Chapter 17: Advanced Spiritual Sight

Chapter 17: Advanced Spiritual Sight

Long before dawn, Kai was alone in the training yard going through his exercises. He might not have any advanced techniques, and Juray needed more time to complete his enhancement potion, but that didn't mean he couldn't work. A Physique Level of G-6 might seem like just symbols in his spiritual sight, but in the real world it made him superhuman.

Exercises that had once risked injury were now easy, so he pushed himself much harder than before. All of the new hunters in the Granfian clan were experiencing increased strength now that their Classes had awakened, but Kai had always spent more time training and could test his body's limits even further. He had no idea how much work it would take to reach G-7, but he'd fight his way there no matter how long it took.

As he worked, Kai kept his mind off the futility of it all by focusing on future plans. It had been yet another day without an answer to his letters, so he needed to discount help from the clans. He had Juray as an ally and hoped to discuss further ideas with her. Even though he could imagine various schemes that would produce a positive feedback loop, the problem was that he had so little kindling to start any fires. Just the money he had from the monster cores and a few resources provided to all Granfian hunters.

Eventually Kai reached his physical limits and recognized that he wasn't getting anything further from his training. He had cleaned himself off and sat down to recover for future training when others arrived in the yard.

"Kai, there you are. Good thing you're here early."

The familiar voice surprised him at first and Kai popped to his feet to see an old friend. Yangil Granfian was a hunter about five years older than him, a lean but muscular man wearing full steel armor. A five year gap had been insurmountable when they were younger, then Yangil had been a bit of a mentor, and recently the difference hadn't seemed so large at all. They were both technically full hunters now, and the idea made Kai examine his friend with his spiritual sight.

Name: Yangil Granfian

Total Power: 48

Knight Class: 9

Physique Level: G-9

Soul Level: 3

>

Though Yangil wasn't as powerful as some of the veterans, he was still impressive. His Physique was right at the peak of the G rank and he had a Soul Level just as high as many warriors. But Kai realized that staring at all the symbols would make him seem awkward, so he pushed through them to smile.

"Yangil, I haven't seen you in a long time! You're back from the hunt?"

"Frontier gets worse every year." Yangil gestured for the other trainees to spread out before walking closer and lowering his voice. "Listen, Kai... it might be best if you moved your training hours earlier. We're going to have a lot of new Granfian trainees who will need the space."

Kai frowned at the implication but tried to shrug it off. "I didn't arrive now, I've just finished training."

"Oh? You always were out here early. Well, that might be easiest on everyone. We'll talk later, alright?"

"Are you seriously kicking me out?"

Yangil had been smiling since he entered, but that expression slipped away as he stepped even closer. "I can't order you, but give these kids the same chance you had. Maybe one of them won't be dealt such a bad hand by fate."

"It's that bad?" Kai struggled to keep his face neutral, which required swallowing both anger and shame. His friend... no, Yangil had never really been his friend. Maybe all he'd ever had were allies who wanted his potential future power.

"Worse than I'd heard. Not even a Novice Class... or can you not see that part? I'd tell you to work on your spiritual sight, but I guess it doesn't matter now."

Right at the end, the politeness slipped away from Yangil's eyes. Behind it, Kai could see not just pity but scorn. He'd seen that more than once: the idea that he must have done something to deserve this. Kai opened his mouth to say something, realized it would sound petulant, and walked away.

As he left the training yard, most of the new recruits didn't pay any attention to him. Just as well, considering that Yangil might try to humiliate him if he pressed the issue. Kai had always thought of the older man as jovial and fun-loving, but in retrospect his sense of humor seemed cruel. It had just never fallen on Kai because he was always at the head of the pack.

Before he could descend into petty anger, Kai forced himself to refocus. Even though it was intended as an insult, Yangil had pointed out a real shortcoming: his spiritual sense wasn't fully developed. It might not grant strength directly, but spiritual sight was a critical skill for any hunter. Developing it might be the best use of his time even if he had access to the training yard, since his physical development was plateauing.

Realizing that left him with strangely mixed feelings. It reminded him of the old days when he had been working harder and pushing further than anyone else, but those memories had a melancholy tinge now. Being able to see how far behind he was might just be depressing... and yet he found himself more motivated than anything.

He walked back to the training yard even though it was still the middle of the day, evaluating as he went. The untrained members of the Granfian clan usually had a total strength of one to three, while hunter candidates were all under ten. Veterans he respected were all much closer to a hundred, though he didn't actually see anyone in three digits.

When he reached the yard, Kai stayed at the entrance and evaluated some of the others who had completed the Hunter Trials. A few were more remarkable, but most looked like a young woman who was clearly going through early sword exercises:

Name: Unknown Granfian

Total Power: 14

Warrior Novice Class: 5 (5)

Physique Level: G-3 (8)

Soul Level: 1 (1)

>

Despite her new Class, she was evaluated as much weaker than him. The insights from his spiritual sight roughly matched his normal intuitions: she wasn't untalented, but her fitness and skill were both beneath his. Until her Class began granting her overwhelming power, she'd be at a disadvantage if they fought.

Yangil looked up at him with a frown and Kai didn't back down, staring directly into his eyes with his new sight.

Name: Yangil Granfian

Total Power: 48

Knight Class: 9 (19)

Physique Level: G-9 (20)

Soul Level: 3 (9)

>

Despite all his experience, Yangil's Physique was still stuck at the G rank and his Soul was no stronger than Kai's. Yes, his developed Class granted him great power, but he wasn't impossibly far ahead. If they fought that day, Kai knew he would almost certainly lose.

But in a year? The idea made Kai's heart race. If Yangil had only made so little progress in five years as a full hunter, then even Kai's unsupported progress didn't seem so meager.

Still, there was no point in starting a fight that moment. Kai gave the older man an honest smile and turned away from the training yard. Now that he didn't need to train his spiritual sight anymore, he needed to find a new way to productively fill his hours. Perhaps Juray was done making his potion or he could find another idea in the city.

"Excuse me? Hunter Kai?" One of the officials stopped him near the entrance.

"What is it?" Normally Kai would have been searching for any sign of pity, but his mood was too good to bother with it. Besides, it looked like the official just had a message for him.

"This came for you." The man handed him a small slip of paper and then hurried on his way.

The message was scrawled in such a sloppy hand that it took Kai a moment to read it, but then the letters came together: it was Inafay Corinin. She implied that her clan hadn't shown his letter to her, but she had found it and then responded. Not only that, she suggested a time and place for them to meet. It seemed like she remembered their duel during the Hunter Trials and clearly was looking forward to fighting again.

Kai's grin broadened. He forgot all about hunters just getting by: if he wanted to advance his ambitions, he needed to compare himself to someone like Inafay.