As the days went by, the legion group had gotten over the tragic beast event and had now decided to go out on hunts. They did this for three reasons.To level up, for the coins, and finally for the beast cores which they carved out after the kill. They had restricted themselves to safer areas using their maps. And since they went out on their own, they kept the rewards for themselves. Although they had offered to give some share of their kills to the hunters, the hunters refused and turned them down saying it wasn't right t accept since they didn't work for it.
"Wow, this people are legit nice. You would expect that they would come knocking on our doors for some form of Payment now that we go out on hunts". Erwin said to his fellow legion members who were all present in the boys room. They had somewhat turned the room to some kind of meeting spot. Here Eiko would update them of their current status and plans. So far they've been functioning quite well even in the absence of their leader, Rodney.
" Rodney has been quite busy a lot lately with that Yang guy. Anyone knows what they are doing?". Johan asked.
"Wait you don't know?, he's being learning some kung fu". Blair said throwing out air punches and saying random words..." Wuah ...chai!!"
"I wonder why that yang guy has picked so much interest in Rodney?" Eiko thought to himself. Rodney had explained that he would be busy and probably not available for the hunts. The group found it normal that Rodney saw he needed to improve on himself. After all a leader needed to be strong in order to lead. They themselves weren't slacking either. Those that were at level six had all now leveled up to level 7 with only Erwin and Eiko still being stuck at their respective levels as it was harder to level up the more one went up.
They had also being stacking up a lot of beast cores as they now had a total of 18 basic level beast cores, and two intermediate cores. They had also made some coins out of the hunt as two quests had popped up when they faced the higher tier beasts. The group was now also sharpening their skills with their abilities and learning to work together effectively. They now knew each others strength and weaknesses and have formulated ways to compensate for it all thanks to Eiko who had been taking charge of activities.
Erwin being undoubtedly the most powerful amongst them would not waste time whenever he gets to chance to prove it. As if it wasn't for him and his amazing bust of lightning powers, most of their hunts would have been a lot harder. The group wasn't slacking by any means ay all. They were all improving.
The one thing that was still on their minds though, was why the hunters hadn't asked for any form of payment or compensation. It just didn't feel right to them that they got fed, housed and were allowed to go out on hunts on their own and even allowed to keep the cores and all they got to themselves. Some of just felt there had to be more to it than just being nice. And they were right.
Someone at a high position had being the one pulling the strings for them all along. The food and shelter were traditionally free as this was the hunters way. But the cores on the other hand should have been shared with the hosting faction but instead someone had ordered that they should be left alone.
"So tell me what else have you found out about the group". Damian asked as he sat on on a chair while the three that he was referring to stood before him. These three were none other than Orin, Akira and Tuffy.
"Yes, apart from the unusual display of power, nothing else. They just go out and hunt". Orin replied.
" Nothing is ordinary about that group. Yang where did you get them from" Damien thought to himself.
"And you are confident you have not been spotted even once?". Damien asked.
"Positive sir, we haven't been spotted. They are usually too busy taking down beasts to care". Tuffy replied.
" OK what about the boy. What has he been up to?" Damien asked.
"Oh you mean Rodney. He hasn't gone on any hunt yet, he's been really busy with Yang lately. They would spend a whole lot of time in the special room". Akira replied.
"So Yang has decided to take him under his wings huh..hmmm". Damien murmured to himself before giving the boys some set of instructions and dismissing them.
Of a truth, Rodney had become busier than ever. He would spend most hours of the day with Yang practicing his combat moves. He was commended as a fast learner by Yang as he proved to be versatile with his skills. He indeed was a fast learner but due props have to be given to Yang who had been quite patient with the other.
"How can someone know this much about fighting. I can tell I have improved a lot but still I don't think I have scratched the surface of his knowledge. No doubt he is a great teacher, but just how strong is he though?" Rodney thought as he remained in a fighting stance panting and looking at the ever calm Yang who just casually stood there blowing himself with his fan.
"I think that's enough sparring for today. Come with me". Yang said.
" where are we going?" Rodney asked as he followed Yang out of the dojo. To this, there was no response from Yang. He had simply just remained silent through the walk. "I don't, but if you are who I think you are, then a simple training won't do you need to face some real dangers". Yang thought to himself.
They had walked for a considerable amount of time taking turns after turns. Rodney who had decided to not ask questions again since Yang would obviously not answer decided to just follow and only note down the path take took incase this was all some funny game to trap him. He felt bad for thinking this way, but he had learnt a long time ago not to trust anyone. It wasn't like he thought Yang was a bad person, but the feeling he would often get as he stared into this person's eyes just didn't sit well with him. It was like the other was just a bag of mystery and he was blindfolded and asked to deep his hands in it. Surely one would be cautious he thought as he tried to justify the way he thought about Yang.
"We are here. You have been training for a while now, let's see if you have learnt anything. Meet me when you are done at the other end of this trail". Yang said.
"Wait finished what?"Rodney asked but wouldn't get a reply as just then,Yang had simply vanished leaving Rodney standing alone in the middle of a cleared out area. The place didn't look like they were at the faction base anymore but he wasn't so sure about that. There were tall bamboo like trees everywhere but something was giving him this unsettling feeling and it wasn't long before he found out what it was.
" Beasts!"
"I could sense them, my senses have really improved". Rodney thought excitedly but then reminded himself that he was currently in a bad situation at the moment and should worry more about surviving. " There are thee of them. Can I really take them on?" Rodney thought as he evaluated the situation. He then finally settled for an option, to turn back and run. But when he turned back, he discovered the path was no longer there. He could have sworn there was an open path before, now it had all disappeared. Whatever this was, it didn't look like he was getting out of it easily.
Rodney turned around and could now see three creatures all emerge from the forest. They had the features of a lizard only with horns and spiky tails that went from their lower back all the way down, looking like they were pulled out directly from a nightmare. And the size of this beasts was particularly frightening as they could probably rival a bear. One crawled down from a tree and this one was a little different from the others as it was bigger and had more spikes on its tail. It's scale was also different as was coloured red rather than the colour the other two had which was black.
*Bing!*
[New quest]
[Defeat the intermediate Gecko whips using your newly acquired skills and knowledge only!]
[Shadow powers have now be deactivated]
[Reward: ???]
[Failure:???]
Rodney looking at the notification had his mouth left wide open. "Surely this had to be a conspiracy between Yang and the darn system" he thought. But now was not the time to think about what was and what wasn't. He would simply just have to find a way out of this one on his own. He did wish he had the team here with him right now, but then he took that thought back as it would mean he was relying on them for everything. They had already gone on hunts without him and were doing well as he would often receive the system notifications giving rewards for a quest completed by the team. If they could earn that much on just three outings, it wouldn't be bad if he at least contributed to the team's earnings.
"You brought me out to see how I'd fare right?. I was gonna run before. But...this...this is the perfect opportunity to push my self". Rodney thought to himself as he stood watching the three beasts who where now going in circles around him as if they were stalking him and blocking him from escaping. He watched the beasts movements as they snarled at him and then he took three deep breathes before reaching for his sword and drawing it out with a grin plastered on his face as one of the lizards charged in.
"Well in that case, GAME ON!".
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(would really appreciate if you all could vote for us and comment below also there'll be bonus chapters when we get to 30 power stones!)
Also checkout "Dark genes: Rebirth" its a sequel to this one.
You'd love it!!