Rama continued to train his swordsmanship until he finally reached Sword Mastery, Intermediate Level 3. It turns out that advancing skills at the Intermediate level is more challenging than at the Beginner level.
Rama also realized that his current swordsmanship was still not sufficient to battle Supernaturals, let alone fight against other high-ranking Hunters. He had to train harder if he wanted to avenge himself against Donovan.
Lately, he had been distracted by the Main Quest given by his power. It had been a week since Rama completed his Main Quest to investigate the Specter Behemoth in the eastern part of Twilight City. Once that Main Quest was finished, he was immediately bombarded with more questions.
The unknown figure was still out there, probably planning more experiments on Supernaturals. Rama tried to find references about the other manipulated Supernaturals, but he had yet to find any.
He wasn't investigating this because he felt a moral obligation to stop the unknown figure from endangering humans. Instead, he was driven by curiosity. This figure possessed the ability to create something called 'the essence' to turn regular Ghosts into Specter Behemoths. With that power, it wouldn't be long before another form of Supernatural emerged.
Who was this figure? What was their motivation? And how could they create 'the essence'?
Rama stopped swinging his sword and stood, panting heavily. After an hour of training, he had made little progress: (78/100) in Intermediate Level 3. The progress was much slower than before.
But Rama refrained from complaining too much. Even with slow progress, he had come a long way since gaining the Soul Fusion power.
'I need to focus on getting revenge against Donovan first.' he reminded himself, nodding.
He couldn't afford any more distractions. The Main Quest would surely appear again, and when it did, he had to be ready to complete it.
There were no other quests available at the moment, at least not for him. So, Rama had no choice but to take on missions and hunt Supernaturals to gain XP and money.
When he checked the time and saw it was already nine in the morning, Rama concluded his sword training and went for breakfast.
After finishing his meal, Rama headed to the Hunter's guild, which was located farther from his home. He had stopped going to Veil Guards frequently because he didn't want people to grow suspicious of his consistent solo mission success.
Now he visited a guild known as Silver Serpent. It was a guild filled with cunning individuals who liked hunting Supernaturals using traps before torturing them and finally killing them.
Rama rarely visited this guild because the chances of being betrayed and used when he was just a porter were higher. He had never been a victim in Veil Guards until Donovan arrived.
But things were different now. He could enter this guild with more confidence because his strength had greatly increased.
As he entered the guild, nobody recognized Rama. Several Hunters who were sitting in front of the guild's entrance eyed him as if he were a target, a potential prey to be devoured at any moment.
However, Rama showed no signs of fear. His body language exuded confidence as he walked among them. This immediately made the lower-ranked Hunters reconsider targeting him.
But that only applied to the lower-ranked Hunters. The higher-ranked ones might still view him as a target if they saw fit. Despite being much stronger than before, Rama didn't want to risk drawing their attention.
So, he quickly made his way to the mission board, where numerous mission posters were displayed. After finding a suitable one, he went to the reception desk.
"I'd like to take this mission," Rama said, placing the poster in front of the receptionist.
The receptionist, a woman with ash-grey dyed hair, looked at Rama with curious, narrowed eyes. "I've never seen you here before."
"Yeah, I'm a freelance Hunter, and I happened to be interested in taking a mission here," Rama replied.
The receptionist glanced behind him, and when she didn't see anyone accompanying him, she asked, "You want to do this alone?"
"Yes," Rama nodded.
The receptionist gave him a knowing smile. Rama could tell she was underestimating him for taking a D-rank mission alone, but she didn't seem inclined to stop him.
"Very well," the receptionist handed Rama a registration form, and Rama quickly filled it out. Afterward, the receptionist promptly gave him the bike key, and Rama left.
The receptionist watched Rama's departure with a cold smile. She had often seen low-ranking Hunters take solo missions because they needed quick money. And what usually happened to them was that they returned in the form of a corpse, or sometimes didn't return at all. She assumed Rama would end up like them and considered him another fool.
~~~
It turned out to be another easy mission for Rama. He only had to kill 50 Ghouls inhabiting the forest between the routes connecting Twilight City and Tinneley City.
He killed them in less than 30 minutes and earned a respectable amount of XP for his Soul Fusion, although not as much as he had hoped.
< Soul Fusion Level 2 (45/100) >
Rama sighed. He still had a long way to go to reach Level 3. The strange thing was that he received different amounts of XP for his Soul Fusion every time he killed a Supernatural.
After killing a Supernatural, he would gain XP for both his Soul Fusion and himself. However, the amounts were always inconsistent.
Initially, he had thought he would get 5 XP for himself and 10 XP for his Soul Fusion. But now, he sometimes received only 3 XP for each Supernatural he killed.
Once again, this new power left him baffled about its nature.
*GGRRRRRGGGGRRRR...*
Suddenly, Rama heard something big moving about ten meters to his side. When he turned, he saw a boulder had suddenly shifted, revealing a door to a cave.
Curious, Rama approached the cave with his sword in hand. As he stepped inside, a message appeared in his vision.
< You have discovered Holy Tomb Dyre! >
~~~