Chapter 602

Chapter 602

A confident woman's voice echoes from the door as a narrow white entrance hallway comes into view.

"Welcome back, Mr. Freeman. That was a quick trip, as expected."

A woman with tightly tied back blond hair, clad in a black and green association-branded combat suit, greets us at the end of the short hall.

She's holding a silver tablet, and I watch each of the new A-Class hunters reach into their item boxes to pull out their IDs. I do the same.

Mr. Freeman gives the woman a nod as he walks by her without saying a word, flanked by his two nurses. The three A-Class hunters, however, stop in front of the woman to scan their IDs.

She taps on her tablet after each of them scans, and they follow the Director out of the narrow hall.

The woman flashes me a bright smile as she scans my ID just like the others.

"Ray Anderson, uncontracted B-Class Hunter. It looks like this is your first time in the Apex Region. I hope you enjoy your stay at headquarters."

I put my ID back in my item box and nod as I walk past her.

"Thanks, I—"

My words are cut short as the entrance hall opens up into a massive room.

It isn't the sheer size of the room, the intense mana shielding, the half dozen 10-meter-wide chandeliers, or the massive exquisite art pieces on display all over the walls and ceiling. What stops me mid-sentence and halts my steps is the enormous 30-meter-long statue in the center of the hall.

A white dragon stands on its back legs, wings outstretched as if about to take flight.

Each of its scales is semi-reflective, giving thousands of small sparkling visuals of all the priceless art that fills the hall.

Its teeth are sharp, and its eyes look as if the beast is still alive, though there isn't a drop of energy left in this creature.

It's impossible to tell if it's a petrified monster turned into a trophy or a carefully crafted masterpiece.

I can't help but stare, deciding to believe it's the latter, whispering to myself.

"What a lifelike piece of art... it looks so real... incredible..."

The Director overhears me as we walk by the reflective statue's right leg across the long entrance of mana-shielded flooring and responds.

"Indeed, it is the prize of my collection here. It's quite the conversation starter for new guests. You say it is lifelike? Have you ever seen a dragon in the flesh?"

I think of a reply as we walk around its back, following the curling white tail to the back of the room where two winding staircases lead downward.

As I reply, a few hunters approach from the left side, but they're levels are that of low C-Class hunters, so I don't think much of it.

"No, no... I haven't seen a real dragon before, but it is everything I ever thought one would look like."

We continue walking toward the tip of the dragon's beautiful tail, met by open doors between the stairs. An elevator with hand-carved designs and more exquisite art on its walls comes into view behind the opened doors, along with a number panel from 1 to 20 labeled inside small white buttons.

As we all step into the spacious room, the Director replies.

"Well, that is a good thing. If you said yes, I would have to change my art piece to something different. I can't have new guests be unimpressed by my prized piece."

He laughs to himself while the doors close, and he presses the number 5.

Another group of C-Class hunters walks up the left stairway, and a group of B-Class hunters arrives from another entrance point just as we begin to descend downward. This place is bustling with workers and hunters. They may all be in Apex Region uniforms, but it doesn't seem like this base is a well-kept secret; it appears to be open to the public.

The elevator slides downward, taking us deeper into the base until I hear a ding and watch the doors open again.

The three A-Class hunters take a step forward as the door opens, and the Director speaks.

"This is your stop. Continue your training, and thank you very much for waiting for our guest to arrive and bringing him to me."

They step out and make their way toward the other massive empty training room as Mr. Freeman continues.

"This is the A-Class training facility. Soon, I believe this will be more appealing to you. These two rooms were put in place by a team from the central branch of the Association quite a while back. They're graded to withstand up to level 5000 attacks, believe it or not."

An aura of satisfaction and pride ripples off him as the door closes once again, and we descend further.

It's just me, the Director, and his two nurses when the bell rings, and we hit the 19th floor.

This floor isn't as impressive as the last. It just has a few sectioned-off rooms, public lounges, saunas, restaurants, and bars. There is very slow and calming music playing, and no customers at all, but many attentive employees are on duty.

It must be a private lounge for the A-Class hunters to use once they're finished with hard training sessions.

To my surprise, both of the nurses walk forward once the door fully opens, and Mr. Freeman speaks to them.

"This will only take a few minutes. I prefer to show our guest the final floor alone."

They both walk forward, then turn around and give him a small bow as the door closes and the elevator descends one last time.

I speak up and question him.

"This is the final floor? What's so special about it?"

The Director stands in silence for a moment, and I feel the air pressure in this small elevator ripple with heat and small amounts of yellow divine threads while he restrains himself and replies.

"This is the heart of not only the Apex Region but the 8 Great Regions' branch as a whole. The resource I am about to show you is what has granted me the ability to grow my power and is what has kept this nation in line for decades..."

Silence fills the elevator as it descends further and further, almost triple the time it took to get down to the 18th floor. The Director continues.

"There is only one other Region that has a similar resource, the Vice Region, but it is not nearly as plentiful as what I'm about to show you."

The air pressure grows even thicker, and I begin to feel soul energy building up in the Director's chest.

Then, the door lets out a ding and slides open.

Behind it, an underground cave made of dark black stone with ceilings over 100 meters high comes into view.

I let a weak observation aura out, and immediately I feel the presence of what the Director speaks of.

A massive green spinning portal rests at the back of the cave. The mana density and pressure it releases are so intense, it makes the Labyrinth in Vice City and even the one back in the canyon of dungeons seem minuscule.

The air is so thick with mana, it feels like I'm back inside the Titan's Domain down here. It's both alluring and suffocating at the same time.

I start to take a step forward, but another pressure hits my senses from my side as Mr. Freeman pulls a familiar blue cube from his item storage and pushes it my way, floating through the air with a contract open on it, showing the A-Class Hunter recruitment option in bright blue text.

"If you would like to enter the Labyrinth and begin your training, we need to come to an agreement on our terms. What do you say? Will today be the day you become an A-Class hunter?"

His eyes glow golden, and more yellow threads begin to seep out of his core.

I see tendrils of soul energy begin to rise from his back just like the first time he tried to use his buff [The Sun God's Curse Mark] on me.

It seems he's set all of this up in order to get me alone down here and give me no choice. However, he doesn't know this is exactly what I wanted too.

I continue my step forward closer to the Labyrinth. In the same movement, I catch the blue contract cube with my left hand, and my heart rate starts to speed up with excitement.