Moira Institute separates their primary military/specialized forces or Monster Hunters/Slayers into three different Categories: Unchanged, Changed, and Purifiers.

The Unchanged are those who still progress in power along lines of natural progression and classes while retaining their original species. They are essentially the same as an Explorer or Mercenary elsewhere, with specialization in humanoid conflicts and fighting normal monsters. They are the most common Hunters and make up about 70% of the force, even as society tends to treat them all the same.

The Changed are usually conscripted or were carefully raised having met various standards set by the Institute to undergo the Changing Ritual in their teens. They were created to specifically deal with Corrupted or Mana-Tainted beings whether they were former humanoids, animals, monsters or their own rank and file. They make up about 15% of the total force and is what society thinks of when they hear Hunter.

Purifiers are more akin to Unchanged except they have some connection to the Celestials that allows them to purify, cleanse, heal, rejuvenate, restore, create, and even potentially resurrect. They are pinnacle of healers and defensive supporters with some specializing in more combat healing and being able to fight. The remaining 15% of the Institute's military forces are made up of them.

In Netherthorne, Hunters can re-enter training as well as chat with other warriors. Hunters typically have to return to Netherthorne regularly to file their mission reports. Changed Hunters require very little food and sleep to survive, and can go days without either.

Changed Hunters eventually all awaken as the altered mana in their body grows stronger and eventually overtakes the human mind, causing an awakening. This process can be slowed by the consumption of raw meats and blood which helps slow down the spread of the monster half as it takes the raw materials as a sacrifice rather than the mind.

It is possible to Semi-awaken (and occasionally, even transform parts of their bodies into an awakened form). This may occur when the implant material was from something incredibly compatible with the hunter, but generally can be achieved when a hunter can use her willpower to suppress their awakening. In this semi-awakened state, the hunter's human and inhuman minds are balanced with each other, giving these hunters a greater degree of emotion, hunger, and capabilities, both endurance, and skill-wise.

Each Changed Hunter is bound to a unique shade created from their soul, body, and mind. Hunters typically are unaware of these shades, although by learning these shades' names and communicating peacefully with them, hunters can grow strong far quicker than an abusive and unresponsive peer. Each shade possesses a unique set of Skills and Techniques. By learning skills and techniques unique to themselves within their potentials, Changed Hunters become stronger far faster compared to others.

Changed Hunters have inhuman bodies (shaped like humans) yet humanoid minds. The altered energy in their bodies has corrupted their entire body and is in the process of merging with/overtaking their minds. Due to their partial human nature, hunters still need to eat, sleep, and defecate as they still possess an open digestive tract. Hunters eat little compared to humans or awakened. This is because humans are fueled by the food itself and the awakened, fueled entirely by energy which is self-regenerating and grows with time, are fueled by raw foods, but the Changed Hunters are fueled by their energy, which is, crudely put, eating them.

Hunters are paid gold each time they complete missions accordingly. In off-mission times, hunters can go anywhere and do anything they would like.

Changed Hunters are sterile and are completely unable to have children with anything. However, if a Hunter was pregnant before receiving the operation and taking part in the Changing Ritual, the baby will become a Naturally Born Hybrid, if it survives birth.

Appearance

The appearances of Hunters tend to be fairly normal compared to the rest of their race.

Most Hunters have armored boots, armored skirt-tassels, armored pauldrons, and a cape/sheath for their weapons. Hunters also have a bodysuit made of extremely durable material to minimize replacement and sometimes custom uniforms containing black cloth which is more durable than the standard uniform and can stretch should its owner have a limb-extending ability. Hunters of high rank or great importance can request/receive customized armor to help them fight more comfortably or efficiently.

Changed Hunters possess a transparent third eyelid which unconsciously is used to protect their eyes from irritating particles. They rarely wear jewelry, seeing it as cumbersome in combat and useless due to their hated identities. When using increasing amounts of mana, their bodies change including having bulging veins over their bodies, and may even experience bodily distortion/contortion when using high enough levels of altered mana. Changed Hunters notably are recognizably unnatural. Animals naturally avoid them, and humanoids with sharper senses can see that something is wrong with them. This unnaturalness disappears when a hunter awakens.

Training

Most warriors train for years in various weapons and get a varied education. They also get social training while learning to behave and assume any role, everything from noble to prostitute for covert missions. As trainees, many hunters physically exert themselves until they cough up blood and begin to learn to use and create their own imbued techniques.

Trainees/Hunters are rated by skill in various categories. The Institute executes various tests on trainees to judge their strengths and weaknesses. According to the results, the trainees get rated which will influence the kind of missions that they will receive.

Magic: This measurement represents how much power a warrior possesses within her body. It enforces the stats of both Strength and Agility but needs the skills of mental and sensing to restrain and keep it in check. It is the source of the hunter´s and the awakened being´s immortality and extra power.

When it comes to measuring this, the Moira Institute usually had a warrior as a judge and put the trainees through various tests. It's composed of trivial matters like running back and forth over the training area for as long as they could with only mana as an energy source. The trainees have to continue until the hunter decides that they reached the limits and had them stop and recover.

The measurement is decided on how long it took until the limit has been reached. If it took fifteen minutes, then the trainee would be rated with an "E", and if it took one and a half hours then they would be marked with an "S" which is extremely rare.

Agility: This determines how fast the warrior can increase her speed in both movement and maneuverability. Those hunters with a high rank in this can perform attacks faster than the eye can see and move swiftly over the battlefield with ease. This skill can be enhanced by mana to increase the performance over the basic value. To test this, a warrior has to once again be the judge over the recruits.

The task was another simple one. An obstacle course that would challenge the trainees and force them to leap, slide, run and turn at high speeds, all monitored by a warrior.

If the trainee shows promise in the skill they can also take a second test to determine if they are worthy of an "A" or an "S" rank.

The trainee will stand beneath a tree and another one gets up and shake the branches. As the leaves fell the trainee had the difficult task to catch them before they reach the ground.

Another, more brutal, violent variant of this test was to have the trainee locked into a room, have a nest full of furious hornets thrown in, and then the door locked behind her. The task would be to kill all the hornets as fast as the trainee can with her hands alone. The trainee wouldn't be allowed to get back out unless she killed them all.

The hornets came from Rilesh and by nature, were highly poisonous.

Most trainees see the leaf test as a blessing in comparison to the hornet one. Once again, the amount of time needed is everything but this time, if they managed to get all targets within two minutes, they will get a very rare "S" rank. If they fail, then they would get a "B" rank. Anything in between had the levels of "A" to "D".

Strength: A measurement to classify a warrior's physical and flexibility of their bodies. It was a combination of muscular strength, endurance, and ability to change and shape-shifting to increase power in attacks. Could be enhanced by mana to raise the user´s strength above basic measurement. The means of how the Institute determined this one was simple and split into two tests:

Endurance: The trainees are asked to hold weapons straight outwards and then hold them there for as long as they could. It doesn't sound that hard, but they aren't allowed to lower them. Then they have to spend the next six hours like that, with the strict condition to not use mana to keep the arm raised or lower the blade. Once the time had been set for the limit of their endurance, the next test will take place the next day.

Strength: The warriors simply have to carry several trainee swords and walk back and forth over the training area with them. Each time the trainee reaches the end, another sword would be added to the load and they are sent back. This is repeated until the trainee can't carry anymore without using mana to fuel their muscles. The record was Twenty-five swords in the entire thousand-year-old history of the academy.

Twenty earned an "S" rank, eighteen earned an "A" rank, fourteen earned a "B" rank, nine earned a "C" rank, five earned a "D" rank and two earned an "E" rank.

The score got balanced by the sum of these tests and then ranked.

Mental: The ability to keep energy in check and avoid awakening. Also a level of willpower, strategic thinking, and improvisation in battle in form of combat adaption to the situation. This skill is necessary for all warriors since the amount of willpower determined if a warrior would have difficulties maintaining the mana flow and awaken prematurely. Or prolong their existence as warriors and reach above the average lifespan set for them. Mana could decrease this stat by extensive use and clouded judgment in the warrior. A high mental skill also allowed for more complex and difficult techniques that give warriors an edge over their opponents in battle.

This is tested with a simple concentration test. The trainees have to sit and endure all kinds of torture such as small rocks thrown at them, ice-cold water poured over their heads, and sometimes they get locked in a dungeon filled to the brink with rats. They could not panic or lose control of their emotions. In addition, they had to restrain their mana that in those conditions will grow in influence and try to force an awakening on the fragile minds. Failure in these tests was common and some warriors had to do it over and over to even pass. But it was all to sort out those that weren't fit to be warriors in the first place.

Sensing: The ability to detect mana within living creatures. The measurement classes indicate the radius, strength, and details a warrior's perception would be capable of. This is the skill that all "Eyes" exceed in and are chosen from. Any trainee can exceed in range and fail in detail or have great detail and average strength on it to determine seasoning levels of a hostile.

This skill gets tested by a far more pleasant challenge in comparison to the others. A class of trainees will be spread within a controlled forest area of Netherthorne and then left on their own devices. A single warrior is placed in the center of this area and the trainees had to find her. The area in question contains small hills, thick forests, and challenging terrain. It also has a ten-mile radius to increase the difficulty level even further.

Those that have a natural talent can find the warrior within ten minutes and use their enhanced speed to reach her. These trainees receive high grades on their sensing abilities. And as more and more trainees gathered around the warrior, it would become easier and easier for the rest to find them as well. The last ones usually got "D" and only the worst cases get an "E" once they caught up with the rest of the class.

Leadership: The skill to take command and organize combined assaults against a larger enemy. This skill can define those worthy of command, those that could become single digits easily and lead their teams into hunting parties. A prodigy in this can lead groups with up to twenty warriors or more, while those that lack skill in it can barely lead two or three warriors.

Determined by field exercises where the trainees get split up into two teams and to defend a marker from the other team. They get armed with their trainee sword and work in difficult terrain with forests and cliffs to provide a challenge. They are sent out with a promise of a reward if they can capture the other flag with minimum losses of their team.

This game can very quickly become deadly serious as the initial and self-proclaimed leaders quickly get defeated and replaced by those with true potential. Sometimes it can become an all-out battle with flanks, defensive walls, use of terrain and strategies learned in class. Those that take command, were rewarded with a high "A" and those that showed a lack to do so, or had difficulty listening to orders, got a simple "D". Anyone who followed and took their initiatives can receive a "B" or a "C" depending on the success rate.