Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - LOT

Wealthy, arrogant young nobles or merchant’s sons like this were commonplace in this world. Jack usually avoided any interaction with people like this, not willing to put up with their attitudes, and not wanting to offend their backgrounds before he was strong enough to handle it.

Wealth gave them strength. With wealth, one could purchase Spirit Crystals, and enhance training their Spirit. Many Natural Abilities would only fully mature if one reached the Third of the Six Great Stages of Spirit. Some extremely powerful ones would even require one to reach the Fourth Stage.

For Jack at thirteen, managing to barely reach the Bearing Light Stage was already a fantastic achievement considering he had used zero Spirit Crystals initially. Regular people would only naturally reach that stage in their late twenties, and most would fail to progress beyond it.

Jack cleared the stray thoughts from his mind, however, as he looked at the incoming hand. As it moved toward his face in a fifth speed, Jack twisted his body to the right. As he did so, he raised his uninjured right arm up at a precise angle, grabbing hold of the fine silk sleeve of the arrogant teenager in front of him.

The speed of the teenager was nothing like the speed of the warrior that had taken Little Seven. Even though he was injured, dodging such an open attack like this was extremely easy for Jack.

*WHOOSH*

The teenager’s Spirit imbued fist missed Jack’s face by a mere inch. In the same instant, Jack grabbed ahold of the teenager’s sleeve as he passed and pulled backwards, heaving with the strength of his body. He pulled at a steep angle and borrowed the force of the teenager’s punch, throwing the arrogant noble into the air.

As he did all this, Jack noticed out of the corner of his eye the Middleaged man among the applicants twitch. Jack hadn’t paid particular attention to the fighter, but now took a closer look while the world was still moving at a fifth it’s regular speed. The fighter was heavyset, wearing a set of long, brown woolen pants and a matching vest. He had a long spear on his back. His strong chin and jawline complimented his lined face and brown eyes, giving him a reliable appearance.

*CRASH*

Jack release his Natural Ability, time resuming, as he watched the teenager sail through the air to crash into several of the wooden chairs off to his left.

The noble came up sputtering.

“Wha-what?! How DARE you!”

However, almost immediately he was overwhelmed by peals of laughter as the other nobles in the group broke out laughing. Daren, the noble or wealthy merchant’s son Jack had thrown, Jack was still unsure which, blushed with anger and shame at this, his eyes glaring venom at Jack.

The noble took another step forward, this time his hand reaching out to grasp the mace on his back. As Jack saw this, his already cold eyes turned into a frozen wasteland.

He had already shown mercy by not maiming the arrogant fool, constraining his anger. He had intended his throw to serve as a warning, to show the difference between them. Unfortunately for Jack, due to his limited interaction with people like Daren, he was unaware that this would just provoke the fighter further.

As the fighter began to step forward, unclasping his mace, Jack made a decision, the anger and frustration in his heart over the past few days coming to fruition. If this noble tried to kill him, Jack would retaliate in full. He was no longer the weak orphan that had barely reached the first of the Six Great Stages of Spirit. If worst came to worst, he would simply leave the city. There was nothing he cared about too much left for him here.

As if sensing the killing intent that was just birthed in Jack’s heart, the noble stuttered to a halt for a second, blinking in confusion. His lack of experience in fighting became apparent as he shook his head, continuing to walk forward.

The wealthy sons of nobles or merchants often trained in safe environments, unlike Jack who would fend for his life in the wilds constantly against powerful beasts.

Jack rested his hand on the hilt of his rag covered sword, starting to draw on his Spirit to make an instant attack.

However, at that exact moment, before either of them could move, a long gonging noise suddenly rang through the open training room.

GOOOOOONNNNGGGG

The sound wave seemed to physically separate Jack and the arrogant noble, knocking them both backwards. Jack turned to look at the source of the noise, his ears ringing.

The middle-aged applicant had stood up from his wooden chair and was smiling at Jack. Floating above the warrior was a translucent golden gong, with a translucent stick floating in the air next to it.

“A near perfect deflection and throw, very impressive young warrior!” The middle-aged man’s voice was boisterous and loud, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

The arrogant noble turned to look at the middle-aged man, his eyes nearly red with anger.

“Who do yo-“

“Hello applicants! I am the Chief of this Snowbank City Branch of the Hunter Association, Garmen Loyal. I will be the administrator of the week’s Hunter Examination. I don’t usually do this, so you all are in for a treat, hohoho!” The Chief’s booming voice completely washed over the arrogant noble, ignoring him. The noble’s face turned a pale shade as he heard who the middle-aged man was, his hand slipping away from the mace on his back. He quietly rejoined the group of wealthy teenagers, huddling in the back.

“I see we had a few scuffles here and there, but nothing serious.” The Chief smiled as he looked among the applicants, his expression not changing on any of them, including Jack.

“We will henceforth immediately begin testing.” The Chief clapped his hands together three times. Immediately, the ring in the center of the room began to flash. Gradually, a wall of white fog rose up to completely surround the ring, blocking it off from everyone.

“This is something that has been dubbed the Hunter Trials Ring. The fog walls around the ring obscure any except the tester and the administrator from seeing what goes on inside. In this ring, the age of your bones is automatically scanned and taken, as is your race. If you are secretly lying about pretending to be human in order to infiltrate the Hunter Association, this is your chance to flee.”

“This ring also has a few other characteristics that you will see as you are being tested.” The Chief took a deep breath as he finished speaking, looking at all the applicants around him. Some of the applicants looked nervous, others excited. The wealthy group seemed unperturbed, as if they were expecting this.

Jack blinked as he cleared his mind, focusing. This was the part where he needed to make a good first impression.

“Now! I will be taking applicants as I call them! First applicant, you there, enter the ring!” The Chief pointed to one of the applicants in their early twenties and then impatient turned around, vanishing into the fog.

..

..

Outside Snowbank City on the northern outskirts.

The tracker Corker sat down on the ground, his huge body oddly hunched as he examined a long gouge in the ground. A peaceful forest spread out around him, save for a few trees that were badly damaged, including one that was completely toppled. A soft breeze rustled in the cool air, stirring about the forest leaves.

“What is it?” Jackal’s voice cut into the calm like a sharp knife, his tone on edge. A subtle undertone of desperation could be heard, if one focused closely.

“The aura from the fight led itself to this location.” Corker frowned as he looked at the long cut in the ground, his eyes serious.

“I originally thought the fighter killed the young lord either was unaware of aura tracking, or simply didn’t care. However, the auras at this site are highly disrupted, and hard to discern.”

“And?!” Jackal walked up next to Corker, nervously tossing a pair of white daggers in-between his hands. His face was haggard, his eyes bloodshot. The air around him, however, was heavy with danger.

“I can’t track the original aura anymore, not from here.” Corker shook his head, frowning. As he spoke, however, a gleam appeared in his eyes.

“I can, however, sense a powerful concentration of fire. I sensed this same concentration at the cave, but didn't focus on it.”

“And can you track it?!” Jackal’s voice was filled with impatience.

“I can. I can sense a clear and distinct location, deep within the city.” Corker smiled, pointing his hand towards Snowbank City to the south.

“Excellent.” The desperation in Jackal’s voice loosened slightly. “The Duke personally ordered 3 of his 7 Snow Knights here to handle the situation. You will come with me to greet them and lead us to the source, and then you will have your payment.”

The tracker nodded with a cheery smile, and the two warriors turned and left, letting the small forest glade return to its silence, a world once more at peace.

..

..

“Haha now THAT went over perfectly.” A smug voice broke into Jack’s meditation, stirring his irritation. Jack looked up to see the noble from earlier smugly talking to his group of wealthy friends.

Currently more than half of the applicants had gone through the fog and back out. Several of the older and poorer applicants had come out looking exhausted or dejected, quickly leaving the room. Two of them, however, had left exhilarated, holding small badges in their hands. None of them had stopped to talk.

“The test is exactly how my older brother termed it. And, like I said, I passed with flying colors. You are looking at our newest Superior Class D Hunter.” The noble Daren was the first of his group to go into the fog, and had come out after a few minutes. The group around him was still gushing and praising him, congratulating him. Daren thumped on his chest a few times, smiling, holding up a bronze Rank D Hunter badge in his hand.

Jack snorted lightly and turned his focus back inside, mentally looking at his Spirit Circle. He was currently debating whether or not the should absorb the last Spirit Crystal. There was only a little bit to go to reach completion of the Bearing Light Stage, and if he used the crystal, he could probably reach it.

The only issue was that Jack had no idea how to advance beyond that. He didn’t want to accidentally ruin his future simply because he was uninformed. Training one’s Spirit was a high level and secretive thing, and Jack had never managed to find more than basic information on the First Stage in the books he’d read or people he’d spoken with.

He figured the Hunter Association, however, would have a plethora of information that he could use to his advantage, once he passed this test. He would make his decision then.

“Hey beggar. My offer still stands. Come over here and bow at my feet, and I will give you a few tips.” The noble’s irritating voice once more broke Jack’s focus, stirring him. Jack turned to glare at the noble. The noble’s eyes had a malicious and confident gleam in them, his newfound Hunter rank apparently bolstering his courage.

“No thanks.” Jack spoke for the first time, his reply terse and filled with irritation. The group of nobles smirked when they heard his response, whispering among themselves and shaking their heads.

“Tut, tut, can’t see a good thing when it’s right in front of him.”

“Ahh, the poor, they know not what they are missing.”

Daren smiled at the responses of his group, shaking his head at Jack slowly, as if he was a wise teacher disappointed in his student. The group broke out into laughter again as they made a few more jokes before ignoring Jack.

A few moments later, another failed applicant left the foggy ring, this one almost in tears as he fled the building. Jack watched him leave, emotionless. A second later and the Chief appeared, looking around at the remaining applicants before his eyes paused on Jack.

“NEXT! Bandage Boy, let’s go!”