Mars
In the evening
Back on the academy grounds, Alex met with Julia and Ross. Naturally, Alex's room served as the meeting space for the trio.
They shared their experience during their hunt and what they did with their kills.
"Lucky you," Ross said with folded arms. "I was this close to being overwhelmed."
He recalled how he had a similar encounter during the Veilstorm Descent where he was swallowed by a cosmic mana wave.
This time, it was a bunch of hyena creatures that moved in groups; they were at the peak of Class F, fast and extremely vicious.
After successfully killing the first one, it drew the others to his location.
And because he could not remain in place, he had to make a ran for it while also shooting fireballs at the beasts.
This also resulted in other beasts noticing the commotion and giving chase.
Only after venturing into a relatively stronger beast's territory did the chase come to an end.
'I swear, it's like the universe wants to push me to the edge!'
Of course, he had to battle that beast but that was not a problem for him.
"Yeah, that was rough."
Alex muttered with a small smile, finding his situation slightly amusing. He wasn't worried that Ross would lose to those beasts as even if overwhelmed, he could go all out to clear them.
He just didn't do that because he needed to conserve his mana.
"Did you guys deal with those pesky agents and salespeople in the guild?"
Alex inquired a few moments later. He didn't know why, but after further thought on what that person said, he felt there was something more to his words, he just couldn't pinpoint why.
"Yeah. I saw them but they don't push their luck too much as they could be banned.
"Once a person says no, they back off. But I'm guessing there is more to what you're saying."
Julia explained with raised brows.
"Yeah…"
Alex went ahead and described what happened and even coat the words spoken by the man
"Oh, I've heard of them. They sell almost anything a hunter needs and also offer to buy the void creatures and beasts the hunters bring.
"So it's not strange they have void creatures' blood."
Julia was more knowledgeable about these things and explained to the two how they worked.
Since these kinds of companies had facilities for processing the blood, there was no issue with that.
And there were in fact individuals who use the blood for their own thing.
"But I thought those at our level aren't allowed to use the serum."
Ross asked in confusion.
"We aren't. At least officially."
Julia shrugged in response, not saying anymore. The words she spoke were easy to grasp.
But the thing was times have changed. What the serum did, hunters could now do on their own.
And in her opinion, it was only a matter of time before they phased out. Naturally, the blood had other uses, so there was that.
"Hmm… then I guess I was just thinking too much."
"Probably."
After that, the trio discussed their plans for their team hunts and who they could choose as their last member.
Alex proposed they chose Ethan Hall or Abigail Reed; however, Julia was more inclined towards Ethan for obvious reasons, and Alex let her be.
'Besides, Ethan is stronger.'
Alex mused recalling the time he met him on campus a while back.
The boy had grown stronger than ever and was close to reaching the ranks of Class E, an impressive achievement considering his start.
The trio continued to chat till late evening when Julia and Ross had to return to their rooms.
Alex, of course, had to do the extra by escorting Julia all the way to her door where they exchanged a brief kiss before departing.
Alex eventually returned to his room and spent the rest of the evening cultivating even though he showed no signs of growth.
......
Since most of the second-year activities would be done outside the classroom, the students had more free time to do as they liked.
A few days later, the second-years received information from their instructors on when they would be seeing their very first real void creature.
Of course, the reaction was mixed with some students excited to see the monsters that plagued humanity.
Others were more sceptical as they feared what they would see as some of the void creatures were horrifying to look at.
All the same, it was about time they saw one.
...…........
The day finally came as all the second years gathered in their classrooms, awaiting their instructors to arrive and lead them to their destination.
Once their instructors arrived, they each guided their students to the buildings that were specifically made to house the corpses of the void creatures.
They were built to insulate against the remnant void aura they gave off and the students were only to look at the void creatures through a barrier separating them and the void creature.
The academy also made it in such a way that some of the remnant aura void creatures gave off leaked into the area the students would observe from.
"Word of advice," Instructor Horvey said once they were at the entrance of the building.
"Try to keep the content of your stomach in place."
He smiled mischievously and the students widened their eyes in disbelief.
"Did he just smile?"
Since they knew their instructor, the students had never seen him smile that way.
Like his colleagues, Alex couldn't help but smile in response.
'I'm guessing it's going to be one hell of a show.'
There was no way he said that just because. Some of them would be definitely spewing their guts out once they felt the remnant aura of the void creature.
It was part of the reason why only Class D hunters and above were allowed to venture into outer space for hunts.
Regardless of what happened, Alex was ready to see a void creature. He had no expectations besides feeling the same aura he gave off whenever he used his void energy.
'Will it be the same, or will there be differences?'