His Father's Friend, Ladal Te Touq!

Koro burst into laughter that caught the attention of the other people passing by. Then, he said, "Here I thought you forgot about me, my friend!"

"Of course not!" Corvus forced out a smile and said, "How could I forget you, man!"

Koro smirked towards him and reached out his hand, hinting that he wanted to shake hands with Corvus like how friends usually do.

So, Corvus reached out his hand in response. But before they could grab each other's hands, Koro clenched his fist tightly and leaned forward to gain momentum for his punch that was aimed towards Corvus' stomach.

"What are you--khaaak!"

Despite being able to notice the attack, he was too late to defend himself from Koro's punch. Koro's fist landed into his stomach that interrupted his words and made him cough out blood before he was launched tens of meters away from where he stood--only stopping upon hitting the wall of an establishment.

Corvus was buried several inches deep into the wall and his vision started to become blurry. His whole body felt numb to the point that he was barely able to lift a finger.

Fortunately, before anyone near them could react, Koro took out an ancient-looking paper and burned it with his own hands, and said, "Time Freeze, Activate!"

Fwooosh!

In the next second, their surroundings froze. Everything became black and white, except for Corvus and Koro. Be it the people on the street or the rubble that fell from the wall where Corvus was embedded, they all remained in place as Koro inched closer to him.

On the other hand, Corvus bit his lips in order to retain his consciousness. That said, fear enveloped his heart as he could only hopelessly stare towards Koro who was only a few meters away from him.

"Who-Who are you? What do you need from me?" He cried.

Koro remained silent and simply kept walking towards him while maintaining his cold gaze. Then, in the next second, Koro transformed from the skinny young man into a muscular man, who had dark brown skin and seemed like he was in his late 40s.

"Ah!" Corvus gasped in both awe and astonishment as his eyes widened after witnessing his 'friend' changed appearance 'magically' right in front of him.

"Yo-You're a Hunter!" He said.

"Yes!" The man that disguised as Koro said, "I am a hunter!"

"Who--" Corvus coughed out blood once again, making the man shook his head in response.

"How weak!" The man said in a cold and disappointed tone.

At this moment, Corvus became anxious. His heart started to pound faster each second as his gaze was fixated on the man. He was speechless and can't help but thought, 'Is this my end? Did Pa got the enmity of this hunter, that made this man take his revenge to us, his family, instead?'

But for some reason, the man seemed like he had read what he thought and said' "I am not your father's enemy! In fact... It's the opposite. I am Niro's friend, Ladal Te Touq! An Investigator Hunter!"

Ladal smirked as he took out a black sphere that, continuously, emitted black smoke and exerted a pressure that was strong enough to burry Corvus several centimeters deeper into the concrete wall. Then, Ladal grabbed the jaw of Corvus--forcing it to open wide.

"He saved my life countless times. It's my time to pay him back." Ladal said as he placed the black sphere into the mouth of Corvus, and forcing him to swallow the pebbled sized black sphere.

When Corvus had successfully swallowed the black sphere, Ladal released his grip from his jaws and said, "What you just ate is the dark dark core. A Power Core! Niro told me that its power had something to do with absorption. If you want to know more about it, go find your father and ask him personally. He is the only one who knew something about your core."

Ladal paused for a second and sighed as if a huge responsibility was taken out of his shoulder. Then, he continued, "Or... You can become a hunter and discover it by yourself. In any case... My job is only to ensure that you successfully use the dark dark core."

Ladal furrowed his eyebrows whilst scratching the back of his head, and said, "Before I go... I would give you one last advice, kid. Don't trust other humans too much. And... Become a Hunter! The Universe of Avalon... Is just a realm that is rotting as time goes by."

At this moment, Corvus' flat stomach bulged a tad bit and was followed by black smoke that escaped out of his mouth, nose, and butt, making him scream out of pain. Soon, Corvus had momentarily lost his consciousness because of the pain.

Fortunately, the black smoke had slowly dissipated. And after a few minutes, his vision started to become clear. His hands carefully supported his head while he was trying to shake off the slight pain that felt in his head--like someone who had just woken up from a bad dream.

"Proooooot!" His butt exhaled one last time whilst he was trying to scan his surroundings.

"What happened?" He asked as he pushed himself out of the wall.

He glanced from left to right, only to spot black and white surroundings like a black and white film that was paused momentarily. At this moment, he recalled everything that happened, making him search around, looking for his father's friend, Ladal Te Touq. Unfortunately, he was not able to spot any trace of him, not even his 'Koro' form.

"A Hunter... huh?" Corvus frowned as he gazed towards the huge monitor of a mall that displayed the advertisement made by the Paradiso Hunter Organization.

"It seems like fate has bounded me to follow my father's steps." He said whilst shaking his head, "Sorry Ma... I tried looking for other jobs but to no avail."

Hopeless, he could only sigh and shook off the dust in his spacesuit. While doing so, his attention was caught by a brown colored sling bag and a note that had retained its color, contrary to his black and white surroundings.

Corvus can't help but frown and take the letter first, out of curiosity.

[The Paradiso Hunter Organization License Exam would be held in a month. If you want to be a hunter, it is best to start as early as you can. The magical universe is bigger than you expect. A human life span would not be enough to explore and see all that universe has to offer.

Inside the bag is a welcoming gift from me. It's up to you how you would use them. Good luck with your adventures young man! And I hope to see you somewhere in Paradiso in the future.

By the way, return from where you stood when you first saw me, and shout 'Ladal is cool!'. You'd be amazed at what you would see.]

Corvus scratched his head whilst forcing out a smile. He grabbed the brown-colored sling bag and walked toward where he stood when he first saw Ladal. Then, he closed his eyes and shouted, "Ladal is cool!"

When he opened his eyes, the black and white surroundings had gained back its color. The note in his hands burned as everything had started moving once again. However, for some reason, he noticed that the other people around were staring towards him, which some of them were even whispering to each other.

"Ah--Sh1t!" He cursed out of embarrassment as he rushed in towards the nearest Mall.