X-Rank Hunter

"Mom, I'll go out for the stroll!"

After eating his breakfast, Jim immediately rushed outside their house and intended to go to the woods. He was afraid that his mother wouldn't let him be. Luckily, his mother didn't stop him making him heave a sigh of relief.

He was, after all, locked up in his room for already a good while. If his mother kept locking him up, he might really die in boredom.

Besides, Jim found something very interesting. So he really was in a rush going out to the woods now. His Blood Minions just informed him that someone was fighting his many tamed beasts! When he took a look at who was it, Jim suddenly felt excitement.

Actually, he could just exchange position with his Blood Minions outside the village but he didn't do that for he knew that his mom would go search for him out of worry if she learned that her son had just suddenly disappeared.

Left without choice, he rushed his way out of their house as if afraid to be caught.

"M-master..." Bantay saw his Master being like that and he really was speechless. He was once again forgotten and left.

"I will follow him." Bantay turned his gaze to Charley as he said politely.

"Ok." Charley only smiled as she continued doing chores.

Bantay then walked outside the house to follow his Master. He saw him already far away and was already near the village gate. Bantay could only shake his head before he disappeared from where he was standing.

He moved so fast that from the eyes of the normal humans, he seemed like he just teleported.

"Good day Tito Jayson!" Before Jim rushed out of the village, he greeted first his Tito who was sitting again near the village gate. Jayson only smiled before he shifted his gaze at the clear sky accompanied by a sigh. It was obvious to say that he was thinking about something so disappointing.

****

Right now, Jim was already inside the woods, still rushing deeper and deeper. Knowing that Bantay was following him, Jim just let him be.

Knowing as well that no one was around except Bantay, Jim halted his run as he gasped for some air with his hands on his knees, relieved that his mother let him go outside again.

"Where are you going, master?" Jim heard his tamed beast talking to him through telepathy. But Bantay didn't come closer to him.

"There's something interesting." Jim responded through telepathy as well.

"Something interesting?" Bantay was bewildered. Just what was that something that could get his Master's interest?

"Just follow me." Jim said in all excitement. After which, Jim vanished to where he was standing and a little red bird replaced him.

Seeing this became Bantay speechless. His eyebrows twitched together with his lips. Follow you? How should Bantay suppose to follow him? It was more like, 'search him'!

Bantay could tell that his Master had just teleported. He wasn't that familiar with space element so how would he track his traces?

But knowing that his Master was already gone, Bantay disappeared once again and started his search. He might miss that something interesting that his Master was talking about.

****

"He really is him..."

Right now, Jim was on the top of a towering tree. From up there, Jim saw his Tree-Merger Apes not too far away. They were really fighting someone.

He also saw the wolf he got from Sheiyn fighting together with the apes.

In that distance, Jim could tell that that someone would never be able to detect him. But Jim wanted a closer look. But of course, he didn't need to go there by himself.

Since all the other Blood Minions he had were pretty far away, Jim created a new one. He then sent the newly created Blood Minion near the place where his Tree-Merger Apes and that someone was fighting each other.

Jim only smiled when he saw that someone closely. Surprisingly, that someone was actually the mysterious young boy who cleared the dungeon earlier on.

After this young boy exited the dungeon, he started his journey to the woods. But never he imagined that he would actually bump into many Tree-Merger Apes! These beasts were all B-ranks, he was just C-rank, their gap was pretty big.

Though it was only one level gap, it was already big enough to make him feel pressured.

Without any second thoughts, the young boy immediately summoned his other three Spirits; Sylph, Nymph, and Gnome.

The trio was of course delighted seeing the many beasts gathering around but what they felt bewildered was that the beasts didn't give off any hostility against them.

They were just gathering at one place as if they were talking about something important with each other. When the beasts felt their presence, the beasts only took a glance at them for a moment and continued what they were doing. As if the young boy and the bunch were just some kinds of air.

The young boy was speechless. He thought that he would surely experience a tough fight when he bumped into them. But the beasts just peeked a moment at them before ignoring them right away.

That was not what the books and the hunters had mentioned about the characteristic of the Tree-Merger Apes!

He even immediately summoned all his Spirits out of instincts to protect himself but who would have thought that the Tree-Merger Apes wouldn't even set their eyes on him. As if he was just a speck of dust that it would hurt their eyes if they put him into their eyes. An eyesore!

The young boy didn't care that much though. He was even grateful that he wouldn't have to fight them and waste his energy. What if he won against these beasts? Who could say that he would not bump into another bunch of beasts?

His mental state really was at a high level and couldn't be provoked so easily.

However, not everyone was like him. Seeing that the bunch of mere B-rank beasts had ignored them, the Salamander really was annoyed beyond words. The other three Spirits were not as annoyed as him though.

These four Spirits were an extreme being. If not for the fact that their Master was still a kid and was still a C-rank Hunter, they could definitely slaughter all this bunch of mere B-rank beasts in a heartbeat.

The Salamander was a hot-blooded individual and a prideful one at that. Seeing this bunch of twerps had ignored them, he didn't wait for his Master's order as it flew above the crowds of Tree-Merger Apes.

The Salamander grew bigger and bigger as the Tree-Merger Apes from below finally noticed its presence. They all gaze upwards and to their shock, a small dragon surfaced on their sight. Not only that, it appeared that this little dragon was already preparing an onslaught against them.

On the other hand, seeing that his Salamander had gone into insanity once again, the young boy really was helpless. He just cleared some random dungeon so naturally, he had used up some of his World Energy.

But now, seeing that his summoned Spirit was doing things in his own way, he really was regretting the fact that he even summoned it. After all, every time his summoned Spirits use their ability, not only their World Energy would be depleted but his own as well.

If this idiot Salamander of his continued to use his ability, wouldn't that mean that his energy was going to be wasted?

But what else could he do? Though he was in complete control over his Spirits, he didn't like to ignore the feelings of his summoned Spirits. He could see that this Salamander of his was annoyed from the fact of being ignored.

Swooosh!!!

So then, he saw his Salamander finally unleashed its skill and breathed out fire. The Tree-Merger Apes didn't just stand up stupidly in there. They all frenziedly ran in all directions trying to avoid the incoming fire.

"Just what the heck is with that beast?" The Tree-Merger Apes talked with each other in beast language as they all ran away.

They wanted to fight back but the enemy was using fire! Fighting it without a good plan was simply dangerous.

Fortunately, all of them managed to avoid the fire with great difficulty. When they were at some distance away, they all halted their steps and turned around to see the enemy. They were all looking to the other party in great caution!

Seeing that the lots of them had run away as if cockroaches that lost their direction, the Salamander felt delighted. He slowly turned smaller and flew lower and lower to the ground.

However, he was yet to reach the ground when suddenly, something, no, some kind of beast approached him. The Salamander failed to detect its presence as he only found himself already on the other party's mouth, biting him ferociously.

As if a dog gnawing its food, the Salamander was helpless from the other party's bite! But knowing that the Salamander was gristly and wasn't crunchy at all, the beast gnawing him threw him away as Salamander flung and bumped into a certain tree helplessly.

The Salamander then fell to the ground. The young boy saw this but almost failed to react. He just saw his Salamander almost bitten to death by a certain beast so how could he not be shocked by that?

But what shocked him, even more, was when he took a clearer look at what was that beast capable of doing something like that to his summoned Salamander.

Excitement? Agitation? The young boy didn't know what he felt like as he could only gulp a mouthful of saliva and muttered, "Evolving White Wolf!"