Chapter 40 Eternal relationship and eternal tutorial.
´´ You can call me Desmond if you prefer, I have a feeling that we will have a lot of interactions in the future. ´´
´´ Wow I must say that I am surprised Mr. Astryd, his instincts are quite acute, among what would be provided in the tutorial came the information regarding the personal agents of the hunters; They are the people who supervise and support each individual hunter. These are usually linked until the service of either of the two ends and it is very rare that they change partners before that. In this case, I am your designated personal agent, as you will assume I am a rookie; But I will do everything in my power to support you, Mr. Astryd. I hope we get along well.
´´ Wow now it's my turn to be surprised, the relationship between agent and hunter seems quite definitive, but being in the company of a pretty young lady would be a cause for complaint only for an idiot. I also hope we get along well Miss Rossi. ́ ́
They both shook hands gently and smiled at each other, despite the earlier flirting incident they both seemed to get along. In Desmond's case as a career womanizer he has always enjoyed the company of beauties, the fact that they were in a working relationship for life motivated Desmond to be nice to the girl and the fact that Desmond had a soft spot for adorable-looking but somewhat vulnerable girls added more to the mix.
Elaisa also had her own reasons for getting along with Desmond, sharing her unchanging working relationship as a reason, she was ultimately a girl, and spending time with such an attractive guy as Desmond doesn't sound bad to her, there is also the fact that despite the awkward situation that Desmond's comment about his eyes caused; at that moment she felt an almost indescribable sweet sensation when someone complimented something that had been self-conscious about her all her life.
For whatever reasons, Desmond and Elaisa began at this time an eternal relationship that has been a tradition of the I.S.H for millennia.
´´ In any case Elaisa; if I can call you that. I have a little question that I would like to ask at this time.
´´ Of course, you can call me that. . . Desmond, I'm here to clarify your doubts so ask whatever you want. "
´´ How long is the tutorial? ´´
´´. . . I'll just say that we better order something to eat while we go to the office.
´´ I already said that it would not be so easy´´
On the way, I couldn't help but get distracted a bit by the landscape and the people in it. Elaisa didn't seem to be bothered, But I guess it's normal for newbies to act like me right now.
Soon we arrived in front of a small office belonging to Elaisa, I couldn't help but notice that it was at the most remote end of the building; Few people passed by, and even the plaque on the door seemed of lesser quality. Relating it to the little I knew about Elaisa, I assumed it would be related to the issue of her eyes, because from the way she said it was a problem related to veteran hunters; It made sense that whatever this was had repercussions on the treatment of Elaisa. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to want to bring it up and I was not currently in a position to help her at all.
The office inside was pretty common if you ignore the things that seem to scream "High Tech"; We proceeded to sit at both ends of a small table and now the hell called tutorial begins.
´´ I know it is boring to have to go through this, but it is very important if you want to be a hunter; I suppose I should start with the origins of the association. ´´
´´ I will be honest, I am quite intrigued by the history of this association´´
´´ To understand how the Inter-dimensional association of hunters came about, you first have to understand a couple of things. First of all, let's talk about the power ranking we use in the association, I'm going to assume that you have some notion regarding your previous mission. ´´
´´ A bit, every creature above a certain level of strength is classified in different classes of stars, and in each star, it is divided into low, medium, high, and maximum levels. The vast majority of the magical beasts I hunted were zero-star level, but I did observe one-star class beasts; the difference in force between zero stars and one star is quite large from what I can tell. ´´
´´ What you say is generally true, but some clarification is necessary; star-based classification is based not specifically on a creature's actual strength, but is based on its energy levels that a being harbors. ´´
´´ Are these different? ´´
´´ Actually, they are, to put it in simple terms; certain species rely entirely on their physical body to fight so their energetic signatures are deceptively low. Other species rely almost entirely on attacks of various types of energy so their energetic signatures can be very high, but they are not necessarily that difficult to defeat. The classification serves mainly as a reference base, but it is not absolute, the characteristics and abilities that your enemy possesses can make him stronger or weaker than what this classification represents; As you may have experienced, there is also the issue of the compatibility of your fighting style and the prey you face. ´´
´´ Ok, I think I understand a bit how it works; Using energy signatures it is reasonable that it is not so easy to quantify the combat strength of a given creature. And indeed I am painfully aware of how difficult it is to face a creature that counteracts my combat style and weapons. ´´
´´ In general, hunters carry weapons of various types and artifacts that cover as far as possible the weaknesses of their fighting style; but it is normal that a novice hunter like you is not yet capable of that. ´´
´´ I will take that into account in the future when I make my preparations. ´´
´´ It is good to know that you know how to listen to advice, continuing with the previous topic; According to your analysis records, the most powerful beings you met on your mission were three-star class. What do you think of them? ´´
They were extremely powerful, enough to make me feel like nothing more than an ant in front of them. ´´
´´ Very honest of you, few people; especially men would be able to accept their weakness so openly. ´´
Desmond just shrugged and answered.
´´ It's just the truth, trying to act brave about it is nothing but stupid; also I don't see the point in trying to act tough in front of someone who clearly knows more than I do on the subject. ´´
´´ That's a very mature way of looking at it I guess. As you said compared to the beings of one star and two stars; one of three stars is practically an apocalyptic force for the previous two. In the lower dimensions the classification reaches up to ten stars, now you can imagine what would happen if a being with ten stars wanted a resource or object that is in a world where the most powerful beings only reach three stars. ´´
´´ With that force, destroying the world could be done even by accident. ´´
´´ Exactly, if beings of that level of power had free access to less powerful worlds; Entire civilizations could be annihilated on a simple whim. "
´´ I understand, by the way; What do you mean by lower dimensions? ´´
´´ True, I forgot to explain that, what do you think if we ask for something to eat before moving on to that ?; because this tutorial is going to take a long time. ´´
Completely helpless I could only nod, as much as I hated the tutorials; I would have to be absolutely stupid if I did not recognize the importance of the information I am hearing now.