-Vol 6: Dusk Of An Era-

-Renewing The Contract(1)-

“So, you are going where?” Joy asked, feeling a bit incensed for something.

“Kurogiri, you know the new island sprouted out of nowhere some fifty years or so ago…” Kenshin answered while tying his shoeless. He had his head low, avoiding the later’s eye contact.

“Yeah, the one infamous for having only Undead related islands… named ghost town by the common populace and only accessible by really powerful hunters. Can I know the reason why you have the sudden need to go a place which is ranked S class dangerous spot on earth?” tapping his feet on the floor impatiently, Joy asked with anger clearly evident in his voice.

“I… it's just a requirement of my skill. You know the one I used to create Ena and others.” Since he had already revealed his Summon minions skill, he partially revealed the reason. Of course, he couldn’t just say it out that he was going to form a contract with a multidimensional criminal so that he could retain some of the powerful undead related skills. He was sure he would be getting neaten up by not only Joy but also the ever shy but determined Chiba.

The timer given to him after the breach of Contract was 1 month. And that time would be ending this week, he had been too preoccupied with carrying Chiba and the corresponding revelations made by Core that he completely forgot about that until he saw them one evening. As such, he had to make haste, or else he would lose three of the most important skills in his disposal whose effectiveness he had just discovered.

Kenshin didn’t want to give up on the OP combination of [Create Dunegion-Summon Minions-Give-Respawn], which even made him triumph over that fat princess of darkness or something, a bullshit level opponent.

“Don’t worry, I will be back in a week. You take care of Chiba. Make her level as close as it was possible to 70… I feel like if it's her, even with that level, she could hold her ground against a level 100 monster.” Kenshin said, thinking of the overwhelming talent she possessed. Her talent was really a one in a million kind of talent. Its as if she was born to wield magic and become a hunter.

“You be careful, okay. That place isn’t S class dangerous zone for nothing. Not to mention, it's filled with only undead who don’t know fear or fatigue. No matter how powerful you are, things could go south if you are ganged up… there are a few cases of 2nd Awakened Hunters getting their assess handed to them by a few hundred undead ganging up on him every step.”

“Umu… I will be careful about that. And don’t sound like a nagging parent, I am not a kid or a noob who is going to danger zones for the first time in his life.” Kenshin said, annoyed at Joy’s nagging. But, he didn’t disregard his warning, he was by no means arrogant. Confident, yes, that’s 100%, but not overconfident. He didn’t want to end up in the same situation of getting his ass beaten by a low-level guy again in his life.

Every dungeon has a core that has a prisoner, but not everyone would like to initiate a contract. It was because forming a contract would bind them into a shackle, which these guys would never want, especially when they were already in a shackle. Kenshin could only try his luck there as he didn’t want to give up on such nice skills.

The way to Kurogiri was only by reinforced boats that were only available to DCBs. That’s because, towards the island, especially while near to it, many sea creatures would attack the boat and its passengers relentlessly. Not so coincidentally, these aquatic monsters were also Specter class or Undead class monsters, making their danger level rising by a few degrees.

After exchanging goodbyes with Mrs. Yui, Ellie, and Axel, who was yet to go to school as it was only 7AM in the morning, Kenshin went off to the port where he had accepted mission not so long ago. His application had already been approved, and he was given a green signal the last night only. The day after their date, which ended with an amorous note for the record, Kenshin upgraded his license. His below level 50 license was upgraded to reflect his current strength, which was a level 100 hunter, an awakened one.

Generally, when a hunter level-ups, all the regarding information of his growth, both attributes or skill level, would naturally appear in their mind in the form of memory. It's like how one reads a page of a book and remember the content. Hunters had to fill a form about the change of their every attribute or skill, whenever they went to upgrade their license. Since this can be faked as it solely depended upon the hunter’s own words, to prevent this a very curious antique comes to paly.

It’s a unique stone that makes one’s magic flare the moment they touch the stone. This thing had no other function except for the flaring magic of the one who touched it. This flare would then be calculated by a radiation calculating device. The exact number will decide whether the hunter was telling the truth or not. Of course, it's not a reliable method either, as people with very good control over their magic could control their flare to the level they wanted to, thereby faking their level… but well not everything could be prevented.

Kenshin was one of those who faked his level… with good reasons too. His magic was close to 15k+, that amount would make anyone scream in terror. Even a purely magic skill-based hunter won't have that much magic even after reaching 199.

The taxi dropped him at that place within an hour. As such, Kenshin arrived just in the nick of time to ride the first boat.

“Hello. I am Satoru. Nice to meet you.” A middle-aged man introduced himself to Kenshin, who was peering into the horizon while standing on the deck of the boat. Turning around, he smiled and introduced himself, “I am Kenshin, the pleasure is all mine…”

The middle-aged man, Satoru, had long black hair which was tied in a low ponytail. He was wearing a long black coat with various belts attached to it. Below the coat, he was wearing a pair of black shirts and same colored pants. To finish his looks, he wore a pair of kneehigh boots, of course, that too black.

‘He kinda looks cool!’ Kenshin thought, looking at the man who wore a really cool looking garb. He couldn’t see his weapons, so he wasn’t sure whether this man was a magic skill user or close combat expert.

“Here to try your luck or official business?” the man asked, as he too turned around to look at the bright sky.

“Try my luck…” Kenshin smiled, technically he was here to try his luck in finding a target to reform his contract.

“Sigh! Man, Kenshin, let me tell you, that place held no treasure. Only death awaits the greedy… it’s one thing if you are here to grind levels or increase your proficiency, but to seek treasures, this is not the place.” Hearing Kenshin's reply made the man shake his head in sadness as well as helplessness.

He had seen many cases of young and ambitious people throwing their lives away in this place in search of the so-called treasure, which was nothing but a hallucination created by the dense fog that masked the area.