Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

A fleet of seven beast-driven carriages were moving at cruise speed. The beast of burden responsible for pulling the carriages are a type of horse called muscle warhorse, a species of strength-path beast reared by masters and then sold to fulfil the need of transportation of the masses.

These groups of muscle warhorses’ breeds are not the best ones; they were merely average. In beast ranchers, they would probably fetch a nice price, but they are not too precious, the best one can do is sell them at market price. If compared to the convoys of other groups, perhaps theirs were one of the worse ones. 

As a matter of fact, they were indeed the second slowest group departed from the Southeast Hartina Hunter Academy grounds. 

Within the 2nd carriage, a meeting is currently happening.

A sleepy, unshaven youth wearing a beast leather trench coat casually laid down on one side of the seat, forcing a back-length light blue-haired petite elf to sit next to Violet Sumire. The petite elf’s face was constantly looking down, afraid of attracting the gaze of the sleepy youth. As for Sumire, she was like an unchanging machine, having the same cold expression while sometimes wearing a faint smile.

“So you’ve noticed it?” Kenji asked, not even trying to change his sleeping posture.

“The first moment.” Sumire answered.

The only one who felt out of place was Maya. She wanted to join in their conversation, but she was incapable of understanding what they were talking about. 

“To be honest, it wasn’t me but Alanis.” 

“You’re so good at finding talents.” Kenji praised her.

“And you’re too bad at finding one.” Sumire reveals a faint smile. “You should stop ignoring Maya, she’s our group mate.”

When her name suddenly mentioned, Maya’s back jolted straight, “N- no. It's...it’s fine. Shhhhh!!” She tried to hide her presence from Kenji.

Kenji didn’t say anything but merely waved his hand. “Too troublesome. I only talked to someone worthy of my attention, she’s too weak.”

Maya was not offended by Kenji’s lack of respect towards her. Indeed, in front of this savage, she was not worthy. In fact, she preferred not to draw his attention as he was famous for doing whatever he liked. 

“There, there.” Sumire consoled Maya by patting her head, “We’ve talked about being observed by the academy. Our seniors, the second-year students, aren’t powerful enough to keep watch hundreds of us first-year hunters moving about towards Thunderpeak Mountain. Therefore, one of the Senior Professors made his move.” 

The level of mentors in the academy is as follows: associate professor, junior professor, senior professor, academy elder, and the highest, the chairman. 

An associate professor might be an external or temporary professor hired by the academy to teach a certain subject. Junior professors are typically rank 1, they are hunters who have proven themselves worthy of such positions. Above them, there are Senior Professors who are typically rank 2 cultivators. 

Each senior professor is a respectable figure, famous in their own way. Lord Knight Tatsuya, the red armored professor, is an example.

“Oh, a- amazing!” Maya praised in amazement.

“It’s nothing special. One of your scouts should be able to detect the observation from the skies sooner or later.”

“Hmmm, I’d never thought they would use invisible wasps!” Kenji joined in amazement.

“Indeed.” Sumire exerted an effort to explain to Maya, “Probably, one of our senior professors, Lord Mage Mitsubachi, is making a move personally. We are seeing the investigative power of a true enslavement-path expert!” 

Sumire deeply respects Lord Mage Mitsubachi not only as a fellow enslavement-path cultivator, but also due to his methods. 

“He’s amazing isn’t it? We’re currently being protected by someone whose existence protects Elestra city from invasions on the borders. Enslavement-path masters are truly strategic weapons, capable of holding down the fort by their existence alone…” 

“Yeah, but our resource expenditure is too heavy.” Sumire explained wryly, she also suffers from the weakness of enslavement-path masters. “Without the support of a strong organization, we could not show our true worth.” 

“If I recall correctly, the most accomplished enslavement-path master was the 5th Generation Brave named Eleanora the Sniper Sovereign. With the support of Ares Kingdom and the Sacred Alliance, the number of beasts under her command was… almost a billion!”

‘No, the best enslavement-path expert was the Devil King whose army of Archdevil merely numbered in the hundreds. Their resource expenditure is far more effective than the near-billion of beasts under the Sniper Sovereign… but he should be considered as a command-path expert…’ Sumire wanted to mutter those words to defend the honor of the person she worships, but that would declare her position as a heretic, so she kept it to herself. 

“The resource expenditure to rear those beasts must be supplied from multiple great planes… That’s why we have to cultivate faster so we can begin our extraplanar expeditions.” Sumire was, despite not being noble, knowledgeable enough on the existence of planes in the Boundless Astral Realm thanks to the inheritance she inherited. “After reaching rank 1, we might be able to start our first expeditions on Hunter Association’s public planes to gain experience.”

“If you reach that moment, I’ll be in your care.” Kenji suddenly muttered while yawning.

Maya who had listened to the conversation received a massive shock. Arakawa Kenji was an arrogant lad who disdained working with others due to his strength. Amongst the junior students, he was the only one whose team consisted of himself, the team whose members are the fewest. 

Having a team that only made up by himself… if that wasn’t arrogance, then what is?

Furthermore, in the contribution point ranking that was publicly displayed in the academy, Kenji’s solo team, Wild Savage, was always on the number 1 spot amongst the new students. He was someone who couldn’t be measured with logic.

And this man, the Wild Savage himself, wanted to rely on Sumire in the future?

Maya felt the depths of Sumire’s ability were far deeper than what she could see. ‘One man’s evaluation does not mean she’s that amazing, but if that person is Kenji, then there must be a specific reason…’ was the conclusion that Maya took.

“Now now, are we going to busy ourselves with idle banter or are we going to discuss the first stage?” Sumire tried to steer the conversation. 

“You’re smart, right? Just tell me what you’ve found, I’m not too fond of thinking.” Kenji stretched his body, then put his two hands behind his head as pillows.

Maya regained her composure, “Yes, pl- please tell us what you found?”

The one who’s responsible for the opening ceremony was irresponsible, there is so much missing information that the hunters missed. “They are purposely selecting Lord Knight Tatsuya who’s known to hate explaining things to be the master of ceremony. Their goal is to force us to deduct information by revealing three stages of the hunting festival.”

“I’ve arrived at the same conclusion.” Kenji said.

“I- I’m also thinking it was weird.” Maya added.

“That’s why I’ll be sharing my deduction. On the first stage, they made us in groups of three teams in order to test our ability to work with unfamiliar people. This is very troublesome because in some groups, there will be ticking time bombs waiting to implode. Internal fighting regarding who’s going to lead will be the main focus.”

Maya wanted to object, but Sumire continued with her explanation, “Our group 4 doesn’t have that problem because Wild Savage has a good relation with Violet Sword Blaze, just like your Green Lake team is with mine. With my competency on processing intel and strategizing, you both listened to my deduction with great interest.

However, imagine if you or my team were paired with a team that’s completely hostile, Maya. Wild Savage wouldn’t have any problem being grouped with any team since he’ll just use brute force to fix things he didn’t like, but our team did not have the capacity to accomplish it on a whim.”

“But… going towards our designated location is not that hard. I- I mean, Thunderpeak mountain is five to six da- days away from Elestra city, our academy, right?”

Sumire patted the petite elf softly, “Your way of thinking is way too simple. Well, I guess that’s why you have a strategist in your team.” Sumire’s eyes turned sharp as she used her full computational power, “The reason why the academy made us group up as a group of three teams is because the march wouldn’t be as easy as it used to be. There should be obstacles that only can be broken through by 30 to 40 mid-stage rank 0 hunters.”

“Such as rank 0 hundred-beast groups, tribes of minor races, or… a rank 1 beast.” Kenji muttered, his eyes lost the hazy sleepiness. 

At this moment, Maya realized that this year’s hunting festival is not the same as the previous few years. According to common sense, amongst rank 0, a late-stage hunter worth three to five mid-stage hunters and a mid-stage hunter worth three to five early-stage hunters. The calculation might be a little off for elites like them or if the hunter possessed certain super-rare body runes. 

If that was the normal calculation, then the price of defeating a rank 1 beast should be three to five peak-stage rank 0 hunters, right?

Wrong.

There are significant differences compared to peak-stage rank 0 and initial-stage rank 1.

For martial artists, it's the ability to use external energy in their arts while for magic caster, it’s the perpetual defensive methods that constantly protect them from harm. The difference of rank was so large that one early-stage rank 1 might be worth five to ten peak-stage rank 0 cultivators. That single level of difference was a giant leap in strength.

And that was also the same with beasts. Typically, a beast possessed greater strength and defensive power compared to cultivators of the same rank, it’ll need a group of same-ranked cultivators to fell one. With the strength of mid-stage rank 0 hunters, the defensive power of rank 1 beast is so strong that it might take hours of constant beating to kill it… if the beast just stands still without fighting back.

Of course, one might counter argue that thanks to the existence of body runes, hunters wouldn’t be that helpless against rank 1 beast. Hunting a rank 1 beast with thirty or so mid-stage rank 0 hunters might be plausible, but that was barely possible if and only if they took their role seriously.

When a group of thirty hunters are in danger of imploding due to the chain of command, would it still be possible?

Very unlikely.

“If I can choose my enemies, I would prefer to hunt a rank 1 beast. It’s impossible for me to kill it with one hit, but I might be able to kill it within an hour or two.” Kenji claims arrogantly.

“I- impossible, that’s a rank 1 beast, y- you know?” Maya tried to deny it.

“Not really. Depending on the type of beast, it’s completely possible for him to do it. Probably the types of high-defense and slow-moving beast with relatively low offensive power though… Ones with high speed are impossible.” Sumire assessed.

“Yeah… but we can’t choose our enemies. It’s really troublesome if we got hundreds or thousands of weak enemies though, but that’s where you’ll come handy, Violet.” Kenji said.

Sumire nodded, “But you have to protect me from ‘decapitation’ tactics if that happens but I’m sure the teams before us are clearing the way.” 

“Is that why we choose a weak r- ride?” Maya was surprised at Sumire’s methods.

Maya knows a bit of Sumire’s struggle, the two teams with lowest member count were grouped together, after all. Without revealing her cards, she brought group 4 casually through the obstacles with low effort. Even if they slowed down and took ample rest, the muscle warhorses are capable of bringing them without the need of being pushed too hard. 

“But if we let them clear the way, wouldn’t there be less beast for us to hunt? The credits…” 

Kenji gazed at Maya as if she was an idiot, “Was there even a mention that they would give us credits in the first round? Or rather, even if they would, did they give us an inkling that it would be regarding how many monsters we’ve hunted along the way?”

“N- no.” being reprimanded by Kenji lowers her already low self-esteem, “b- but wouldn’t the fas- faster one who reached Thunderpeak mountain be rewarded by credits?”

“That’s the interesting part of the first stage.” Kenji gazed at Sumire, signaling that she should be the one that deduct more information between the three.

“The first stage is a scam. Lord Knight Tatsuya himself said that this year’s theme is endurance. You could take it as physical endurance or mental endurance. In front of the allure of gaining the acceptance of a master we wanted to learn from, would we be able to discern the truth behind the lies? We don’t actually need to know the truth, we just need to ‘endure’ the trials, it would work the same.” Sumire casually said.

“Endure…?” Maya felt her strategist should be the one that participates in the discussion. These two are frightening in their own way, the depth of their ability is too deep. Thinking about it, she was too lucky to be grouped with two of the top five teams since her Green Lake team is one of the lower ranked ones in the bracket.

“Simply enduring is easy, the early teams would notice it sooner or later. That’s why we should bring our weapons at all times. Violet rarely makes mistakes in her deduction. You should give her your trust, Maa-something.”

“It- it’s Maya!” she tried to correct Kenji. “But are you sure the early teams are going to pull hordes of beasts to obstruct us?”

“That shouldn’t be a question. It’s only a matter of time before they do it. Well, with this savage here, there’s nothing that we can’t handle.” Sumire was confident in her deduction and Kenji’s strength. 

The moment she finished her words, a special sound signal resounded from the first carriage. “Talk about the devil…” Kenji sat up as he started to stretch his body.

“Isn’t this too unlucky?” Maya felt it was too timely. 

The carriage slowed down to an eventual stop. After they disembarked from it, they could see a group of beasts gaining upon their position. 

“The trees are too sparse to give us complete stealth, while dense enough to obstruct your scout’s investigative capabilities. This is not a natural beast group, it’s an ambush.” Kenji muttered.

“That’s right, it was only a matter of time before the other teams made a move. In the first stage, there were no rules that stated we could not sabotage other teams. Even if they made a move on us directly, it wouldn’t be a problem as long as there are no deaths. Still, there are various methods to force us to be late. Such as killing our ride… or directly maiming us.” Sumire was still casually chatting with Kenji, there was no impatience in her eyes.

“B- but thats….” Maya wanted to deny the possibility as that would be so cruel and heartless, but she could not fight Sumire’s logic. Her argument is sound.

“If it was any other team, this beast group would be a problem.” Kenji eyed Sumire. “Do you want to help me?”

“Please wait a moment.” Sumire waited for her comrades to disembark from the first carriage. The Violet Sword Blaze team possessed eight members, while the Green Lake team had twelve. Their numbers differed, but Maya knew that they had to rely on Sumire’s team on this since the wild savage only listened to her.

The difference of reaction time between the two was significant. Sumire’s team neatly assembled on the perimeter without being commanded, whereas Maya’s team took nearly triple the time they took to be ready. 

Since Alanis was a new addition to the team, she has yet to train in the team’s formation. She went directly to Sumire’s side and whispered something. Kenji tried to eavesdrop, but he was surprised that he was unable to hear anything despite his superior hearing being on par with most investigative methods... 

Sumire’s eyes turned sharp, “Kenji, It’s a group of 21 strength-path beasts. Mostly mid-stage rank 0, can I assume you’re going to take care of half of them?”

“Alright.” Kenji nodded.

“Good. Then, my team will take care of seven. Maya, is your team capable of handling the remaining four?”   

Maya was looking for her team strategist who came just in time to hear the conversation. She was a petite elf just like her captain. In fact, most of Green Lake team members are petite elves with emerald green eyes and soft green silky hair. Maya’s strategist was someone named Nagai Kumiko. “The situation is?” she asked.

“There’s a group of mid-stage beasts just outside your scout’s investigative range. Um, I think they are Charging Mass Boars, it’s not that hard to kill them but you have to mind about their stampede. Is your team capable of dealing with 4… no, 3 of them?” Sumire offered.

Charging Mass Boar is one of the most common strength-path beasts around the area. They have a pair of large, durable tusks that they used to deal with foes. If one understands how to deal with them, these boars are just walking meat. But without the methods to deal with their stampede, it would be extremely difficult.

“I think we can manage it!” Kumiko answered unsurely.

“It’s alright, this savage will disrupt their stampede, you just need to mobilize your team to handle them swiftly.” Sumire consoled them. “Well then, let’s get ready.”

The team moved independently as working as one unit will undoubtedly cause troubles. The problem does not lie in their lack of trust towards Sumire, but because the Green Lake team and Violet Sword Blaze team possessed a fundamental difference in how to handle beasts.

First of all, the Violet Sword Blaze team revolves around three core members: Violet Sumire, Kubikiri Shirogane, and Akane Sakuya.

It was the source of their team’s name, after all. 

“Shiro, please follow Kenji’s lead. He’s going to stop the stampede with a large area-of-effect attack, you can utilize the opening he created.” Sumire’s eyes shone in purple light as she released command after another, “Sakuya, I believe this is a perfect time for you to experiment your fire-path magical spells. Just make sure you don't start a forest fire.” 

“Roger that.” “Understood.” The two instantly got to work. Shirogane stood behind the wild savage, waiting for him to make his move while Sakuya activated the runes on her gauntlet with hand seals. 

“Yo white steel, you’re looking cute today.” Kenji teased Shirogane as he took a sprinting pose, a 1.5 meter-long simple warhammer in hand. 

“Please be silent and do not initiate a conversation with me.” was her reply.

“Tsk, you’re no fun.” The ground beneath his feet shattered as he made his move. Every step he took gouged the earth as if giants were running. Behind him, an elegant Shirogane followed suit.

As the two got closer towards the group of charging boars, Kenji took a long leap. The runes on his legs were numerous, instead of defensive ones like the one on Kurogane, his augmented leg strength significantly. With a local earthquake, it propelled his body towards the boars.

“Strength-path martial art, [Groundshaker Strike]!” he waved his warhammer towards the ground. 

The strength behind his attack shook the ground and caused a wave of soil like a water ripple to spread around his landing zone. Raw savage power shattered the charging formation of the boars, disorienting and messing up their insides.

Within that time frame, Shirogane brandished her main weapon, the silvery giant katana. Her weapon was not a simple katana, it was engraved with various small runes in such a way that it looks like a ceremonial weapon instead of a tool for slaughter. One body rune after another activated within her body, creating an acceleration force field that glows her body with faint silver light.

“Sword-path martial art, [Dual Laceration]!” 

The katana moved twice in succession, the sword light produced from it attacked two different boars still disoriented by Kenji’s arts. Multiple sharp wounds so deep that the bones are visible are branded on the beasts but despite the pure offensive power that Shirogane released, these charging mass boars are durable enough to deal with it. 

Though, it was sufficient to give Kenji some time to activate other martial arts. “Your sword is sharp as always, white steel.” he commented as he poured raw brutality upon these boars. With his left hand, he pulled a tusk and stabbed to the eye of another boar that left it fatally wounded.

“Brute.” Shirogane’s giant katana moved incessantly, releasing sword light here and there. Her goal was not to kill in the shortest amount of time, but to wound as much boar as possible so that her teammates could properly stack damage to the beast. 

Charging Mass Boar’s most problematic aspect is their unstoppable charge. Without a proper defensive measure, the only way to decrease its charging force is by wounding it and letting it bleed slowly.

The boars are not to be underestimated, most of the unwounded ones have already recovered from Kenji’s opening attack. The two distracted some of the beast, forcing roughly half of them to engage with them while the rest set their sight on the remaining hunters.

“How long do you need?” Sumire’s glowing purple eyes gazed at Sakuya whose gloves shone in runic lights while chanting a spell. The hand seals she performs were perfect, like a textbook example of art. With fire elemental particles converging on her hands, the moves she activated are nearing completion.

“It’s done.” she said as she added a mixture of thick jelly-like substance from a glass bottle towards the spell formation. “Rank 0 fire-path magic spell, [Fireball]!” When she finished her chanting, the signature spell of fire element was activated through her gloves. The orange-red fireball traveled hundreds of meters before exploding in a large area of effect, engulfing multiple boars and igniting them in a strange, sticky liquid fire.

“You applied Lord Mage Kazuya’s theory of napalm fire and Great Archmage’s Metaspell, [Double Lengthen: Distant Combustion]!” Sumire reveals a trace of shock. “Excellent work!”

Sakuya smirked at her captain’s praise. “Won’t be possible without the resources you funneled into my research. Now captain, won’t you make a move?” 

“I already did.” Her gleaming purple eyes set their sight at the burning boars who tried to roll around to extinguish the fire. Unknowingly, they alter the trajectory of their charge so that they could rub the liquid fire onto their comrades, spreading the liquid fire to more targets.     

Not a single move from Violet Sword Blaze was lethal, they were made so that the beast stampede would be slowed down, giving time for the Green Lake team whose members are on the lower side in terms of offensive power, to make a move.

“Maya, it’s time.” 

“Y- yes, Sumire. I’m on it.” She finished the preparation of her methods as the blue spell formation in front of her activated. “Rank 0 water-path magic spell, [Moisture Ball]!”

Water elemental particles condensed, forming a water ball the size of a head. Unlike Sakuya’s spell that could travel hundreds of meters without falling apart, Maya’s spell can only travel up to twenty meter before it falls onto the ground. It was the furthest range her spell could travel, but it was her goal all along.

Beside her, three petite elf magic casters followed suit, activating their spells. 

On the wet ground where Maya’s spell landed, a large amount of roots grows rapidly. At first, the roots were dry, the bark lacked moisture and because of that, it looked fragile. But after absorbing the moisture left behind by Maya’s spell, they revitalized into thick, healthy tree roots.

The moment the wall of roots finished forming, the beast arrived. 

Tusks versus thorny roots, the force behind the charge was too strong for the roots to endure, but it wasn’t a problem because the walls of roots were designed to entangle them. Just as it was intended, the roots slowed them down, giving the Green Lake team members to go on the offensive. 

“Sakuya’s and our methods are truly incompatible, it’s best if we don’t provoke her…” Kumiko, Maya’s strategist, muttered after seeing the wall of roots being smeared with liquid fire. Sakuya’s [Fireball] was modified heavily so that it shouldn’t be categorized as a Fireball.

“Indeed. Violet Sword Blaze’s three crazies are not to be underestimated.” Maya approved Kumiko’s opinion. “It’s good that we don’t have conflict with them.”

Just as she finished her words, Sakuya used a trace amount of bright gold powder on the spell circle that she activated. 

“Fireball!” 

The relatively shorter target allows the spell to arrive quickly. A fire explosion engulfed the entangled boars, rapidly incinerating the beast and the roots alike. The fire was strange, it was bright yellow, different compared to the one that spread liquid fire.

“This is… light fire! You actually combined a trace amount of light fire in your [Fireball]!” Sumire’s remarks made the Green Lake team members in shock.

Light fire, a type of fire that would burn bright. It shone brighter compared to other fires, it also spread faster and stronger during daytime when showered with daylight. Thanks to both tree roots and sunlight serving as fuel, the incineration of light fire fatally wounds several boars that received direct hits.

“My experiment is a success!” The perpetrator smiled in delight. It needs to be said that she was a martial artist first and a mage second. Her spell-casting ability wasn’t due to her inherent mana pool, but a special fire-path mana aperture. In other words, she could only be considered as a quasi-dual cultivator, not a true one.

She was unsure whether her spell would activate as intended, therefore she used only a trace amount of her resources for experimentation. Her empowered Fireball was too strong for these boars who have received multiple wounds to endure.  

“Well, other than half of what Shiro and the savage killed, our cooperation managed to kill almost half of the rest. The remaining 3 that still lived are too wounded to fight back, it would be easy for our archers to finish them all. Maya, good work!” 

“Thank you, Sumire!” Maya could only offer thanks. It was clear to her that her team’s contributions were unnecessary, but Sumire still gave her a chance to prove her team’s capability. Despite not being the worst, Maya’s self-esteem was wounded when she tried to compare to Sumire’s team. 

But now, she realized it was a mistake to even try comparing their teams. Her team does not possess a genius on the same level of Sumire whereas Violet Sword Blaze had three. 

They are not on the same playing field.