6 Spirit of the Dreamweaver Ring 1

Back in Maplemond Village, the hunters who left for the Shadow Woods had already returned. In the Hunter's Shack, Captain Alder was speaking with Dylin, a dejected atmosphere filling the room.

Gently tapping the arm of his chair, Captain Alder said,

"How did it go?"

Sitting opposite him was Dylin. A pensive feeling weighed down on him as he replied,

"I'm afraid it's as you predicted, Captain. Following your orders during the investigation, we never travelled deeper than the outer region. However, not long after we entered, the team encountered a panther with a golden coat.

According to the Beast Manual, it was the Silver-ranked beast, Lightning Panther. With our strongest warrior only being in the middle stages of Meridian Opening, we were no match for a beast that could rival those at half-step Spirit Pond, so we swiftly retreated."

Captain Alder let out a long sigh. A few days ago, he detected an unusually powerful presence appear in the depths of the Shadow Woods. Following that, he wrote a letter directly to the Blackhall City Lord to notify him of the situation.

Time passed and with no sign of a response from the City Lord, he ordered Dylin to form a team of hunters and head towards the Shadow Woods.

"I feared this would happen. A powerful demon has appeared within the beasts of the Shadow Woods and subdued even the strongest beast there: the Stormhawk Emperor."

Dylin was momentarily stunned and hesitantly asked,

"How strong would the demon have to be then?"

Captain Alder pondered a moment before responding,

"For a demon to appear in the depths of the Shadow Woods already places its strength at the early Aura Lake realm. However, the Stormhawk Emperor is a peak Aura Lake beast, so it would seem impossible for something weaker that has only recently broken through to subdue it, even if it was a true demon."

Worry clouded Dylin's mind.

"What about the village then?"

"I'll write another letter to the Blackhall City Lord. This time, however, I'll stamp it with the Hunter Alliance's official seal, then he has no choice but to respond. If not, then it would be equivalent to declaring himself an enemy of the alliance. Both of us don't want that to happen."

Captain Alder tilted his head down as he finished those words. A moment of silence ensued, then, worry evident in his voice, he asked,

"How is he?"

Dylin knew right away who he was talking about.

The fight with the Ghost Ape created a lot of sound throughout the Shadow Woods. Since Dylin's team wasn't too far away, they heard the commotion and headed towards its source.

Not long after Anselm collapsed on the forest floor, the hunters arrived and, following the trail of blood he left, discovered his body.

Dylin was shocked to see the state that Anselm was in. His internal body had suffered severe damage and, in addition to a few broken bones, his life was hanging on by a thread.

As soon as he saw Anselm's body, Dylin immediately placed both hands on the boy's chest, sending his aura into him. The aura spread throughout his body and healed most of the minor injuries. Knowing that it was a dire situation, Dylin carried Anselm on his shoulders and darted back to the village as fast as he could, trying not to accidentally worsen Anselm's condition.

When they returned to the village, Dylin fetched the Captain, who proceeded to feed Anselm his precious Eternal Vitality medicine. For the past week, he recovered in a medical room in the Hunter's Shack.

"In his week of recovery, his body has proven to be extraordinary. Just within the first few days, his bones and internal organs fully healed. Considering that he was also not too far from a Ghost Ape cave, he must have fought it and sustained these injuries in battle. After inspecting his body, I can tell that had only broken through to Vitalisation recently. So, for a nascent Vitalisation warrior to fight a Ghost Ape head on and live... In my years as a hunter, I've never seen anything quite like this."

Awe clear in his voice, Dylin told Captain Alder of what happened to Anselm.

Captain Alder carefully listened. If somebody looked closely at the Captain, they would see a flash of rage briefly appear in his eyes whenever Dylin mentioned the Ghost Ape that attacked Anselm. Shaking his head, he said,

"Anselm is too reckless. Hopefully, this teaches him a lesson about not overestimating your own strength. It is impressive, though, for him to break into Vitalisation not long after I gifted him that manual. If he can completely master it…"

Captain Alder's voice drifted off. Standing up, he walked over to the window and stared up at the night sky, the myriad stars dotting the canvas of darkness.

Speaking gently, he asked.

"Dylin. Do you remember the promise we made years ago?"

Dylin lifted his head and looked at Captain Alder's back with a mix of nostalgia and confusion in his eyes.

"I'm afraid I might have to break it soon."

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In Anselm's room.

After he was brought back to the village, Anselm was visited by two groups who wanted to make sure he fine, but they were stopped by Dylin. It was only after the third day that Dylin allowed the visitors in to see him.

The first group to visit him was the group of children that always wanted to play with him. Accompanied by an old lady they called 'Auntie', tears wouldn't stop flowing down from their eyes. Eventually, the old lady took them out of the room, lest they continued to feel more depressed looking at the unconscious Anselm.

After the children left, Tolgar and a few of the other young hunters that trained with him arrived to check up on Anselm. In front of the young hunters, Tolgar didn't seem worried at all as he bragged about how powerful his 'Big Bro' was and that the injuries were merely a scratch to him. The other hunters only watched in stupefaction.

Following their leave, nobody else disturbed Anselm's peaceful rest. While the bustle of the village continued, Anselm lay in the bed quietly.

Next to the bed was a small wooden table with only one item resting on it: his ebony ring.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping Anselm, a ray of light shot out of the ring and flashed, lighting up the entire room. Fortunately, the room that Dylin had Anselm placed in was devoid of any windows, so nobody witnessed the odd phenomenon occurring.

The ring on the table trembled violently as the brightness of the light continued to increase.

A few moments later, the light in the room coalesced into a single point at the end of the bed and started to transform into the shape of a human figure.

The light finished transforming, leaving a white-bearded old man dressed in a violet robe floating above the end of the bed, his body seemingly translucent. When the old man was completely formed, the ring on the bedside table stopped trembling.

Looking around the room, the old man's gaze stopped on the unconscious Anselm. Sighing, he said,

"This reckless kid still hasn't recovered."

With that, he pointed his finger toward Anselm and released a floating wisp of aura that travelled into his chest.

When the wisp made contact with Anselm's chest, its power spread throughout his body and his eyes suddenly shot open.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes an unfamiliar ceiling above him. Sitting his body up on the bed, he raised his head to look around the room.

His gaze soon descended on the old man floating at the end of his bed. Shocked, he shouted,

"Who are you?"

A smile crept onto the old man's face.

"You don't remember me, kid? We met in the ring not too long ago. Oh, right. My appearance has changed slightly. Maybe you'll recognise me now."

The old man transformed into the crimson-robed man Anselm saw during the trial.

"It's you!? The man from the trial?"

Reverting back to the appearance of an old man, he replied,

"Yes, I'm the one from the trial.

The old man pointed at Anselm and chuckled,

"You should have seen your face when I appeared just now!"