The Hunt Begins

"Miles, tone it down please!" Coin said grimly. It has been almost a week since Miles used the last strengthening serum and learned about his condition. His lifelong dream got crushed. He learned that he could never awaken his superpower now.

Before, although he had failed to awaken, he still had hope. Even before he found those ancient texts, he was hopeful to awaken somehow. That is why he could prevail and use those cursed serums. But now, his hopes, with his ancient genes, have been destroyed.

Coin looked at overworking Miles. When he had first heard, he was crestfallen. Evelyn shed tears while Malcolm tried to soothe Miles. But Miles wasn't even there. As if his soul had left his body. Ever since he left, he was working out heavily, taxing his body to the limit.

"I am fine buddy. Don't worry." Miles said energetically, but he was lacking the vigor he always had. Coin could tell the difference.

"Have you already given up?" Coin asked.

"What do you mean giving up? Am I not here? Working hard to catch up?" Miles asked without stopping working out on the heavy machine.

"Are you really?" Coin asked with an angry tone. "Your dream was to awaken your superpower. But you achieved what no one ever had!

Aren't you the strongest Grace-Rank? Aren't you the only G-Tier hunter who can use energy efficiently? They are superpowers too, so why are you depressed?" Coin's word stopped Miles for the first time in a week.

He looked at his hands covered in bruises. He was only working out ever since he learned what had happened to him besides sleeping and eating. Coin tried to stop him many times, but he wouldn't, he couldn't. But now that he heard Coin he realized—

—he indeed had superpowers. He looked at the device in front of him. He was lifting a ton of weight. It might sound small, but he was working out with this weight, and not carrying and dropping it for once.

He was indeed a superhuman. He was able to deadlift a car. He could overrun a pre-invasion train. And with the help of energy, when he creates an ultimate, he would be as good as any other hunter. He indeed had superpowers.

"Thanks, Coin. I was just depressed over what had happened. But all is better now." Miles smiled as he looked out of the window. The sun was setting, and the world was still beautiful.

————

"Marooner, you are finally here!" Cody looked at Miles with his eyes burning with passion. He looked at the armored figure from head to toe and realized his armor had wounds all over it.

"Let's get this over with," Miles said apathetically.

"Alright, alright. They are waiting for us. Let's go." Cody said and led the way. They were in his stronghold, but Miles could tell it was empty. Not even a quarter of the regular population was there. All of them must have gone to the ice dragon's lair.

After walking more than an hour, the duo reached an opening near the mountains. Miles knew this place as he was passing by frequently when he was hunting. He looked around and failed to see where the dragon's lair could be.

"Where is the lair?" Miles asked.

"Oh, you will be so surprised," Cody said with a grin and started to compass the mountain. Near the foot of it, there was a swamp. It was only a small body of mud, so Miles never cared about it before, but Cody indeed took him to the swamp.

"This, my friend, is the lair of the ice dragon," Cody said proudly.

Miles looked at him weirdly but didn't rule out the possibility just yet. Portal World was a crazy place, so it was possible for dragons to live underneath a swamp. After all, he entered a wormhole not so long ago and traveled to B-Circle. And surprisingly came back.

"Is it under the swamp?" He asked.

"Yep. Let's go." Cody said and jumped in the middle of the swamp with his armor while holding his nose like a diver.

Miles shook his head and pulled out a plastic cover. He kept it over his head, and it covered all of his body like a turkey about to be ovened. Miles clumsily walked to the side of the swamp and jumped.

His body hit hard on the muddy ground, and soon he started to sink. He was confident that if there was anything wrong with the swamp, he could free himself from it.

After sinking for a while, he felt that his feet were free now. And soon all his body fell from the sky and beneath, there was a giant opening. Miles looked around him and noticed that he was in an icy cave with its own flora. There were trees, flowers, and a pond in the cave. It was bigger than four football fields, and Miles could not see too far from where he was standing because of the icy mist lingering in the air.

But what surprised him most was the crowd in the cave. There were thousands of people all around the cave, talking and discussing. There were vendors selling orbs, medicines, foods, and weapons. Soldiers were keeping the order in check and hunters were looking for others for the sake of forming teams.

There were weird mushrooms on the walls, illuminating the cave. It didn't look dark at all.

Miles looked around in wonder. The cave looked so lively. How could the mighty dragon let humans take over its lair and form parties to kill it?

"This is just a small part of the cave and far away from the lair. There is a small corridor opening to the real thing and soldiers are guarding that place. We will be let inside in order to deal with the dragon. Let's go meet with our party." Cody explained with a smile as he led Miles.

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