X-Rank Hunter

Chapter 9: Hidden Strength

"!"

Where am I?

When Jim opened his eyes again, he found himself in the middle of a white field that he was unfamiliar with.

At a distance not too far away from him, he saw a small ball of blue light floating in the midair. Yes, it was the same blue light that appeared before him last time.

"You again?! Are you here to harm me again huh!?"

Seeing the sight, Jim's first thought was to slaughter the blue light. But recalling how frightening it was and how he was completely helpless against it, Jim could only swallow his thoughts afraid that he might get slaughtered instead.

He already presumed that he would suffer intense pain the moment he saw the blue light.

But this time, the blue light spoke to him. It was in the deep voice of a middle-aged man saying,

"I'm the fragmented soul of one of the Four Greatest Hunters who created the 'prison'."

"?"

"What are you talking about?" Jim didn't believe it at all. Well, no one would immediately believe someone who claimed to be someone else after all.

Except if you were a fool.

One of the four greatest Hunters? Are you crazy?

Even I myself can claim that!

Noticing Jim's disbelief, the blue light released an aura unique only for the First Awakeners, and that made Jim fall on his knees. At that moment, Jim realized what the blue light just meant for a 'prison' they created, it was the X-rank dungeon!

He knew that X-rank dungeons were extremely dangerous where millions of beasts were sealed inside. And he knew as well that it was created by millions of humans led by the Four Greatest Hunters to seal the countless beasts and protect the world.

Now that one of the Four Greatest Hunters ever lived was in front of him, he didn't know how he should react.

Should I be happy? Or cower in fear?

Though the blue light was just a fragmented soul as it said, he still felt being suppressed in front of it.

The unique aura of the First Awakeners really was scary!

"Wa..what do you need from me, great one?!" Jim meekly asked, afraid that he might incur the other party's wrath.

Then again, the blue light floating in front of him entered his head. But that time he didn't feel any pain at all, however, something unexpected happened to him.

He was instantly transported to another place that he was unfamiliar with.

It was a nice and peaceful day where people were living together and enjoying a happy life. They were all laughing in joy.

Though there was something like a curse that appeared to be an 'illness' that was suppressing their happiness, it didn't hinder them to live the happy life that they wanted to.

But then again, the scene didn't last for too long and got instantly changed. It was a bloody night where the moon was dyed crimson.

He saw people running away in fear. When he looked to see who or what was chasing them, he saw a great number of horned beasts. There were at least a couple of hundreds of them thirsting for blood.

He saw humans getting slaughtered one after another by those beasts and other humans who fell on their knees that just lost their hope to live and were only waiting for their death.

It was a tragic scene!

When he saw all of it, his chest tightened. He clenched his hands and bit his lower lip as his heart was hastening in anger.

"I-is this the memory of the blue light?!" Jim muttered to himself.

Then again, the scene where he was, changed. He was then again transported back to the white field.

Then the blue light went out from his head as it said,

"You are chosen by the dungeon or rather by 'us' who created the dungeon!

You are chosen to save the world!"

Jim's expression became exceedingly shocked. He was flabbergasted deep inside from what he just heard.

A weak F-rank like me is chosen to save the world? Is this another kind of prank?

If you're joking, go find someone else, I'm not free.

Of course, that was only his thought. He couldn't act rudely in front of a great character after all.

So he stared at the blue light and asked doubtfully, "But why me?"

Ignoring Jim's confusion, an old book appeared in front of him, floating in the midair. It was the book he saw last time. He was always trying to find it ever since the last time it suddenly disappeared, he didn't expect that it would just reappear in front of him out of nowhere.

The book opened on its own and a plain white egg with the size of about twice his head slowly came out from it. After which, the book had turned into ashes.

"A certain beast is inside this egg, drop or maybe feed your blood to this egg and it will hatch." The blue light explained.

The egg slowly floated into him as he caught it with his two hands carefully. The moment he touched it, the egg shone a little as if it was showing its intimacy unto him.

Then the blue light spoke more to him. He asked Jim that he must take care of the egg since it would become his partner for life and it would help him to get stronger and control his power.

As for why Jim was chosen, the blue light told him that it was because of his unique body and the power residing in him. His body was so 'special' and there was a 'great power' in him that he knew nothing about.

It was the unique body constitution called 'Dominator's Vessel' and a great power that ruled over life!

"I've been watching you for a long time, and even living inside of your body sometimes, watching you grow and the power inside you.

"Whenever your life is in danger because of the beasts you have always stumbled into, your power will always go out of control and you lose control over yourself as well and sucked the blood of every beast on sight dry. Afterward, you only remember nothing and found yourself in the middle of the beast's corpse you just killed.

"It's a good sight though. But it was a little tiring to clean up your mess." The blue light complained a little before sighing deeply, "It was fortunate that there is no human nearby whenever you unwittingly use your power. If so, they might get implicated and might lose their life.

"By the way, you already awakened your power a long time ago when you were still 5 years old. It's just that the World Energy you can muster is so thin that it could be hardly noticed and can't even be considered as an F-rank. Only a year ago, you were acknowledged as an F-rank and were allowed to enter the Academy.

"But don't worry, it's only because of the Dominator's Vessel that you currently possessed that made you progress so slow. Well, the body and power of Dominator's Vessel do not rely on how much World Energy one could gather but on how pure it is! Because the purer the World Energy is, the lower the amount needed to spend World Energy in using your abilities and skills."

"Are you kidding me?!" Jim muttered to himself as he found it hard to believe.

I already awakened my power when I was still 5 years old?

A unique body that slows my progress? An ability that rules over life?

And why the heck are you living in my body? How did I not know it?

Jim was completely confused by the sudden information he just learned. There were a lot of pranks he already heard in his life but this was the first time he heard something that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

But given the fact that he really did sometimes find himself in the middle of the corpses of the beasts, he felt that it explained everything.

Jim only thought that it was just pure luck that he always managed to survive whenever he woke up in the middle of a beast's corpses but hearing the blue light, and the truth in its words, he was starting to believe.

"I know you can feel it now, the strange things happening in your body. It was the sliver of your real strength and I just helped you out for you to use it and be under your control.

"When I entered your body last time, it caused you to experience the little pain you enjoyed before."

"..."

"What the hell! Are you kidding me?" Jim was completely speechless.

Little pain my ass!

I didn't enjoy it at all!

Do you know how I almost died from that little pain that you are talking about?

And who told you to help me to use my power? Do you think I will be grateful to you?

Dream on!

Jim couldn't believe that the reason why the blue light entered his body was not to cause him harm but to help him use the power that the blue light was talking about. But seeing what was happening to himself, the strange ability to heal and hear, he couldn't help but believe a little.

"By the way, your blood and soul are quite special, just like mine. Most of the beasts are afraid of it, that's why you cannot tame them. Most beasts will die if they make too much contact with your blood, how much more if you learned to use your soul.

"But through your blood and soul, you can create your tamed beast and many other uses. So there's no need to feel sad if you can't tame a beast.

"However, though almost every beast is afraid of your ability since they cannot withstand its might, some special beasts are not and you can have them as your tamed beast, just like the beast inside the egg I have given to you. So you really must take care of it."

"..." Jim was completely puzzled by everything that the blue light just said.

A beast egg with such a beast inside? And his blood and soul with such ability? He really just found it hard to believe.

Then the blue light reminded him about another 'great war' approaching. And this war would definitely be bigger and frightening than before.

"Demons and beasts are now preparing themselves to attack Encantadia for them to free all the beasts sealed inside the four prisons we created to the four sides of Encantadia. At that time, the world will then again face a great cataclysm.

"As for now, you must become stronger, worthy to be called as X-rank Hunter that will save the world, and meet with others."

"Meet with who?" Jim hurriedly asked. He knew how serious the war was but the so-called X-rank Hunters piqued him more.

The blue light didn't answer his question but rather, a dazzling light appeared everywhere in the white field he was in. After a few seconds, the light disappeared.

When the dazzling light vanished, Jim opened his eyes, and it was already morning.

"Ugh... Is that another dream?" Jim murmured as he slowly got up and sat down on his bed contemplating about his dream and all the strange phenomena that just happened to him.

"No! It's not just a dream anymore..."

Though it seemed that it was just a dream, Jim felt that it was real.

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