Forest of Obscurity
Namer University
Academia City, Namer Island
8th September 385 Post Global Unification
Eighteen years after Hailey Incident
"Uh—looks like he's more capable than you assumed, Professor," Ayden the Dwarf remarked as he and Professor Wingram watched the monitors tracking the students scattered throughout the forest. They sat upon the observation podium, which had been relocated near the forest exit. Behind them stretched the stone path leading to the northern gates of the academy grounds.
Professor Wingram snorted, unimpressed by Ayden's comment. The student he had marked as the weakest—judged solely by cultivation—was climbing the rankings faster than nearly everyone else. While most students focused on hunting Maleficants worth ten points apiece, that boy had gone after both targets at once.
"Looks like he knows how to handle himself in combat," Ayden added.
"Hmph. So he can fight others in his own lower tier," Wingram replied dismissively. "So what? I'm far more interested in the Rykkel boy—and the other geniuses."
"Alright," Ayden said, turning his attention away from Eren's feed and back to the others.
Elsewhere in the forest, Victor Jaeger and his group of cronies were cutting through a swarm of Maleficants they'd stumbled upon. Victor barely exerted himself. With a casual flick of his fingers, white claws of energy tore through ten creatures as if they were paper. He had already killed twelve earlier, and with these added to the count, his score climbed past two hundred and twenty.
Still, it wasn't enough. He stomped his foot into the ground. A pale wave of energy rippled outward, crushing the remaining Maleficants his cronies hadn't finished off. Seven more fell instantly. Two hundred and ninety. Victor slipped his hand back into his pocket and continued walking without a word. The others exchanged uneasy glances—they knew better than to speak when he was in this mood.
"So… uh, who's it gonna be?" Ken, his right-hand man, asked carefully. "The Rykkel guy, or the Asterion bastard?"
"Who do you think?" Victor said coldly. "Rykkel."
He activated his internal senses, pairing them with his heightened sense of smell to track Reo Rykkel's trail. Second place meant nothing to him. He was going straight for the top. So focused was he on his pursuit that he failed to notice the presence watching from the canopy above. Two arrows dropped from the sky, striking two of his men before they could react.
Victor halted, snapping his attention backward as more arrows rained down from the branches behind them. He tilted his head slightly, letting one arrow skim past his cheek, while others in his group cried out and fell. Then he caught the scent. Rage ignited in his gut.
"Show yourself, you Asterion bastard!" Victor roared.
Ken and the remaining conscious members looked up, weapons ready, as Ash emerged from the treetops. A legendary-grade enchanted bow rested in his hands, an arrow already manifested as he drew the string back. Ash didn't respond. Instead, he focused inward, chanting softly as he began casting a spell rather than relying solely on mana infusion.
[Nebula Arrows]
Five lances of black, tendril-like darkness detonated forward as if fired from a cannon. The projectiles tore through the air at blistering speed, their momentum generating a violent kinetic shockwave. Darkness magic was typically slower than light, but Ash's enchanted bow amplified the element beyond its natural limits. Victor leapt aside just as the spell slammed into the ground, obliterating the remaining cronies and carving a massive crater into the forest floor. He landed at a safe distance, careful to avoid the lingering residue of darkness.
The element was erosive—volatile. He watched as the soil at the impact site blackened and crumbled, weeds withering as their vitality was ripped away. His fallen companions lay unconscious, their reinforced armor barely sparing them from the spell's full effects. Ash had known that protection was in place. That was why he hadn't hesitated to use a lethal spell. Drawing another arrow, Ash began preparing his next cast—this one aimed squarely at Victor, before he could retaliate.
[Gran—]
A slash of white light ripped through space, tearing straight toward Ash. He cut his casting short and sprang from the branch just as the attack cleaved through it. Ash moved swiftly from limb to limb as more streaks of claw-shaped energy chased him through the canopy. He tried to keep his distance, but Victor had no intention of letting him escape. With brutal agility, the Beastfolk vaulted from branch to branch, unleashing each strike mid-leap. Ash slipped from one limb, caught another with one hand, and used the momentum to flip himself back onto the branch. He landed in a firing stance just as Victor lunged toward him, yellow-green eyes blazing with fury, claws fully extended.
Ash didn't flinch.
[Exploding Flare]
A blinding surge of yellow light began to form—but Victor reacted instantly. He threw back his head and released a feral howl. The sound itself became an attack, a wave of white energy that tore straight through the forming explosion. The two forces collided and collapsed into one another. The backlash hurled Ash from the branch. His bow flew from his grip as he crashed into the ground, skidding across the forest floor before digging in his heel to stop himself.
Even then, his internal senses never left Victor. The Beastfolk didn't hesitate. Victor charged, claws carving trenches through the earth as he closed the distance, rage etched across his face. Ash shifted into a fighting stance, gauging the timing of the strike. The instant Victor's claw swept toward him, Ash leapt clear of its trajectory.
Calm and precise, he channeled Anima through his spirit circuits. His movements became fluid as pure Anima coated his fists. He danced around the clawed assault, waited for a single opening, then deflected one claw aside with his left palm and drove his right hand—fully infused—into Victor's back.
[Butterfly Piercing Wave]
Spectral butterfly wings flared outward as a piercing shockwave erupted in all directions. The force rippled through the air, a clean, focused discharge of Anima. If Onyanko had been there, he would have recognized it instantly—a Simple Magic technique favored by MMA fighters, akin to Anima Cannon. Ash's brow furrowed. The attack hadn't done a thing.
"You think because I'm a Magic Warrior, I'm weak to magical attacks?" Victor roared.
A brown aura surged over his body as he stomped the ground. The earth fractured violently, jagged slabs of stone erupting upward. Ash jumped back, eyes widening in disbelief.
Elemental reinforcement.
Magic Warriors weren't supposed to wield elemental energy until the peak of the first cultivation rank—or the second. Yet Victor was already fortifying his body with earth-element energy. No wonder the piercing strike hadn't penetrated. Earth was among the most durable elements. A Great Family monster, showing his true hand.
The realization only fueled Ash's anger. Victor snapped his leg forward, kicking the shattered stones. The rocks screamed through the air toward Ash like artillery fire.
"And you think because I'm a Caster, I'm weak to physical attacks," Ash whispered.
Golden light flooded his fist. The air warped. The trajectories of the incoming rocks bent violently, space itself twisting under the pressure. A compressed spatial wave detonated outward, pulverizing the stones into fine dust before they could reach him.
The shockwave slammed into Victor. He was driven straight into the ground, the earth collapsing beneath him as if struck by a meteor. Without his elemental fortification, his bones would have shattered instantly. Even so, bruises bloomed across his body, and blood spilled from his mouth as he skidded to a stop on the far side of Ken and the others. Ash retrieved his bow and walked past him without slowing.
Victor stared up at the sky in disbelief.
Defeated—by a Cursedborn.
"You fucking curse—"
Ash's leg snapped forward, slamming into Victor's mouth and spraying blood across the dirt. Ash paused, studying him. He was impressed—Victor was still conscious. The Beastfolk's durability was no exaggeration, and Ash could already tell he'd recover soon enough.
"You should be careful with how you speak to me," Ash said calmly.
He crouched beside Victor, meeting his glare with eyes cold and unyielding. The look only fueled Victor's rage.
"I'm not after your points. I have no interest in them. But I can't let you go after Rykkel yet." Ash leaned closer. "Someone more suited has already set his sights on him."
He straightened.
"So stay here and rest. You'll make it to the exit soon enough."
And then Ash was gone—vanishing into the forest, already carrying more than enough points to advance.
****
"Do you think it was wise to let Rhea go off on her own?" Boyd Adkins asked. He was one of Reo's earliest companions, and the concern in his voice was hard to miss.
Moments earlier, Reo's group had finished hunting nearly two hundred Maleficants, dividing the points evenly among the eight of them. Reo himself already sat comfortably at five thousand points from the first evaluation and had chosen to focus solely on hunting Maleficants rather than targeting his classmates. His group had grown from four members—Rhea among them—to eight, after bringing in four additional students.
"Rhea has a job to do," Reo said calmly. He was well aware of Boyd's crush on her and of how protective he could be. "She can handle herself. You don't need to worry."
"Do you think they'll accept her proposal?" Jarvis asked.
"Why wouldn't they?" Dev replied before Reo could answer. "We accepted Reo's offer, and look at us now. We've all gotten stronger because of him."
The four newer members nodded in agreement. Dev and the others had started at the lower tier of the Intermediate rank, but after Reo used his ability on them, their cultivation had risen to the middle tier.
"Some people prefer to walk their own path rather than rely on others," Boyd said. "It's human nature. I don't see her recruiting many—especially not among the Aristocrats."
"Don't worry about the Aristocrats," Reo said. "I'm not interested in them yet."
He had a clear goal in mind. To reach it, he needed comrades—and influence. More than that, he sought alliances with those who possessed true potential.
And one such person was very close. The group turned left and came to a halt. Reo's lips curved into a faint grin—one so subtle that only those who knew him well would notice. Ahead of them stood Eren Walker, in the middle of beating a student into the ground. Several others lay unconscious nearby, sprawled across the forest floor, clearly having taken their share of punishment.
Eren had finished dealing with the Nobleborn who'd made the mistake of underestimating him. Unlike his earlier fight with Percy's group, he hadn't held back this time, and the aristocrats had gone down fast. When he finally released the last noble, Eren noticed Reo and his companions watching him. Their expressions ranged from surprise to disbelief.
"Hey—wasn't he at the bottom of the rankings?" Titus, one of the newer recruits, muttered.
"Not anymore," Boyd said quietly.
"Eren Walker, right?" Reo called out.
Eren's eyes lit up. Standing in front of him was the number-one first-year. If he beat Reo and took his points, wouldn't that put him at the top? That would be one hell of a start to his Hunter career.
"Reo Rykkel," Eren said with a grin. "Just the guy I was looking for." His gaze swept over the others. "You've got more people with you than you did earlier. What's this—a recruitment drive?"
"You could say that," Reo replied. He stepped away from his group and raised his right hand toward Eren in a non-threatening gesture. "You're a Commonborn, aren't you, Eren Walker?"
"Don't know," Eren said honestly. "Never knew my parents. Could be Commonborn. Could be Nobleborn. Hard to say."
"If you have no family name, you're a Commonborn," Boyd said flatly.
"Huh. Fair enough," Eren shrugged. "But what does it matter? Looks to me like you're all commoners too. Maybe not you, Reo. With talent like that, you're probably from one of the Great Families."
"Don't lump Reo in with those bastards," Dev snapped.
"I'm just as much a Commonborn as you are, Eren," Reo said.
Eren raised an eyebrow. It wasn't impossible. History was full of Commonborn Hunters who rose to fame and prestige—some even founding Great Minor Families. He didn't think Reo was lying. Still, that didn't dull his desire for the top spot.
"So," Reo continued, "why don't you join us?" He held Eren's gaze. "Help me with my goal, and I'll help you achieve whatever it is you're aiming for. You don't have to—"
"Sorry," Eren said, pointing straight at Reo. "But you're on my list. I'm getting to the top—and you're my ticket there."
Anima surged around his fist, his battle aura igniting in a fierce, blazing spiral.
"Reo, we should teach him a lesson," Boyd said sharply.
"Yeah. Show him we're not like those aristocrats he toyed with," Jarvis added.
"No." Reo raised a hand, signaling them to stand down. He hadn't expected Eren to accept his offer—but he hadn't expected outright rejection either. "I can help you with your cultivation, Eren Walker."
Eren narrowed his eyes as his internal senses swept across the group. He noticed it immediately—the difference. The four newcomers standing beside Reo were stronger. He recognized their faces, remembered their rankings. Dev and the others had once been a tier above him, scraping the lower end of Intermediate. Now they stood firmly in the middle tier. They had jumped an entire tier as if it were nothing. It had to be Reo.
The Hero candidate.
Eren knew what that meant. Anyone raised under the Lumerian doctrine knew the stories—the chosen of the World's Will, tested for strength, bravery, merit, and honor. Favored by fate itself. Must be nice, having the world backing you.
"Help me," Eren said, "the same way you helped them."
"Yes," Reo replied calmly. "With my help, I can draw out your potential far beyond what it is now."
"Thanks—but I'm good," Eren said. "Like I said, I'm climbing to the top. And I can't do that if you're already there." His internal sight pierced through the overlapping cultivation auras of the group, locking onto Reo's presence at the center—distinct, heavier. An Ability Factor, most likely.
"I think I understand what kind of person you are now," Reo said after a moment. "And that only makes you more interesting." His gaze hardened. "Very well. If you want my points, you'll have to come and take them."
He drew a weapon from his side. A green, dragon-shaped hilt emerged—two grips formed from the twisting body of the beast, the shorter handle ending in a clawed pommel. From the circular guard extended a curved shortsword. Six holes ran down the center of the blade, five crescent-shaped moon holes along the opposite edge.
The blade itself was split in color: bronze along the sharpened edge, dark scarlet along the spine. The bevels converged into a precise, elegant tip. Beautiful. And ominous. Eren noted something odd—the edges looked blunt. What grade is that thing?
"Are you coming," Reo asked, "or not?"
"You don't have to tell me twice."
Eren dropped into a fighting stance—left arm forward, right fist drawn back. His knees bent, heels lifted, body coiled for speed. Then he launched forward. His right fist snapped toward Reo's face like a pistol shot. The burst was so fast that most wouldn't even see the movement. But Reo did. He shifted sideways with ease, the punch slicing past empty air. Reo smiled as he flipped the sword backward and slashed.
Eren leapt away, the blade grazing close as he landed. Reo pressed the attack immediately, swinging again. Eren somersaulted backward to evade—and at the same time lashed out with a forward kick. Reo caught the foot with one hand. Then shoved. Eren flipped back through the air, landing several steps away and resetting his stance. That grin on Reo's face—it pissed him off.
Eren drew his arms back, channeling his battle aura inward. Anima compressed violently around his fist, flaring blue as it took shape—coalescing into the outline of a beast-like skull. The air around him trembled.
[Fa Jin Style — Dynamic Engine]
Eren burst forward, fist snapping toward Reo as a relentless barrage followed. Punch after punch rained down—but Reo flowed through the assault, slipping between the strikes with effortless precision. Eren's eyes widened. He had always trusted his physical power—his speed most of all. Yet here was someone stronger. Faster.
Reo moved as though Eren's attacks barely existed, weaving through them without blocking, without countering—simply passing through. Five full minutes of this silent exchange passed before they finally separated, creating distance between them.
"Impressive," Reo said. "You've centered your Ability Factor around your battle art. I assume it enhances your physical attributes—but it's more than that. It's not just raw strength or speed."
"Enough talk," Eren snapped. His aura flared violently. Sparks crackled around his fist as the aura-skin spread across his body, reinforcing muscle, bone, and skin alike.
"I agree," Reo replied calmly.
He took a single step. A convergence of slashes erupted toward Eren—each stroke heavy with killing intent. Eren triggered his movement technique, his speed surging explosively as he slipped out of each blade's path by a razor-thin margin. For an instant, it felt as though he stood at the edge of a cliff. One misstep—and death waited below. He hated that feeling. The feeling of weakness.
Eren pushed harder. His heart thundered, its rhythm syncing with the release of energy fueling his enhancement. This time, he didn't confine it to his body alone. He let it flood his mind—amplifying his mental force, sharpening his internal senses, expanding his perception. The energy surged deeper still. His core swelled, widening its capacity to absorb World energy and generate Anima.
Reo noticed immediately.
So I was right.
His grin widened. There was more to Eren's enhancement than physical reinforcement alone. Right now, it felt as though Reo was facing someone at the peak of the Initiate rank. In truth, Eren possessed the ability to temporarily push his cultivation beyond its normal limits. For now, he could only elevate the quality of his rank—but with deeper mastery of his Ability Factor, increasing the quantity would undoubtedly become possible.
Very well.
Let me see more.
Reo took a second step. The number of converging slashes multiplied—denser, faster, deadlier—as the battlefield itself seemed to close in around Eren. Eren couldn't believe it. Reo was still keeping up with him. Even so, it wasn't enough to trap Eren within the storm of slashes converging from every angle. His movement wasn't simple footwork—it was everything he had.
He vaulted over a slash aimed at his torso, rolled across the ground behind Reo, then sprinted straight back in. Reo reacted instantly, taking another step—and the air erupted again, a fresh wave of slashes blitzing outward. This time, Eren noticed something. With every step Reo took, the number and speed of the slashes increased. Two strikes overlapped so perfectly they appeared as one. Five converged into two, arriving from the same direction.
Is his movement tied to how much power he can deliver per step?
Eren decided to test it. As he rolled through another chain of five slashes—collapsed into a single arc—he scooped up several loose rocks from the shattered ground, careful to do it without drawing attention. He infused them with Anima and, mimicking Reyna Greyron's coin technique, fired them toward Reo.
The attack caught Reo off guard. His focus had been entirely on Eren's evasion. He hadn't noticed Eren deliberately throwing himself to the ground to gather ammunition. Most of the stones were shredded by the incoming slashes—but at the last instant, Reo sensed one more. A rock slipped through the chain. Its trajectory was precise—threaded through the converging blades with calculated intent. That level of control required exceptional mental force.
It was aimed directly at his kneecap. Reo leapt aside just as the rock detonated, shards spraying outward in a violent burst. Even then, he didn't relent. The chains of slashes descended again. But this time, Eren felt the difference immediately. They were slower.
Weaker.
The oppressive storm of blades was gone. Instead, it felt like the opening moments of their duel—manageable, readable. After Eren evaded the first reduced wave, Reo finally halted his advance.
"Excellent," Reo said as they circled one another. "You managed to deduce my battle art. You're more intuitive than you look."
Eren noticed it again—the praise. Reo had been evaluating him since the start, testing rather than overpowering. And Eren was doing the same. He wanted to see what kind of magic the Hero candidate could unleash.
So far, Reo hadn't relied on magic at all.
"Are you ever going to take this seriously?" Eren asked, his fist flaring brighter with battle aura.
"I'm far more serious than you realize," Reo replied calmly. "After all, I'm waiting for you to take my points."
Eren was about to lunge—
When movement from above caught his eye.
He stopped. Rhea Mogarin landed between them. A ring of shields flared into existence, encasing her and her companions—Reo included. In her hand rested a long silver rapier, its blade gleaming as she took her stance.
The battlefield had just changed.
"Rhea…" Reo said.
"That's enough, Reo," Rhea replied firmly. "We need to finish the evaluation—not indulge whatever this is."
As she spoke, her gaze flicked toward Eren. A frown tugged at her brow. Eren, for his part, looked thoroughly irritated by the interruption. They'd been just about to reach the best part of their dance.
What is it with women driving me insane?
"You should rein in that killing intent of yours," Rhea said coolly. "It betrays your thoughts."
"Maybe you should mind your own business," Eren shot back. His fist flared, Anima surging as his ability responded to his rising irritation.
"We should get going, Eren."
The new voice made him freeze. His internal sight snapped toward the treeline as Ash stepped out from the shadows. How long had he been there? Eren exhaled sharply and let his battle aura dissipate, the drive to fight draining away.
"Don't worry, Eren Walker," Reo said with a faint smile. "I'll see you later."
He traced a few quick gestures through the air. Glowing green lines spread beneath him and his companions, forming a complex pattern. A flash of emerald light followed—and they vanished.
Eren stared, stunned.
"Was that…?"
"A warp spell," Ash answered. "And a high-level one." He glanced at Eren, noting how tightly his fist was clenched. Looks like the Hero candidate is more than he lets on.