Hunter’s Vengeance: The Rise of the Predator

   "Do you think the Guild Master will keep his word? Considering he seems to be a very proud person, I wouldn't be surprised if he considers us his biggest enemies from now on....", Ophelia asked after they left the Guild Master's office.

   "If he's smart, he'll probably try to have as little to do with us as possible. Anyway, what could he do? Kick us out of the Adventurer's Guild? I doubt he'd do that, as it's better to keep your enemies close...", Kara replied, seeming to care little about the Guild Master's enmity, knowing full well that the Adventurer's Guild was not nearly as authoritarian as it pretended to be as its existence was based on many compromises.

   Descending towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, they were quite surprised to see that nobody was making any noise and that all eyes were on them.

   "Um, is everything okay? We heard some noises from upstairs...", the receptionist asked, trying to change the atmosphere that didn't seem to please Kara much.

   "Of course, nothing bad happened. Just Kara and the Guild Master had a little strength contest...", Ophelia replied, her warm smile easily dispelling much of the unease of those present. Well, except for Kara, who didn't really like seeing so many eyes focused on her girlfriend. But what could she do? She couldn't keep Ophelia hidden in a box or convince her to wear a mask.

   Since the Guild Master hadn't announced any issues with Kara and Ophelia's mission, Lina had no choice but to proceed with the rest of the formalities, so she directed the two toward the harvesting hall to deliver the corpses of the human mole and the diamond-clawed bear.

   As a group of adventurers who wanted to deliver the corpses of over 50 red wolves was in front of them, Kara and Ophelia had to wait in line for about 15 minutes. During this time, Ophelia managed to cheer up Kara by leaning her head on her shoulder.

   The one who seemed to be in charge in the harvesting hall was a tall, sturdy woman, whose blond braided hair reminded Kara of a braided bread roll, as it was quite voluminous.

   Once their turn came, Kara didn't waste much time on conversation and retrieved the corpses of the bear and the mole from her storage space, both Helga, the sturdy woman, and her two assistants, who were two very muscular men, being very impressed by the two specimens.

   "A diamond-clawed bear? I haven't seen one in a long time... maybe more than 10 years. From what I know, you have to go at least 20-30 kilometers into The Great Moonshadow Forest to find them...", marveled Helga, who was aware of how risky it is to enter The Great Moonshadow Forest, but also how pointless it is, as unlike in a dungeon, where you can find treasures after defeating monsters, in that forest the only thing you get is a few extra minutes until you're attacked again.

   "Well, lucky us then. We found it just a few dozen kilometers from the city...", Kara said, as if she had stumbled upon a treasure and not a beast that would kill any adventurer below A rank.

   "Well, I hope I never have such luck. But it's strange that it went so far from The Great Moonshadow Forest... Have you seen anything suspicious in that area? I'm thinking it might have been trailing a group of thieves, as there's information that some of them hide on the outskirts of the forest..."

   "I don't remember... I was too busy fighting the bear... But you, Ophelia?" Kara passed the question to Ophelia, intending to tease her a bit by putting her in a situation in which she would have to come up with a story.

   "Neither do I...", Ophelia replied shortly, aware that a detailed lie is easier to uncover. Besides, she wasn't the type to engage in long discussions unless there was something to gain.

   "Alright then... So for the bear, we can offer you 1200 gold coins. As for the mole, I can't give you a price right now, as we'll need to analyze it first...", Helga said, seeing that the two had nothing more to add.

   "Hmmm, seems like a fair price. As for the mole, you can consider it a bonus...", Kara agreed, feeling pleased that the staff at the harvesting hall didn't object to the fact that the specimen she brought was a mole.

   After Helga completed a ticket with the details about the items received, which she handed to Kara and Ophelia, the two returned to the reception area, where Lina had just finished talking to a group of adventurers.

   "Have you returned? Did you deliver the two corpses?", Lina asked, trying to appear as calm as possible, but it was evident in her eyes that she was very stressed, which was clear proof that the Guild Master had warned her about them.

   The two confirmed they did, with Kara handing her the ticket she received from the harvesting hall, so Lina immediately started filling out the remaining necessary paperwork.

   Since the mission was deemed a success, Kara was registered as a B-rank adventurer, and Lina presented Kara with a silver badge inscribed with her rank and a receipt with which she could collect 1500 gold coins from the payment hall, 1200 being for the items sold to the Guild and 300 for completing the mission.

   Once all the paperwork concerning Kara was finished, Kara applied for the creation of a party in which she and Ophelia would be members so they could take future missions together without major complications. After a few more minutes of uninterrupted paperwork completion by Lina, all the necessary documents for creating a party were finalized, so the two said goodbye to Lina and headed to the payment hall to collect the money.

   To Kara's surprise, there was no guard in the payment hall, only a very old man sitting at a desk reading a book. Behind him was a huge safe, which could easily fit ten diamond-clawed bears.

  'Hmmm, although this old man looks like he has no more than a week left to live, the amount of mana in his body is far superior to that of the Guild Master. I wouldn't be surprised if he were an S-rank adventurer in his youth...', Kara thought to herself, her senses not deceived by the old man's sluggish movements and his skills to make his presence as unremarkable as possible.

   "Hello, ladies. How can I assist you? I believe it's the first time I've seen you here...", the old man asked with a benevolent smile on his face, putting aside the book he was reading.

   "Hello. We have some money to collect...", Kara replied shortly, not intending to engage in a lengthy conversation with the old man. She then approached the desk and handed him the receipt.

   "Alright, just give me a moment to see the amount... Hmmm, 1500 gold coins? It seems you two are not only very beautiful but also very capable. Too bad the other adventurers aren't as hardworking. Or maybe it's my luck because if I had to carry such sums of money all day, I'd never get rid of my back pains... Anyway, I would have liked to have great-granddaughters like you, but unfortunately, I never..."

   "Old man", Kara interrupted, not wanting to spend all day listening to him. "I'm sure you have many interesting things to say, but we're in a bit of a hurry. My girlfriend and I want to go have lunch..."

   "Oh, so you're in a relationship? Ha, ha! And here I was thinking of introducing you to two of my great-grandsons. Maybe you don't know, but...", the old man started to talk again, his words beginning to irritate Kara more and more.

   "Old man, it seems you like to make jokes. Do you think I can't tell that you're aware of everything that happens in this building?", Kara interrupted again, her words surprising both the old man and Ophelia, who hadn't paid much attention to the old man until then, merely impressed by how skillful he was in annoying Kara.

   "Ha, ha! What can I say? It's rare for something interesting to happen around here, so it was hard for me to resist getting involved in this story...", the old man began to chuckle, very satisfied with the bored expression on Kara's face.

   "The money, old man, the money!", Kara reminded the old man again, barely restraining herself from shaking him a bit because, although his mana quantity was very large, his body was truly weak.

   "Alright, alright... I know young people don't have much patience...", the old man finally said, then, without any intervention, the safe door opened, and three bags of gold coins floated out and landed on the desk in front of the old man, who looked at them with pride, wanting to see how impressed they were. Unfortunately, his trick only had half the effect, as only Ophelia was impressed, Kara not seeming affected at all by what she saw.

   'It seems this old man has some rather interesting skills. No wonder he's so confident in his abilities...', Kara thought to herself, having used her Predator's Talent skill to learn how the old man managed to bring the money without even glancing at the safe. She found out that he used two skills simultaneously, one called Advanced Telekinesis, which allowed him to move objects with the power of his mind almost effortlessly, and one called Teleperception, which allowed him to see and hear things around him solely with the power of his mind.

   "Thank you, old man...", Kara said, using the Advanced Telekinesis skill she had just learned to lift the money bags from the desk and bring them in front of Ophelia, as the main effect of the Predator's Talent was to help her obtain new skills and not to analyze them, leaving the old man gaping.

   "How, how did you manage to use this skill? I don't think it's possible for you to have the same class as me?", the old man asked, his words shocking Ophelia, who had believed until then that the old man was the one who brought the money in front of her.

   "How so, old man? I thought you knew everything... Well, it seems you have no choice but to live a while longer to find out...", Kara said, very pleased that she managed to catch the old man off guard, then gestured for Ophelia to store all the money in her ring's storage space.

   "He, he!", laughed the old man in resignation." You're right. There are still many things I have to learn..."

   "Okay, old man. We'll talk another time...", Kara interrupted the old man again seeing that Ophelia had stored the money, then she took Ophelia's hand and quickly headed towards the exit with her, not giving the old man a chance to get back at her, boring her again with his stories.