Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

 

Multiple hunting teams are queueing neatly in front of a counter. Despite the busy service time, not a single party makes a fuss about having to queue. Nobody here was special, everyone had to follow the rules lest they were kicked out of the hunter association, that was an iron rule that was set up by the Great Archmage since its inception. 

Although the Hunter Association was not founded by the Great Archmage alone, he was one of the most powerful founding members that allowed the organization to grow into its current size, having branches in all parts of the five continents, his role in the organization was second to none. Therefore, some of the methods of operation of the Hunter Association stayed the same even after his betrayal.

Behind the counter, the receptionist was someone with high experience with office work. The black-furred wolf ear on top of her head twitched cutely once in a while, and her wolf tail moved energetically, indicating her good mood. Of course, the blood red meat fruit harvested from Azaria forest in her hands might’ve been the reason.

“Congratulations for the successful return.” The wolf beastman receptionist happily received the gift in a good mood. Hunting is a high risk high reward profession with relatively high mortality rate compared to other professions, each time a hunter team returns with full members is an event worth celebration.

“Thank you for receiving us, Alanis.” Sumire glanced towards her teammates, “We wanted to report our mission.” 

The wolf beastman named Alanis nodded. “The association’s branch head has notified me beforehand, please go to meeting room four, an elder will receive you.” 

Sumire led her team after saying a few words with the cute receptionist. They were tired from the four-day long return trip from the muddy forest, their greatest wish was to lay down on a soft bed and sleep, but as elite hunters with an important task, reporting their mission came first. 

Meeting room four was one of the better rooms, it has a soft monster leather sofa, onyx table, and a few quality of life improving civilian artifacts such as an air conditioner, water dispenser, coffee maker, and many others. All these civilian-grade artifacts are free to use, it's one of the privileges of high rank hunters.

Turning the air conditioner on, Kurogane started to dismantle the plate armor on his body. A multilayered defensive artifact of this caliber has high physical demand, being inside the armor for almost two weeks took a toll on his body. Despite his martial methods to reduce sweating, it was still unpleasant.

“Finally we’re back…” Yamamura complained as he followed Kurogane’s lead of removing the weight on his body, putting his equipment in his personal bag of holding. 

The others were also spent; they have no energy to react. It was only five minutes later that an elder with short white hair entered the room. 

“You’ve worked hard.” The elder has a kind expression on his face despite the large scar on his left eye. His presence was negligible, as if he was merely a grandpa from next door, but the team knows this elder was an old monster with great strength. He was the one who held the city against beast and monster tribes’ invasions multiple times. 

“Branch head Sebastian, thank you for receiving us.” Sumire bowed with the etiquette of high nobles. 

“Please, you’re all heroes. No need for pleasantries.”  Sebastian replied with the same level of respect according to noble etiquette, earning Sumire team’s high opinion. 

“Well then, let’s get this done.” Sumire’s eyes turned serious, she wasn’t interested in useless banter. “My Violet Sword Blaze team took a routine mission to scout the condition of Azaria forest two weeks ago for Hartina Southeast Hunter Academy’s mandatory service marks. Here are the reports.” Sumire handed out an information-path artifact.

This artifact was the invention of the Great Archmage, it has the shape of a black 4x8 centimeter wide and four-millimeter-thick card that could contain a large amount of information. Due to this artifact known as Memory Card, the accuracy and quantity of information exchange of the Hunter Association increased manifold, allowing more precise calculation and manpower arrangement by the higher ups.

Sebastian accepted the memory card and activated the runes engraved in it by injecting telepathic thoughts. Every memory card issued by hunter association is always locked by telepathic thoughts encryption, but Sebastian has the highest tier of access in the branch, his telepathic thoughts soon received the information within.

“The Troll Warlord’s hands have reached Thunderpeak mountain’s lowland, disrupting the Bone Tusk tribe. More greenskins activities are increasing within the forest. Dire wolf packs are hunting wildly. Blood vine fruits are thriving….” he muttered the findings. 

It took him more than five minutes before he retracted his telepathic thoughts from the memory card. “You’ve done great this time.”

“Gramps, is war against the greenskins imminent?” Sakuya lazily asked. 

Sebastian never changed his expression, “Although the increment of greenskins activities in Azaria forest might indicate an imminent large battle, it is unclear where the Troll Warlord’s aim is.” he kindly told his deduction. “The Azaria forest is huge but one mountain cannot hold two tigers, nevertheless three. With the escalation of greenskins activities, the Dire Wolves packs and Dawn Ents will have to react accordingly. Therefore, Hartina is safe for the time being.”

Sumire’s team members are all elites of the Hartina Southeast Hunter Academy. With their intelligence, they can somehow feel the increasing tension between the forces in the forest. However, they lack the information network and the point of view of someone with Sebastian’s position. It was normal for them to make the wrong deduction.

“Still, it’s better if you guys can cultivate faster.” Sebastian tried to calm these young elites. “With higher national strength, our kingdom can exploit the Azaria forest further.”

His last words ignite the desire of these young elites. With more power, they could compete with other races to exploit more resources and these resources could be used to fuel their cultivation. As young geniuses, Sebastian has no real need to bait them, but they were not completely immune to his method. He had successfully switched the topic from the incoming war to their cultivation. 

“Since all of you performed well, I will grant extra points in my report to the Southeast Hunter Academy.” he added. 

Violet Sword Blaze was one of the top five rising teams, and their potential is one of the greatest. Sebastian put the extra effort of tutoring this team of seven elites after this mission.

Two hours later, despite their weariness, each member felt like their bottlenecks were broken, a burning desire to test their new methods could not be concealed within their eyes. The only exception was Sumire whose amethyst eyes were always cold and unchanging from the start. Even Sebastian was secretly praising her composure.

After their secret tutoring session had ended, the team left meeting room four while Sumire was told to stay back as the team leader. The Violet Sword Blaze team returns to their dorm first without its team leader.

“Now that all of the distractions are gone, let’s talk about your secret mission.” Sebastian's kind eyes disappeared, replaced with the eyes of a hawk. 

“Affirmative. Me and my team members found the traces of the kobold tribe that went through the Azaria forest, but it was old.” her unchanging eyes made even an old monster like Sebastian to hold her in high regard.

“Any details?”

“According to the information you provided, three kobold tribes have left Magnur city, led by multiple kobold warriors. Since I am limited by your instruction to keep the secrecy to the highest, I am unable to complete the whole mission, but I did find signs of one of the missing tribes. 

A mid-stage rank 0 kobold warrior of the Ironscale variant led a tribe of common kobolds to cut through the Azaria forest. Not understanding the geopolitics of the forest, this splinter tribe attacked a goblin lair, offending the greenskins under the Troll Warlord. Under the retaliation of Troll Warlord’s goblins, they took refuge towards the Thunderpeak mountain’s wetland, invading a rogue goblin lair. I wanted to pry further by hiking the mountain personally, but I have to maintain secrecy.”

“I see, you did good.” Sebastian deducted for a moment, “The kobold tribe must’ve successfully devoured the rogue goblin tribe. If they consumed all the goblins, their numbers could increase significantly. By then, it would be hard to completely take down the influence of the Flame Spear Clan outside Magnur city. Is your team capable of exterminating this branch of the kobold tribe?” 

“It’s hard to say.” Sumire answered directly, “Due to the lack of intel, I cannot provide an accurate assessment of the kobold tribe’s power. If by chance the kobold possessed kobold shaman amongst its members, the difficulty of hunting them increased by multiple fold.” 

Her judgement regarding the kobold tribe’s power was not exaggerated. The two races are considered as minor races, but the existence of goblins becomes overwhelmingly threatening when a higher ranked greenskin such as hobgoblin or trolls exists among them.

Of course, in the face of humanity's martial arts, magic spells and body runes, kobolds are weak as ants but the kobolds from Magnur city possess an inheritance that allows them to break this archetype. For example, their kobold experts possessed rank 1 cultivation base and they were led by a kobold variant rumored to have connection with legendary dragons. They weren’t cannon fodder but real experts that cannot be defeated easily.

With that kind of potential, it isn’t wise to underestimate any kobolds that came out of Magnur city, especially since they have close relations with the Duergars who had incredible artifact refinement methods.

“The last clue I found regarding the splinter kobold tribe was they went to hike the Thunderpeak mountain to pursue the goblin tribe. No goblin activity could be detected on the mountain while traces of kobolds thriving exists. It is as you deduced, they managed to devour the goblin tribe…” She produced another memory card, a special one that was heavily encrypted.

Sebastian received the memory card, “This is?” 

“During my investigation, I received intel regarding an unknown energy particle undulation from Thunderpeak mountain. It has the characteristics of lightning-path, wind-path, and metal-path but in a weird combination that I cannot comprehend. I stored the energy particle undulation data there, maybe you will figure out what it is.” Sumire explained.

“Something that even the erudite Sumire could not recognize? I found that quite surprising…” Sebastian injected his telepathic thoughts inside the memory card. The encryption automatically unlocks itself after recognizing Sebastian’s telepathic thought.

“This is…” he frowned. 

It is just like what she had said, it has the characteristics of lightning-path, wind-path and metal-path energy undulation but it was combined in a profound way that he could not comprehend. 

Sebastian pondered hard while he kept the memory card safe. Perhaps, the official mages from the Southeast Hunter Academy might be able to produce some results after examinations. “Did you hike the Thunderpeak mountain to get this information?”

Sumire denied, “No, I secretly made contact with the lizardmen of bone tusk tribe to provide me with intel.”

“I see…” Sebastian was secretly shocked. ‘No wonder she was referred to as the erudite of Hartina Southeast Hunter Academy, her resourcefulness is frightening…’ he thought. “Do you have the manpower to manipulate the bone tusk tribe?”

Sumire merely smiled, no confirmation or denial can be taken from her body language. Of course, according to his knowledge of Sumire’s specialty, her enslavement-path methods must’ve played a role.

“I see; I won’t press further. Then, this is the reward for completing my secret task.” Sebastian handed a leather with green runes engraved on its surface. “As I promise, this is the rank 0 strength-path body rune that can be inscribed onto the arm rune slot, [Enhanced Dexterity]. The quality is better than normal; it only took 1.6 rune slots.”

Before Sumire accepted it, Sebastian pulled the [Enhanced Dexterity] body rune back, “However, since you’ve provided me with great intel, I won’t let you suffer a loss.” He produced a visibly better quality leather, “I’ll give you this one instead…”

Sumire took the new body rune, examining it closely. The rune was colored white, when engraved on top of high quality brownish-yellow leather, every detail was highlighted. The craftsmanship was significantly better than the previous body rune, even an idiot can tell from a glance.

She took a deep look at Sebastian, “Rank 0 strength-path body rune, [Dynamic Vision] for head rune slot... Why are you investing in me so much?”

Body rune that used up arm or leg rune slots are pretty common. The rarity goes up when it uses torso rune slots, and becomes even rarer for one that can utilize head rune slots. Furthermore, this body rune merely used up 2 rune slots, the value of this rune was immense. 

“For the future…” he answered with a sharp gaze, “I can fool others, but I can’t fool you. The greenskins are mobilizing, they are going to march toward our Hartina Kingdom sooner or later. The capital is weeks away from Azaria forest, so they are not going to feel the damage right away but for us that live on the forest’s border, it would be hell…” 

Pondering it deeper, Sumire instantly understood Sebastian’s point of view. The greenskins movement in Azaria forest must be accompanied by fierce undercurrent of multiple powers within and outside the kingdom, it wasn’t weird that he tried to increase the strength of her team as fast as possible, especially since they haven’t become rank 1 expert yet.

“Alright, I’ll accept your investment…” she kept the [Dynamic Vision] body rune safe, “What do you want me to do?”

Sebastian nodded. He specifically searched for that body rune to ask her a favor and she was smart enough to understand his gesture. “This is related to the Southeast Hunter Academy.” He produced a memory card from his breast pocket and handed it to her.

“Lord Mage Mitsubachi?” she muttered after she read the content. The moment one of the top experts of the academy is mentioned, it is always accompanied by a large amount of fame and merit for their heroic deeds.

“According to my intel, Lord Mage Mitsubachi possessed a large amount of body runes. Amongst his possession is a rank 1 fire-path body rune, [Boiling Blood Vitality]. I believe you are one of the most capable of getting it for me.”

Sumire weighed her options. His words have some truth in it, her comrades are the one that allows her team to be the top five amongst her peers, she possesses the highest chance of getting close to Lord Mage Mitsubachi since only juniors who haven’t chosen a mentor yet are free to choose one. 

However, Sakuya was also a fire-path martial artist. If she knew her team leader got the chance to have a treasure made for her while not allowing her to have it, Sumire could not give Sakuya an answer for her embezzlement.

A rank 1 fire-path body rune is like a treasure for Sakuya, despite being incapable of engraving the runes on her body in near future, she could wait until she became rank 1 herself since rank 1 body runes are a trump card in high level battles. Knowing her personality, it would be beyond difficult for Sumire to snatch it from Lord Mage Mitsubachi’s resource pool, especially when she wasn’t a fire-path cultivator herself. Sumire has no justification to take it for herself. 

“The worth of a rank 0 body rune cannot be compared to rank 1 body rune, especially since your [Dynamic Vision] rune’s effect pales in comparison to [Boiling Blood Vitality]. It’s not worth my effort.” Sumire admitted frankly.

Sebastian was testing her bottom line, but his ears did not miss the subtle hint. She wasn’t saying it was impossible, but the price needed to be raised to motivate Sumire. After all, rank 1 body runes could be considered as rare resources.

“Although I cannot offer something with the same worth of [Boiling Blood Vitality], I can offer you three rare rank 0 body runes of several paths.” He produced three high quality leather that give off powerful auras. Each of these leathers were engraved with powerful rank 0 body runes no less precious than Sumire’s newly received body rune, [Dynamic Vision].

“[Rubbery Skin] of strength-path, [Child of the Forest] of wood-path, and [Synesthesia] of information-path!” Sumire was honestly moved. [Boiling Blood Vitality] might be a rare rank 1 body rune, but these three are also something that cannot be found easily, especially the last one.

“Sounds good, I’ll get them for you.” Sumire was beyond tempted. Rank 1 body runes are considered as strategic resources, but rare rank 0 body runes are more practical for their level. They can be inscribed on one’s physique immediately without needing them to have rank 1 cultivation base. As for Sakuya, Sumire would have to exert more effort in the future to make up with her, it wouldn’t be a big problem if she handles Sakuya appropriately.

“Of course, due to the immense worth of [Boiling Blood Vitality], the competition would be intense. Therefore, I will give you [Rubbery Skin] and [Child of the Forest] for my advance payment, and [Synesthesia] the moment you hand me what I want.”

“Fair enough, Kurogane was searching for a defensive body rune this whole time. At least he could form a full set now.” Sumire commented, the issue of Sumire taking advantage of Sebastian by running away was never considered by them, since it would be impossible for her to get run from an old hunter expert.   

“Excellent, I’ll await your success.”