Christopher awoke to the sound of food being chewed, filling his ears, while a deep pain engulfed his body. He tried to move, but his body was drowning in pain, as if every part of him had been crushed by an iron fist. He slowly lifted his head to take in his surroundings.
He was in a narrow cave, dimly lit by faint light emanating from magical engravings covering the walls. A massive figure was sitting on the ground; his hair was long, and his giant body was wrapped in black iron chains, strangely fastened to both the ceiling and the floor, as if imprisoning him in place. He was eating meat ravenously, his other hand holding a water pouch from which he drank between bites.
On the other side of the cave, Milena stood quietly, cleaning her sword with precise movements, her face indifferent, just as Christopher had grown used to seeing her in battle.
As he tried to get up, he felt his body shattered from within. The pain was gnawing at him, and his limbs were heavy as if he were sinking into mud. He tried to speak, but the words came out with difficulty.
At that moment, a deep, mocking laugh rang out.
"Hahaha, you've awakened, boy! Thank you for waking me up and saving little Milena!" said Lux in a booming voice, lifting his gaze towards Christopher. "Haha, if it weren't for you, my little girl would have been in danger, haha!"
Milena, who had been engrossed in cleaning her sword, sighed slightly before standing up and approaching her uncle. She grabbed his arm firmly and shook it gently, saying in a soft voice, "Uncle Lux, don't call me little, I'm not a child anymore, I can fight!"
Lux let out a roaring laugh, like a lion in the forest: "Hahahaha! Alright, Milena has grown up! Hahaha!"
Christopher, who was silently observing the scene, couldn't help but feel an internal confusion. Milena, whom he had seen as a cold fighter, was now acting completely different, like a pampered girl. Her expressions were somewhat unfamiliar to him.
Christopher felt helpless. He weakly scratched his hair with trembling fingers before speaking, "There's no need to thank me. I wasn't saving you. I was just testing my new skills, that's all." Then he looked at his body covered with bandages and sighed before quietly saying while looking at Milena: "But... thank you for dressing my wounds."
Milena smiled faintly for a brief moment so subtle it was barely visible then turned her face away. She went back to the corner of the cave and began arranging some items inside an old leather bag.
As for Lux, he took the last bite from the piece of meat, threw the bone aside, and wiped his mouth with his shackled arm. He spoke in a tone that was less loud this time, yet still brimming with strength:
"You have no idea what you've done, boy. Even if you didn't mean to, you've saved something precious to me. Whatever your motives... I will repay the favor."
Christopher looked at him without responding. He didn't know how to deal with a man chained in black iron, eating meat like a beast, yet speaking of repaying debts like an honorable knight.
He contemplated the gray engravings around the chains fixed into the wall and wrapped around him, whispering: "What are these engravings? And why are you chained?"
Lux's hand paused for a moment, then he looked at Christopher with curious eyes before saying: "Tell me, boy... are you a rogue hunter? Without a sect?"
Christopher was confused for a moment but calmly replied: "A rogue hunter? Yes, I suppose I am."
Lux laughed heartily, as if the answer confirmed something for him: "Hahaha! Then it makes sense! A hunter without a sect... that explains everything. If you don't belong to a sect, it's only natural you lack the basics. Gaining knowledge in this world isn't easy, especially for those who walk alone."
He fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a lower, deeper voice: "Do you know, boy, why this path is called the Hunter's Path? Why we are hunters, not mana practitioners?"
Christopher replied hesitantly: "Because we hunt monsters... isn't that it?"
Lux nodded his head, then said, "That's right, but that's just the surface. We don't just hunt demonic beasts... we also hunt saints. We hunt anyone who carries an essence, and we take it."
"When you kill a demonic beast using your own mana, a special jewel forms inside it. This jewel cannot be refined by anyone but you. Only the killer can refine it, turning it into pure, uncontaminated mana. If someone else tries to use it... they will be contaminated. They will turn into a beast."
"And saints? They are just like beasts. When you kill them in the same way, the jewel is born. The more you kill and refine, the more you grow your power. You surpass the limits of talent, surpass the constraints of blood."
He paused for a moment, then said, "You might have weak talent, rated C or D, but if you devour enough jewels and refine them, you can carve your own path. This is the true power of a hunter."
He looked directly into Christopher's eyes, then continued with a more serious voice: "But every power has a price. And this power... its price is the vortex."
"We call it the hunting vortex. Everyone who walks this path will fall into it sooner or later. The more you kill and refine, the hungrier you become. You will feel a hunger, not for food, but for killing. You will feel that your body cannot rest unless it hunts, kills, and devours... again and again."
"And this vortex is divided into two stages. The first stage, which I am in now... is temporary fall. You become like an animal, killing unconsciously, but you can wake up from it. Sometimes after a week, sometimes after two. And if you're lucky enough not to be killed by a hunter or a demonic beast, you will return to yourself, but..."
He paused for a moment, then said in a faint voice: "But two or three days after waking up... the second stage begins."
"And here, your body completely loses control. It becomes a killing machine. It attacks everything. It distinguishes neither enemy nor friend. It slaughters until it is killed by someone stronger. As for your consciousness... it is pulled into another place."
"A place we do not know if it is a dream, or another world. We hunters call it the Court of Eternal Hunt."
"There, you will undergo a trial. It varies from person to person. A trial that can save you... or bury you forever. If you pass it, you survive. You wake up from the hunting vortex and break free from the slavery of hunting. And more than that..."
He smiled, but his smile was sad, not happy: "You will come out with one thing from the Court of the Hunt... a treasure, or a weapon, or an ability. Something rare. Something priceless."
Lux fell silent for a moment, as if recalling something from the past, then continued in a tired tone:
"But... passing the court? It is not easy. Nine out of ten are buried there, their souls swallowed, and their bodies turned into mindless beasts, then permanently called Slaves of the Hunt. That's why I am here, boy. These chains and these inscriptions... are not just to prevent me from leaving, but to protect people from me. If I fall into the second stage, I won't be able to control myself, and I will start killing madly."
Then he pointed to the gray inscriptions that were pulsing with a faint rhythm, and added:
"When I fall into the vortex, these inscriptions will activate again, paralyzing me, trapping me here until I wake up. And that's what you saved me from. If you had been any later, I would have torn Melina apart with my own hands."
Christopher furrowed his brows as he listened to those heavy words, trying to comprehend the magnitude of the danger and opportunities hidden within the hunting vortex. Could it be, he wondered, that this is what that middle-aged man meant when he said in the disk: If you obtain a strong innate skill, even the weakest talents can change their fate with it?
Christopher whispered as if talking to himself: "Has anyone ever... completely survived the Court of Eternal Hunt?"
Lux replied, his eyes staring at the ceiling:
"Yes. They are called 'true hunters'… those who devoured the vortex instead of it devouring them."
Then he reached for a small bag beside him, pulled out a small transparent bottle containing a bluish-gray liquid, and continued in a whisper:
"When you come out of the first Court of the Hunt, if you are lucky enough to survive, you are given a special potion... a potion that eases the symptoms of the vortex. It reduces the bouts of craving, and gives you a chance to recover yourself... before..."
Lux suddenly laughed, a short booming laugh that pierced the silence of the cave:
"Hahaha... I guess I've said too much."
A heavy silence filled the cave after Lux's last words. There was only the sound of their breathing, and the faint crackling of the gray inscriptions that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Christopher slowly lay on his back, as if trying to close the door on everything he had heard, but the words kept spinning in his mind without stopping. "True hunters"... the phrase echoed in his mind.
He wanted to ask more, to know about those who survived, about what they saw in the Court of the Hunt, about the kind of abilities they emerged with... but he felt the time was not right, and that he was not ready to delve into that depth. Even if he asked, he felt Lux would not answer.
Melina quietly approached, placing a leather pouch near him containing dry bread and a dark-colored healing potion. She said without looking at him:
"Drink this. It won't heal you completely, but it will speed up recovery."
Christopher looked at the potion, then at Melina, who had returned and sat silently near the wall, as if Lux's talk had exhausted her as well. He took the vial with his trembling hand, lifted it to his lips; its taste was bitter, but he forced himself to swallow it all at once.
A faint warmth began to flow through his veins, the sharpness of the pain eased a little, although the fatigue still gnawed at his body.
---
Elsewhere.
Far from the cave where Christopher, Melina, and Lux were, the battlefield still bore witness to what had happened hours earlier. The corpses of the temple soldiers lay scattered everywhere, stained with blood, and the smell of death filled the air. Yet, there was something strange among the bodies. The body of the commander, who was killed by Christopher, was glowing with a radiant golden light, emanating from the place where Christopher had stabbed him the heart.
The commander's body began to tremble strangely, and the golden light grew brighter, until it exploded in a sudden flare. Suddenly, the commander gasped deeply, as if a new soul had returned to his body. He slowly opened his eyes, panting heavily, then whispered in a weak voice:
"What happened?"