It had been one week since Erik and Liam had their meeting with the other guards, and now they were getting ready to leave. Twenty-four people have gathered at the village plaza to wait for Erik to arrive so he can give the command to leave and for the rest of the group to arrive. Amongst them, Ian, Emmet, and Kevin were also part of the group.
They had managed to convince Erik to let them join him in this expedition. However, Erik would only allow them to join if they stuck together and would find someone to help them if things got too dangerous. All three of them agreed and so they were now waiting for Erik to arrive.
"Wait, I understand why Erik is allowing me and Emmett to go, but why you?" Kevin asked Ian as he finally came to the realization.
"It's a long story, but thanks to Liam, I was able to convince my dad to let me go," Ian responded.
"I'm guessing it has something to do with your nifty new gloves," Kevin retorted.
"Yeah. What are they anyways? You've had them for two weeks and never told us what they are," Emmett added.
Ian gave them an annoyed look and said, "First, they're gauntlets. Secondly, they're the items Liam made for me. They're supposed to help me control my power, but I haven't had the chance to test them. And thirdly…I don't have a third thing."
"So that's what they do. Okay, that about answers most of my questions. I have more, but they can wait," Kevin said with a satisfied look on his face.
As the three of them chatted, another group of three was walking towards them. Kevin was the first to notice them and immediately got a sour look on his face.
When Ian and Emmett saw his face, they decided to turn in the direction he was facing. Upon turning, they too gained a sour face.
Walking towards them was Darren and two of his goons. The one to his left was a very skinny blond-haired guy called Jeremy. He was a bit tall but looked like a twig. The one to his right was a fairly tall fat guy with black hair called Josh. He had a visible double chin and his eyes had a creepy stare to them.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Kevin asked with disgust in his voice.
"Me, Josh, and Jeremy are also going on this expedition. Erik was kind enough to allow us on this trip. Sadly, the others couldn't go since they were all copper rank. But that's fine, we three are strong enough to take care of ourselves," Darren said with a condescending voice.
"Now I can understand why Kevin and Emmett are going on this trip, but why are you here?" Darren pointed at Ian as he said this.
"That's none of your business, Darren," Ian said with anger in his eyes.
"Fine, don't say. Regardless, it doesn't change the fact that you don't belong here. You're only copper rank so you being here will severely affect us negatively," Darren said. He looked down upon Ian as if he were a worm.
After a long pause, Darren said, "Anyways, I came here to make a bet with you three."
Upon hearing this, Ian, Kevin, and Emmett gave Darren a distasteful look. Kevin was the first to speak, saying, "Okay, so what's this bet anyways?"
Darren gave the three of them a smile and said, "I wanted to see who is the best at hunting. Over this next trip, we will go against each other in groups of three to see who can kill the most amount of wolves. The winner gets to take all."
After Darren said this, Ian, Kevin, and Emmett turned to face each other before Kevin said, "Okay, you have yourself a deal." Then Kevin stretched out his arm to give Darren a handshake.
Upon hearing what Kevin said, Darren gave them another smile before shaking Kevin's hand. With that, the deal was set. Afterwards, Darren gathered his goons and left.
Shortly after the two groups made their deal, Erik finally showed up. He called for everyone's attention, making sure that everyone was facing him.
"Alright everyone, as you all know, we are going to go out into the woods to hunt down the remainder of the wolves and destroy their den. During this hunt, you will all be allowed to keep a portion of what you hunt but the rest will be placed in the food reserves," Erik said in a straightforward voice.
"We know for a fact that there are gold-rank and below wolves, so expect some resistance when we try to destroy their den. However, if anyone encounters a crystal-rank wolf, you are to contact me immediately. I will engage it while everyone else runs."
Afterwards, Erik pulled out a white crystal and said, "You have all been given a communication crystal so if you find yourself in trouble, call for backup. I want to make sure everyone returns home safely." Erik gave a stern look at Ian, Darren, and their groups as he spoke.
"I have already gone ahead to look for the wolf den and have located it. It will take us half a day to get there so make sure you guys stay near the group as we travel." Erik picked up his bag and continued, "I have nothing else to add, let's move out," After saying this, Erik picked up his bag and started to move towards the forest.
Ian, Emmett, and Kevin were extremely excited to go hunting together. It had been almost a year since they last went out hunting together and now they had a chance.
The three of them chatted for most of the trip but after a few hours, Emmett and Kevin became bored. Ian on the other hand was perfectly fine. He was constantly scanning the area for anything.
"How do you do it, Ian? How are you able to stay so sane on this trip?" Kevin asked as he placed a hand on Ian's shoulder.
"I'm used to it. Whenever I go hunting, I usually have to stand and wait for the right moment to strike. I am an ambush hunter," Ian said while still scanning the area.
"Even so, there must be a limit to how long you can wait," Emmett said as he messed around with a rock. He constantly changed the shape of the rock with his earth element.
"Well if there is, then I've never reached it. The longest I've waited to strike was around 9 hours." Ian had a smug look on his face.
"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen you hunt in a long time. You always go by yourself, or you would only hunt null-tier creatures. But, now that I know how strong you are, I want to see you hunt," said Kevin.
"But you already saw me fight against Ellie. Why do you need to see me hunt a creature?" Asked Ian.
"Your fight against Ellie doesn't count since you hid your true strength. Besides, don't you want to test out your gauntlets?" Kevin's voice was a bit sarcastic.
"Fair point. But it will take a few more hours before we arrive at the wolf's den. I won't be able to test it until then," Ian said in a disappointed tone.
"We could ask your dad if we can take a lunch break before continuing," Kevin said.
Before Ian could respond, Kevin walked up to Erik and asked his question. After a few minutes, Erik stopped everyone and told them to take a 30-minute lunch break before they continued their journey.
Almost everyone in the group sat down and pulled out their lunch. The only ones who didn't were Ian, Emmett, and Kevin.
The three of them walked away from the group and began to search for a creature to hunt. Thankfully, after 15 minutes, they managed to find a lone creature.
It was a fairly large rabbit. It had gray fur, red eyes, and was the size of a corgi. The three of them knew that this creature was at least copper-rank. That would be perfect for Ian to test out his gauntlets.
"Okay Ian, now's your chance to test those gloves of yours," Kevin said as he stared at the rabbit.
"They're gaunt… never mind." Ian ignored what Kevin said and pulled out his boar tusk dagger.
"You still use that? I thought you would have grown out of it by now." Kevin was surprised to see Ian's dagger. Ian has had that dagger for a long time and Kevin thought he might have gotten a new one.
Ian didn't pay any attention to Kevin and instead crouched over to a bush near the rabbit. He made sure not to make any single sound as he approached it. He even controlled his breathing so as to not alert the rabbit.
In the past, Ian would have some trouble fighting copper-ranked creatures. This was true especially if the creature was a high-tier copper-rank. If the creature was a low-tier copper-rank, Ian would be able to kill it with minimal struggle.
Now that Ian had his gauntlets, he wanted to see how fast he could kill a copper-ranked creature. But he didn't know if he should go all out or not.
After a moment of thinking, Ian decided to go all out with the help of the gauntlets. He quickly activated his power which in turn activated the gauntlets.
Ian felt a surge of energy fill his body, but unlike previous times, the energy did not continue to build up and overflow. Ian felt himself become stronger, he could feel the change in his body. And if he had to guess, he would probably say that his base strength felt like it doubled if not tripled. He knew it had to be within that range.
But after he activated his power, the rabbit became aware of his presence. The rabbit immediately ran in the opposite direction to try and escape.
Ian saw the rabbit begin to run away and took action. He crouched down into a pouncing position before bolting towards the rabbit.
Ian had experienced high speed at his maximum output but was barely able to control it. However, now that his power was being controlled and managed, he would be able to control his movements more easily.
Even so, he did not expect to move as fast as he did. Within a few steps, he had already caught up to the rabbit. The rabbit tried to take a sharp turn to get away from Ian but it was too late.
Ian swung his dagger at the rabbit as soon as he was next to it. He expected to leave a massive wound on it but in the next second was left surprised. As soon as his dagger made contact with the rabbit, it slid seamlessly through its body, cutting it in half.
Ian was left dumbfounded. With how easily he killed the rabbit he thought that he had killed a null-rank. But after thinking of how fast it moved, he knew it was copper-rank.
Emmett and Kevin spectated the entire event and were also left shocked. Kevin knew that the rabbit was copper-rank and so he expected there to be some resistance.
After processing what just happened, Kevin thought to himself, "I have to see just how strong Ian is now." Afterwards, Kevin bolted towards Ian ready to throw a punch at him.
Emmett barely had a chance to react and screamed out, "What are you doing!"
As Ian looked over the dead rabbit, he suddenly got a sense of danger. He turned in the direction of Kevin and put up his arms in front of him.
Kevin landed a powerful punch on Ian's arm which pushed him back a couple of feet. As soon as Ian came to a stop, he fell to his knees.
"Kevin, what the hell? What was that for?" Ian asked in an angry voice. Ian's forehead was covered in a cold sweat. The sense of danger sent his body into a defensive mode. It was almost like it knew something dangerous was approaching fast. Faster than it could properly react and dodge it.
"Sorry, but after seeing what you did to that rabbit, I knew I had to test it for myself," Kevin said calmly, almost like he didn't just attack Ian.
Ian had a confused look on his face. He had no idea what Kevin was talking about so he asked, "What do you mean by test it out yourself?"
Kevin gave Ian a big smile and said, "It's simple, that punch I threw at you had a power of about 140 behind it."
Ian looked at Kevin like he just smelled a fart. It took him a moment to process what Kevin just said but when he did he got a surprised look on his face. He now understood what Kevin's words meant.
Emmett had run over to them as soon as Kevin bolted towards Ian. he was only a few meters away from them when he heard what Kevin said. After hearing that he said, "You have the Strength of a high-tier copper to low-tier silver rank."
Even though Ian and Kevin knew this, saying it out loud seemed ridiculous. But before they could dwell on their thoughts some more, a voice sounded in the distance, "Boys, it's almost time to go."
The three of them snapped back to reality and decided to head back to the main group. Before they left, Ian grabbed the rabbit's body and took it with him. He planned on eating it later.