[Later That Night, 11:32 pm]
On a quiet hilltop overlooking the land that surrounded the horse stables, Valerie patiently waited for her target to arrive.
The young woman had been scoping the place out for the better part of three hours, and so far, nothing of note had occurred. Everything appeared to be exactly the way that it was supposed to be. The horses were locked down within their stables, the hired security were patrolling the immediate area at annoyingly regular intervals, and almost the entire area was decorated with floodlights. Under normal circumstances, this would mean that any intruders would have no chance of breaking into the place without getting shot. Unfortunately for the owner, all of these precautionary measures were basically meaningless unless he or his goon squad were sorcerers.
Even a freshly born D-rank cryptid would be able to slip past all of that without too much trouble. Let alone the one that she was currently tracking down.
'Ugh...I wish this thing would show up already.' Valerie internally groaned as she continuously tapped on one of her machetes to keep herself calm. These overnight jobs were always a pain in the ass. Mainly because they were so boring ninety percent of the time.
It wasn't like she could really complain, though; this was her job after all. And sooner or later, this cryptid would get tired of feeding on barn animals and start attacking humans to appease its ever-growing hunger.
Although she never bothered to learn the minute details of cryptid hunting activities, mainly because it involved actually sitting down and learning something, Valerie knew the basics that they all seemed to follow. Whenever a wild cryptid is born, either through natural manifestation or from an egg, it would spend a significant portion of its adolescence feeding on prey that had no mana. Probably as a way to quickly build up their strength before moving on to more proper targets. After that, they would primarily go after sorcerers or other cryptids, with a few regulars thrown in the mix whenever they got desperate.
This, of course, meant that the one she was waiting on was probably a newborn. One that hadn't yet built up the skill to turn someone like her into a meal. A bit disappointing if she was being totally honest. But hey, at least she had something to do.
Another thirty minutes passed by before Valerie felt the presence of mana at the edge of her range. The source of which was slowly moving in the direction of the stables.
"Alright, showtime!" The tall blonde said with a smile as she stood up while tossing her binoculars into her bag before securing her two steel machetes in both hands. A smile grew across her face as her blue eyes shifted to orange. And she wasted no time flooding her muscles with mana as she activated her body reinforcement. It sucked that this was only technique that she could reliably use, but that wasn't something that she wanted to think about right now. So instead, she focused all of her attention on her prey.
Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, Valerie broke out into a full sprint across the grassy field directly towards her target. Her legs carrying her across the land in a way that would've made even Olympic-class sprinters jealous.
Just as the young woman came within fifty feet of her target, the beast noticed her presence and began to flee. Unfortunately for the creature, once Valerie McKenna had you in her sights, you were as good as dead.
In barely a few seconds, the cryptid was within eyesight. And just like Freddy had predicted, it looked to be some kind of wolf. Large, with black and brown fur, long fangs, and a tail that had several barbs on the end of it.
"Gotcha!" Valerie said with confidence as she leaped into the air. Easily clearing a distance of at least forty feet before landing right in front of her prey.
The moment they were face-to-face, the wolf-like cryptid immediately went on the defensive. And judging by the fact that a cloud of poisonous gas was now flowing out of its mouth, the creature knew what time it was.
"So...are you going to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" The woman taunted with a confident smile on her face. Only to be answered with a wave of gas being shot directly at her.
Valerie nonchalantly leaped in the air to avoid the attack, landing on the ground roughly ten feet away from where she was previously standing. Since it was obvious that this creature wasn't going to go down without a fight, the young woman decided to grant the beast an honorable death. With her machetes in both hands, the woman then dashed towards the howler. Zig-zagging in all different directions in order to throw the creature off while closing the distance.
Once she was in a suitable range, Valerie then reinforced her steel blades with a small portion of her mana before raising her arms high above her head and bringing them down with enough force to completely cleave the creature into pieces. The poor cryptid didn't even have the chance to defend itself before its life came to an abrupt end. And the last sound it was ever able to make was a pathetic whimper before dissipating into dust.
"Easy as pie!" Valerie smiled, satisfied with yet another job well done. "That brings me up to thirty-five! I should be able to hit fifty before the end of the year if these things keep popping up at the rate they are now."
With her job now complete, the young blonde wasted no time in heading back to the hill to collect her things before going back home. Another successful hunt was officially in the books.
-(o)-
The moment she walked back into the house, Valerie was greeted by the sweet sounds of peaceful silence. Which wasn't surprising considering it was already well passed one in the morning. Hoping not to accidentally wake anyone up, the young woman tiptoed up the stairs and into her bedroom. She then dropped her things by the door before taking off her jacket and heading straight towards the bathroom.
Of course, Valerie couldn't help but take a moment to admire her physique in the mirror that was right next to the door. Flexing her biceps a couple of times while striking a heroic pose similar to the ones you'd see in a comic book.
'Since I'm off tomorrow, I might as well treat myself to an extended workout session.' She thought to herself while striking yet another pose.
Although Valerie was certainly more muscular than the vast majority of women her age, she wasn't anywhere near the level of "bodybuilder big" as many people would call it. Her body was more of a "functional athletic" kind, at least in her opinion. Exactly the kind that she needed in order to do her job. And although she certainly wasn't ashamed of how she looked, looking at herself in the mirror reminded the young woman of why she had to spend so much time in the gym compared to other people.
The main reason why she had to put so much effort into her body was because her mana control was absolute garbage. And that was no exaggeration. Even newly awakened sorcerers had better control over their powers than she did. Ever since her mana core finally activated, Valerie has had nothing but trouble trying to keep her power under control whenever she tried to use it. So much so that she was scared to even use her magical attribute out of fear of accidentally burning someone or something by accident...again.
The doctors said that her issue was due to the fact that she had such a high level of mana compared to other sorcerers. But something about that explanation didn't exactly sit right with her. There were sorcerers out there with even higher levels of natural mana than she had, and they never had trouble controlling their abilities like she did. And no matter how many exercises she did that focused on her mana control, nothing ever changed.
Of course, she could still use her 'fire magic', but she was unable to do so in small quantities. All she could do was big, flashy techniques. The kind that used up a lot of power and threw any form of subtlety completely out the window. Because of this, the only reliable technique that she could use was reinforcement-type spells. And that was only because she could keep the power contained within her body. The fact that she could reinforce her weapons was simply because she just poured a ton of mana into the objects without a care in the world before they broke and had to be replaced.
If Valerie were being perfectly honest, her muscles were just a way for her to overcompensate for her lack of natural talent. They were a reminder of just how incompetent she was when compared to the other women in her family. Hell, she couldn't even make a mana barrier without the thing literally blowing up after only a few seconds.
What was even worse about the whole situation was that because of her horrendous mana control, she could only really be considered a middle B-rank sorcerer at best. And that's simply because she has a ton of mana. If she had even half of her natural amount, she'd easily be a C-rank, or worse.
'Ugh...why am I even thinking about this right now?' Valerie shook her head a few times in order to get rid of these annoying thoughts of hers. Now wasn't the time to start wallowing in self-pity again. All she needed to do was hop in the shower, grab a snack, and go to bed. Which is exactly what she did.
As the woman stared at the ceiling while she waited to go to sleep, Valerie wondered what new challenges awaited her in the future. She was more than satisfied with where she was in her career as of now, but eventually, she'll need to step her game up if she's going to ascend through the ranks of the DPA. Killing low-ranking cryptids was cool and all, but she craved the sort of challenge that would put her above her peers. Something that would force people to acknowledge just how great she already knew she was. That something was coming soon; she could feel it. But the waiting part is what she had a problem with.
However, Valerie knew that when the moment arrived, she would be ready for it. And when it did, she was going to make sure that her family ate their words and admitted that they were wrong about her.
-(o)-
Info Card: Mana Core
The unique, specialized organ that serves as the source of magical power in both sorcerers and cryptids. It develops in place of the appendix once a sorcerer awakens their latent abilities.
While the mana core's physical size remains consistent in different individuals (roughly half the size of a human fist), its capacity to store and channel mana varies greatly from person to person. Remarkably durable, the average mana core is tougher than commercial-grade steel and is even more resilient in individuals with high levels of mana. Each mana core's color corresponds to the sorcerer's magical attribute, making it both functional and symbolic.
Though mana cores can operate even when damaged, they cannot be repaired or regenerated through the use of healing magic. Direct damage to the mana core often disrupts a sorcerer's control over their magical attribute, though not their ability to sense it.
Once removed, or upon the sorcerer's death, the mana core becomes inert. Notably, removing a mana core doesn't kill the sorcerer, but it does permanently strip them of their magical ability. Even so, they retain enhanced physical attributes and the ability to perceive and sense mana, an unexplained phenomenon still under study. Mana cores are non-transferable, and all previous attempts at implantation across different individuals have ended in fatality.