Life is never and will never be an easy ride.
Everyone gets their own set of problems depending on their focus and interests.
When your interests collide with someone else's, there are three choices:
->Give up.
-> Fight back.
-> Destroy them so thoroughly that they never dare start a fight again.
Choice three sounds messy. It also sounds effective. But to do it, I need power.
I sat on the floor in a meditation pose and closed my eyes. Time to lean on what little patience I still had.
A few kids every generation, somewhere between nine and eleven, resonate with the Unknown.
They sit in the Dormant stage for at least four years unless they're pushed by outside help. In Dormant, they're no different from any other child.
I'm in that stage now. Fortunately, I'm close to breaking through on my own. If I did nothing, it would take at least six more months.
But I don't have six months to waste.
As I focused deeper, I could feel the obstruction. Thick and stubborn walls pulsing faintly inside my veins.
Mana veins, actually.
They were like dams restraining rivers, only these were built inside me, caging what should have been flowing freely.
And tonight, those dams stood on the verge of bursting.
All I needed to do was push.
Force them open.
It would hurt, a tearing from the inside out. But pain was never something I feared. I'd died too many times for that.
I inhaled once, slow and sharp, then pushed.
The first crack sounded inside my skull rather than my ears. A jagged sting spread through my chest, down my spine, and into my fingertips.
Sweat beaded on my skin, dripped onto the cold floor. My breath grew ragged; my pulse hammered against my throat like it was trying to escape.
Then came the blood.
A thin line from my nose. Another from my lips.
Every time my heart thudded, it felt like fire chased the beat.
And yet I smiled.
Within seconds, the familiar warmth of regeneration crawled through my body, knitting flesh and ruptured veins.
The pain receded, replaced by a deeper vibration that shook the air around me.
The flow burst open.
Mana surged like a freed storm, flooding every channel I had, rushing through me so violently that the world itself seemed to pulse along with my heartbeat.
Then it had finally glitched into existence.
-----
[Your resonance with the Unknown has increased.]
[Congratulations... Caelir Strix, you have become a Hunter.]
[Processing...]
[Congratulations... Caelir Strix, you have become the youngest Hunter in recorded history.]
-----
For a moment, I just sat there, drenched in sweat and blood, listening to the soft hum beneath my skin.
The air felt lighter. My vision is sharper. Every color bled a little brighter into the world.
Finally, I whispered to the empty room:
"About time."
My whole body felt light... maybe too light, as if gravity itself had loosened its grip on me.
The ache in my muscles faded, replaced by a strange clarity humming beneath my skin.
Standing up, I walked toward the bathroom.
The moonlight spilled through the half-open window, slicing across the floor like a silver blade.
I turned the dial.
Cold water burst from the showerhead, crashing against me in relentless rhythm. The sound filled the small space in a steady, grounding noise.
The heat, the sweat, the blood, all of it washed down the drain in thin, red spirals.
As the droplets danced on my skin, I murmured softly,
"Status."
A faint chime answered. Then, like glass shattering the silence, a blue interface bloomed before my eyes.
This time, it looked… different. The lines are sharper. The glow is steadier.
-----
[Status]
Name: Caelir Strix
Title: Youngest Hunter
Realm: Early Hunter
????:
1. Immortality
2. Regression
3. ####
Class: Iridescent Celestial
Elements:
Wind [Rank 1]
Lightning [Rank 1]
Attributes:
Mental Fortune
Regeneration
Poison Immunity
Soul-Accumulated Aura
Talents:
Swordsmanship
-----
I stared at the glowing panel for a long moment, the mist from the shower curling around it.
Iridescent Celestial.
That was new. I'd never seen that class before, not in any of the six loops.
In my past life, my class was Harbinger of Storms.
This is not my first time seeing my class changing; it's my 2nd time.
A faint grin tugged at my lips.
"Looks like things really are going to be different this time as well."
The water hissed as I turned it off.
My reflection in the mirror stared back at me, silver hair clinging to my face, violet eyes glowing faintly through the steam.
For the first time in decades, I felt something I hadn't dared to in a long, long while.
Hope.
A hope to end it all.
Shaking my head, I let out a slow breath and sank into bed.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a long journey, one that I've never walked before.
The faint hum of wind still brushed my hair as my eyes grew heavy.
It didn't take long before sleep claimed me.