Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 248

“This world is definitely underdeveloped” Mane sighed as he looked over the information he had been given. Dan arrived at his room only minutes ago to complete the final transfer. Yes, you heard right – final transfer. Mane assumed that the books were well compiled sources of information, but he was wrong. Sure they were called books just like in other worlds, but these so called books were just large sheets of paper bundled together and held by a very long string! The sheets weren’t light and crispy like what Mane was used to, rather they were hard and heavy and it was difficult to carry more than a few dozen at once. Dan delivered seven different bundles of these ‘books’. He had taken almost ten trips to bring them all here. The state of these ‘books’, brought a few things to Mane’s attention.

Firstly, the papers were rough and coarse because they weren’t delicately processed. It wasn’t because Dan was poor or something. After all, his gaze when he brought the books over was that of pride. It didn’t take much to see that getting one’s hands on a piece of paper in this world was difficult. For Dan to be able to get his hands on such a great number of papers was very impressive.

The other thing Mane had taken note of was that the information on the paper was handwritten. Although the handwriting was delicate, and the penmanship was exquisite, Mane knew a handwritten text when he saw one. And all books – all seven bundles of them – were handwritten. It seemed that to get information in this age was harder than normal.

The third thing Mane noticed was the fact that the handwriting belonged to one person. That’s right, only one person filled all the sheets of papers. In other words, all seven bundles of papers – sorry, books – were written by the same person. This further enforced Mane’s belief that it was very difficult to get information in this world.

Mane also took notice of the language. Mane didn’t recognize the language of this world although he had studied several languages to prepare for his travels across the universe. Yet, he could understand Dan’s words, and the text on the paper, though foreign in language, didn’t escape his comprehension. According to Hildegarde, it seemed that automatic language perception was given to Mane for this test. This was because Chaos was only the second highest level of difficulty. According to Hildegarde’s conjecture, ‘Origin’, which was the highest difficulty that one could ever record, may not have such a bonus.

“And it seems that I was pretty lucky to come across Dan in my unconscious state” Mane sighed to himself. That was also a very lucky encounter. In a world that had such scarce information, Mane was lucky that the one who came across his unconscious frame in the Enchanted Forest was one of the few men who had information on this world. Mane truly understood how strange it was for him to ask Dan for ‘some books’ to read. Even if he had lost his memory, he shouldn’t have forgotten how scarce information was in this world. Luckily for him, Dan had books, and wasn’t afraid to share.

“The fact that they use such a primitive method to store information could mean only one thing” Hildegarde had returned to her rightful spot on Mane’s shoulder. She pondered the options they had and what their current situation meant. But she wasn’t the only one who had considered their situation. Although Mane had lost his rights to be a scholar after entering this testing ground, he still had a high intelligence quotient, and he wasn’t afraid to but his brain to work – injured or not.

“It is a world plagued by war and chaos” Mane stated.

“Indeed. That was exactly what I was thinking” Hildegarde nodded. There were many worlds in Mane’s universe that were still experiencing turbulent times, but they still had books and other sources of information. Yet this world stored information in the most primitive way, and it was a luxury to have an archive of information. This meant that the chaos and war the drowned this world in blood, and made it impossible for one to think about storing information when they could only think about saving their lives. This also meant that the world was severely divided, and there weren’t really any powerful forces keeping things in check.

For instance, in the world of Zandor, there were four powerful empires that kept things in order: The Northern Empire, which boasted of the best generals; the Eastern Empire, which was famed for their brutal methods against their enemies; the Western Empire, which had the most nobles and the best military education in the world, and served as the centre for the Wielding Academy; and the secretive Southern Empire, which had the least number of wielders compared to the other three, but was very strong nonetheless.

These empires kept the world in check, and recorded all the information about the world of Zandor. This made it possible for the latter generation, those who had only just been born and those before them, to know about the history of their world. Granted, they didn’t have everything recorded, and there was a knowledge gap that hadn’t been filled in those war ridden years that broke families apart and dyed the earth with blood; but they still recorded much information, and many benefited from their efforts – Mane included.

For this world to not even have books, showed that there was a lot of turmoil. Mane finally understood why the testing ground was referred to as the Chaotic Era. This planet didn’t have what every relatively stable planet had – a name.

“From what is written here, this world doesn’t truly have any history. You can say that we are in the initial stages of this world’s history” Mane was reading through the first ‘book’. Hildegarde sat on his shoulder and saw everything he did.

“Indeed. The world is barely a hundred years old. It truly is the Chaotic Era” Hildegarde mumbled.

“It is,” Mane nodded. “I can now understand a bit of what the Origin difficulty would be like” Mane rubbed his beard and said.

“What do you mean,” Hildegarde wondered?

“Well, although this world is young – so young that I doubt that it has a Will – it is still doable,” Mane crossed his legs as he explained.

“So you are saying that the ‘Origin’ difficulty is much similar to this,” Hildegarde was very sharp. Although Mane didn’t really say anything related to it, she could tell what he meant.

“Bingo,” Mane pointed to the wall and feigned pulling a trigger. “Think about it. Although I am on the Chaos difficulty, I was lucky enough to get picked up by a strong passerby, who just happened to have some text about this budding world written down on what is a scarce resource here – paper. I’m guessing that the ‘Origin’ difficulty would have a world similar to this as its testing ground, but without the element of luck” Mane explained his theory.

“I see,” Hildegarde picked up Mane’s habit of rubbing his chin and nodded. Since ‘Mythical’, ‘Legend’, ‘Chaos’, and ‘Origin’ weren’t commonly known difficulty levels, her understanding of them was almost as vague as Mane’s; however, she felt that Mane’s words seemed more likely to be true.

“So the biggest difference between the two, is luck,” Mane stated. “And that would explain the end goal – Become Chaos. In a world that has no order, it seems that I must be the one to bring about order” Mane yawned and said.

“Oh? How is becoming Chaos related to order?” Hildegarde questioned Mane.

“What comes before order” Mane smiled and said?

“Chaos. Oh I see” Hildegarde finally understood what Mane was saying. She finally got what he was trying to convey.

Mane smiled at her and said, “I must become someone that would bring the natives of this world together. This book here says that there are several mercenaries and bandits roaming the world. There is disorder everywhere and chaos is the daily bread of the common people who have no power to defend themselves. ****, pillage, murder, conquest – these things have ravaged the world and set it aflame. The seven deadly sins thrive in this environment, and everyone tries their hardest to fend for themselves. Only a few like Dan see the bigger picture and try to bring up a force, but they struggle immensely to grow”

Hildegarde only listened; she didn’t interrupt. When Mane first laid eyes on Dan, he said that he was a man with authority. Maybe Mane was right. Maybe the reason Dan recorded the history of the world was because he dreamed of liberating it from the countless wars and strive, and finally conceiving a generation that didn’t know war; yet, were informed of their background. From the minimized ‘Status’ window she could see the completion rate shooting up. This was the first time she was part of a test that had a vague goal, and needed the tested to figure out what he had to do for himself. But that was why it was the ‘Chaos’ difficulty. So seeing the completion rate going up because Mane had realized what he was meant to do was a first for her. The blinking ‘Status’ window also suggested that Mane might have completed some quest. She would have to prompt him when he came back to himself so that they could see what it was.

“In this world where humans have ignored the threat of Magical Beasts and are focused on destroying each other, with each man selfishly looking for a way to carve out his own territory, it is necessary that they have one goal. They must have an enemy so great that they would put aside their differences and band as one, seeking to take back their planet. The dispersed chaos must be gathered by one person; it must be centralized so that the entire world would see what it has to do. If the Magical Beasts, who are simple minded and more divided than the humans cannot do that, then I will. I would be that person. I must become chaos itself and wage war on this planet. I must be the force that drives them to stick to each other.”

Mane laughed softly as he truly grasped what he was supposed to do. He had much to read, but he knew the general outline of his task now. It was unfortunate that he had to become the villain so that his divided world would finally be united as one, but he could only answer the call of the Dreamscape and do this so that he would finish his quest. That was the only way to return home.

“I would ask Dan to teach me the fighting arts of this world when I am healed. I’m sure he would oblige” Mane mumbled.

“This test isn’t going to be easy at all” Hildegarde sighed and slumped unto Mane’s shoulder.

“No it isn’t; but it has to be this way. For before there was order, there was chaos”