Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 257

“Today was great. I never knew this place was so big” Back at Dan’s residence, Mane appreciated the efforts of the twins who freely showed him around the village by conveying his thanks. His bright expression and sparkling eyes revealed that he wasn’t just being polite. He truly enjoyed himself today. Although getting to blow off some steam, by butchering Tito and his friends was part of the reason he felt so at ease, sightseeing with the twins was fun in so many ways. The village was small yet beautiful, and the marketplace was filled with strange things he had never seen or heard of before.

“Yeah. The village looks small when you only stay at one place. However, once you begin to explore, you realize that it is much bigger than you could ever imagine” Lam smiled at Mane and stated.

“I learnt that today,” Mane nodded his head in agreement. “Are you sure that you do not want to come inside,” Mane asked the twins once again?

“No, we must return to our home,” Lam quickly refused when he saw that Lily was eager to accept the invitation. It was almost as if he was terrified of letting his sister get closer to Mane.

“Besides, we must report what happened to our Grandfather,” Lam gave a valid excuse while he was at it.

“Tell him what,” Mane c.o.c.ked his head to the side with an innocent expression on his face? “It was an uneventful day, so I am wondering what there is to report,” the young Supreme continued as he tied his loose hair into a ponytail.

“You are really incorrigible,” Lam sighed after listening to Mane’s words. He didn’t sense dishonesty from Mane’s words. However, Mane had been denying the incident the entire time, so even though he had only spent a few hours with Mane, Lam was used to his behavior by now.

“How can you call beating up Tito ‘uneventful’,” Lily giggled by the side. Although she had listened to Mane ignore the gravity of his actions over and over again, she still found it fun to watch.

“Oh that,” Mane snapped his fingers like he had suddenly been enlightened. On top of his shoulder sat Hildegarde. She sighed as she tried to connect the Mane from one month ago to the current Mane. Although she had only met the Mane from one month ago when he was introduced as her chaperone, at the time he gave the impression of one who was calm and composed, kind and mature, proud and slightly aloof, and gentle with a slight hint of ruthlessness hidden within. He never came off as a highly sociable person. Even when she shared in his memories when he was being transferred to this world, she saw that his interactions with his friends wasn’t anything like this.

He was doting of the Hydra twins, gentle with his disciple Aegeus, a bit competitive with Abelard, and a bit restrained with Frederick and Selina (probably due to their age and the fact that he hadn’t known them long enough). But he was never this jovial with them. He had only just met Lam and Lily, yet he laughed with them jovially, and teased them like he had known them for ages. This was strange since he wasn’t so free with Selina and Frederick, whom he knew way longer than Lam and Lily.

“It must be the influence of that bad egg called Dan,” Hildegarde grumbled to herself. That was the only explanation to Mane’s drastic change. He had stayed alone with Dan for too long. The man’s outgoing personality had deeply infected Mane, who only had Dan for company for the past month. Hildegarde paid little attention to the conversation between Mane and the twins, as she figured out a way to get Mane back to who he was. She couldn’t have the one marked by fate becoming a party person and losing his sharp edge.

Lam couldn’t help but snicker at Mane’s expression. Now that one of the burdens upon his shoulders had been temporarily lifted off (the issue about him gaining strength), he was more at ease. He was now able to laugh at the things he would never had laughed at before.

“Yes that,” Lam smiled at Mane and said. “We need to inform Grandfather so that he can defend you if there is any trouble from the Village Head’s side,” Lam’s expression became a bit more serious when he spoke of the Village Head. There was a little bit of nervousness in his tone.

“He’s a ‘New Type’, isn’t he,” Mane smiled when he noticed Lam’s anxiousness.

“As I thought. You knew” Lam nodded at Mane’s question and sighed.

“Not really. It was just a guess.” Mane smiled as he replied. Lily quietly stood at the side. She didn’t interrupt, for she didn’t really have anything to say. She felt that the topic was getting a bit more serious, and she didn’t want to involve herself in any strenuous explanations; especially when her brother could do it better than her.

“What kind of New Type is he,” Mane wondered? Since he had thoroughly offended the Village Head by beating up his son, he needed to gather information so that he could deal with whatever would come his way. Plus, he needed to find a way to procure some swords. Although there was no Edict or Chaos, his understanding of sword and blade arts remained. And Mane was confident that if he had a sword or two, he would be able to seriously deal with even someone as strong as Dan (at his base level of course. Mane still didn’t know what special ability Dan possessed)!

“Well, nobody really knows, mainly because no one has actually seen him fight. He is like Sir Dan in terms of secrecy. Although Sir Dan is physically strong, he certainly has a special ability since he doesn’t use any weapons and still manages to kill High Class Magical Beasts with relative ease. Just like Sir Dan is a New Type with unknown abilities, Village Head Samoa is also a New Type with unknown abilities”

Mane learnt the name of the Village Head from the conversation. He also realized that Lam didn’t know that Dan wasn’t a New Type, but a Mystic Path Warrior. This wasn’t any surprise since only a fool would disclose such information. It made him wonder if the Village Head was also secretive because he was also hiding a big secret like Sir Dan. Although Mane didn’t know what this secret was, it was highly unlikely that Village Head Samoa was a Mystic Path Warrior too. After all, meeting one Mystic Path Warrior in this small village was a miracle in itself, but meeting two was improbable.

“But it is believed that his special ability is strength-based. The remains of every Magical Beast he brings back suggests that brute force was the reason for their deaths. Plus, he uses a heavy hammer as his primary weapon. He always has a few throwing daggers on him as well, but as none of the Magical Beasts he has killed have any knife markings, it is unknown whether or not he truly knows how to use the daggers” Lam didn’t have much information, but the little he managed to figure out, he analysed to the fullest.

“That’s some nice analysis you’ve done there,” Mane complimented the older of the twins. Lam scratched his cheek embarrassingly and said, “Since I didn’t have any power to protect myself, I spent most of my time learning about Village Head Samoa and Tito”

“Hopefully, I would become stronger from your training,” the twin stated. He quickly added. “I may not be a New Type like yourself, but I hope I can at least be strong enough to defend my family”

“New Type,” Mane mumbled internally but he didn’t correct Lam. If Lam thought so, then that would be best. It would also be great if Village Head Samoa reached the same conclusion. Besides, it would serve to explain his strength since his abilities would only grow stronger from here.

“He has mistaken your identity. But I’m sure you don’t mind” Hildegarde stated as she flew on top of Mane’s head. Mane nodded internally, whilst thinking that Hildegarde didn’t know how to obediently stay a one place. She kept moving around and if Mane were to follow her with his eyes, he would have been hit by a heavy dizzy spell.

“You are a New Type right,” Lam asked curiously when he saw Mane’s dubious expression? Lily also stared at him with her big, green, innocent eyes.

“Mhm,” Mane nodded his head and solidified the lie as truth.

“I figured out that much. The way you weaved your way through them as you tore down their defenses was truly grand. You are an Agility Type, aren’t you? Your agility vastly outstrips your other qualities.” Lam questioned Mane as he dug deeper into the lie.

“He’s good,” Hildegarde sounded a bit surprised. She lifted herself off Mane’s head and flew to Lam. She scrutinized him seriously, as if she wanted to find something she had missed the first time.

“Nope. He’s still the same” she remarked, and Mane almost rolled his eyes. “Although he’s wrong about the source of your abilities, he is spot on with the Agility thing,” Hildegarde returned to Mane’s side and stated. Mane could only agree with her in his mind. It was true that his agility was now furthest ahead amongst his three physical attributes. Also, his completion rate had increased. This was because of a skill he unlocked after broke the hand of the first boy. It came as a shock to Mane to discover that he could unlock skills for some of his actions, and that was also one of the reasons he was so lighthearted even after he had beaten the boys half to death.

His status looked like this now:

Name: Mane

Age: 15

Current Setting: Healthy

Physical Attributes – Strength: 3.2

*Agility: 4.7

Stamina: 3.9

Test Difficulty: Chaos

Testing Ground: Chaotic Era

Goal: End Goal – Become Chaos

Completion Rate: 5.03

Skills: Speedy Chaos [Active skill] – You have caused chaos after only one month of entering the testing grounds. You run towards chaos, and it runs towards you. Run Wild Supreme. Be Chaos! {Permanent increase in Agility stats by 1.5. Additional 10% increase in speed when activated}.