Four individuals stood in a warm, cozy room, papers and materials scattered everywhere.
Spectacles caught the eye at every glance, some in a meaningful manner, while others appeared to be mere junk.
These four individuals stood around a table, which marked the center of the room.
One lady wore a cloth that looked like animal hide, exposing most of her body, even her belly.
Her arms rolled like muscled snakes as she leaned on the table, addressing the others.
Another donned black leather armor, tightly fitted to accentuate her womanly figure, especially her waist.
Her black tresses flowed with every slight movement of her head.
Her gaze was intense and cold, carrying no hint of emotion.
When one looked deep into her crimson eyes, their soul could get lost in the glamor they carried.
That glamor, however, was more than a spark; they were flames of disaster, coldly burning beneath the depth of her eyes.
Only when one got close enough could they catch a glimpse of it.
The third was an elegant white lady wearing a smooth, beautiful, body-tight white and gold armor.
Her golden eyes focused and blinked as the conversation went on.
Not much could be said about her; it was easy to miss that she was not a child but a vessel carrying tremendous burdens, yet she managed to smile heartily.
In the corner of the table stood the odd one, the only man in this strange cohort, with white hair, pale skin, and blue eyes that burrowed furiously into the table between them.
He was clad in black, lustrous armor that seemed to glint malevolently in the darkness of the night and the lambency of the twin moons.
His face was devoid of any emotion, blank and observing with enviable focus as the feral-looking lady, who was a Sage, continued.
“The monster is known as Kirithon,” she said, looking at their faces. “The most difficult thing about it is that I don’t know if it has a real body. At the very least, all the times I tried hunting it, I’ve never encountered its real body and have always suffered severe damage.”
She then turned to Raven. “Little worm, since you are so adamant on this, have you thought of a way to lure its real body out?”
Raven was silent for a while. Then she took her eyes on a short sail across everyone’s face, returning back to Helena, and said:
“I believe the real body will be in the woods. One of the woods, I don’t know much about maelstroms, but it will be safe to believe that whatever this monster is, it has something like a talent ability.”
Northern moved his head slightly.
Now that she mentioned it, he had known that fact from the beginning as regards monsters in general.
Because it made no sense how he gained talent fragments from killing monsters.
The soul was an inner shell, encompassing all essence of life.
Talent was the core of that essence.
When talent manifested, it solidified the core of the soul and gave it structure, forming a soul core.
Of course, for a drifter, they had to go into a rift after that for their soul core and talent to be further refined.
But this was the basics of it all.
Since monsters possessed a solid soul core, it was safe to say that the same process applied.
However, the problem could be that theirs was unrefined, just like the Walker before walking into a rift—they had talent and essence but couldn’t use it.
These monsters, too, had talents and essence but couldn’t use them.
What was not well known was whether, at a higher danger level regardless of ranks, that soul core and essence got refined, and perhaps their talent showcased itself.
What was well known, however, was that Maelstrom rank monsters, at least the ones Northern had faced so far, all had talents and had awakened their abilities, meaning that they were with a more refined core and essence.
Another issue, however, was the possibility of more than one talent because Maelstrom monsters had four soul cores.
No one knew, not Northern, nor anyone in the room.
None of them, after all, had faced a Maelstrom rank monster except Northern and maybe Helena, who seemed to have launched a couple of attacks now and then on the subject matter.
‘Still… a maelstrom…I wonder how much talent fragments I’ll receive.’
Northern licked his lips as Raven continued:
“I’m sure the monster is hiding its body in a single tree while projecting its consciousness or using its talent ability on other trees.”
Helena thought for a while, then she said:
“While I welcome that idea, it might not be as simple as that. But even if the monster has its body hidden in one of the trees, how do we locate that tree because I’m sure you don’t want us to go with axes and start hewing down trees.”
Raven gently took her eyes to Northern.
“Should it not be possible to figure out the difference of the trees with your ability?”
‘She’s talking about Soul Eyes… very irritating…’
Northern sighed with subtle disgust and responded:
“I don’t know, maybe if I stare deeply…”
He paused and thought for a while.
“Actually, I should be able to detect where the monster’s true body is. You guys will just have to buy me some time.”
Helena nodded. “Fair enough.”
She paused, drowning the entire space in silence for a minute or two before continuing:
“I want you guys to understand that Afkon and I have hunted this creature over and over again, and I have very dreadful experiences with it. Especially when you’re going with a team, we should all expect the worst of cunningness… I’m telling you… when push comes to shove, prioritize your own life because that is exactly what I will do.”
She looked at them and added:
“The Kirithon has been here as long as we have… if not longer, so know that you’ll be fighting against the ancient of days.”
She folded her arms and said evenly to them, “So… which will it be, would you like to rest, or should we move now?”
Raven and Northern responded almost at the same time.
“Now.”
Helena stared at the both of them and scoffed.
“Sure feels good to be young.”