My Last Hunt

Quest for Three Stones (26)

Zunal; 

Let's search the stone then; 

The stone had all the knowledge of the language of this world. It could easily decipher it but as for this young hunter was concerned and all those words running in his head at this moment were strange and despite trying best and having strong grip on the consciousness; these words were still unfathomable. Qiao was swearing at this time; all those prohibited words which if this stone happened to decipher then it must have been broken into smithereens by now with the shame. Those words; human ears would start to bleed after hearing them. 

'Is it means that I have not reached the advanced infinity stage?' the stone questioned itself. By no means was the language a problem then what were the thoughts of this hunter which were impossible to decipher' the stone was at the verge of self-doubt. 'Wait… it is not possible. This hunter does not belong to this world.' after scrapping through the previous conscious conflict it finally understood why it was going through hard time to decipher the present thought process. The reason was simple; previously it was able to snip some of the active thoughts and follow to create illusion but as soon as the hunter started to control his emotions; the stone was limited in its actions. 

It was observing from apparent actions but still the blunt swearing caught the attention; after all the stone can only act by reading the thought process. "How was it dear stone?" Qiao asked to look around. He could see the effects of his swearing the increasing sand stopped because the intellectual stone was having hard time to understand the thought process. He wanted to show up his middle finger to celebrate but there was senior hunter beside him; it would be improper and also what if the hunter asked meaning behind this gesture and he was not supposed to speak lie. 

"Huh, what is going on? The sand stopped and there is not a single move from the stone?" The hunter king looked at the face of the young man and his calm expressions after a long calm silence. He was seriously curious to know what this young hunter did to ask such a question from the stone. "I guess the stone is confused." Qiao shrugged his shoulders. He found another clue that he has a way to confuse the stone. 

'Trash talk' 'what was the most famous among youngsters and specially hundred thousand gamers? Of course trash talk. Not a simple one would work here but the most advanced one' Qiao nodded his head after this idea struck his thoughts. The stone has power to scuff and dent the stratums of the consciousness; that means it can silently control the consciousness and then play with the hunter what he turned this strength of the stone into weakness?' these were all possible ways which Qiao was thinking to try out. "I would like to ask this senior what is the weakness of a hunter?" 

Qiao put the question instead of giving answer. The hunter was astounded at this question. Mostly hunters temper all their weaknesses with the time and also those high level hunting gave them strength of unbound and unrestricted limits compared with a normal human. And if anyone still has a weakness then he would not share it with others. "Kid; the hunters are humans and they are naturally vulnerable: this is the reason that they hunt to strengthen themselves as well as fight against the monsters and challenge them else they would lost peaceful lands under the domination of monsters and beasts. So the hunters caught the weaknesses of the monsters and then dare to go against the enemies." 

Qiao nodded at this answer. He himself encountered the same. "No matter; if a stone has become strong or the infinity level, it must have weakness too?" he asked the hunter king. The hunter king was again astounded to hear this. "Hm, the monster after reaching infinity levels shred the stones and these stones if fortunate got enough time to toughen then it is almost impossible to find a weakness especially in matter of fact that the hunter was against a stone not the actual monster and the stone is hidden under the depths." The hunter king gave a brief answer. Infinity level was the last level the normal hunters were familiar with until now. 

The hunter monarch also did not mention in the scripts about the Requiem level of the stones; he feared that a weak hunter might end up leaking this information and most of the monsters come to know about it then they would never abandon their stones and keep them as treasure. It might create endless problems for humans until the monsters and beasts got control over the whole seven continents. The hunter monarch kept this information anonymous and did not mention in any of the script. 

It was for the good of humans. Most of them run after the power and then astray; only few remain true to right mission and that was to keep a balance of power at all costs and never let the beasts and monsters snatch their peace. It was the oath that every level eight and up hunter take when aspiring for the next levels. The oath meant a lot when they were sent for the missions. 

The Hightown mostly has urgent missions and they send strong team of three hunters but if any of them went astray then he might deceive them and tamed the beast if it was rare and then create trouble for others or work with the beast to plan a fall of human hold over the seven continents. The level eight hunters were truly formidable humans and they bear terrifying control if they happened to be those who reached the peak at the young age. The age of two or three hundred years was considered peak age if compared to the level. 

Qiao has different thoughts. He was comparing the slight footing change; it means he has the reason to believe that the stone was giving special attention to him or his thoughts. Though it cannot be called the weakness of the stone but he could assume it that he has a way to create a weakness. "In my hometown; there is a saying: 'if you are unable to find a weakness in your enemy then you should create a weakness first," Qiao took a deep breath and uttered confidently. Though he already captured the weakness but let's pretends that he did not yet find it. 

"Seeing your confidence I am willing to believe since I have already promised to collaborate and I never go against my words." The hunter king patted his shoulders and nodded. "Then we will be searching the stone as well as fighting illusions." Qiao walked when he saw the sand started moving like a whirlpool. "I see and the first illusion is right here I guess." The sand was moving faster than the water whirlpool and it was surrounding them; the sand under their feet was also becoming part of the whirlpool now. It was expanding toward the distance in order to stop their attempt for escape. 

The stone decided to not waste energy on any other hunter currently lost in the phantasm and focus on this pair. They were really looking like pair especially that fixed cloth on their arms except the fact that they have no interest in each other like a pair. The blazing hot sand was almost burning their attire. The last words of the young hunter were enough to trigger the anger of the stone. "Come one you are merely a stone; you should not dream of ruling the seven continents." Qiao yelled his lungs out for the stone to hear him clearly rather than trying to rob his consciousness. 

The stone was stumped to hear this. 'What does it means to say merely?' the stone deliberated and they got struck; the whirlpool again halted. "I know some of the hammer holding humans who brutally break apart the stones." He kept blabbering things. "If you have sliver of intellect which I highly doubt; you should not have bothered us but it is pity that you are going to face us soon." 

The sand was no more scalding hot but they were still struck in the whirlpool; hopefully it was leading to nowhere because of the trash talk of the young hunter. The hunter king was the one most amazed at this development, 'What the stone was actually distracted by the irrelevant words of the young hunter? Isn't it supposed to remain unaffected in anyway?' this proved his notion that the young hunter has somehow got the attention of the stone or it was possible that the stone has a reason for this attention. 'What it could be other than the strong consciousness of the young hunter?' he thought to himself. 

"Do you know your mistake?" Qiao asked looking around.