25 Anticlimactic

Sitting alone in the empty grasslands, Nero was chomping away on the deliciously cooked meat of the Rank 2 Beast, while whistling his favourite melodies.

The Deer meat was quite stiff but juicy and succulent enough to quench his thirst.

When he had dived downwards, it wasn't in his expectation to see the Rank 2 Beast scurry away, as if he had felt an aura of Demise placed on him. However, all that did was make things easier for Nero.

There was no way the Deer could outrun Nero, he was moving faster than a Cheetah, the animal no animal could outrun! Nero wanted to use his Scythe just because he hadn't yet... even once.

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Mana was simply way more Versatile than his Scythe and he wasn't facing an opponent with an Iron skin, he could just simply conjure a Disc in the air in an instant, and BAM, threat wiped off forever.

When he was in close enough, Nero formed an orange glowing Trident in his hand, and YEET, with his manipulation, it homed in on the Deer, piercing right through the skull.

Nero didn't want his meat to sever and gush out, simple decapitation was the best method here.

Nero also realised something new, his body was forming bonds with mana, but there had to be different types of beast mana right? So, there has to levels for his body, like a qualitative change from basic beast mana bonded tissue composition to an amateur basic mana bonded tissue composition.

He concluded that there had to be levels in mana bonded composition, or body refinement stages as he called them.

Like the minimalist he was, he referred to them like they were manipulation stages, right now, most of his body was at the Basic Hunter stage and a percentage at Amateur Hunter stage from the Rank 1 Dan consumption.

And, unlike manipulation, it would take quite a long time for him to fully reach, suppose Peak-tier Hunter stage, for his body. He reckoned that eating enough Rank 3 Beast would do the trick, though he wasn't quite sure where to find them.

'The future is for later, now's the time to enjoy the feast... alone.' Nero thought with a hint of mischief.

'Oi! I'm right here ya' know!' Nova radiated an image of her pouting, which Nero felt was honestly adorable. 'I'm better than anyone who'd wanna be friends with you!'

'Hey! That hurt my feelings!' Nero felt playfully offended.

The banter and chat continued in Nero's mind, though it was quite easy to assume Nero to be schizophrenic from a distance.

---

It had gotten quite late when Nero got back home, and, not surprisingly, the weapon specialist, Madison, had Aurevoir'd the fuck out of Pinnacle. There were no signs of her coming back when he used 'Scan' in her house and realised that she had no intention of coming back, seeing as the house was now mostly empty.

He wondered, did she really buy his bullshit charade, or did she realise she had been bluffed to the point where calling her dumb would be an understatement.

'Meh, that's out of our way, I guess.' like usual, Nero wasn't bothered in the least.

'Whatever, stop thinking about her and let's Sleep!' Nova chimed in like always when Nero dazed off.

'Alright... wait, Nova, do you Dream?' Nero asked on impulse.

'For that, I'd need to sleep, which sadly isn't an option for me. After I know you're sleeping, I go into an A&D state (Alert and Dormant), so, either I'm on, or I'm dormant.' Nova explained her system to Nero.

'But, on the plus side, I get to experience YOUR Dreams! It's quite fun, to be honest. Usually, it's about doing some crazy shit like diving off a crazy tall mountain or blowing up a mansion with a snap and acting all cool about it.' Nero blushed by her words, he had perfect recall from the Knowledge Bank so he knew exactly what she was talking about.

'But sometimes, there are sad Dreams too, like getting frustrated for not having someone to cuddle by your side or no one taking care of you... Sometimes when you're dreaming for warmth, I insert myself because I can't bear to see you like that...'

It was true, Nero's interactions with others were slowly cutting off, there were too many things he couldn't tell anyone, Nova really wanted him to find someone who he could place his trust in, someone who was Real.

Before Nero could reply, Nova played the angry mum and dismissed him to sleep.

'...Thanks for being there Nova.'

With the last whisper, Nero drifted away into sleep, veiled by Nova from the darkness of life.

***

"All set, Sir!" a few middle-aged men stood in the attention position, perfectly lined up in front of a tall, long-nosed well-aged man. The magical aura from the men would determine their manipulation level to be Peak Hunter, while the man in front of them had an explosively thicker Aura, filled with the intent to destroy.

It was the Aura of a Skilled Slayer.

The men had reported that everything was set for the journey, fuel refill for the Gas Giant, essential supplies, extra weaponry, and all that good stuff. They were on the Ether-based Blimp set to travel on West-9 pathway, to both find new talents, and hunt them down, if necessary.

On the blimp, there seemed to be an Insignia of a crown made of bones, the symbol for the main Northern Noble power, the Nordans.

"Then depart we shall! All aboard the Gas Giant!" The leader of the men shouted.

The large Blimp incessantly glowed red, getting dimmer and dimmer until the Gas giant achieved a lift-off when a large propeller came alive.

The Blimp was off!

And the third destination happened to be, you guessed it, the Island of Plumon, home to 3 large kingdoms, and a dozen average kingdoms, one of which was Pinnacle.

Looking out from his compartment, the old Leader gazed out to the Sea.

"Will there a be a surprise like last time? Or, will the selection go back to same-old, dreary and boredom-filled?" A glint of excitement crossed the Old man's eyes, as well as the silhouette of a glowing orange hue, emanating from his Iris.