Cyrus' eyes shot open
'Well, at least I can say it's not some weird dream.'
Cyrus stroked his hand all over his body, where it should have hurt; surprisingly, he felt fine. After his fight, Cian gave Cyrus a necklace. He said it was a mundane artifact that was a one-time use for healing small injuries or pain.
'Just goes to show that this world is so much different from the old one.'
The healing capabilities of the technology here were incredible. Cyrus had probed Cian about how a simple necklace could have such an effect; His response was a little baffling to Cyrus.
He had said that the necklace was only useful to non-hunters, as it forcefully moved the dormant mana within normal humans, which naturally gave a small strengthening effect and quickened healing.
'For some odd reason, this world had such advanced devices, yet still somehow looked almost Victorian.'
The lampshade to his left was Victorian-style. However, it felt more artificial than the lightbulbs in his old world.
-sigh
Getting up from under the covers, Cyrus glanced at the hatch clock on the wall.
'Why… is there a digital clock on a Victorian-style house's wall?'
It was odd and off-putting.
Putting the weird feeling behind him, Cyrus acknowledged the time,
5 am…
He had woken up far earlier than he had planned, but he wasn't too bothered by it.
'What did my dad say? Oh, right, the early bird gets the worm.'
Cyrus was confused about what to do this early, though; the rest of his family is likely asleep.
He glanced around the room, looking for anything he might have missed yesterday.
That was until the noise of grunting outside had shattered his idea of being the early bird
-slash
-slash
Down below in the courtyard, Cyrus could see Cian-sword in hand. The floor was stained with sweat, and his muscles looked like they were going to pop
'He works hard…I suppose it's not all talent.'
Truth be told, Cyrus was quite peeved at the fact that he had lost yesterday, even though it was only natural.
He was surprisingly competitive.
To him, all he had and could hope to achieve was self-satisfaction…Or at least that was what he used to think.
'I can't say that I have changed, but maybe I can.'
Watching for a little while longer, Cyrus sighed. Sometimes it was like a dance, but then it would twist into sharp, deadly, precise sets of slashes.
'I'm not surprised he's so treasured.'
Continuing to watch as his blade struck the air, Cyrus noticed something: Cian's speed was increasing…indefinitely.
Each set of movements kicked up another handful of dust.
Once the dust in the air had reached Cian's waist, he became a blur of silver.
'Where did he go!?'
Frantically surveying the area, Cyrus could no longer see or hear him or his sword strikes. Then he reappeared, and the entire environment changed.
Footprints appeared everywhere, dust scattered as if in fear, and the training dummies, at least fifteen feet away from where he had been standing, were cleanly sliced into chunks and fell simultaneously.
Then he glanced directly at Cyrus and grinned. A deep, primal shiver made its way up Cyrus's back.
'Creep…'
After getting dressed, Cyrus opened his door and saw Cian waiting outside in normal clothes, no longer sweating.
'Now he's just showing off.'
"Hey, Cyrus. Wanna come with me to the marketplace? I'm sure you could use some new gear in time for the entrance exam."
Cyrus's small disdain for Cian's smugness quickly vanished; this was a perfect opportunity for him!
"Yeah, sure. But hey, you never told me the details of the entrance exam."
Cian turned around and began walking before answering.
"I'm sure I told you once before? Well, it doesn't matter. The entrance exam is very dangerous for non-hunters."
He stopped and looked at me seriously.
"Why do you think you were given that manual?"
'For the entrance exam?'
"It was for the entrance exam. During the exam, you fight a beast."
'I already know that…'
He continued walking.
"A prowler, in a team, though the number changes each year. My year was an exceptionally small team of only 7. But you won't have to worry about that. It was a national upset."
Cyrus was listening, but too busy in thought to respond
There were six tiers of beasts.
Firstly, there was Spawn; they were weak and unintelligent, but deadly because they moved in packs. Or sometimes even large hiveminds controlled by a more terrifying beast
Secondly, there were prowlers; they were physically overwhelming and possessed an innate ability. While their intelligence wasn't great, they don't fall for simple traps like Spawns would.
Then we had Ravagers; They were what you could truly call adult beasts. At times, they were the leader of a pack or hivemind of spawn. And their innate abilities were beginning to grow complex.
From here, there was a qualitative change in the beasts; they gained despicable cunning and intelligence, and their abilities became harrowingly powerful, but by far the worst part was the sheer scale of the beasts, hence the names:
Titans, only a few dozen have ever been defeated; their intelligence at this stage is smarter than that of all basic animals.
Abyssal, not much is made public about them other than that we are currently hopeless against them
Lastly, Primordial, they are more of a myth than a creature we have observed. Their existence is a hypothesis, which experts believe could have opened the rifts.
Cyus frowned, snapping out of his deep thought.
'So I'm fighting the second weakest…'
"Cian, why is a prowler so dangerous? If we're fighting in groups of 7 at least, shouldn't it be easy?"
Cian stared at Cyrus with a smile. Inwardly, he felt like Cian was calling him naïve.
"It's because a prowler is stronger than the first two tiers of humans."
My ears perked up.
'Human tiers…I can only remember pieces; it seems like I was a lot more interested in beasts'
Noticing his intrigue, Cian continued:
"Human tiers are similar to beast tiers, but beasts are usually stronger than the average human tier equivalent. That's why we tend to fight in teams."
"As you know, the system grants us names based on our breakthroughs with our abilities and existence. Each rank has what we call 'tiers.' low tier, mid tier, and high tier. The reason is simple: just because you are on the same tier doesn't make you equal; you can differ in many ways. Usually, though, we use the tiers to refer to how close you are to reaching the next rank."
'Breakthroughs with our existence?'
There was a lot of information for Cyrus to memorise and understand. While Cian took a short breath, he was very curious about how insight and interpretation played into this…
After this, Cian simply gave the names of the ranks
Hunters,
Apprentices
Guardians
Monarchs
Angels
"No further tiers have been born."
"Wait, does that mean that angel is the highest tier? And even so, they are still hopeless against abyssal beasts?"
This would mean that humanity's chances at survival were hopeless…
"Not exactly, you see, when you can use mana, you can instinctively feel a realm above you. There have only been a handful of angels, but all of them felt there was a higher rank. Whether or not that was just conjecture or them lying to raise hope? I'm not sure."
After that, a silence crept in between the two, it seemed like they both had a lot on their minds.
Cyrus tried to think of something to break the tension.
'Oh, right.'
Cyrus remembered that Cian had mentioned nearly breaking through to apprentice, so he must be around high tier.
"So… uhh…Father must be an Apprentice. And you must be a high-tier hunter, right?"
Cian turned around and simply nodded, causing Cyrus to feel even more awkward. Until Cian spoke again.
"We seem to have gotten off topic. Where were we? Oh yes, about the prowler, Apprentices are generally slower and weaker than a prowler. That's why we rely on intelligence and creating leverage with traps, numbers, and unique innate abilities."
Cian paused in thought for a second and then continued
"Though there are exceptionally strong people with combat-oriented innate abilities or powerful manuals that are capable of beating beasts of their tier on their own. Only the elite of the elite can manage it."
'Then how the hell are six unranked supposed to fight against it??'
Seeing the look on his face, Cian reassured his brother.
"Don't worry, Cyrus."
Cyrus was expecting him to continue, but he left it at that, so Cyrus didn't probe any further.
Suddenly, Cyrus snapped back to reality and realised they were now outside, taking a short look behind him.
There stood an exquisite marble manor. It wasn't the largest he had seen, but it was definitely the most noble-looking. All around him was a beautiful, lush garden; if not for the clear path to the outside, he would've thought he was in a forest.
Turning attention to the people, he saw some female maids trimming hedges in the garden, and others were watering flowers or cleaning up trash.
They kept stealing glances at Cian. Cyrus looked at him to see if he noticed…and he definitely did. His proud grin said everything.
'Maybe this guy isn't as noble as I first thought…'
Cyrus was sure of it now; by his standards, his family was loaded!
Once they reached the gate, two guards in armour opened it for them. A middle-aged man with black hair and a lazy attitude walked over.
"Hey, Cian. Cyrus. Where are you boys headed?"
He gave off a calm pressure, but it was terrifying. Cyrus assumed he was stronger than Cian, at least.
"Hello, Sage. We're just headed to the market to get some new combat clothing for Cyrus. Just in time for his entrance exam. We're fine to go on our own."
The man named Sage didn't seem displeased or pleased.
"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?"
Cian simply nodded, and with it, Sage slowly turned around and leisurely walked back to where he came from, yawning in the process.
Sage… Sage… right. He's the family bodyguard.
Cian then led Cyrus to a carriage owned by their family. From then on, they didn't speak much during the ride; Cyrus was more focused on the outside.
Once they had left their small noble domain, A large marketplace surrounded them.
But it wasn't that which caught his attention. Everyone here seemed to have a rough, unkempt-looking servant carrying their items.
"They're just like slaves…"
Surprisingly, for Cyrus, it wasn't him who said that, it was Cian. For a second, Cyrus had thought that he had accidentally spoken out loud.
Turning to Cyrus with a serious expression, Cian spoke with no amusement.
"Cyrus, slavery isn't legal, but evil people find ways around it. I want to change that. The world doesn't change to fit you. So if you want to change, you must forcefully change the world."
Cyrus was a little baffled by the sudden switch
'Was he planning on changing the world? What was he getting at?'
"Promise me you won't treat someone differently because of their class. Promise you won't end up like the other nobles. The academy you're going to is the most prestigious. Father and Mother moved here to make a better life for us."
Cyrus simply nodded; he was not prepared to answer or add anything to this conversation. It was never in his nature to treat people differently due to class.
'I never had the intention to be classist…'
In his old world, it was common knowledge that classism was stupid.
Intuitively, Cyrus thought everyone should be treated on the basis of merit.
Unfortunately for him, when he expressed that idea, Sandy had scolded him and told him that everyone should be treated equally unless they are bad people.
With Cyrus letting his mind float away thinking of Sandy, silence once again fell over the carriage once again.
The marketplace was large and prestigious, with lights everywhere, stalls, and short but wide buildings.
"Listen, Cyrus. We should make this quick. We won't have much time to look around. Next time, I promise we will."
Feeling a little disappointed, Cyrus nodded. He was curious about other merchandise in this world, but for now, getting new combat gear took priority.
He was hoping for something magical like armour that could cast spells! Of course, he knew that was unlikely.
Soon, the carriage stopped near a small store.
'Gary's Combat Wear.'
As they stepped out of the carriage, Cian gestured at the driver.
"He'll loop back around in five minutes, so we need to be fast."
Opening the door, a waft of sweat and military-like smell flooded out. Along the walls were various types of military and combat clothing. At the front stood a buff yet short middle-aged man.
"Well, if it isn't Cian. Last time I saw you was when you single-handedly killed that prowler outside the city. Tore you up real good, didn't it?"
"Haha, tore up my clothes more like. It didn't land a single scratch on me."
The man didn't believe him at all.
"Oh yeah? Then why'd you come here three days after with bandages plastered all over you?"
Cian responded without missing a beat
"Well, you see, that wasn't from the prowler, it was from my spar with a Primordial."
The room suddenly went silent.
'What the…? Did Cian say something wrong? Did that stupid mouth of his force him to joke about a taboo?'
Cyrus tensed a little as Cian and Gary stared each other down with intensity; the tension in the air felt like it was solid, making it hard to breathe. Suddenly, they burst out laughing.
"Pfft, you haven't changed at all. Still a master at tall tales."
The man stood up and glanced at Cyrus, a glint in his eye.
"Anyway, what're you here for?"
"This is my younger brother. He's participating in the entrance exam for Marlen Academy soon. We're here to pick up some combat gear."
"Well, take your pick. Try any on."
After around 4 minutes, Cyrus had found a set he liked. A simple tunic tightened at the waist, and dark brown pants. With some light padding and a chainmail underneath for protection.
On the carriage ride home, Cyrus and Cian talked about boring, mundane stuff. Even so, time passed quickly.
When they finally entered the house, they were greeted by their mother.
"Hello, boys. Where have you been?"
Cian responded warmly
"I took Cyrus to get some new combat clothing for his entrance exam."
When she glanced at Cyrus, he noticed a weird look on her face, something he often saw on Sandy's face when she looked at him, and he didn't like it.
"So, did you find anything you liked?"
"I did."
Cyrus gestured to his bag and handed it over to her. After examining the clothes, she placed them back into the bag and looked at him with a frown.
"They do look good… but Cyrus."
'Oh no… is something bad about them? They indeed offer little protection, but as Cian had said, they are simply for the first trial, and I can get way better ones when I become a hunter.'
This was his first time shopping for things like this without… well, never mind, and Cian didn't give any advice!
"You don't have to work so hard. Your father would be proud no matter what you chose to do in life. If it's too stressful, just say the word, and you don't need to go."
There was a hint of worry in her voice. Cyrus's eyes widened slightly, and he froze up a little. It finally hit him, fully, that these people cared about him; they didn't know that he wasn't who they thought he was.
"It's okay, Mom. I do want to be a hunter, and I'll try my best no matter how things turn out."
Her expression softened. There was still worry, but she seemed satisfied. After speaking with her a little longer, Cyrus quickly headed to his room to try the clothes on.
He was desperate to train again, maybe by himself against the dummies and then a spar with Cian.
He knew that he was getting ahead of himself, but the thought of having control over things, the possibility that power could bring about miracles, kept him awake and full of vigour.
'Maybe this world could help my mental state, help me see the world differently.'
'Maybe…,
'I can change my fate.'