned and switched his weapons. He used his sniper rifle and leaped to a tree where he positioned himself so he could find Gwen easier. "Do you think it was okay to give him the sword?" Jeremy asked. "He always uses gun, ever since he started hunting. Now that he has the sword, he barely uses it." "It''s better than the other Celestums Bearers trying to chase me, right?" Allen grinned. "You can''t use the diamond sword too since you already have one, and you can''t definitely takes the sword and give the spear. The generation penalty would be too much." "Yeah," Jeremy sighed. "I guess we have no choice but to live with his for now." A couple of seconds of silence had passed. Allen''s hair stood after he felt a dangering. "Gary, where is she?" "I lost her," Gary groaned. He continued to use his scope to find Gwen, but it was to no avail. "Oh, found her. She''s running towards us in an incredible speed." "Help!" They all spun to the side when they heard Gwen scream. Allen stood and watched the woman ran from the snow, a huge cloud of snow following her. "Please, help me!" "What in the hell is that?" Allen asked himself. He drew his Fervent ive and created sparks from the sword. "Rabbits!" Gary yelled. He leaped off of the tree and sighed. "They''d Deadly Rabbits." Gwen reached them, panting and pointing at the army of Deadly Rabbits. These were snow bunnies that would devour even the gigantic beasts. They didn''t have much power alone, but as a group, they''re powerful. Allen was about to swing his weapon when Gary jumped forward and swing the diamond sword. "Spark Shifter!" A white holographic light shimmered from the sword as Gary swung his weapon. He shed his sword and fired a crescent-shaped st from his sword. He shoot his attack and killed a fraction of the beasts. "That was not enough?" Gary groaned. Allen moved forward and used his ive to swing it and fire a ming wheel at the rabbits. It exploded into a huge orb that killed a lot the rabbits. "Your form is not good. Your form dictates how powerful your attack is going to be." "What?" Gary asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Form? How powerful the attack is?" "Your weapon has a higher grade that these beasts," Allen said. "Once you sh it and use a more proper form, you can kill half of them." "Just like this," Jeremy stepped forward. He spun his spear on his hands and created a whirlpool of power, firing it into the bunnies and killed an eighth of the remaining ones. Allen and Jeremy teamed up and killed the rest of the bunnies, the both of them almost losing stamina after. There were just too many of the beasts, close to a thousand if Allen would make a guess. "These things," Allen said. "They''re not venomous, are they?" Gwen kneeled on one of the rabbits and examined it. As a support role, her arsenal of Codes included ones that would help them escape the dangers. She didn''t just have healing powers and buffs, she also have more to offer on the table. "They''re good," Gwen said after examining the rabbits. Allen kneeled to reach Howl. "Hear that, boy? You can eat them." Howl barked and ate the rabbits. Allen chuckled, shaking his head as he stretched. "That was a lot of work." "What do you think will happen next?" Gwen asked. "Do you think there are more enemies up ahead?" "The enemies doesn''t stoping until we seed," Allen said. "I think even after we seed with our goals, they''re still there. All we have to do is keep moving forward and not stop" Allen was cut off when an arrow passed his side. It barely grazed his face, his eyes widening after he felt he dripping of blood. "What?" "We got too impatient," a woman walked out of the misty frozen forest floors. "If they wouldn''t want to kill you, we will." "We?" Allen asked just in time for the frozenke to shake. They ran to the side where thend was to reach safety. The frozenke suddenly boiled and shoot up like a geyser. "This is really annoying," a man who had a lower body of a fish leaped out of theke. He formed the boiling water into a throne and sat in the middle of theke. "I wanted to wait but Leo seems too odd these days. Must be something with Virgo." "Leo Virgo" Allen whispered. "Don''t tell me" "Yes, dear," the womanughed, fully walking out of the misty forest, revealing her true form which was a centaur. She raised her bow and created an arrow using air. "We''re Celestums too. And your existence is bothering the bnce!" The woman fired her arrow. The attack was so fast, but Allen was faster. He raised his ive then heard a loud sound nearby. Roar! The arrow vanished into thin air, making everyone look at the source of the sound. Howl stood there, growing fifty times its size. Chapter 185: Allen vs Sagitarrius Chapter 185: Allen vs Sagitarrius ''Pet Code: Howl evolved.'' "Howl?!" Allen gasped as his pet dog walk towards him. He then turned to a quarter of the rabbits were gone, meaning Howl ate them all. "So, that''s how you evolve, huh? You eat a lot of things." Howl nodded, grinding its head to Allen. It was now almost taller than Allen even when it was still on all fours. Its appearance also drastically changed from a little puppy to a giant wolf that had an incredibly terrifying aura. "A Lycan beast?" the woman the arrow gasped as she watched Howl walk in front of Allen. The dog roared, sending a sonic boom that was strong enough to blow the ice off of the trees. She managed to defend herself by blocking the attack with a shield, but she was shaken to her core, afraid of the beast''s capabilities. Howl alone looked like it could take her down, so she was now wary of it more than ever. "What in the hell is that?" the man on theke gasped. "Sagittarius, let''s retreat for now. If there''s a Lycan here, then we don''t know what others are helping them." "Don''t stop me, Aquarius," Sagittarius growled. "The existence of the Primordial Snake Bearer is already a threat to us. We can''t let him roam around." "Do what you want to do," Aquarius said. The waves from theke calmed down and top of theke slowly returned to being frozen. Aquarius sank under theke while still sitting on his throne, leaving Sagittarius alone. "Cowrd!" the woman yelled. She pointed her bow above her and fired an arrow made of energy. The arrow became a giant orb as it reached the skies, sending balls of light down to the ground. "Let me show you how capable I am of killing the Snake before he gets stronger." "Let''s see about that," Allen smirked and leaped on Howl''s back. "Come on, boy. Let''s go." Howl roared once before speeding towards Sagittarius. The woman only smirked and waved her hand in the air, the balls of light that fell from her attack earlier formed eggs that were now cracking. "What are those?" Allen halted as he watched creature hatch from the eggs. These looked like they were abination of animals. It had body and an arm of a praying mantis while its legs were made of horse''s legs. The head and upper body looked like it came from a lion with a tail of a rat. The beasts grew in size in a span of seconds. From small cat-sized beasts, they were now almost to the size of an Earth lion. There were also ten of them, so Allen made Howl take a step back. It would be too rash to attack so suddenly. The arms of the beasts were made of metal and they were sharp. One sh from this would cause great pain or even death. "How will we do this?" Allen asked. He turned to his friends run up to him. "Do you think we can handle this?" "This looks rather easy," Jeremy said. He spun his spear and smirked. "We''ll cover you. You go for the kill." "A Great Gem," Sagittarius gasped when she saw the jade spear. "But the gems were extinct. "Where did you steal that?" "It was given to me," Jeremy said. He then looked at Allen, seeing the boy have the same thought as him. "Im not going to kill her. We might still get more information from her," Allen said to which his friends agreed on. "If we did manage to get her alive, I want to free her right after. we''re not the kind of people who holds people hostages." "Okay," Jeremy agreed. "Let''s go now. I''ll cover you." Gary summoned his sniper rifle and kneeled on the ground to aim. "I have the other five, Jeremy, please take care of the rest. Lethal Burst!" Bang! His bullet went straight through the head of one of the beasts, shocking Sagittarius. "W-What?" Gary showed his weapon. The sniper rifle was modified. "I figured I would have a go at the Crafting Table earlier. This time, I made this from two separate weapons." The sniper rifle was mixed with the crystalized diamond sword. No one knew of this except for Gary himself. The sword was now the body of the rifle, mixing its powers with every attack of the gun. "A-Another Gem?!" Sagittarius growled. "You puny Eartheners never fail to amuse me. You really are filled with surprises." Sagittarius raised her bow. "Launch the attack! Don''t let a single one of them live. Kill everyone. Kill them all!" The beasts roared before running forward, screeching as they did. "They look like maggots," Jeremy chuckled. He spun his spear and leaped, shing one beast in the middle and splitting its body into two. "One down, four more for me." Bang. Jeremy flinched after he felt the impact of the gun near him. He groaned and saw Gary smiling at him, guilty of what he just did. "I''ll get youter." "Sorry!" Gary yelled, smiling as he fired another bullet. While his friends kept the minions busy, Allen aimed for Sagittarius. He dropped his Fervent ive and reced it with a weapon that his friends didn''t know. He was the one who taught Gary tobine weapons and he figured out that he didn''t necessarily need weapons tobine. He can use Codes. The boy used his newly mixed Golden Rust weapon. A rapier made from his Grand grade weapon, ck Rust, that hebined along with a few Grand grade skill Codes. This made the weapon evolve and it was now Allen''s greatest weapon. This was why he was confident to send the Grand Diamond Code easily. Grade: Divine Damage: 600 Effect/s - (1) Thorned Rust - Active - The user can fire three thorned vines at the target. Each vine shall deal 4% of the total damage per second. When the vines are cut, they will explode and deal 10% damage each. (2) ck Rust - Passive - When the user inflicts damage using ck Rust, they will instantly inflict the same amount of damage to the same target. This effect has a 20 second-cooldown. (3) Passive - When the user has dealt 40% of the target''s max HP, their damage to the target will increase by 40%. This scales equal with the damage dealt to the target. (4) ??? (5) ??? The weapon had three unlocked effects. The second and third effects were inherited from its pre-evolved form, ck Rust, while the first one was new. The original weapon did not have any active skill, but this one have and it was powerful. ck Rust''s other passive effects rely on scaling. If he could scale his damage to much higher, he would deal insane amounts of damage. Allen was impressed by this and he wanted to use this as much as he could. "That''s a good weapon you got there," Sagittariusplimented. "Too bad you''re going to die before you can use it." "Thorned Rust!" Allen fired the vines at the woman. She only smirked and countered the vines by shooting three arrows at the same time. Her arrows were powerful and she could even overpower Allen if she wanted. Allen shook his head and ran straight to the woman. If there was anything he learned about Rangers, it''s that they don''t have much power when ites to close rangedbat. They may excel when their enemies are far from them, but if they got close to the enemies, it would be the end for them. "Hiya!" Allen leaped off of Howl and shed his sword forward. Sagittarius raised her front legs and kicked Allen on the stomach with one swift yet powerful motion. Allen''s eyes widened after he felt himself get blown away andnd on a tree. The boy coughed as he made contact with the hard tree, his eyes widening in disbelief. "What the hell?" Hended on the ground with a thud. He felt like his bones broke and was just slowly getting repaired by his regeneration abilities. It was like he got kicked by a thousand horses and get blown away by a couple of miles. "You think you can deal with me?" Sagittarius approaches Allen. "Your current state has little to no chance of beating someone like me." "Why do you have to kill me?" Allen asked. "I didn''t so anything to you nor your people." "Your existence is a grave threat to us," Sagittarius said. "You shouldn''t exist, but why are you here, alive and thriving?" "Why shouldn''t I exist?" Allen ask. "I just want to overthrow the stupid system of this world." "That''s exactly the reason why," Sagitarrius yelled. "You shouldn''t change things. You should let it all be" Two swords went straight past Sagitarrius''s stomach. Allen''s eyes widened after saw two familiar faces, the couple he saw before. "Gemini?!" Sagitarrius growled. "I" The centaur fell to the ground, blood spilled everywhere. Chapter 186: Gemini Chapter 186: Gemini Allen watched as Corry and Ash cleaned their des. He felt too conflicted as to what to feel after witnessing them stab someone with their swords, their movements too swift to be seen by the eyes or felt by the skin. "Y-You" Allen trailed off. "Who are you two?" "The debauchery duo of the Zodiac. Ashtor and Corrux, or Ash and Corry for short," Ash introduced. Corry and Ash were the supposed couple that Allen saved from the ck bear a while back. While they did flee the scene, they saw Allen again after a few weeks and that''s when they gave him good quality Codes that he first used to get by. Corry nodded, "We found out what Leo wanted to do to you, so we decided to just abandon him and his lousy ns. He wanted power all to himself, that''s why he didn''t want you to exist any longer." "But what does that mean?" Allen asked. "I''m not doing anything to him or to anyone outside of our world." "For now," Ash sighed. "You''re not doing anything for now, but what would happen five or ten years from now, once you fully awaken your pweres? Who''s to say that you''re not going to destroy all the other worlds altogether." "I''m not doing to do that," Allen chuckled, shaking his head inplete disagreement. "I only want to stop the corruption of this world, not the others." "We weren''t really supposed to say this but" Corry trailed off, looking at his sister to find confirmation. "Your powers are just too much for your own good. You''re too strong to be ignored. And this world isn''t the only one that''s corrupt and rotten to the core. There are currently four worlds outside yours and each one of them have tyrant rulers." "Why do you know all of these stuff?" Jeremy asked. "You seem to know a lot more than we do." "Let me tell you everything," Ash said, waving her hand in the air and creating ck mist around them. "Let''s start with the worlds and how they take turns seeking the Otherworlds." Based on Ash and Corry, the Otherworlds was an entity of its own. It had its own thoughts and can act based on its own will. The Otherworlds would select a world from a random gxy and create portals that connected it and the world. Every world has their time limit to explore the Otherworlds and that was twenty five years. After that twenty five years, all the beings that existed outside of the Othworlds would perish because the worlds would reset. Some of these things that was left behind would be immuned to the reset based on certain conditions. The first condition was that tbe thing left behind had created a huge shift in the overall structure of the world that the reset power would not fully revert it. The symbols on the gates, the Great Gem underground cave, and the tracker from the Soul Burners'' hideout were examples of this. They carried too different impact on the world that it could not be reset, so the world let it stay the same. The second and final condition was that the final world is achieved and the final boss is defeated. Currently, there hasn''t been a single race that hadpleted this, thus the reset would still go on. The Zodiacs had learned that once the final beast is defeated, the Otherworlds would have its satisfaction and would not reset. No one knows what would happen next. "So, it''s basically a never ending cycle?" Allen asked, scoffing by how pathetic he found the Otherworlds was. "This Otherworlds wants its own fun so it brought different species inside it toplete everything. We can just tell this to the higher ups and pack up. We don''t need this. Everything is pointless if you ask me." "That''s where you''re wrong," Ash said. This time, her voice was serious. "When you failed the twenty five years, your world will perish and only those who have the Celestums will survive." This made them pause and look at each other. That was the reason why the Zodiacs only has only twelve of their members and the Great Gem race went extinct. The Otherworlds would punish them when they could notplete it. "But there are a lot of Lycans," Allen pointed out. "I don''t think all of them have Celestums, haven''t they?" "The Lycans does not participate in this game," Ash replied. "The Lycans are only Serratas that has special cases because they''re not hostile. But they''re essentially not a participating world." "This is all just a game," Allen chuckled bitterly. "This is not how I expected things to go. I thought we would have something at the end of this road. Turns out, we have none." "Wait," Gwen hummed. "Why would the Zodiacs intefere if Allen has crazy powers? If he does, then we canplete thid so-called game and go home." "After losing every single one you love, you tend to either wish others away from that fate or wish everyone would suffer the same," Ash said. "Out of the thirteen members of the Zodiac, only my brother and I share the former, the rest wanted everything to end." "That''s just pathetic," Allen scoffed. "They''re childish. Too childish for their own good. I don''t get why they wish peril for others." "Easy to say when you haven''t experienced it," Corry said, looking at Allen straight in his face. "Us too, before wanted to just let everyone else suffer the same. It wasn''t until the destruction of the Great Gem race that we saw how much chaotic it was that we didn''t want it anymore. We just want to help you as much as we can." Allen looked down, ashamed of what he just said. "I''m sorry. What I said was too shallow." "It was," Ash said. "But if we dwell too much on that, we''re not going anywhere." She offered her hand and smiled, "Let''s do this, okay?" Chapter 187: The Trial Period Chapter 187: The Trial Period Allen paced around the room. He was nervous as to what might happen to them now. He still haven''t figured out what Roger Huntsman wanted and now another threat had emerged. The door opened, snapping Allen from his thoughts. When he saw Remye in he shook his head and continued to walk around the room. "What''s up with him?" Remy asked. "We''re still waiting for Sebastian," Jack replied. "When hees, these two will exin everything. Right?" "That''s right," Ash said. "We wanted to tell it to everyone that Allen knows all at once so we don''t have to repeat ourselves." They waited for a couple more minutes until their awaited person finally arrived. Sebastian entered the room with Bernard trailing behind him. He sat on therge throne-like seat and sighed. "Is this about the Serratas?" "It''s better if we show you," Corry said. He kneeled on the ground and ced both his palms there. "Let''s start two hundred years ago." Everything suddenly went pitch ck. Then,s started to emerge. Corry zoomed into one of thes and showed him and Ash smiling at each other. "Let me tell you what happened to our, Yrrigard." Yrrigard was a outside of Milky Way gxy. In each gxy, there would be at least threes that life could be formed and be sustained. Yrrigard was one of those. When they were only a younger and the civilization just entered a new revolution with technology slowly getting more and more advanced, the portals started to appear. The Yrrigardians were panicked, just like what happened to Earth. It was then that the exact same thing happened to Earth. Hunters explored the portals, twelve people with Codes that have greater powers than all others stood out. The corrupt leadership was being swallowed by greed and money that they didn''t see what was going to happen in the future. Leo, the chairman of the Yrrigard''s Hunters organization, continued to loot the Otherworlds and stopped at the fifth world, God''s Den. He exploited the world until it almost ran out of resources. And Yrrigard bloomed. The, the economy, and the overall welfare of their inhabitants became better. Until the final year of the Otherworlds'' trial started. The was swallowed by the Otherworlds. The portals became vacuums, sucking out everything in its path. The portals transfered the energy from thes into the Otherworlds, making the energy into one big power for it to reset and start again. The ones who were left were ced in a floating ind in space, an ind that revolves around the cluster ofs that the Otherworlds was. These inds were invisible to the Eartheners and even the Serratas, they are the ones who survived theirs. "And the other Zodiacs wants us to intefere with all the others," Ash said. "The Gods did not do this. Instead, the Gods maintained the order of the Celestums, making sure that no one has two." "That''s right," Allen agreed. "One of them came to me and warned me about it. They said that they wouldn''t hesitate tounch an all out attack if I don''t let go of one of my Celestums." Bernard hummed, "But can''t these Gods stop the Zodiacs?" Both Corry and Ash shook their heads with Corry answering, "The will of the Gods are to regte the wielder of the Celestums, they are not responsible for other conflicts." "But they can stop the Zodiacs, right?" Allen asked. "If we could somehow convince these Gods to work with us, we may be able to save us and then try to solve the case of Roger Huntsman altogether!" "We tried countless times for the Gods to help, but it is impossible," Ash said. "They are firm on their beliefs, and they do not want to interfere with any problem that thr current host of the Otherworlds are facing." "What about the Lycans that you told us about?" Sebastian asked Allen. "Maybe they can help us if not stop the Zodiacs, at least they could help us finish the trial period." "The fate of our lies in our hands now," Remy said. "I want to call the others so bad, but we still don''t know who Roger Huntsman is. It could really be one of us." "We can help you finish this trial," Corry said, looking at his sister. "Ash and I are goodbatants and we can get Codes and let you burn them. But we have our own restrictions." "What are those?" Allen asked. "One is that we are not allowed have a Code from any beast in this trial period," Ash said. "This means that whatever Code we can acquire, it must be through trading. The Codes of the beasts here does not match the Codes that we have. That was why Dante had Codes no one saw before." "The Second one was that we can''t fight humans from others," Corry said. "You saw how we killed Sagitarrius, that was because she''s from Yrrigard too. But humans here are off limits. If we hurt one, we would be penalized by having our bodies felt like being torn with a hundred winds blowing in different directions. This could potentially kill us." Sebastian quirked his brow up, "I assume the third one is the worst. What is it?" "We can''t help you past God''s Den," both Corry and Ash chorused. Corry cleared his throat, "After the fifth world, God''s Den, thest world has one single creature. This creature will be the boss of all beasts. We also suspect that this was the heart of the Otherworlds. Once you defeat it, we don''t know what happens." "But this being said," Ash added. "You have to be at least a hundred times stronger than where you are now. The Gods were the first to start their trial and they are already strong, but they couldn''t beat the final beast. You Eartheners have to be stronger if you want to save your." "And how do we get stronger?" Allen asked. "I don''t" "Get more Celestums," Ash cut him off before Allen could even finish. "If you master five Celestums at once, even the Gods can''t touch you." Chapter 188: Deal With Leo Chapter 188: Deal With Leo Allen stared at the twins as if ten horns grew from their heads. His eyes twitched and he shook his head,ughing lightly as he did not expect them to say such impossible things. "Celestums are being monitored, right?" Allen asked. "They would notice if you get more than one." "That''s only if you''re too scared to fight them," Ash said. She looked at Corry and they shared a look before they held each other''s hands and conjured two swords. "Great Gem Weapon!" Ash yelled. "Dual River Splitter!" Corry yelled. Each of them weilded one of the twin swords which was a big sword with blue tones. The upper de was the dull one and it wasposed of sharp teeth-like des while the sharp side was thin and had blue wave carvings on it. Each sword had a ball on the pommel. This ball was attached to a chain that connected both the swords, one being held by each of the twins. The chain was behind them while they stood side by side and held each swords on their outer hands. "Wow," Allen gasped as they showed their weapon. "That''s" "A Code from the Great Gems," Corry replied. "They came right after us and when we visited them, this was handed to us by one of them." "That person could not stand the destruction of his and how she watched it perish," Ash sighed. "So she decided that it''s better for us to have this instead of her living in their ind in regret and guilt." "And the Gods didn''t hunt you for this?" Allen asked. "You basically have three Celestums, I guess one and a half each. But then" "The Gods are just mortals like us," Corry said. "It doesn''t mean that they can''t be defeated." "But what do you suggest we do?" Jeremy asked. "If the Gods are indeed powerful, how can we fight them?" "This might sound too cliche but we need each other," Ash said. "But first we need you to get one more Celestum. Then you have to alert their messenger. They wille to find you again, maybe this time they won''t let you off with a warning." "They will attack?" Allen asked. "No," Corry said. "Only he will." The twins led Allen and his friends into the forest where they said one more Great Gem Code lies. The two had debated for years on what to do with the Code, either to get it or find another one to take it. They couldn''t let the generation penalty to take ce if they take it, so as long as they didn''t know what to do with it yet, the Code was sealed away. "But how do you seal a Code?" Gwen asked as they headed to their destination. "You can''t seal just ordinary Codes," Ash replied. "The Code must be a Celestum or else the seal won''t just take ce." "Oh," Gary pursed his lips. "So, say I want to seal the Great Gem Code that I have, the generation penalty won''t take effect." "That''s right," Corry was the one who replied this time. "The Code is sealed and it can''t be taken unless the host of the seal was broken intentionally." "Host of the seal?" Gary asked. "What?" The twins didn''t want to say more, so instead they showed them what they meant. They arrived at a small cave where a spring of water was flowing in the middle of the entrance. Ash kneeled in front of the spring and inserted her hand on the small hole that the water was flowing from. They heard a click and it was there that the ground under the cave sunk and showed the true size of it which was three timesrger. "Let''s go," Ash said, leading the way inside. They entered the dark cave and reached the end where a small marble was hovering in the middle of the path. Corry took the marble and ced it on a slot where another button clicked and the end of the cave vanished, showing arge dome-shaped room. "This is just like what Chara showed us! In the marble cave where she gave us the Great Gem Codes," Allen said, looking at Jeremy. "Does people from the Great Gem race all build systems like this?" "This was taught by us," Corry said. "I remember Chara. She was a cheerful woman that was on herte age when she became a Hunter. She was like a mother to her race, but she betrayed them." Allen and Jeremy paused and looked at each other. Jeremy spoke, "Betrayed? Chara said that she was the one who got betrayed." "Chara held the Jade Spear, right?" Ash sighed. "How did you think she got that?" "Her best friend, Lana, gave it to her," Allen replied. "Or did she?" "There are only two ways to gain a Code from another Hunter," Ash said. "One is by asking them nicely, the other is by" "Killing them," Allen finished. "She killed her? But why?" Ash raised her hand and waved it in the air, creating glitters that formed shapes. The shapes acted like humans, showing them what happened. Chara stood in front of a woman, which seemed to be Lana. The woman looked like what she described, strong, smart, and wise. While Chara had a fickle-looking face, and a curly hair to match it, Lana had long straight hair and a proper posture. "They had an argument," Ash narrated. "They are best friends and this was the first time they fight. And theirst." "And the reason being?" Allen asked. Ash smiled and waved her hand again, this time, the glitters moved and showed the two women weilding their weapons. They shed des, fighting gloriously until one fell. The Jade Spear held by Charanded on the ground and so did she. Lana pointed her weapon at her friend. "Chara betrayed everyone," Ash sighed. Then, a sword pierced through Lana''s chest. The woman''s eyes widened as she slowly turned around to see arge man with a lion''s man. "Chara made a deal with Leo," Corry sighed. "She killed all the other Gems." The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!