-Vol 5: A New Life-

-A desperate struggle in the swirling waters(3)-

The old lady walked in long strides towards Kenshin, who was looking at the center of the whirlpool. He had a frown marred on his face as he was constantly switching his eyes from the map and the center of the maelstrom. The dragon was still there, its marker was showing right on the eye of the storm. But his eyes couldn’t see it. Even with his PHY surpassing 2000, he has yet to undergo his first awakening. As such some of the innate upgrades still didn’t happen.

From an article he read once, there was a tiny clause mentioning that those who had undergone their first awakening, would have their eyes undergo a unique evolution. After that upgrade, the human eye which could only see some limited spectrum of light would have their horizons broadened. After such an upgrade, a hunter can see ‘magic’ that flows in the air or emitted from a person’s body. Many hunters use that ability to track down monsters who would usually have hiding skills.

‘If I have undergone that evolution, I might have already seen the thing hiding there!’ Kenshin thought with a frown. Despite his increase in strength due to the title effect, he was still limited to a realm. Higher the ladder of power Kenshin climbs, the more he discovers the complex but still simple division strength among powerhouses. By now he already understood one point; unless he reaches level 100, despite how much his stats increases, he would still unable to have the superior qualities of a real level 100 hunter.

It's like, having an advanced ‘Nvidia GT 1060’ graphics with i9 processor, but still using a CRT monochrome monitor as a display. Although they have the power to show higher graphics, due to the limitation of the monitor, its as good as not having at all. So unless the monitor is changed to a higher and advanced version, the graphics and processor would become useless.

Kenshin’s current condition was something like that. Is his stats are to be compared to a graphics processor of the latest generation and his skills are like i9 processor, then his body would be the CRT monochrome monitor. Despite having all the qualities, he couldn’t show his ability to its fullest.

‘If this continues, sooner or later, my body will become a crutch to my growth. I must level up. No matter what I must level up. As it stands, I couldn’t even display the full effect of my current stats. It had already surpassed my body’s upper limit.’ Kenshin lamented his slow level up to speed. If only he could raid a higher level dungeon!

“Ahem!” Kenshin was pulled out of thoughts by a fake cough from Lady Sachiko. Looking around he found her smiling at him. The lady turned around and looked at the eye of the maelstrom and muttered gravely, “That thing is there, isn’t it!”

“You can see it right?” Kenshin asked, not that much-surprised by her ability. When he was thinking about benefits brought to the body by first awakening, this was what he thought about.

“Not clearly, but I can see a vague shadow shrouded in blue light particles. What about you? Can you see it?” Lady Sachiko asked, standing calmly near Kenshin, who had to hold on to the railings of the yacht to control his footing. It's like, the rocking boat, the catastrophe like thunders, the armageddon like maelstrom didn’t bother her at all.

‘Wisdom did come with age after all!’ Kenshin thought offhandedly. Her temperament was so unlike the others, who were screaming and raving in the back. Being afraid by even the slightest of the rocking of the boat.

“I can’t. I can only feel it’s life presence. It’s a skill of mine.” Kenshin lied. This was the story he came up with to explain his Map ability of the system. He had already used this excuse thrice. Although it sounds farfetched, who could tell that he was laying? There were many bizarre skills in the world, who could tell that they knew each and every skill in the existence?

“Life Presence? That’s a rare ability, even among the sensor type skills. What’s your range?” the old lady unexpectedly knew an ability like that. It made him stumble a little, but he soon regained his composure.

Taking his silence as hesitation, the old lady sighed and spoke “I am sorry for asking you a personal question. I know a hunter must have some secrets, please excuse my presumptuousness.”

After hearing her, Kenshin who was about to tell some random distance stopped himself. With a smile, he said, “Thank you for understanding.” At the same time, he thought in his head ‘Thank’s god she didn’t ask any further…’

“So! What will you do? You wouldn’t just wait for your death now, would you?” the lady asked looking at Kenshin who had a complex face on.

“That’s what I am thinking. Although I know its precise location, I am not strong enough to deal it damage high enough to disrupt it’s concentration and dispel the skill. Honestly, none of the hunters here was strong enough for that. I have seen them fight before so I could tell.” Throwing another glance at the panicking hunters who were behaving like headless chickens, screaming and raving loudly, he sighed once again and thought ‘Where is the dignity of a 1st Awakened hunter?’

The rain fell heavily on the wooden like the floor of the yacht, making ‘pitpat’ noise. The rumbling of thunder and its occasional flash near yacht that would rock the boat even more violently, and the dangerously swirling water, everything around him indicated that they were going on a one way to hell. There was no escaping.

Furthermore, their mobile phones and other communication devices had already disconnected, as if they had entered a dungeon. They couldn’t even ask for help now, they were trapped like a mouse waiting for its death. The moment this yacht reaches the eye of the storm, the pressure of this whirlpool would crush it to powder, at the same time, turn the humans into meat paste.

This whirlpool was covering a distance more than 100 meters, one could only imagine the pressure at its bottom. Even now they could feel the pressure as the yacht would make noise that it shouldn’t make occasionally. And they were only a few meters down, not even reaching the middle of the whirlpool.

“That’s true. All these hunters couldn’t deal with that dragon. Do you know what this thing’s level should be?” the lady asked as she narrowed her eyes at the swirling wall of waters around her. Suddenly at that time a pillar of thunder flashed from the sky and appeared just above her. In a flurry, Kenshin tried to pull the woman from the path, but before he could do so, the lady moved his walking stick and calmly swatted the thunder pillar away, like a fly.

Widening his eye, Kenshin stared at the old lady like he was staring at a prehistoric monster. Seeing his look, the lady harrumphed unhappily, raising her stick, she lightly stamped it on Kenshin’s face. “Hmph! What with that look? Even if I am this old, I am still a hunter above level 100, you know! A weak lightning like this isn’t even enough to make my hairs stand.”

Rubbing his head and a growing red lump, Kenshin smiled sheepishly. “I am sorry, I was just surprised that’s all.”

“Remember this kid, after you cross the level 100 threshold, any further increase in your level would bring a round of qualitative and quantitative change to your overall strength. It was unlike how you grow below level 100. With the help of skills, a person below level 100 could bring down another person below level 100, even if he/she was 10 levels higher. But the same couldn’t be said for those who surpassed that threshold.

Skills could no longer breach the massive gap, because, even the opponent was growing similar to you. You will understand what I mean when you cross that bridge. For now, let’s concentrate on the current situation.” Lady Sachiko reminded him of a crucial fact. This made Kenshin think for a second. Among all the opponents he had fought, he was yet to truly oppose a level 100 powerhouse.

That time in the north during his fight against Lyda, he wasn’t in control of his body. Even when he killed that semi-accended snake, it was just a trick of luck, a fluke. Later, when he killed those minions of Golden Skull organization, he just spammed his Divine Skill, that had an absolute ability to cause damage regardless of any defense.

‘That’s right! I have yet to fight a hunter surpassing level 100. Even if I have this huge of a stat difference, I might not win against them ultimately. Now that I remember, Lily, without even using her full power forced me to submission. It seems I was too confident in my abilities!’ Kenshin had an epiphany at that moment. All his confidence in pulling a draw against a level 200 hunter vanished into thin air.

Before he could think about this matter anymore, the lady started “That beast is most probably at level 149, just a shy away from undergoing its second awakening. Or else, it would have already killed us all in one strike. Since it hadn’t undergone its second awakening, we still have a chance. You have already wounded it once right?”

“yes!”

“Okay, here is what we gonna do. I will take us to the eye of the storm. There, we will attack the monster together. I have a way to make it lose focus for a second. All we need is that one second to strike out.” Saying so, the lady lightly slammed her stick’s lower end into the wooden floor of the yacht. With a yellow shine, a golden transparent mat like construct formed below Kenshin and her foot. With another flash, before anyone including Sakurai could understand what happened, both she and Kenshin vanished into thin air.