Chapter 58: The Bounty Hunting Talent Pool
"Renoli, did you catch how he left?"
"No, I couldn't see a thing."
"Does that mean it wasn't just raw speed?"
"Exactly. I'd say it's more likely he can teleport."
"I need to tell you something unsettling. I've glimpsed my future."
"In my future, I can see everything you're about to do, your every move. But in that future... Kassadin is nowhere to be seen, as if he doesn't even exist."
"I can only observe him with my bare eyes, just like the rest of you."
"You know what that means, don't you?"
A heavy silence fell over the group of more than thirty bounty hunters in the bar.
In the vastness of the universe, superhumans weren't exactly rare, and several in the room had their unique abilities—enhanced physical strength, supersonic speed, telepathy, and even minor precognition.
Many who took up bounty hunting had gifts that set them apart from normal folk. They enjoyed the freedom it gave them, no longer tied to a 9-to-5 job, with full control over their schedules.
Renoli, the one who couldn't keep up with Kassadin's movements, was a speedster. As a second-tier bounty hunter, he had once joined a group to take down a third-tier target.
Bounty hunters weren't necessarily limited to their rank. Even second-tier hunters could complete third-tier missions with a well-coordinated team of powerful allies.
What no one had ever seen, however, was a hunter ranked as a third-tier individual, taking on high-tier bounties alone. Third-tier missions were generally reserved for entire bounty-hunting squads. If a team completed enough of them, they might be elevated to third-tier status, but even then, each individual remained a second-tier hunter, merely part of a third-tier group.
One of the people currently speaking, the man who had said he could glimpse the future, was a precog, also a second-tier bounty hunter. His power wasn't limitless—he could foresee events surrounding himself and a certain distance around him, but not other people's futures directly. In times of great danger, his foresight could expand, offering him crucial warnings.
The precog, renowned for his fighting prowess and expert marksmanship, was a well-known figure in the bounty-hunting community. When on a mission, he could anticipate dangers and dramatically reduce the risk of failure. This made him a highly sought-after ally for dangerous jobs, and he was also part of a renowned bounty-hunting group: the Cosmic Rangers, a third-tier squad.
Many of the hunters present had teamed up with the precog before, but this was the first time any of them had heard him say someone had slipped out of his foresight.
And for Renoli, whose reflexes and speed were unmatched by most, to say that he couldn't track Kassadin's movement? That was something else entirely.
Light speed? Nobody had ever heard of anyone being that fast. If Kassadin could move that quickly, there was only one logical explanation: teleportation.
Although superhumans were not a novelty in the universe, and many bounty hunters possessed rare abilities, few had ever heard of anyone capable of teleportation.
But the real question now loomed large: how had Kassadin managed to complete a mission on Mogli, a planet thirty light-years away, so quickly?
The crowd had been speculating about it for some time, gathering here specifically to discuss it.
Now, it all made sense. If Kassadin did possess the ability to teleport vast distances, even across star systems, then his feat on Mogli wasn't so impossible after all.
The very thought of someone being able to teleport across thirty light-years in an instant unsettled them. Even the gods of Asgard required the famed Bifrost to travel between worlds.
Without the Bifrost, not even the mighty Asgardians could traverse such distances so effortlessly.
But here was Kassadin, potentially wielding such a power. And it wasn't just teleportation that made him dangerous. Completing the "Desert Calamity" bounty—a mission even advanced teams with top-tier gear had failed to accomplish—was proof that teleportation was only one of many abilities in his arsenal.
The atmosphere in the bar shifted. Kassadin wasn't just a random bounty hunter. He was one of them. And as seasoned hunters, they all knew that in this line of work, yesterday's ally could easily become tomorrow's adversary.
The bounty hunter world was filled with talented individuals. Sometimes they collaborated on dangerous assignments, working in perfect harmony. Other times, one of their own became the target.
Sure, they could hide on different planets if the price on their heads was high enough. The universe was vast, and no one could hunt them down forever.
But if Kassadin really could teleport across light-years in an instant, and if he set his sights on one of them, they knew there'd be nowhere to hide.
The moment he accepted the job and obtained fresh intel, he could materialize right in front of them before they even had the chance to flee in their ships.
It was a sobering thought.
"I did some digging. He just arrived on Xandar today," one of the hunters said, breaking the silence. "There's no record of him leaving the planet in a ship. So yeah, his teleportation ability is the real deal. We'll need more time to figure out what else he's got up his sleeve."
"Take all the time you need," someone else said. "But based on his first job, Kassadin only seems to go after the big targets."
"The highest bounty among us is Renoli's, right? One hundred and fifty thousand?"
"That's small-time compared to the jobs he's after. But we should still be careful on our future missions."
The room relaxed slightly at this. Renoli's bounty might be significant, but it wasn't enough to attract someone like Kassadin.
For a second-tier bounty hunter like Kassadin, going after a one hundred and fifty thousand bounty was a waste of time. Far better to work with Renoli and take on the big jobs.
After all, no first-tier hunter could even think of threatening someone like Renoli.