Sir Geoff von Brodick, knight of New Aubrey, and the immortal founder of the towns of North, South, and the ruin that had once been called the East, Brodick, stared at the empty seat across from him.

It wasn’t universal but after reaching a certain level, all immortals could generally learn to sense the presence of other immortals.

For instance, Sir Geoff was aware that the young man, or at least the young looking, man, who’d he’d just talked to was an immortal.

Tall as if he were an ogre-kin, dark like a southerner, and comely in a way that was rarely seen outside of the halls of the nobility and the higher tier sects. The strange boy, had come in and said surprisingly little.

If he’d recognized that Sir Geoff as a fellow immortal he didn’t say anything about it.

Nor did he speak of his plans, or his reasons for coming to join the hunter’s association after what Geoff could only guess, to be decades or even centuries, of not joining before.

The man, this Desmond, just came in dropped a lump of Mithril that was large enough to buy a small dukedom and then requested to be registered as D-Rank hunter.

Only choosing to pay for the upgrade from a G-Rank hunter when old Geoff, pettily decided to try to needle him a bit.

All Geoff knew was that it all made him feel things that he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

This man, this Desmond Bose, as the immortal was calling himself, was a sly one, barely speaking the entire time that they were having tea. Eyeing the old man with the same unwavering scrutiny that Geoff used to eye him.

A faint and sinister smile etched across his features.

Fear and anticipation warred within the old man as he remembered the stranger. Recalling the pink of his hair and the eerie glow of his crimson eyes.

Geoff had tried to appraise the man and sneak a lot at the man’s status but found that view was obfuscated. His spell had failed. Something that hadn’t happened in a very long time.

If the man had been a newly awakened immortal, it would have been impossible.

Appraisal failure was something that could only happen if Geoff were to run into an existence that was many times stronger than himself. A being or creature whose strength exceeded Geoff’s own One hundred and twenty-five levels of magical enhancement, attainment and cultivation.

Thus, the question was created. A mystery was born. Forming in the old man’s mind, birthed the million dreadful possibilities that his imagination came up with.

The question of what on Agartha, a person, or possible humanoid monster, of that kind extraordinary strength, was doing in their neck of the woods

Whatever the man was after, whatever his intent Geoff only knew one thing, that eventually it would bring change.

Even the man was just some bored old master wandering about, people that powerful, beings that big, made waves when they moved.

Giants crumbled mountains when they stumbled. Dragons created draughts when they sneezed.

The man’s presence could either be a boon, or a curse, but only time would tell.

In the meantime, Geoff could only do due diligence by informing Hunter Associate Headquarters of the new member and leaving notice with his branch’s people to have them keep note of the man’s actions.