Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 267

Over

“That was awesome,” Hildegarde exclaimed with a red face! Now that everything was over, she could appreciate the skill and talent required to best the three assailants.

“You think,” Mane replied with a questioning look? “I was a bit disappointed to be honest,” Mane remarked casually as he bent down to appraise the heavy sword on the ground.

“Why? You got what you wanted, didn’t you?” Hildegarde didn’t understand why Mane said he was unimpressed. He said he wanted to fight, and he got that. So why was he unsatisfied.

“This man outclassed me in every attribute except agility. But I was still able to control the tempo of the battle pretty easily. Why was that?” Mane appreciated the blade of the heavy weapon as he spoke.

“Because you are a good thinker,” Hildegarde guessed.

“True. I have a good brain” Mane boasted. “But it didn’t factor into this situation in any way whatsoever,” Mane released an unsatisfied sigh.

“I was able to control things so simply because this man was rough. He had great strength, but no techniques to utilise it. He had excellent stamina, and impressive endurance, yet couldn’t put them to use. All this is because he had no proper techniques. His moves were self-taught. He was basically a diamond in the rough – unrefined and unable to showcase his beauty”

“So that’s why you say you are unsatisfied,” Hildegarde stated.

“Yes. Even worse was that my Soul-Body Integration didn’t move by much. It only increased by two points. Only two points!” Mane had a pained expression as he lamented about the fact that the gains were few.

Hildegarde’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance. The respect she was feeling for Mane from his prior comments flew out the window. To think that was his main concern. She knew now that he didn’t really care about the unrefined techniques. He was annoyed and dissatisfied because he was unable to experience a surge in his Soul-Body Integration.

“But your completion rate went up right,” Hildegarde quickly changed the subject. She felt that if she had to listen to Mane complain about his Soul-Body Integration not improving by much, she would lose her cool and hit him.

“Yeah. But what does that matter”

“Aren’t you the one who said you wanted to finish the mission quickly and return home? How would that happen if you don’t increase your completion rate” Hildegarde scoffed.

“Besides, it seems that you gained a reward,” she continued.

“Yeah. It isn’t much, but I’d take it. Status”

Name: Mane

Age: 15

Current Setting: Healthy

Physical Attributes – *Strength: 3.3

*Agility: 4.8

*Stamina: 4.0

Test Difficulty: Chaos

Testing Ground: Chaotic Era

Daily Quest: Complete Dan’s morning training [Completed]

Tomorrow’s Daily Quest: Go hunting with Dan

Hidden Quest 1: Village Head Samoa rages at the thought of his son on bedrest. His anger burns brightest against the one responsible, and he seeks revenge. He has sent two assassins after you. Defeat them with minimal injury. [Completed] – Reward: You now have the ability to appraise weapons.

Hidden Quest 2: Village Head Samoa is deeply fearful of Sir Dan. To leave no loose ends, the Village Head has sent one of his most trusted warriors to stand watch over the house. The goal is to kill the two assassins after they complete their mission so your murder cannot be traced to him. You should:

1. Kill this warrior [Completed] – Reward: 2 additional points to any attribute of your choosing

2. Sustain no major injury [Completed] – Reward: 2 additional points to any attribute of your choosing

3. Sustain no injury at all [Not Completed: Tested decided to be the ‘bigger’ person and ignore the free points] – Reward: 3 additional points to any attribute of your choosing

Total points gained: 4 stats points [unassigned]. You can only assign the points to one attribute.

Goal: End Goal – Become Chaos

Completion Rate: 5.67

Soul-Body Integration: 33%

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}.

“That’s a lot. I thought you said it wasn’t much” Hildegarde exclaimed seeing the generous rewards.

“Say Hildegarde. When we return to the Fairy World, can you introduce me to the one in charge of the system? I would like to say hi” Mane asked with a smile, yet all Hildegarde could feel was a chill running down her spine.

“If you only want to say hi, why are you gripping your sword so tight? And what’s with that murderous aura” That was what Hildegarde wanted to ask him, but she didn’t.

“It’s one thing to lose 3 stat points, but to mock me on top of that…” Mane said through gritted teeth and Hildegarde could only pray for the fairy who thought it would be a good idea to mock the young Supreme for his actions. Since Mane cut himself with the last move, he didn’t complete the last part of the hidden quest. In a sense, it was a huge loss since he could have won without the injury. But the fact that the system was rubbing it in was pissing him off.

“So where would you assign the stat points to,” Hildegarde asked in an attempt to take Mane’s mind off the mockery displayed blatantly on his status?

“Well, I think maybe I should increase my agility. But I also feel that my stamina could do with a boost. After all, if this person was more skilled and the battle had dragged on, I would have been on the losing end”

Hildegarde’s attempt was successful, since Mane turned his attention on what to do with the stat points.

“But I also feel that my strength is lagging behind the others. I do not want to become weak in one attribute. And since I cannot distribute the points equally, it has become all the more difficult to make a decision.”

Mane rubbed his chin whilst thinking that the situation was very tricky. “Well, let’s leave that be for now. I want to test out the function of the first reward” Mane stated.

The first hidden quest’s reward was the ability to appraise weapons. Which meant he could now check the status of weapons. Mane looked at the broken sword that had been discarded on the ground and chanted,

“Status”

Item: Light Sword

Durability: 0/30 – Broken

Strength Requirement: 0.9

Can be repaired

He then turned to the sword that was undamaged and assessed it as well.

“Status”

Item: Light Sword

Durability: 21/30 – In good shape

Strength Requirement: 0.9

Visit a blacksmith to return durability to 30

Finally, Mane assessed the heavy sword

Item: Heavy Sword

Durability: 27/30 – In good shape

Strength Requirement: 3.3

Visit a blacksmith to return durability to 30

“Mmm” Mane nodded thoughtfully as he read through the information. He tried lifting the heavy sword and succeeded. But he could barely gather any strength to swing it. It seemed that all his strength was required just to lift it.

“I barely meet the strength requirement huh,” he noted and said, “I guess we now know where to assign those free stat points”

“Status. Assign stat points to Physical Attribute –Strength”

Name: Mane

Age: 15

Current Setting: Healthy

Physical Attributes – *Strength: 3.8

*Agility: 4.8

*Stamina: 4.0

Test Difficulty: Chaos

Testing Ground: Chaotic Era

Daily Quest: Complete Dan’s morning training [Completed]

Tomorrow’s Daily Quest: Go hunting with Dan

Hidden Quest 1: Village Head Samoa rages at the thought of his son on bedrest. His anger burns brightest against the one responsible, and he seeks revenge. He has sent two assassins after you. Defeat them with minimal injury. [Completed] – Reward: You now have the ability to appraise weapons.

Hidden Quest 2: Village Head Samoa is deeply fearful of Sir Dan. To leave no loose ends, the Village Head has sent one of his most trusted warriors to stand watch over the house. The goal is to kill the two assassins after they complete their mission so your murder cannot be traced to him. You should:

1. Kill this warrior [Completed] – Reward: 2 additional points to any attribute of your choosing

2. Sustain no major injury [Completed] – Reward: 2 additional points to any attribute of your choosing

3. Sustain no injury at all [Not Completed: Tested decided to be the ‘bigger’ person and ignore the free points] – Reward: 3 additional points to any attribute of your choosing

Total points gained: 4 stats points [assigned to strength].

Goal: End Goal – Become Chaos

Completion Rate: 5.67

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}.

Mane nodded his head and lifted the heavy sword again. This time he was able to do it fairly easily. Although he still felt his shoulders sink due to its weight, it was far easier to swing this time. Mane unstrapped its sheath from the deceased warrior and sheathed the heavy blade. He then sheathed the undamaged light sword and went back inside. He quickly walked into his room and placed the weapons under his bed. Then he rushed out to gather the two parts of the broken sword. As he did, he looked at the dead warrior one last time and sighed.

“To think that you were sent here to kill your own men” Mane lamented. After seeing what this man’s task was from the Hidden Quest, Mane felt that the Village Head was very heartless. Although it was his fear that was driving him, to send a warrior to kill his own men was tragic. Mane sent the broken sword into his room and returned to clean up the place. But this time, he run into someone – or rather, people. Well, it was more like these people run into him.

“Why did they appear at this time,” Mane sighed when he heard the rapidly approaching footsteps? From the direction they were coming from, he knew whom those footsteps belonged to.