16 The Hunters (2/2)
Different from him, the two large men behind him wore a set of armor that protected most of their body, heavier than Haz's to a degree, but still moderately light. Though their armor might place a stronger burden on their bodies, their bodies were strengthened beyond the average expectations and they could withstand more than Haz's. The other two wore a lighter armor that seemed on par with Haz's own in terms of weight.
”You might be stronger than me for now, but just wait! I'll give you a beating one of these days!”
”Oh, acting tough now, are we? If you really want to use me to look strong in front of your friends, then I'll reciprocate and use you to a.s.sert my own dominance. What do you say to that?” Haz displayed a sarcastic smile, though it didn't have the slightest trace of hostility.
Watching in the background, the four let out hearty laughter. They seemed used to the current situation, as if it happened so often that it was natural to them.
”Yo- You! Fine! How contemptible you are?! You win this one, Haz!” His cheeks were red and puffed, even Roy and Rentaro could barely hold in their laughter in response to the two, with Rentaro softly biting the inside of his cheek and trying to distract himself as to prevent laughing and causing Icrin to go into an outburst.
”And all the other times the situation will end the same, I suppose? Haha.” With a smirk, he turned his head away from Icrin, paying particularly extra interest towards Roy, ”You two must be Rentaro and Roy, huh? I'm not sure what Icrin has said about me, so I hope you wait before making your judgement. For now, let's just take on a senior-junior brother relations.h.i.+p, that's the easiest way to refer to one another.”
”Alright, Senior Brother Haz.” Rentaro gave a simple response with Roy maintaining his silence and nodding, whereas Icrin pouted in response to their interaction going so smoothly.
”Haha, that makes things a lot easier. I can only get Icrin to call me senior brother after giving him a beating, even then he'll refuse most of the time. Back to the matter at hand, we'll be entering the second forest zone. Generally, there's no beasts that could endanger us in the second forest zone. Most of them will have only attained cultivations at the Pond or Creek stages of foundation establishment.”
”Naturally, the five of us could hunt such beasts easily. Now, let me introduce my four pals. Ichi!”
Looking towards the other four, Rentaro noticed that three of them had hair that was a darker blue, close to black, color. Furthermore, their eyes were a darker-tinted blue, rather than the ice-blue.
[Their bloodlines are more diluted, thus the features of their bloodline aren't as apparent as the others.]
Of the four, one burly man moved forward slightly. His hair was rather short and his skin was tanned, there wasn't much that stood out appearance-wise aside from a scar which went the entire way down his arm, possibly originating from below his upper-armor. On his back was a rather large blade.
”The name's Ichi, we'll be working together. I fight using a broad sword and can take a few good hits, so don't worry about being harmed with me there.” His deep voice resounded, giving off a rather charismatic attribute.
Rentaro and Roy responded with a slight smile, appreciating Ichi's goodwill.
”Alright, we still have more introductions, so let's keep it short! s.h.i.+n, don't waste time showing off.”
”Heh, you know me too well, Haz. And you know it's already too late to prevent me from showing off.”
The two shared smiles, s.h.i.+n's burly body seemed to grow even stronger as he took a step forward. His veins pulsed out slightly along his arms. His hair was tied back and he took on a close combat stance. His hands were wrapped in what appeared to be bandages.There were scars accompanying his face, but he didn't bother hiding them, displaying them as if they were trophies of war instead.
”Hoy! You two can just call me s.h.i.+n, don't worry about t.i.tles. My ability to use mental energy isn't very strong, so I pursue the strength of my body. Don't be fooled though, any beasts that fight close combat will only suffer in front of me, though they usually retreat once they see me as I've painted quite the name for myself in the forest. Awhile back, I single-handedly dealt with a Red-Striped Leopard that was at the Stream stage of Foundation Establishment, he was the main reason for all these scars.”
Rentaro and co had yet to fight any beasts, so they listened in awe of the man's story. They also felt nerve-racking emotions bubbling up within their hearts such as nervousness, worry, and even antic.i.p.ation.
”Hehe, I see you guys are filled with mixed emotions now. Just remember, when we hunt, we put our lives on the line. We're not playing a game, so make sure you order out all your emotions. Next, Phu!”
Among the two men who remained, a man with a long-sword walked forward. His hair was cut in a manner like a samurai cut, with his long hair being tied into a knot. His armor was lighter than s.h.i.+n and Ichi's as it was composed of a lighter material, though it covered his entire body except his head.
”My name's Phu. I don't mean to brag, but my sword skill is rather composed, Junior Brother Rentaro. If you'd like to train in the sword in the future, I'll gladly give you some pointers. However, everyone has a different sword style, so I can only teach you the basics and give simple guidance.”
”Thanks, I might have to take you up on that offer some time.
”Lastly, Tsyun.”
”Let's work well together, Junior Brothers.”
Tsyun spoke the least of the five, the other four didn't find it strange though, so Rentaro accepted that he had a naturally quiet personality. He had long grayish-blue hair, the strands of which overlapped and obscured his face, making it difficult to see his appearance.
He held a bow in his hands with a dark-colored quiver on his back. His equipment seemed to be the lightest of the five. Based off of the equipment he wielded, his skill was self-explanatory.
At the same time, Rentaro found him to be the most mysterious of the five, as he was armed with
a bow even though his eyes were covered up. Rentaro mused how he could shoot a bow with such a feature, though there were too many oddities in life for him to think it out of the realm of possibilities.
”Alright, that's all the introductions. We've already been instructed about you two, so we don't need you to go over your own skills. I'm rather interested in seeing your skills in the future as a summoner, though I don't expect much of you now. Firstly, we'll head to the armory to get you some protective gear and then we'll take you on a short expedition for training.”
With that, the group of eight people headed in the direction of an old, yet fortified, building. The group talked among themselves casually, clearly not affected by the addition of three people joining their group.
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