Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 243

“All of you, be quiet!” the murmuring of several fairies stopped at the commanding words of the fairy who was seated higher than all of them. The meeting room was as bright as the place Mane was stuck in, but it was filled with fairies. All the fairies floated above ground and faced twelves ‘thrones’. The thrones were suspended in the air and were occupied by twelve different fairies. Eleven of these thrones were at the same level, with one of the elevated higher than the rest. The fairy that occupied the highest throne was the one who commanded that the others be quiet.

In the dimension called the Dreamscape, this fairy had the highest authority. His authority has granted by the King of the Asgardians, the Allfather Odin. Not only was he the fairy with the most authority in this realm, but he was also the oldest fairy of this realm. He was one of the 12 fairies that had been appointed by Odin himself and had a personal relationship with the powerful Allfather. He was the Dreamscape’s Fairy King – King Haaland.

The Fairy King gazed upon the fairy that was kneeling before him – midair – and asked, “You said that three other levels appeared when it was time for him to pick the test difficulty?”

The kneeling fairy was the one who was with Mane only a few minutes prior. Just like she said, she had come to speak to the ‘Management’ about the strange development concerning Mane’s test.

“Yes, Fairy King Haaland. The recommended level displayed was ‘Legendary’. Below it was ‘Mythical’ and above it was ‘Chaos’. I came here immediately to report this, just in case there was a mistake” Unlike the way she spoke to Mane, her tone as she addressed the Fairy King was full of respect and admiration.

After all, although Mane was related to the Allfather, his particular relationship with the God King was unclear. Added to the fact that Mane didn’t even know his heritage, she reckoned that maybe he wasn’t closely tied to the Asgardian King. And even if he was, she wouldn’t feel as awed as she did now, standing before the Fairy King. To her who had never seen Odin and had only heard of him, the Fairy King of her race was a legend. She had nothing but respect for him. Her speech was slower than usual, evidence that she was picking out her words carefully before she let them out.

“Well done. You did the right thing by coming straight to us” The Fairy King nodded his head in approval as he listened to the words of Mane’s chaperone.

“It is what any of us would have done, Fairy King Haaland” Mane’s fairy beamed in happiness and said.

“My King, is it her mistake?” one of the several fairies that crowded the room asked. Mane’s chaperone remained kneeling as she listened to them argue about the information she had brought. All the fairies here were higher leveled than she was. They were all part of the second highest echelon in the Dreamscape. The only ones who had more power than them were the eleven elders and the Fairy King. So, though she felt insulted that they doubted her information, she wasn’t in the position to oppose them.

“How about you allow them access to your client’s information?” Fairy King Haaland ignored the fairy who asked whether Mane’s fairy provided the wrong information, and asked that she display the information she had attained from Mane. The ignored fairy didn’t feel any grievance at being ignored by the King. Normally, he wasn’t qualified to meet the King, but the special circ.u.mstances allowed the fairies that handled the management of the Dreamscape to meet with the King and the Eleven Elders. All what he could think about was how he was going to boast to his friends when he got back, and tell them how the Fairy King had elegantly ignored him. Such was his fanaticism with the Fairy King. Unfortunately, most of the fairies were like this.

“As you wish Fairy King Haaland” Mane’s chaperone pushed down the giddy feeling was she experiencing and displayed the panel that had showed up when Mane was asked to choose his difficulty. On the panel were the following words.

Name: Mane

Age: 11

Test Difficulty: Mythical

Legendary (Recommended)

Chaos

“Are there any more doubts about the authenticity of the information?” The Fairy King glanced at the panel for only a short period and asked. Just like the King, the 11 elders only took a cursory glance at the panel before they turned their attention elsewhere. The excited chaperone didn’t miss this.

‘They know!’ she exclaimed in her mind. Their lack of surprise; the cold eyes that showed very little emotion at the unusual information; and the fact that they didn’t take the claims that the information was fake seriously all pointed to one simple conclusion – they knew already. She would have been flattered if they did that because they trusted her, but she knew that was improbable. Not only was she a lower ranked fairy in charge of guiding the tested, she had also never met the Management until today. It was likely that they knew who this boy was.

‘Who is he?’ she couldn’t help but think about the blue-eyed boy. Now that she thought about it, he was only 11 years old. That was one of the youngest ages to be recorded in the Dreamscape. Not only was he young, he had the aura of an earth realmer. He was very outstanding by the standards of the True Universe.

“If no one has any more objections to the information, the 1st elder would explain the circ.u.mstances to you all” Fairy King Haaland announced and left the task to the elder seated directly below him. His words meant that all the attention he was receiving fell on the 1st elder instead.

“As you wish My King” the 1st elder extended his willingness to follow the King’s command.

“What I’m about to say mustn’t leave this room” the 1st elder commanded. The fairies held their breath in eagerness, knowing that they were going to learn of some important secrets today.

“Pardon my rudeness, 1st elder, but does she need to be here?” the fairy who asked about the authenticity of Mane’s fairy’s information interrupted once again. He pointed to Mane’s fairy and questioned her right to listen in on what would definitely be vital information. Other fairies voiced their discontent. They also didn’t think she should be here.

Mane’s chaperone felt aggrieved as she listened to their complaints. The fairies were a race known for their strict hierarchy. She was a fairy in charge of chaperoning the tested – a low level fairy – but those here were all high level fairies. Although they were numerous, they were barely five percent of the total fairy population in the Dreamscape. They were the elite. It was no wonder that they didn’t want her to be here. As she prepared to leave, the Fairy King raised his bowed head and announced,

“She stays”

The room grew quiet at his words as all the protesting fairies were silenced. The King had spoken. They didn’t dare to disobey.

The 1st elder nodded and continued, “The known levels of difficulty in our realm are seven: Very Low, Low, Below Average, Average, Above Average, High, and Very High. But Very High isn’t the peak level difficulty. There are four other levels above Very High: Mythical, Legendary, Chaos and Origin”

“There is another level above Chaos?” the fairies who thought that Chaos was actually the highest level were stunned to discover that it wasn’t. Didn’t that mean that there was a monster somewhere in the universe with talent greater than the kid that had arrived?

“There is” the 1st elder nodded without expressing any emotion. He waited for the fairies to grow calm and he continued, “As you all know, the difficulty of the test determines the kind of world that a person would be sent to, and the kind of power they would start with. From Very Low to Average, the testing grounds are all lower worlds. From Above Average to Very High, the testing grounds are higher worlds”

His subsequent words didn’t elicit any extraordinary response from the fairies. All the fairies knew this. Even Mane’s chaperone who was at the lowest level of the hierarchy knew this.

“But it is a bit different when it gets to the levels above the Very High difficulty. The world one is sent to is completely random, and he/she may have to occupy a different body. Of course this also means that the gains from passing the test are also extraordinary” 1st elder revealed