"Why do we need to be careful around that guy, Boss? He doesn't have any mana signature at all. He's basically a normal human, or a really weak E-Rank at best."
One of the Hunters around Lou Wong voiced what the rest were already thinking.
Lou's gaze stayed on the treeline where the black-coated man had disappeared.
"You're all still frogs in a well," he said, shaking his head.
He was here to train new recruits, and as a C-Rank Hunter, he was more than qualified to do it. But moments like this reminded him how much raw experience still separated them.
"Let me ask you something," Lou continued. "Most monsters don't back down when they see prey. Even monsters weaker than me won't hesitate to attack. So why did that goblin run instead of going for him?"
The new Hunters exchanged glances, as though the answer were already obvious.
"Isn't it because I scared it off?" Mia asked, tilting her head.
"Scared it off?" Lou sighed. "No. Only Hunters who can use Aura can frighten a goblin into hesitating, and even then, the goblin will still attack. That's simply how they are."
"Aura?" Mia's eyes widened. "But only B-Rank Hunters and above can use that. Don't tell me that guy is a B-Rank Hunter?"
Quiet gasps spread through the group.
"I don't know," Lou said, with a small, humorless smile. "Maybe. Maybe not."
"That's even more confusing," Mia said, and the others nodded in agreement.
"It is," Lou admitted, scratching the back of his head. "He didn't release any Aura. Not even a trace."
Mia and the other recruits fell silent.
He's a mystery, Mia thought, her gaze drifting toward the trees where Theo had gone. Her heart was doing something she didn't quite have a name for.
Theo walked into the forest with purpose, each step steady and deliberate.
"Hmm. Is something coming off my body?" he muttered, pressing a hand beneath his chin.
On any other day, he would have moved carefully through a place like this, conscious of every sound, every shift in the undergrowth. The fear of monsters had always been reasonable. Rational, even.
But that was before Lara died. Before the System.
Now, a confidence he had never felt before settled over him like a second coat.
And after what had happened with the goblin at the portal zone, he was already eighty percent certain he didn't need to worry about monsters.
He just needed to confirm it.
So as he made his way toward the center of the Island, he kept his ears open and his eyes moving.
Then he remembered something.
"Oh. Right. I have that skill."
He focused and tried to activate it.
[Error. Absolute Observation cannot be activated.]
[The Scales of Judgment System has detected an attempt to use a skill outside the scope of an active case.]
Theo's eyebrow twitched.
"...This System is strict."
He exhaled slowly.
But when he thought about it, it made sense. The System was called the Scales of Judgment. Using the power given to him simply to satisfy personal curiosity was no different from being handed a weapon and firing it at someone just to see what would happen.
The System had standards.
Which meant if he wanted to test his theory on a monster, he would need to go off course, and that would cost him time.
As it turned out, he didn't have to.
A shriek cut through the trees ahead.
Theo looked forward.
A goblin stood in a small clearing, crouched over something on the ground. It took him a moment to identify what the monster was eating.
A hand.
Severed. The skin discolored and dry. By the look of it, the hand had been separated from its owner for several days, and this goblin had simply stumbled across it now.
Theo didn't hesitate. Afraid the goblin might wander off before he had his answer, he jogged forward and stopped directly in front of it.
"Hello."
The goblin froze.
Slowly, it looked up. Its eyes found Theo's face.
Its expression collapsed.
The color drained from it entirely. Its whole body began to shake, violent and uncontrolled, as if every instinct it had was screaming at it to be anywhere else. The severed hand dropped from its grip. Then the goblin turned and ran, its shriek tearing through the trees as it disappeared into the undergrowth.
Shrieeeek!
The sound faded into the distance.
Theo stood there for a moment.
"Confirmed," he said quietly.
He didn't feel anything particular coming off himself. No pressure, no warmth, no visible aura. Nothing he could point to.
"It's the System," he muttered, pressing a hand beneath his chin. "But how exactly?"
He turned it over in his mind as he continued walking.
If monsters won't approach me, then the Islands are effectively open territory.
A small smile formed on his face.
Very convenient.
His eyes narrowed.
Time to find that bastard.
...
He kept moving toward the center of the Island, and along the way, the theory held.
Goblins scattered before he reached them.
An ogre turned and lumbered away the moment it saw him.
A pack of Steel-Fanged Wolves caught his scent and shrank back, pressing low against the ground before retreating into the trees.
Not one monster came within striking distance.
The journey was almost eerily easy.
It wasn't long before the center of the Island came into view.
A massive clearing opened up ahead, and the noise hit him before the sight did. The clash of Skills. The crack of impact. The ground trembling underfoot. The air shifted back and forth between scorching heat and biting cold as though the atmosphere itself couldn't decide which way to go.
Theo slowed to a stop at the treeline.
A Two-Headed Rock Ogre stood at the center of it all, easily ten meters tall, its stone-grey hide absorbing everything thrown at it. Fireballs the size of small cars detonated against its body in rolling plumes of heat. The explosion rippled outward and set the surrounding air churning.
The ogre didn't even flinch.
The Hunters didn't stop.
Sword slashes. Concentrated beams of energy. Fire and frost Skills cycling in and out. The group worked in coordinated rotations, each one stepping in and pulling back in turn.
And there, at the edge of the formation, wearing an expensive suit with his sleek black hair catching the light between blasts, was Enzo Vhal.
Something ignited in Theo's chest.
He drew a slow breath and forced it down. The rage didn't leave. It only dimmed slightly, enough for him to think.
He studied the other Hunters. Their battle suits bore the emblem of a winged boot.
Hermes Guild.
Theo had already known Enzo frequented this particular Island. His investigation had turned up the reason too. The Two-Headed Rock Ogre was one of the Island's minor bosses, and it had a chance to drop a rare crafting material that Enzo had been after for some time. He wanted it to forge a weapon.
And the reason Hermes Guild members were here helping him secure it?
Enzo Vhal's father was a shareholder of the Hermes Guild.
In other words, Enzo was a young master.
It was one of the core reasons the guild had protected him through the trial, through the coverage, through all of it.
Theo's gaze settled on Enzo and didn't move.
There you are.