-Prelude(5) -

Some days passed since the incident of Yonezawa, and everything started to settle down, although partially. Slowly, people all over the world got used to the fact that they now had one less city. As for the people of Japan, although they still mourn for the loss, they still went on with their daily business. The government tried best to minimize the effect of such an incident on the common populace as much as they could. Thanks to that, it didn't evolve to a mass panic; people still lived in fear, especially those who had a few dungeons in their town. It's not only in Japan; even people from other countries felt the same concern.

Every town in every country has one or two dungeons, or maybe even more. So people were afraid that they are next on the list. They were fearful that while they sleep, a monster would come out and wipe them all out. Unfortunately, no one can do anything about this kind of fear.

On a certain evening, the world rocked to its core once again, when news about a vast dessert covering in black fog spread around. It was like every other day when a group of hunters booked a private copter to there to try their luck with desert monsters and maybe level up while at it. But instead, they were greeted with a huge landmass covered in dark fog, it's as if they came to another place by mistake. Those brave hunters tried to traverse the fog, trying to see what’s beyond it, but they never returned. It was through the driver of the copter that the world became aware of such an incident.

A huge desert, famous for its powerful monsters and rare precious drops that would sell for millions in market, a hot spot for hunters to gather and hunt, so much so that, a huge hunter-only town was even opened there, was now covered in a dark fog that didn’t allow anything to pass through it. And those who were brave enough to traverse would get instantly killed by something beyond it.

This instantly attracted the attention of hunters more than the general populace as it directly affected them. The desert contained a huge city dedicated only to hunters to sell off their stuff without involving a third party. In this way, they can also hoodwink the government of their respective countries or regions. Moreover, there was a black market in that place, where one could find any stuff, although a little expensive. Even some of the forbidden items could be found there.

Moreover, a few rumored criminals who had surpassed level 200 and banned from nearly all countries reside. For such a place to suddenly vanish within a mysterious dark fog, hunters suddenly felt that things were a little familiar. Something like this had happened at north too, not too long ago at that. Hunters who were more knowledgeable about north matters started to notice something amiss.

But as expected, since no common people were involved in this, this didn’t cause as much a stirring worldwide as it did when Yonezawa was slaughtered. People even gave the incident the moniker of ‘Tragedy of Japan.’ By the orders of Elders’ association, the government never announced the casualty count to the public, those few who were involved directly were all warned to keep their silence over this matter.

…

To Kenshin, nothing mattered more. He was rather worried about Mito. Events transpired at Yonezawa had created a deep impact in his heart. Mito had three dungeons, one destroyed, but still, two remained. If two more people like Core or that kid from Sylph race has to come out of it, it will be over. Following the old man whose name he didn’t know or bothered to ask’s lead, he tried to find that man he recommended. But he was disappointed to find him not available at the moment.

Although he was disappointed, something good also happened, his system finally came back online. His new system was way more detailed than before, with many things displayed in more detail than before. A few new things added while some evolved. As he had expected, all his stats had a comprehensive increase. Not only that, he was able to see all his sub-stats. But while these were all good and all, what made him more ecstatic was the fact that he can now directly increase his sub-stats value with his AP rather than only increasing the main stat and leave it to the luck to see which sub-stats gets the more benefit.

NAME Muto Kenshin RACE Human 75% ??? 25% CLASS Monster Knight GUARDIAN Effects: 1 5% gain to all stats per level 2 50% more EXP when Killing a monster 3 INT+5, DEF+5, STR+5 every level LEVEL 104 EXP STATUS 10% HEALTH POINTS 30,000 MAGIC POINTS 14,000 TITLES 1 Bane of Specters Inactive 2 Surpasser Active ATTRIBUTES ATK DEF MAGIC 2500 1850 7000 STR 2500 BLOCK(100% of DEF) 1850 INT(MAG/2) 3500 JUMP(5% of STR) 125 GUARD(P)100% of DEF 1850 WIS 2000 PULL(20% of STR) 500 BASH(60% of DEF + 20% of ATK) 1610 FLOW(INT 40%+WIS 60%) 2600 PUSH(20% of STR) 500 GUARD(M)20% of MAGIC + 20% of DEF 1770 PURITY(INT 50%+WIS 50%) 2750 PUNCH(80% of STR) 2000 BLOCK(M)50% of MAGIC 1900 UNDERSTANDING(50% of WIS) 1000 KICK(110% of STR) 2750 DEFLECT(P) 2% of DEF 37 CONTROL(in % out of 100) 60 KNEE(80% of STR) 2000 DEFLECT(M) 2% of MAGIC 140 SLAM(20% of STR) 500 PHYSIQUE(PHY) WILL AGILITY 3000 1400 2000 LUCK 500 SENSORY PERCEPTION 250 INTENT 1400 SPRINT 2KM/SEC HEART 100% MANIFESTATION 700 WALK 0.02KM/SEC BRAIN 100% SPECTRUM AWARENESS 20% JOG 0.2KM/SEC RECOVERY 100 PHY/SEC REALITY AWARENESS 5% TEMPORAL AWARENESS 20% ABSORPTION 70% INTERFERENCE(SA) 2% DEF(60% of PHY) 1,800 INTERFERENCE(RA) 0.20% STAMINA 5,100 UNASSIGNED AP 0 UNASSIGNED SP 0 PASSIVE SKILLS SKILL NAME LEVEL EXP% OF 100 EFFECT COST PASSIVE REGENERATION 20 99 20% HP/1 sec N/A TIRELESS BODY 11 25 11% of Fatigue reduction N/A MIRROR REFLECTION 25 66 25% damage reflected back N/A SWORD MASTERY 7 12 additional 70 ATK while using a sword N/A UNARMED COMBAT EXPERTISE 9 12 additional 90 ATK while unarmed N/A HIGHSPEED MOVEMENTS 18 0.5 AGI+18% N/A SCYTHE MASTERY 6 54 additional 60 ATK while using a scythe N/A CHILD OF EARTH 2 0.2 PHY, STR, DEF all +10% N/A HEART OF RHYTHM 2 0.2 2% more sensitive to vibrations N/A PHYSICAL DAMAGE RESISTANCE 5 1 2.5% immune to all physical attacks N/A MAGICAL DAMAGE RESISTANCE 2 1 1% immune to all magical attacks N/A PASSIVE FIRE RESISTANCE 1 0 0.5% fire damage reduction N/A RESIST AIR MAXED N/A Decreases Air resistance by 50% N/A RESIST OBSTACLE MAXED N/A probability of facing an obstacle reduced by 50% N/A SWIM LIKE A FISH MAXED N/A water pressure decreases by 20% N/A RESIST WATER MAXED N/A 50% reduction in water resistance N/A AIR STEP MAXED N/A leap once in the air N/A WATER STEP MAXED N/A leap once in the water N/A DRAGON SENSE 4 54 senses of a dragon that alerts about the danger beforehand N/A FORCE DISRUPTION 12 2 6% disrupts all offensive force, 30% DEF N/A ACTIVE SKILLS SKILL NAME LEVEL EXP% OF 100 EFFECT COST REPLICATION 25 50 20 STA/USE SHAPESHIFT 5 12 5 STA/use FIRE MANIPULATION 2 0.34 100/minute EXPLODING DOMAIN 2 26 150/minute REMOTE DETONATION NIL 10MP/use KING'S PRESENCE 5 1 2 WIL/use SUMMON MINIONS 10 19 50 MP/use GIVE 1 99 5 MP/use DESTRUCTIVE ENERGY MANIPULATION 12 50 50 MP/minute OPPOSITES 20 3.14 50 MP/minute CREATE DUNGEON 4 2 50 MP/use RESPAWN 1 2 10 MP/use BURROW 6 2 20 MP/use STONE SKIN 8 97 10 MP/use EARTHEN SLICER 5 47 40 MP/use SHAKE 10 11.111 12 MP/use IMPACT TOUCH 4 55.5 20 MP/use STURDY BODY 5 46 15 MP/use LURE 1 23.5 5 MP/use BLEEDING 4 58.3 5 MP/use CONFUSION 4 5.2 5 MP/use MAGIC DRAIN 2 100 20 STA/use PLASMA BLAST 1 14 20 MP/use WHIRLWIND 1 0 10 MP/use DIVINE SKILLS SKILL NAME LEVEL EXP% OF 100 EFFECT COST STARFALL DOMINION 3 20 causes 3000 magic damage and an extra 2% Penetration damage peruse. 50 MP/use

But there was also a problem with a few sub-stats that couldn’t be increased or shows its value in percentage rather than numbers. In those cases, he could only add the points to the main stat and hope for the best.

And also, he finally tried to use the [Evolution Token] on his physique, he had already experienced the problem of having enough power but not strong enough to use them. But unfortunately, he couldn’t. while using, he got the following message;

[Warning: Evolution Token couldn’t find an energy source, please find an energy source to successfully use the token.]

Now, this dampened his mood a lot, it was especially true when he didn’t even know what a power source was in the first place or where to find it. It was like the fruit is right in front of him, but he couldn’t reach it because the tree is tall, and he also didn’t have a ladder to scale the tree. In this situation, the ladder was the energy source that was required for the [Evolution Token] to show its effect. Of course, he only reached this conclusion after thinking about it for a day, and when he did, he became even more depressed.

In the end, he had to temporarily shelve his thoughts about evolving.

For the time being, his and Joy’s full effort was on bringing Chiba to their level. In that regard, Chiba proved to be even more diligent than them. The uselessness she felt before became the driving force for her to become strong. Unlike Kenshin or Joy, she didn’t have any grand reason to become stronger, she only wanted to stand and fight together with her newfound friends, whom she didn’t want to lose.

Despite what common people think, hunters are also humans. They also have all the basic needs of a human, they can also feel lonely and seek the warmth of a friend. Chiba was just a little girl who had to grow up too quickly due to circumstances forcing her. One one side her growing power and on the other side her wish to make her mother happy and live a happy life. She had to make a decision that costed her childhood, and even though she joined a friendly guild, that changed when the said guild became too addicted to power and forget their roots. The little girl, who made such a guild as her second home, had to see her friends going bad and her home transforming into something that she could no longer recognize.

The impact was too heavy on the poor girl’s heart. During these dark times, she met Kenshin inside a dungeon, a chance encounter at best, but that encounter changed her life for the best. Through Kenshin, she met Joy, a funny but kind man who liked to sometimes make perverted jokes. She also found a friend in the form of Yuki, who’s status was so special that they shouldn't have been able to even meet her, but she became their friend.

Chiba, no matter what, didn’t want to lose this small circle she found herself in. She wanted to quickly improve herself so that she could remain inside this little circle where everything was warm and cozy.

It's her deepest wish, as well as the driving factor that she needed to push herself forward.