Bai Chen rode the chain elevator down to the first-floor thoroughfare.
He emptied his coin pouch to buy Capture Tranquilizer Bombs— the so-called capture spheres — and stowed every last one in his pack.
Wearing three great blades and heavy armor, he walked out through the western gate of the base.
Other hunters rode Wyvern mounts; Bai Chen couldn't. The combined weight of his armor and the three greatswords was too much for a single Wyvern to carry.
"Got to nab something I can show off — something big enough to carry me," he thought.
Outside the safe perimeter, in Area 4, he released Nergigante from the monster ball. She disliked staying confined; the instant the sphere opened, she wriggled free. Bai Chen let her slip back into the pack for now — calmer and hidden was better.
"Soon," he murmured. "When we're stronger, you can be loose whenever you want."
Nergigante poked her head out through the zipper and yipped impatiently. Food and survival depended on these quests; failure meant hunger for both of them.
Bai Chen nodded and relaxed his breath.
A crimson aura shimmered over his skin — the Overlord Aura.
He'd learned this skill back in the Monster World alongside the dragon. The skill increased Nergigante's size by 1.5× and gave modest stat boosts; Bai Chen also received smaller, pleasant changes — except his body didn't grow. If anything, his figure looked sharper, unnaturally perfect. If human beauty had a score, he'd gone well past it.
"No matter. It's a passive. I'll take it."
He closed his eyes and focused his senses on his nostrils. Airborne scents layered themselves like threads; when he opened his eyes, the world shifted.
Stones bore faint energy sigils. The same stones, seen yesterday as ordinary, now pulsed with direction. Where others used Palicoes or signal insects, Bai Chen could track quarry by scent and energy alone.
"Found one."
He'd located a Kulu-Ya-Ku — exactly the target he'd taken a capture quest for. Bai Chen checked the quest slip again, confirmed it, and folded it away. The hunter in him slipped into the shadows.
"Hunting time."
Back at the Gathering Hub on the fourth floor, the receptionist who'd registered his mountain of quests still muttered to herself.
"How arrogant… three days to finish eighteen quests? Impossible."
She'd worked with hunters day after day. The fastest recorded large-monster hunt had taken an hour — an exceptional outlier. Most hunts were methodical: tracking, scouting, clearing possible reinforcements, and finally drawing the target into a safe ground for the kill. Random monster interference could ruin a hunt and cost lives.
A consummate hunter removed all uncertain factors; it took time and care.
"Even a top team needs thirty hours to finish that many hunts. No one can keep fighting nonstop for three days," she calculated aloud.
Then a green signal flare bloomed above Ancient Forest.
Her eyes snapped up.
"Someone completed a quest."
She flipped the register: three hunters had taken the Ancient Forest quest — Bai Chen included. The receptionist assumed the flank team hunting the bullhead wyvern had finished. She didn't think for a second that it was Bai Chen; only half an hour had passed since he left.
She worried inwardly about what she'd tell him if he came begging.
A fourth-period hunter approached the counter, holding up a task slip.
"I'd like the Great Jagras hunt."
The receptionist's professional smile froze for an instant.
"Sorry, that quest's already been accepted."
The hunter shrugged; she just needed some extra cash for crafting. A two-star assignment would do.
"Do you have another two-star?"
"All two-stars are gone," the receptionist said.
The hunter pointed at the quest board in surprise.
"But the board still shows two-star hunts."
"They've been accepted; they just haven't cleared the board yet. Check again tomorrow or come back in three days."
Puzzled, the hunter left. The receptionist returned to work and, after a few minutes, another green flare rose above the Ancient Forest. She barely registered it that time.
Minutes later: another signal. Drinks in the hub quieted as hunters glanced toward the sky.
"Tonight's a good night — looks like a harvest of completions," they joked, unaware.
Only the receptionist felt a cold prickle of unease.
No — that can't be right…
Forty minutes later, another green flare ascended.
This time, she could no longer fold the idea away.
"Impossible," she muttered, but the green lights kept appearing — a steady chain of completed-quest signals across the forest.
Outside the base, in the trees where Bai Chen stalked like a shadow, he moved quickly and clean. The first Kulu-Ya-Ku fell to a perfect capture — a single tranquilizer bomb, careful timing, and the task was ticked done before most hunters had even finished tracking.
The hub's register flickered with updates.
Bai Chen kept moving. Each time a flare went up, the receptionist's smile thinned. She began to tally names. The board emptied.
Eighteen two-star hunts… gone in a handful of hours? She thought.
Her heartbeat sped. If this kept up, there would be no tasks left to hand out — no work for other hunters, no materials for smiths, and no fees for the guild.
She couldn't help picturing Bai Chen returning to the counter, hat in hand, asking for leniency.
"What would I say even?" she wondered aloud.
The green flares kept climbing into the night like a string of tiny promises.
Bai Chen's silhouette blended into the foliage. One capture, then another — silent, efficient, like a shadow sweeping the forest clean.
The New World was supposed to be cautious with strangers. But under the Overlord Aura and his honed senses, Bai Chen moved like a force the base hadn't expected.
Back at the hub, the reception clerk closed the ledger with trembling hands and muttered a plea to the stars.
"Please, let him not ask for mercy."
Outside, beyond the treeline and the signal light, the dark hunter kept working. The quests were happening — and disappearing — faster than anyone believed possible.
If you want to read more, join my Patreon/kazama677
60+ advanced chapters available.
I will drop 1 bonus chapter for every 40 Power Stones.
Bonus chapter for every 10 reviews/comments