Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 306

“Looks like my worries were unfounded”

Quite a distance away from the battlefield, and beyond the reach of any of the men or women, two cloaked figures stood watching the entire proceedings. One of them was slightly hunched, indicating some signs of old age. It was this figure that spoke, and the feminine tone was enough to show that it was a woman.

“How could you not believe in your own prophecy?” The other figure next to the woman mocked. Unlike the woman, he wasn’t hunched over, and his baritone voice was filled with youth. There was a large sword poking out of his cloak, and his thick long hair could be seen even under the cover of the cloak.

“You can’t blame a mother for being worried about her son,” the hunched old lady replied. Her voice had a bit of joy in it. And why wouldn’t she be happy.

“I still feel like there was a better way to reverse the damage that the New Type Potion did to his body without forcing him into the belly of the beast- literally.”

The young man didn’t understand the woman’s intentions. She was clearly happy that her son was safe. That much could be inferred by listening to the joy in her voice. So why did she allow something so dangerous to happen? It was true that her son had regained his power- power that had been lost after he consumed the New Type Potion; but this plan was a dangerous one. Any small mistake and he wouldn’t have been able to make it out alive.

First off, the plan was based on a vision the old woman had received decades ago. Like every other vision, it was unclear, and it really couldn’t be called a vision since what came to her were words, and not an image. The words she received were so:

A time would come when the Cat would swallow the sun and all would seem bleak. Those around him would be indisposed, without as much power to even lift their heads, and darkness would be all they would have as their company. It would be then that he would rise. The Cat would spit out the sun from its belly and the sun would rise into the nonday sky.

The words were vague, much like every other so called vision. And it was difficult to understand exactly what it meant. But she researched and researched, never giving up and years after her vision, she received another vision. This time there was an image.

She saw her son shrouded in fire. But the fire was dark and gloomy, as dim as the night itself. It was hard to make it out as fire, and it would have been impossible to do so if not for the flickering of the light and the fact that it danced around him. She saw darkness consume her son’s figure, and felt her heart clench in pain. But the vision wasn’t over. All of a sudden, the darkness that swallowed her son was consumed, and the dark fire turned into bright, crimson flames; flames that stole the majesty of the sun’s flames. Shrouded in the bright fire, her son stretched out his hand and dispelled the darkness with little effort. A comforting end to the vision.

The only problem was that the vision still wasn’t clear. She was able to make the connection between the words she received and the images she saw. But she still wasn’t clear on what it meant. So she left the village, seeking for the meaning behind the words. And after several years she understood a bit of what had to be done. And she spent all these years setting out to make her vision, a reality.

“It is true that this was a plan with a lot of risks,” the old lady agreed. If Dan had been killed by the beast’s smack, even if he swallowed by the beast, he would have been dead. And the dead do not come back to life.

Secondly, if the beast had decided to chew onto its food before it swallowed, Dan would have died. And these were just the most obvious problems. There were too many unknowns; too many risks. Yet she had still gone on with her plan.

“But I wouldn’t do any of this if I didn’t have any confidence,” the old lady remarked.

“I thought you said you didn’t trust the prophecy completely.” The young man assumed that it was because of the prophecy that the older woman was so confident. But that was confusing for him, since she had clearly stated that she wasn’t completely trusting of the prophecy.

“Oh I trust the prophecy, but only when my visions have nothing to do with my son,” she stated calmly, her words almost causing the young man to lose his footing.

“Did you think I would leave my son’s life to chance?” she shook her head, a hint of sarcasm thinly coating her voice.

“What do you mean?” the young man wondered.

“Have you forgotten that Oracles are also blessed with the power of sorcery?” she asked, and the young man finally seemed to be enlightened.

“I understand now. Those weren’t lucky coincidences. The fact that he didn’t die from the beasts paw, or the fact that he wasn’t chewed on before he was swallowed. Plus the fact that for some strange reason he needed to be swallowed by the Resurrection Cat before he could awaken. None of these things were coincidental. You made sure of that.”

“I did. I was uneasy with the prophecy. I have had prophecies about myself revealed to me. Some good, and some bad. Yet none of them made me feel as uneasy as his did. I felt as though if I didn’t orc.h.e.s.trate everything myself, none of these things would happen.”

“That was why you planned the Overflow,” the young man nodded understandingly.

His words would have shocked anyone who heard it. Samoa was right. The Overflow was so strange and unexpected that it almost seemed like someone behind the scenes was the cause of it. But it was unbelievable to think that there was someone with so much power that even Magical Beasts were easily used as pawns, so he didn’t want to dwell on the thought. But it was indeed true. The Overflow had been planned by this old lady, all for one purpose.

“I don’t understand one thing though. Why did you have me promote the Resurrection Cat to the level of a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast?”

The young man decided to ask the question that had always been on his mind. It was another question that would have unsettled the nerves of every villager out there. Samoa and many others who knew about the Resurrection Cat found it hard to believe that such a weak creature could be grow so much. How did this weak beast suddenly become a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast? Now the answer was clear. It was the work of Ancients.

Ancients had powerful blood. It was this blood that was capable of granting strength to the weak humans, and the same blood that was so powerful that the average man would die upon receiving a pure dose. Also, the stronger the talent of the Ancient, the harder it was to find someone who was capable of consuming his/her blood and not losing his/her life. Unfortunately, what many didn’t know was that Magical Beasts could also grow vastly stronger by consuming the blood of Ancients, and that was how the weak Resurrection Cat had been turned into a Tiger killing Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast.

“Two reasons. The first is relatively simple. The Resurrection Cat has lousy talent, but is resilient. Which means it wouldn’t die after receiving your blood and would definitely grow stronger. But it had such poor talent that there was no way it would break into the Legendary Class Magical Beast realm.”

The old lady gave the first reason for her decision in picking out the Resurrection Cat as their target. The young man nodded in understanding. He was a very talented Ancient, so his blood could turn even a Middle Class Magical Beast into a Legendary Class Magical Beast. There was no way the village would have been able to stand up to a Legendary Class Magical Beast. Dan would have been killed easily before anything could happen.

“What is the second reason?” the young man enquired. The old woman said there were too reasons. Now that she had mentioned one of them, it was left with another.

“Because the Resurrection Cat is special,” the old lady remarked vaguely.

“How so?” the young man asked.

“Because of its ability – Extra Life. That ability isn’t as simple as it seems. It is because of the name humans gave the ability, which is why many don’t know that it isn’t so simple.”

“Extra Life, or Resurrection as old Ancients call it, gives the beast a boost in all its abilities. It is usually by 25% at the very least, depending on the talent of the Resurrection Cat. But during the first 20 minutes of its resurrection, anything – weapon or tool – that is consumed isn’t destroyed in its stomach. Rather it is refined to the best state.”

“This…” the young Ancient was stunned. Clearly he didn’t know about this.

“The younger generation of Ancients don’t know this. But we the older ones do. In the past, before humans betrayed us, prompting us to go into hiding, we used Resurrection Cats to refine our weapons. And that is why they are almost extinct”

The old woman just kept dropping secrets, and the young man was having a hard time keeping up.

“The thing is, humans would get killed if they were consumed during that period. Since they aren’t as resilient, and are regarded as prey by the beast, they wouldn’t be able to survive. But Ancients aren’t prey. We are the true Predators. Our bloodline is so strong that the body of the beast is fooled into believing that a precious object has been tossed into its stomach. So instead of digesting us, it would refine us. Ancients used this method to force awakenings in poorly talented Ancients in the past. They would usually toss the child in there, and then wait for about half a dozen minutes before slicing the Resurrection Cat open and retrieving the child.”

“Since Dan’s talent is clearly above anything we have ever seen, the beast would regard him a holy elixir and wouldn’t dare to digest him for fear of exploding. So it would rather choose to refine him slowly. Unfortunately for it, what was refined was the diluted mess called the New Type Potion that had integrated into Dan’s bloodline, leaving only his pure power available. And even more unfortunate was that my son is so talented that the beast couldn’t refine his blood, so its body instinctively rejected him and it spat him out”

The old lady kept spitting out truth bombs, and the young man was endlessly amazed by what he was hearing. He knew he was talented, but it seemed that Dan was way more talented than he was. So much so that the beast didn’t even attempt to refine his blood. And it had been strengthened by his blood earlier. This meant that Dan’s bloodline was far more powerful than his!

“And that was why you picked the Resurrection Cat,” the young man sighed. He finally understood what he had been doing all these years, and he had nothing but admiration for the old woman who had planned it all.

“But how did you stop it from chewing him up?” That was the last thing that wasn’t clear. And he wanted to find out.

“I blessed the cat with the ability to smell bloodlines. I integrated the blessing into your blood so it could recognize that Dan was similar to you. It recognized that Dan’s bloodline was special and could be refined, and so it swallowed instead of chewing and putting it all to waste”

The young man nodded, and then he gazed upon the figures of Village Head Fan and his son, Arthur. It wasn’t the people in particular who intrigued him. It was their swords. Their humming, though weak, caused his soul to tremble. It was almost as if they had the power to destroy him.

“That’s insane. Humans cannot go against the power of the Ancients, much less have what it takes to kill us.” He thought to himself. He thought to ask the old woman about it, but he shook his head. He’d ask her later. Right now they had to get away from here before Dan sensed that something was wrong. After his awakening, he was much stronger than them. And the young man remained disillusioned for he knew that although he made the Resurrection Cat what it was, he wouldn’t be able to kill it simply by smacking wind towards it and blowing it to bits.

As the old lady conversed with the young man, she gazed at the battlefield again. She reached into her cloak to reveal a strangely shaped cane with the carving of a Lionhead as its crown. Looking at the n.a.k.e.d figure of her son one last time, she backed away and walked in the opposite direction. Her green eyes sparkled beneath the cloak, so much so that that was the only thing that could be seen. Gradually, she disappeared into the Enchanted Forest. And the young man followed suit.

***********************************************

“Are you okay Dan? You seem distracted.” Unbound Mongoose tapped the n.a.k.e.d shoulder of his friend who had been staring into the Enchanted Forest all this while.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay,” Dan snapped out of it and replied. “It’s just that for a second I thought I saw someone I knew. But I guess I was just imagining it.”

“I see. Well you should definitely get some clothes first before imagining anything else. All the women are staring at you with hungry eyes. It’s kind of scary really.” Unbound Mongoose smiled bitterly and said. He could feel several gazes filled with killing intent centre on him when he recommended that his friend got some clothes and was a bit terrified. Looking at the several women who were staring at Dan’s n.a.k.e.d body with predator-like l.u.s.t, the Predator himself was scared. He hurriedly dragged his friend towards the deeper sections of the village.