Hunter Of The Six Realms

They arrived at dusk soon after, Kaizen turned to Isabella, "we go our separate ways from here." Then he turned around to leave but she caught him hand, stopping him.

He turned to her, confused. "What do you want?"

"I'm coming with you." She said flatly.

"I'm going Solo today. Are you sure?" He asked, his brow raised. He planned on going solo to prevent anyone from seeing him use his abilities, and to also use this opportunity to level up.

"You're going solo? Why? Aren't you E-rank?" She asked, clearly surprised. Hunters were allowed to go solo but only between B-rank hunters to S-rank hunters. And they always stuck with E and D-rank portals. But an E-rank going solo was the most absurd thing to exist.

Kaizen exhaled sharply, he really needed to be re-evaluated. This E-rank title was starting to suck. He'd completely forgotten he was still stuck as E-rank. For him to retake the test, everyone would know he'd awakened. Well that wouldn't be much of an issue as long as he doesn't reveal that he weilds more than one element, because that's where the real problem comes in.

"I'm not E-rank. He said simply, pulling his hand away from her grip and turning to head straight for the evaluation hall.

Kaizen walked in silently, and Isabella followed closely behind him. She planned to stick with him for the whole day. He deserved that after he ghosted her for so long.

The hall was filled with new hunter who'd come for evaluation. Kaizen headed straight for the office and know on the door.

"Wait for your turn." A voice inside barked, but Kaizen opened anyways. The man raised a brown when he saw Kaizen. He recognized him. After all, it hasn't been that long since Kaizen registered as a hunter, he'd left a record which made him hard to forget, being that he was the first ever hunter to have no mana.

Another hunter was still inside, taking the test.

"Why are you here?" He asked, his face holding an unwelcoming frown. The man was known to be always grumpy.

"Hello sir, I came to retake the test." Kaizen said, raising a hand casually like he didn't just interrupt an ongoing test.

"Are you nuts? Didn't you hear when I asked you to wait for your turn?" The man barked again, clearly pissed.

"I'm already a registered hunter so I don't have a turn. I'd have to wait for a name that would never be called, you know what I mean."

New recruits usually had their name written and sent to the evaluation hall, from there, they'd be called in to take the test, assigned their badge and given a rank.

The test usually had two stages, the first is mana evaluation, the second is skill evaluation. After both have been taken, the hunter will finally be assigned their rank and badge.

But being that Kaizen was already a registered hunter, his name wasn't sent to the evaluation hall which is why he had to burst in like he just did.

The man remained quiet for a moment, like he actually wanted to reason with what Kaizen had just said, but the next moment, he hurled a thick book straight for Kaizen's face, which Kaizen caught just in time. "Get out." The man yelled, and this time, it was Isabella who dragged Kaizen out of the room before the man actually tried to eat him alive.

"Don't push it, he clearly isn't someone to be reasoned with." Isabella said quietly but Kaizen wasn't even paying attention to her. He'd just released a tiny black shadow thread which slipped under the door and and crawled straight for the man.

He was able to learn shadow manipulation after clearing level one of that dungeon. Although he couldn't do many at a time yet. This was his time to test if it'd work on a human.

He made sure it was faint, almost impossible to sense,b thing with shadow puppeting was that once the thread had connected with its target, it becomes invisible to the naked eyes, which meant it was almost impossible to detect. And only shadow weilders are able to notice it.

Kaizen felt the faint click in his head as the shadow thread latched on fully. The man inside froze mid-movement. His eyes went dull for a split second before focusing again, but this time they weren't his own.

Kaizen smirked. He had him. He could feel it. Not physically, but mentally. As soon as the thread connected, he felt like the man's will was his to control.

Without hesitation, he pushed his will forward. The man's shoulders relaxed, his mouth opening as if nothing had happened. "Come in," he called out in a completely different tone from before.

Isabella blinked in confusion. "Wait, what?" just like that? What suddenly made him change his mind.

Kaizen didn't bother answering. He simply pushed the door open and stepped inside, dragging the shadow thread tighter around the man's mind. Every motion, every word the man spoke now came from Kaizen will. Any action he willed the man to take was taken, he didn't need to force it upon him, he didn't need to speak it to him. Just an order from Kaizen's will was enough.

The other hunter who had been taking the test looked confused, glancing between them.

"You're done," the man said to the hunter in a voice that brooked no argument. "Leave."

The hunter frowned but obeyed, muttering under his breath as he walked out.

Isabella's eyes darted from Kaizen to the man behind the desk. "You… did something, didn't you?"

Kaizen walked forward, keeping the thread steady in his mind. "Not really," he said casually. "We just came to an understanding."

Kaizen noticed that this technique seemed to consume a lot of mana, he needed to act quick.

The man stood and gestured toward the testing area. "Let's begin, place your hand on that stone and release as much energy as you can."