It took William five days of hard travel through the woods to arrive at the gate of Rekka. Before he could take three steps within, two armored guards approached, their faces neutral but their eyes keen under the brims of their neat helmets. Each guard carried a small, palm-sized device that vibrated softly with blue light.
"Bracelets, please," said one guard, speech clipped but not unfriendly.
William lifted his left wrists without hesitation. Imbedded just under the skin of forearm was a shiny, metallic communication bracelet-standard issue for each hunter graduating from the military academy throughout the world.
The guard swiped his scanner over William's bracelet first. A gentle chime filled the air, and a holographic projection flared to existence above the device:
##Name-WILLIAM ...
LICENSED HUNTER(TIER 0 ¹ )
STATUS- Green##
The photo of his face, taken at registration two years before, glimmered alongside the text.
The second guard checked the information on a tablet worn on the wrist and nodded briefly when the biometric signature confirmed the registry.
One by one, the others simply presented the temporary bracelets above the skin to be scanned and identified them as a minor residing in Rekka.
Red-haired John clapped William on the shoulder. "Come along, William. Let's get you paid before Scuttler meat stinks up the pack."
They broke away from the group and John guided William down narrow streets packed with merchants, mercenaries, and mechanics. They arrived at a hovel storefront bearing the image of a three-eyed beetle—the sigil of Grub & Gristle, Rekka's leading monster-parts purchaser.
Inside, the air was heavy with the reek of preserved chitin and drying sinew. Behind a stained counter stood kalki, a great big fellow with four fingers and a permanent squint. William dumped the twelve Scuttler carcasses on the counter.
Kalki grunted, poking one with a hooked tool. "Hmph. Fresh kill. Good carapace integrity. No rot." He tapped a few keys on a grimy terminal. "Market's hot for Scuttler right now. Military contract. I'll give you… 6k."
William's breath caught. 'Six thousand credits?'He'd had to work months, gathering credits from high-team hunts—formidable missions against scaled abominations in forest surrounding kasha—only to have 500 credits² to show for it after equipment repairs and guild charges.
This… this was life-changing. His palms shook a little as he took the credit chip Kalki slid onto the counter. The feel of its weight was otherworldly.
With his fresh fortune burning a hole in his pocket, William took refuge after saying goodbye to John.
He discovered a low-cost inn named 'The Rusty Nail'—a peeling paint two-story building with a neon sign that flickered. For 50 credits, he managed a small room with a lumpy bed, a cracked washbasin, and a window over a rowdy alley. Shedding his gore-stained armor, he scrubbed himself raw under a bucket of warm water, observing red swirls going down the drain. The weariness in his bones was profound, but so was the inner rush of his takings.
Washed and still cautious, he made his way to 'Tony's Armory'. His familiar short sword—a reliable, piece of steel had broken during the Scuttler take-down, leaving him unarmed.
He required something that he could count on. The armory's shelves sparkled with blades of all manufacture: serrated longswords, buzzing energy daggers, even a set of twin scimitars that were more expensive than his entire former savings.
His gaze, though, continued to find its way back to a plain, well-balanced short sword on the mid-range rack—"Viper's Kiss," the price sticker said. 1600 credits. Crafted with 5 % Aetherite³, strengthened hilt, razor edge. Ideal.
Then he spotted it: a recurve bow of laminated, dark steel with 10% Aetherite, laid out next to a quiver of 2% Aetherite steel-tipped arrows. "Shadowstrike Bow and quiver 4500 credits".
For an instant, he pictured the hunt the day before, the smooth release of an arrow, the biting cold of Maya's bow.
But the math was merciless. The sword and the bow would leave him with barely enough for one month stay at the inn before returning to Kasha alongwith other survivors.
With a sigh flavored with regret, he paid for the short sword and leave.
Before returning to The Rusty Nail he visited a jewellery store and repair the locket chain and wore the broken locket.
Back at The Rusty Nail, after supper William bolted his door, placed his new sword against the wall where it was handy, and collapsed onto the thin mattress. The room was still except for the faraway rattle of carts and the hum of a broken streetlamp outside.
He shut his eyes, letting the adrenaline of the day drain away… until something rustled under him.
Frowning, he sat up and yanked a folded sheet of heavy parchment out from under his thigh. It hadn't been there when he'd departed for the armory.
Who use paper and parchment after the time of Skyfall⁴ he wondered.
The prchment was wax-sealed with a wax emblem he recognize : the image of a black lightning dragon.
The parchment crinkled in William's fingers, the edges worn and papery. At its heart blazed the Black Lightning Dragon—a sigil he had only seen in the cold, tarnished locket worn hidden beneath his collar. His heart thudded against the bones of his chest as he deciphered the spidery script.
"If you want to learn the truth of the locket… of the Crimson Drop… of your parents… of the bloodline you bear… then listen."
The words curled around his neck like smoke. For years, the locket was a quiet enigma, a weight on his chest with no solutions. Now someone knew. Someone provided solutions—but at a cost.
"Two conditions.
First: become a Tier 3 Hunter.
Second: be the winner of the Hunter Ascension Contest in Veridian Lagoon city.
You have two years only. Get either of those wrong, and the truth gets buried."
William's knuckles went white. Tier 3? That was top class. The Contest in Veridian Lagoon city—the shining, sky-touching city of hunters and scholars—was the stuff of legend for weak, country pumpkin like him.
Two years!
It seemed impossible… and yet the locket felt hot against his skin, a silent appeal from the past.
Underneath the circumstances, the letter went on: "Start now. In the Secularis Chamber House, under the old clocktower in the Weaver's District, you will discover two skill tomes. Master them. They are your starting place. Read these instructions, and the way will be made clear."
At the bottom, signed in handwriting that absorbed the light: 'The Book Keeper.'
William breathed out, a shuddering, labored exhalation that misted the chill evening air. He folded the letter and stowed it in the pocket, then faced the twisting alleys of the Weaver's District, he has no idea where but he has to locate the chamber.
The Secularis Chamber House was precisely as detailed: a thin, modest building of blackened brick,its solo sign was a rusted iron emblem above the door—"a closed book wrapped around a key."
William pushed the heavy door open, hinges creaking like an old soul. Within, dust motes waltzed in the solitary beam of moonlight crossing a high, grimy window.
On a plain stone pedestal lay two leather-bound books, covers torn and the name burned .
He moved forward, his boots quiet over the worn flagstones. Hesitation flared—what if this is a trap?
But then he reached out and touched the locket once more, felt its cold familiarity, and recalled the Book Keeper's raw decision: truth or a lifetime of shadows.
He took up the first book. It was warm, alive. The second as well. Their weight lay in his arms, not burdensome, but meaningful.
"I accept," William whispered, the words echoing slightly in the empty chamber. "I'll follow your path, Book Keeper. I'll become Tier 3. I'll win in Hunter Ascension Contest. And I'll learn what these books hold." He tucked the tomes securely under his arm, turned, and stepped back out into the damp alley.
Unseen, far back in the pool of darkness under a broken archway across the way, stood an old one. Wrapped in frayed grey wool, face hidden in the depths of the hood, leaned heavily on a twisted staff.
If William were to see him now he will recognize this old man as old Hemlock of Kasha who had a bakery shop.
As William vanished round the corner, walking towards the inn , the figure exhale a gust of air that sounded more like desicated leaves rustling across stone.
"Ah," the old one murmured, the voice barely disturbed the night air. A gnarled hand, knuckles swollen with age, tightened on the staff. "So the ember stirs… The blood remembers." He watched the spot where William had vanished.
"You've chosen the right path, young master," the whisper came,"The path of thunder and blood. May the Dragon's shadow protect you."
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AN:- I have marked some words with number which cannot be explained within the flow so here the explanation.
1- As William doesn't took the tier promotion exam till then so it shows the old tier information.
2- New universal currency after the time of Skyfall
3- Aetherite, a new metal discovered after the Skyfall period. Properly explained in later chapter.
4-Skyfall is termed as the period or time span when those meteorite crashed on earth. Briefly explained in novel's synopsis and well explained in later chapters along with its effect on humanity, politics and social affairs.
## Happy Reading
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