Chapter 6

Before the Hunt

"I got a pretty decent total score," Bellamy thought to himself satisfyingly and beamed.

Bleep, bleep

Something oval-shaped rang and Bellamy pressed a button to receive the call.

"Hi, Bell. Are you free to talk?" Tisha spoke with her usual warm and pleasant voice. "I know I haven't called for a while, so I'm checking up on you. Have you been eating well? You have to remember not to skip meals and eat something else than just ramen noodles."

"Hey, mom. I'm doing okay," Bellamy teased. "I thought I would call you yesterday as well, but something came up," Bellamy replied.

"Thanks, jerk. What came up?" Tisha asked interestedly.

"Oh... Hroar asked me to work overtime, so I was totally beat and went to sleep when I got home. Nothing special, really," Bellamy asserted.

"Liar. I can tell when you're lying... I won't press the matter if you're not willing to share with your best friend."

If there were one person on Thrae Bellamy could not fool, it would be Tisha. It would seem that even his title, The Mind of the Shrewd, was of no use against her.

Bleep, bleep

"Hang on. Peter is calling," Bellamy diverted from Tisha's comment and put her on hold.

Peter was Tisha's adoptive older brother. Although the three of them were the same age, Peter was born on the second moon, making him the oldest in the trio.

"Bell!" a raucous voice came from the other end, "buddy, you haven't answered any of my texts!"

"Hey, Pete. What texts?"

Bellamy had been preoccupied yesterday and did not have the time to check his messages on his Voicetronia. A Voicetronia was a device most Thraeans would use to communicate. Voicetronias were round or oval-shaped devices that could easily fit in one's palm and displayed a caller's holographic image. One could attach the Voicetronia to clothing and belts as accessories or keep them in the pocket.

"It's Tisha's birthday next week, dimwit!" Peter screeched. "You forgot?! She and I are leaving for HIF the same day! We won't be able to see each other as frequently after that!" he snorted.

Pant, pant

On the hologram, Peter was clearly perspired and breathed heavily out of anger. As Awakeners, both Tisha and Peter had passed the Hunter Alliance's trials a moon ago with flying numbers. Tisha had scored 820 points, and Peter had scored 792 points.

"Pete. Relax. I'll see you guys on Onesday. Don't worry. I actually have Tisha on the other hologram, so I have to hang up now. Bye."

"Hey, assho–" before Peter could finish, Bellamy ended their conversation, and Tisha came back into view.

"Sorry about that," Bellamy continued, "your brother called. About earlier..."

There was a slight pause. Tisha held her silence, making it awkward for Bellamy.

"About what we were talking about, forget about it," Bellamy said with a stiff tone. He hurriedly changed the subject. "I'll be there next Onesday for your entrance ceremony."

...

Tisha kept holding her silence as if Bellamy had uttered the wrong lines of words.

"Hey, Tisha?"

"Yes?"

"See you and Peter next week, alright?"

"Of course we will," Tisha replied. "It's not as if we are saying farewell," she continued with her conscience feeble.

"Don't worry about me, mom. I'll be fine without you guys," Bellamy continued teasingly.

"Alright." Her posture and tone had gotten back to her usual self, "Peter and I are heading out to hunt some low leveled monsters. We're joining a Party with Level 5 to 10 hunters and some experienced adventurers."

"That sounds exciting. What levels are you and Peter currently?"

"Peter has been steadily increasing his Levels this past moon. He's at the bottleneck before reaching level 10. He's put most of his stat points into Strength and Stamina and often takes the role as a tank in Parties."

"I see. With his personality, I guess he suits well as a front-line brawler," Bellamy said cheekily. If Peter had heard him, he would definitely have gotten an earful.

"What about you?"

"Me? I am still level 6." Tisha's expression was calm. "Although I haven't acquired a healing class, I function as a healer in parties. I rarely get the kill bonus since I am always healing Peter."

"That thick-skulled baboon," Bellamy jested, "always taking the limelight and kill steal."

"It's fine. I still get the Party Experience since our party is connected through our Soul Windows."

"Well, as long as you're content," Bellamy responded. "You guys have to be careful. You never know when an Elite or Champion monster might show up."

"Hey! Do not jynx us," Tisha replied aggravatedly. "Time's, so I have to end our call. We're heading out."

In the background, Bellamy saw Peter giving him the middle finger.

"Bye, Tisha."

"Finally calling me by my name, huh?" Tisha smiled and switched off her Voicetronia.

Bellamy returned to his original thoughts.

The second trial ended without a hitch. The fleetness trial was child's play compared to the first trial since the track was accustomed to Level 0 examinees. The first trial was just that more difficult for the Level 0 examinees. Strength and Attack power grew exponentially as you progressed in Levels. Level 0 Hunters would only have their base attributes as they had yet to acquire any stat points to distribute.

With Wind Sprint Lv1 and Gale Lv1, Bellamy cruised through the second trial with ease. Dodging flying obstacles and neutralizing said objects with Gale Lv1, he scored 330 out of 333 points. An obstacle grazing Bellamy's shoulder had reduced his total score by 3 points. If he had opted to use Aqua Shield Lv1, he could have protected himself. However, he had already determined to conceal his Water Awakening.

The third trial was more inconvenient for Bellamy. The elemental affinity trial would automatically give 300 out of 334 points to Dual Awakeners. If you possessed high Wisdom, the Elemental Affinity Stone would give you additional points. Hence, Kido Yamata and one other Level 8 examinee were the only ones who had achieved a score higher than 325 points.

On the other hand, the instructors could not grasp how the Elemental Affinity Stone had presented Bellamy with 322 points. Typically, an Awakener with a single element would receive a score between 150 and 250. Contrarily, the instructors did not know that Bellamy had Awakened four times as a human, each awakening earning him +10 Wisdom. With the attribute amplifier from The Mind of the Shrewd, his total Wisdom was 55 at Level 0. Not even Level 10s or 15s possessed this amount of Wisdom unless they put all their stat points into the Wisdom attribute.

With a maximum score of 333 points from the first trial, 330 points from the second trial, and 322 points from the third trial, Bellamy attained the same high score as a legendary personage from 5 years ago. That legendary figure was none other than Fleeting Space, a member of Eclipse; the second-highest ranked Guild in all of Thrae, and the number one guild in Thorsheim, located in North Central of Farinmore. If the instructors and examinees still had eyes left in their sockets, they would indeed be dangling out, barely attached to their optic nerves.

It was not easy to exit the main branch building as local and national reporters had been patiently gathering outside, awaiting Bellamy's arrival. Rumors were promptly leaked that someone had destroyed the infamous element-infused iron plating of the first trial. Thus, Bellamy had no other option than to equip Multi-Purpose Cloak and enter stealth by using Invisibility, stealthily leaving the compound without anyone's notice.

It had been a long and tiring Twosday. Opening his Voicetronia, Bellamy counted the days until the Hunter Institution entrance ceremony:

Five days left.