Alliance of Hunters

Anselm walked back to the village together with Tolgar. Along the way, he praised Anselm incessantly and worshipped him as if he was his new God. If it were anyone else, then they would have become annoyed and irritated, but for Anselm? He was used to it by now. Since he could remember, he had always been good friends with Tolgar. In the village, other than Instructor Dylin who always tried to look after him, the only other person he considered family was the overly boisterous Tolgar.

"Anselm, next time beat up Instructor Dylin to show everyone how strong you are!"

"Anselm, will you teach me how to use those cool moves? I don't have anything to repay you with other than my body… oh please don't take away my chastity already. I want to be with a girl for the first time. I beg you."

"Anselm, you have to protect your little brother from that scary Instructor Dylin in the future."

"Anselm…"

Anselm laughed and shook his head as they continued to the village.

After what seemed like hours of listening to Tolgar's voice, they finally arrived. When they entered the village, several children ran towards them and shouted,

"Big Bro Anselm is back! Do you want to play hide and seek with us?"

Before Anselm could even reply, Tolgar stepped in and said,

"Bro Anselm has important business with the Captain. You know, he just came back from slaying a gigantic Ghostape with three heads and four arms. If you don't leave him alone, then the spirit of the Ghostape will haunt all of you tonight."

The children looked at Tolgar in terror and screamed,

"Ahhhhh! Really? We're sorry Big Bro Anselm, we'll go now. The spirit should stay away from us."

Anselm smacked Tolgar's head and spoke to the children,

"Don't listen to this fellow; he's just trying to scare you. Though I do have to see the Captain, so I'll play with you tomorrow. Got it?"

"Yayy! See you tomorrow Big Bro. Don't bring stinky Bro Tolgar with you," the children left, shouting in joy.

Tolgar rubbed the back of his head as he looked at Anselm.

"Ouch. You could have killed me with that hit. I was just teasing the kids."

Anselm laughed as he replied, "I'll hit harder next time you make them run frightened back to Auntie. Let's go see the Captain now."

Maplemond was a rather small and ordinary village. Apart from the dozen houses for the residents, it was comprised of the Hunter's Shack, a large building used by the village's hunters; the Village Hall where the Elder and others managed the village; and a slightly smaller building situated next to the Hunter's Shack. This final building was where the village's most important person resided - Alder, Captain of Maplemond's Hunters. Without him leading the battle against demonic beasts and defending the village, it would have already been destroyed several times over by now.

Anselm approached Alder's residence whilst Tolgar went back home since he was starting to feel hungry. A violet banner hung over the entrance with a crimson shield emblem embroidered in its center. The two guards in front of the entrance saw Anselm proceeding towards them and nodded, moving away to allow him entry.

Anselm entered the building, gently shut the door behind him, and surveyed the room.

'So this is the Captain's room. I wonder why he asked me here.'

The first thing he saw was the mat situated in the middle of the room and the small table that rested on it. On one side of the table was Captain Alder, putting down his cup as he gestured for Anselm to come over.

"Please, sit."

Anselm walked towards the mat and sat down in front of the table. He lifted his head, his eyes meeting with Captain Alder's warm gaze.

"That was quite the victory over Hunter Blake today. Looks like I'll have to make his training more harsh as a punishment." Captain Alder was the first to speak.

"That was simply a lucky victory, Captain. If it were a real battle that Hunter Blake took seriously, then I wouldn't have stood a chance against him," Anselm replied, a tinge of red apparent on his handsome face.

Captain Alder suddenly laughed.

"I witnessed the entire fight. I may be turning old, but your physical constitution couldn't escape these eyes. When you grabbed Blake's sword, you were clearly holding back. If you wanted, then you could have crushed it in your hand. Such incredible physical strength... "Captain Alder sighed.

Wariness flashed through Anselm's eyes and his heartbeat suddenly hastened. At a loss for what to say, he stuttered, "I, I-"

'What should I say? With Captain's strength, he could easily capture me. Maybe him inviting me here was just a trap. Damnit.'

"Don't worry. Everybody has their secrets. My reason for inviting you here was to confirm something. Now that I'm finished, is there anything you'd like to ask me? Perhaps you've reached a bottleneck in your training? I'll give you these answers as a reward for defeating Blake."

Captain Alder's kind gaze descended on Anselm once again, but this time he felt something warm flowing throughout his body, calming him down.

'So that must have been one of his hunter abilities,' Anselm thought as he looked down at the bronze badge on Alder's chest. Composing himself, he said,

"Captain, there is something that I've wanted to ask you. How can I become stronger? Every single day I practice with the sword but I'm still so weak. When can I be like you or Instructor Dylin and fight those demonic beasts?"

Anselm's voice slowly grew louder as determination filled his eyes.

Captain Alder thought for a moment then replied,

"You're strong enough, so I suppose it's time I told you. Let's start simple. Our village, Maplemond, is but a tiny settlement under the control of the nearby City of Blackhall. Blackhall City also lords over dozens of other small villages like ours. This city, however, is under the control of Fairlake City - one of the three major cities in our Ocida Kingdom. Fairlike City also lords over many other small cities like Blackhall. So as you can tell, we are but a tiny part of the entire Kingdom."

Anselm sucked in a cold breath; this was his first time hearing anything about the world outside the village.

"In this world, only the strong are respected. Where this power comes from is what you want to know, correct?"

Anselm nodded.

'If only I could become stronger...'

"The Kingdom of Ocida resides on the Atonia Continent - one of the three known continents along with the Demon Continent and Fallen Continent, where the Demon and Fallen races respectively inhabit. Strength in each continent is gained differently. On the Atonia Continent, we practice the power of aura. Aura is a natural energy that surrounds us everywhere, but only few can harness it. Those who can use this power are known as Aura Immortals. Naturally, not every Immortal has the same strength, thus we classify them differently:

Vitalisation: building the aura meridians within one's body. Though you can't absorb aura yet, these meridians naturally strengthen your body. Hunter Blake, for example, is in the middle stages of Vitalisation.

Meridian Opening: opening the aura meridians within one's body so that they can absorb the natural aura energies surrounding them. Stored aura can then be used to cast powerful techniques and allows Immortals to use special abilities. The feeling you felt earlier was me controlling my aura to flow through your body."

Wide-eyed, Anselm asked, "So you're in the stage of Meridian Opening?"

Captain Alder chuckled and replied, "You could say that."

Anselm suspiciously looked at Captain Alder before asking, "Are there stages after Meridian Opening then?"

"Of course there are.

Spiritual Pond: with the aura collected in your meridians, you build a pond in your spirit so that you can store even more aura and manifest higher quantities outside of your body.

Aura Lake: expanding the spiritual pond into a much larger lake. With this, not only can you absorb more aura, but you absorb aura of a higher quality than before. This level is seen by Immortals on the continent as a threshold you have to pass before becoming a truly strong Aura Immortal. It is said that the Blackhall City Lord is at this stage.

You need not know of the stages beyond this because it would only be detrimental to your cultivation."

Captain Alder stopped to take a sip of his tea whilst Anselm sank into contemplation.

'Vitalisation, Meridian Opening, Spiritual Pond, Aura Lake… there are so many stages. How strong must I be to search for them? I'll focus on reaching Aura Lake for now if I have to, then I'll search for them.'

Observing Anselm's contemplation, Captain Alder asked, "You seem to be thinking about something important to you. Could it be related to your parents?"

Anselm looked up at Captain Alder and softly spoke, "Yes… I don't believe that they would have abandoned me without a reason. After hearing your explanation, I feel like they must have been Aura Immortals."

"Don't let these thoughts weigh heavy on your mind. It is recorded that the previous Immortal Sovereign once told his followers this: do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. To you, I also offer this advice. For now, focus on your training. Here." Captain Alder pulled out a book from his robes and gave it to Anselm.

"This is a Vitalisation manual. Practice hard enough and you will surely reach the peak of Vitalisation. From thereon, it depends on you. If that's all, then this old man needs his sleep. I've started becoming really old lately."

Anselm stood up, clasping his hands in respect towards Captain Alder.

"Thank you, Captain."

'Finally, I can start training to become an Aura Immortal. Mum, dad, just wait! I'll find you soon. Your son is going to become the most powerful Aura Immortal.'

Clutching the manual in his chest, Anselm left the room.

As Anselm headed out, Captain Alder stared at his departing back.

'Aura Immortals? No, you're wrong. Child, you have it tough.'