Chapter 42 - The First Core

"Was it you who dealt the final blow to the creature?" A thick voice questioned, coming from the half-wolf's back.

When Luke turned back, he saw a man with blue hair, a broad chin, and a thinning beard. His serious look was highlighted by the huge dark circles under his eyes.

"Yes? Literally, less than a minute ago." He replied, confused.

"Erghh..." A strange mood was infesting the place, as the man stood still and stared at the boy. "You are…?"

"I am?"

"I-I mean... who are you?"

Right after the question, the two angry little white-haired men approached in a huff. The woman was putting on the blue head similar to those people from the reinforcements wore.

Analyzing the situation, Luke knew that he had no reason to run away, after all, he was the one who killed the monster himself and had witnesses to its appearance, there was no way they could confuse things, was there?

"I am Luke." He replied, being as short as possible.

The man arched his eyebrows in surprise, then crossed his arms, still not satisfied. He was wearing a blue yukata, whose thin fabric resembled the capes of the people around him.

"Will you just tell us your name?" The white-haired elf inquired, still holding the bow in her right hand.

"Reveal to me who you are, and who knows, I will tell you more about me," Luke spoke, maintaining his characteristic inexpressive look.

"We are from the Hunter Owls Clan. My name is Kristofer, and I am the Clan leader." The blue-haired man introduced himself and extended his hand, with a closed, unobtrusive smile.

Luke shook his hand tightly and felt that the man's aura was of another level, one much greater than his own.

"I am Brigitte, and he is Solveig, we are siblings." said the archer, who pointed with her left hand to the foul-mouthed boy, who was frowning and with his arms crossed further to the corner.

Although Solveig was muttering things only to himself, like a picky teenager, Luke could hear everything.

"Being fucking disgusting... you stole my glory, my fame... If I had defeated the monster alone, without the help of the guild... I would be consecrated..."

"Who called them here?" Luke questioned Brigitte because she was the first to arrive, and he was sure that, despite the explosion of the wall, the creature had not made that much noise.

"A girl and a man called us. She was carrying a mage in her arms."

'Nathalia? Yeah, it can only be her, the number matches perfectly.' Luke concluded.

Even though Nathalia did not obey the half-wolf's orders in the Dungeon, he understood that this was because she was not hired to be a collar but a watchdog, but he was glad that she understood the situation this time.

"Well, I have to go to the Guild to make a report, if you want more information, ask the Guild Master." said Luke, after seeing the last fractions of the monster disperse.

With a simple nod, the boy said goodbye and left at an absurd speed that startled everyone who saw him leave.

"Is he dangerous, leader?" Brigitte questioned. The woman's hair fluttered in the wind generated by the half-wolf's momentum.

"Are you kidding?! He's a half-beast, of course, he's dangerous," Solveig said.

Soon after that, Kristofer cast an unhappy look at the boy, who tried to close his mouth but still looked down indignantly.

"I will ask for a meeting with Zion... there is something strange hovering towards town, you can feel it."

In the distance, in the middle of summer, dark clouds gathered near the mountains, and a cold wind rustled in the streets near the harbor. Vuuuum!

Luckily, the draft brought Luke a recognizable scent and within minutes, he was already beside his protégé again.

Accompanying Nathalia was Jean Pollo, who formally introduced himself this time, and also tried to find out what exactly the Blood Spirit was. The half-wolf, just as he had done with Kristofer, instructed him to look for the guild.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Luke inquired to Nathalia after they left the private clinic where Lizz stayed.

"Y-yes, I'm fine." The elf, embarrassed, replied by turning her face away. "How did it go with the Beast? Did you manage to kill him?"

The half-wolf looked sideways down that busy street, grabbed the girl's shoulders, and pulled her away from the crowd.

"I did, but some weirdos helped me, apparently they were from a clan, 'Hunter Owls' or something, do you know them?"

"You're kidding, right? This is simply the strongest Archer Clan on the continent! Their leader is said to have the strongest bow in all of Broteforge and has even been part of several vanguard lines."

"Eeeh? That guy?" Luke knew that Kristofer was very strong, he just couldn't picture him as a vanguard hero. 'Does that yukata mean he's retired?'

Just then, Nathalia inquired dumbfounded, "You met the leader? Is he in Vasconcelos?"

The girl's exclamation caught the attention of the people around.

"Is she fighting with her boyfriend?"

"No, Rosa... Look at his clothes and her clothes, I bet he's begging."

"You're right, look at that hoodie all dirty."

Luke had no choice but to pull the Elf even further away, "Forget the old owl, we have more important things to discuss."

Then the boy showed his palm, there was a small red, almost translucent sphere there, assembled by a cluster of smaller triangles, which kept moving and changing places.

"A core?!"

"Yeah, what do I do with that thing?" The half-wolf knew that if he sold it, he could raise even more money, but something inside him was constantly asking him not to.

"I don't know... I mean, it's still in his transitional phase, so that means it's high level. Low-level ones stay in that phase for milliseconds, and then the voice in your head already announces what it is."

Luke looked at that little thing in his palm and was tempted to put it in his mouth.

"When they are like that, what do you guys do?"

"We ingest them, after all, they are genes. If it's just the edible kind, your statuses have increased. If it's a skill, the voice will let you know, and if it happens to be an item, it will appear in your hand, like any Panspermia Weapon."

The half-wolf had already put himself through several things and situations that he would not do before, from this he learned his limitations and areas where he needed to improve. If that could provide for him, it didn't matter what Yoelona said, after all, she had also abandoned him long ago.

Without much more thought, Luke put the Sun Apparition core under his tongue and swallowed it.

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