Code Collector

Nighttime. Allen was siting in front of a campfire that was made by him. He was thinking deeply after getting the raw materials from the horse. When he stored the carcass in his inventory, the notification said that he gained Sacred grade materials.

It was his first time to encounter such materials. When he killed beasts before, whether they were Basic, Rare, or even Grand, they produce the same material. A Sacred grade material has never appeared before.

While he was thinking deeply, Jeremy was looking at him, still in awe after what he just witnessed. Allen just solo killed the Sacred grade beast, a feat that he only saw once before by the same person at that.

He had to admit. He knew that Allen was strong. What he didn't know was how strong the boy was. Allen's powers, strategy and the flawless execution of that strategy was something he had never seen before. He saw great Hunters fight before, but nothing like Allen.

Both of the men were silent as they left each other with their thoughts, no one uttered a single word until the night got darker and the time went by. The next morning came, and Allen found himself a plate of food in front of him.

"What is this?" He asked, looking at Jeremy who was arranging plates. Allen leaned closer and saw that Jeremy brought a huge bag to store a lot of things they needed on the hunt. Pre-made food, utensils, and even medications. The man had them all.

"That's why your walk was so sluggish," Allen deadpanned. "You didn't need any of those, you know."

"I know," Jeremy said. "But I'd like to feel at least that I'm of use to you. I'm not so used to feeling useless and I don't like this feeling."

"Whatever," Allen just shrugged and let Jeremy do what he wanted. The latter even found a water source for them, and according to him, the water was clean like the cleanest spring.

"Are you sure you have a clean water source?" Allen asked. "You're not trying to poison me, aren't you?"

Jeremy faked gasped. He snatched his flask away from Allen's hands and drank straight from it, gulping the entire contents of the flask. "I would never. Whaf kind of trust issues was that?"

Allen deadpanned, "Now you drank my water. And that was overdramatic. You could've said you were thirsty, and I would've given you some. We know each other well, Jeremy, you don't need to hide sh*t from me."

They both laughed at each other. They agreed to both go to the spring that Jeremy found so they could get more water. Allen was thirsty after eating a meal and his water was drank by his friend who was also thirsty while preparing for his meal.

They arrived in a small cave that seemed to be more silent than the rest of the forest. There was something inside the cave that was blocking the sound from fully penetrating through the cave. While the outside world was loud with birds chirping, and the other beasts' noise, the cave was deadly silent.

"And you didn't wonder why the cave is too silent for comfort?" Allen asked. Jeremy used a Code that made his arm light up like a lamp. He used the light to maneuver their way into the cave.

"I had a Code that can detect nearby fresh and clean water," Jeremy said. "It was a Code issued by the police to us before, but they stopped giving out the Codes now. I detected the presence of water here, so I took the chance and get some."

"But it's oddly silent," Allen said, repeating his thought. "It's too silent that it's getting into my nerves. I feel like there's something here that we shouldn't wake up."

"You're overthinking things," Jeremy chuckled. "I was here earlier, and nothing happened. What could go wrong this time around–"

Just after Jeremy said that, the entire cave shook slightly. They both looked at each other while Allen gave his friend a stern look, "Why did you have to jinx it?"

"I didn't know!" Jeremy defended himself, his voice higher and louder than he anticipated. This made the cave shake even more, making the two conjure their weapons and raise them defensively.

"Prepare yourself," Allen said. "Something's coming. Now we just wait for it to come."

They stood silent for a moment, but nothing happened. Jeremy scratched the back of his head and tilted it to the side, pursing his lips in confusion. "I swear, I could've felt something approaching us."

Allen pursed his lips. "It's a good thing that the beast left. I don't have that much strength to fight it."

"You didn't seem to be tired," Jeremy pointed out. "You look fine to me."

Allen chuckled. "I'm good at hiding things. I got so used to it already."

The boy wasn't lying. The time after Alice's death, he hid his emotions. He let his feelings swallow him that he mistakenly distanced himself from everyone else. He thought he would hide his emotions forever and he accepted that, until such time that he got used to it and it became a habit for him.

"You don't need to worry," Jeremy slung his arm around Allen's shoulders. "You can be authentic with me."

–

"Run."

Kenneth was sprinting through the forest. His labored breath, his sweaty body, and his ruined clothes made it look like he was mauled by a giant beast. The pair of bunny ears on his head was long gone, like the most parts of his outfit.

Behind him was a giant and terrifying presence that was approaching him in a high speed. As he ran throughout the woods, the figure got closer and closer.

"And– time!" Remy raised her hand, signalling for them to stop. Keneth fell to the ground without even stopping himself from running first, making him land on his face. "Bernard, you could've not used morph this time."

Bernard, who was the one chasing Kenneth, crossed his arms and smirked. "And where's the fun in that?"

Kenneth raised his hand while he was still laying his front on the ground. "I have a question. Why did you have to make the bunny run for his life?"

"Because you're training, remember?" Bernard said. "We're ways behind the others because of our situations. If we don't train more than them, we'll never catch up."

"And the worst part about that is that other Hunters could even catch on to us," Remy added. She walked over to Kenneth and placed her hand on his back. "Stand up and let's run again. Lin and Louise are almost at the ascension stage, while the top Hunters of Eternity are almost at our world."

"I don't care," Kenneth waved his hand and grunted. "It's not my fault that my Code isn't as strong as theirs. Who made these Codes anyway? It's too much of a burden when not all the strongest Codes are at the same level."

"It's not your fault that–"

"Yes," Kenneth cut Bernard off. "Yes, Bernard. I know what you're about to say and I completely agree. It's not our fault, fine, but f*ck. Drake suddenly died and the Snake has somehow caught on to our level? That's terrifying."

"If you say it like that, yeah," Remy added. "That person, in a span of six months, had created a society that blindly follows him, got stronger than the strongest Hunter that ever lived or at least created a group of people that were powerful enough to kill the strongest Hunter."

"That's something that we don't know yet," Bernard said. "We're still not sure if the Snake was indeed the person who was the one who killed Drake."

"Regardless!" Kenneth leaped off of the ground and landed on his butt, sitting cross legged on the soil. "There's someone out there that's capable of killing one of us. If that person targets us again, then we're not going to be able to withstand any more attacks."

"Yeah," Remy sighed. "I don't know anymore. I'm just going to ask the others for help. Maybe we can build an alliance with them."

"Are you even crazy?" Kenneth gasped. "Remy, if someone in our level killed Drake, then it must be a Bearer. There's no other people that's stronger than us. You've seen that footage. Seven people surrounded Drake, but only one of them was able to kill him."

"You're right."

The three fell silent after Lin appeared out of nowhere. "But let's not talk about that here." The woman looked around with narrowed eyed. "Let's discuss this somewhere else. Somewhere safer. Someone is purposely sabotaging Drake's death."

Lin took a deep breath and placed both her hands on the ground. The ground opened a hole that made them sunk into it, swallowing the foor of them in an instant.

Somewhere nearby, an eye was looking at them. It was a figure that was looking closely at their movements, smirking at them. "Well, well. It seems like the weak built an alliance for themselves. Save yourselves now. You're all next in line."