Two days later, Adion woke up in the room he had rented the night before. He had to travel for two days and a night before arriving at this outpost. It was called Trabis and was about the same size as outpost Grillis. The small town had more mages, though, most of which were peak Bronze. Adion had also felt the aura of a few Silver mages when he arrived.

His plan was to repeat the same process as he had done in Grillis, except this time, he would hunt peak Bronze beasts. It would definitely bring some attention, but Adion counted on his fake, mysterious background to scare off any trouble. When he had hunted enough to rank up, he would leave for another outpost to let any rumors that might start settle down.

He wasn’t sure if he could fight Silver beasts with his new strength. If he could, it would be a tough fight. So he wasn’t going to go any deeper than he already was, but there were other outposts to the north that were surrounded by beasts of similar strength as this one.

He went out of his room and locked the door behind him before heading to the dining area, where he got himself some breakfast. After that, he left the outpost and headed into the surrounding forest.

He released his entire aura this time, as he was only interested in fighting peak Bronze beasts. Middle and high Bronze beasts would still attack him, but he might be able to scare off any low Bronze beasts that were around.

And it would seem that Adion was lucky, as only an hour into his hunt, he felt something enter his sphere of space mana he always kept around him during his hunting.

Hm? It’s actually hiding its aura?

Now that Adion knew where the beast was, he could feel its aura when he focused, but he couldn’t make out its strength.

How sneaky. Luckily, I have a space core, and it is pretty much impossible to sneak up on me.

Adion continued walking as if he didn’t notice the beast while releasing more space mana from his space core and gathered it between the approaching beast and himself, much like he used to do against the Grey Wolves a few years ago.

After almost a minute had passed, the beast suddenly jumped out to attack Adion. It also released its full aura, perhaps in an attempt to startle Adion.

A peak Bronze beast!

Adion also saw that it was a Sun-Sabered Tiger, a beast that Adion knew could reach Diamond through its bloodline. Luckily, this one was still young and weak.

Adion froze the beast in space and quickly slashed his sword through the front leg of the tiger, powering his muscles with mana as he did so. The beast was too big to get close to its head without risking himself. He didn’t know how long he would be able to keep it frozen after all.

He turned away and ran after his successful attack while still keeping the tiger frozen.

It seems I underestimated myself. I think I can keep it frozen for at least 10 seconds. Oh well, I’ll still beat it.

Adion then released the space surrounding the tiger from his control and conjured a ball of fire. It was quick but a little exhaustive.

It’s good that I won’t need to use my fire to fight peak Bronze beasts, but I still need to practice my fire control.

Adion hurled the ball of fire toward the now-released beast and Willed the fire to burn through its skull.

Let’s see how long you can hold on.

The Sun Sabered Tiger roared furiously as it stumbled forward on its injured leg. It had no time to think about Adion as the fire burning it was quickly penetrating its skin.

It took about 20 seconds before the beast finally collapsed.

I made it, but fighting like this takes a lot of Will. The tiger was fighting for its life, after all.

Adion then grabbed the beast’s body with his space mana and started walking back to Trabis. He was pleased that his strength had increased by such a large amount and thought that even if a group of peak Bronze beasts attacked him, he could handle it.

But there is still much to improve. If I can fight using fire without exhausting my Will to such an extent, it would be fantastic. I also need to practice my teleportation. If I could teleport, I might even be able to fight Silver beasts without much worry. But it still takes an average of 30 seconds for me to teleport, and that is when I’m calm and focused on nothing else. To be able to do so instantly in a fight will take a lot of practice.

When Adion returned to the outpost, he made his way to the Outskirt Guild’s building in town. He was starting to get tired of carrying beasts. Even though he only had to actually carry them for a short walk, Adion felt it was unnecessary.

The things I do to not stand out.

Adion sighed as he entered the Outskirt Guild carrying the peak Bronze beast. A similar scene to the one in the Grillis Outskirt Guild played out. At first, no one gave Adion a second look, but it only took one of them to notice his age and strength before the whispering started.

“Who is that?” An old peak Bronze mage asked, “He’s barely fifteen and already a Bronze mage.”

“I’ve never seen him before,” The man next to him said, “But how did he kill a peak Bronze beast? Did he get lucky and find a dead one?”

The discussion continued around him as Adion approached the Outskirt Guild clerk behind the reception desk.

“A peak Bronze beast, I see,” The young man behind the desk said. Even though the tiger didn’t have an aura anymore as it was dead, once the beast core formed, people could feel its presence and power in a similar way to the aura of a living beast.

“Yes, I’m planning on advancing to rank 3 traveler,” Adion said.

“Do you have enough missions cleared?” The clerk asked.

To advance, he would have to complete 100 rank 2 traveler missions or 20 rank 3 traveler beast-hunting missions. Adion had no time to waste hunting weak beasts, so he would take the second option.

“No, I plan on hunting 20 peak Bronze beasts. This is my first one. Is that okay?” Adion asked.

“Certainly, if you give me your Guild card, I will note it down,” The man answered.

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Adion handed him the card, and the man quickly returned it after noting down his information. Adion then got his reward and headed out for another hunt. It wasn’t even noon yet, after all.

His second hunt for the day didn’t go as smoothly, however. It took Adion 3 hours before he finally felt a peak Bronze beast running towards him. He had already fought some middle Bronze beasts but simply left their bodies behind, as even if they would give him some money, Adion wasn’t very desperate for it at the moment.

Adion could see that the beast approaching him was another Blue Fire Boar. This one was alone, however, and Adion was confident in taking it down. But just as he got ready to fight, he heard shouting and roars approaching behind him. He quickly froze the boar and sliced his sword through its neck before turning his attention back to the sounds behind him.

He felt the aura of three peak Bronze mages and, a bit behind them, the aura of a low Silver beast.

Damn, I guess this is why the death rates in the Outskirts are so high. A powerful beast can always appear and decimate a team of weaker mages.

Adion had no time to run as he saw three mages followed by the Silver beast quickly approaching him. The beast was a Sun-Sabered Tiger, and the mages were all middle-aged human men. Two of the men were fire mages, and one was a water mage. They were flinging spells toward the beast while running and guarding themselves from the beast's claws with their swords. They all seemed injured to some degree, but the beast only had minor cuts and lightly singed fur.

Adion ran towards them and yelled out, “You can’t run, just fight!”

He then ran towards the tiger, which took a fast swing to Adion’s head. But before it could crush his skull, Adion froze the space surrounding it. He could immediately feel the Will of the beast struggling against his space prison, and Adion knew he couldn’t hold on for long, but he needed to kill it before it could escape his grip. If he simply injured it, Adion would be dead the moment the beast got released, as he had no time to get away.

So Adion pushed his Will to the limit and stepped forward before piercing its skull from underneath its jaw, Adion’s favorite way of assuring death. In its last frantic millisecond of life, the beast managed to break free, but it was too late to do anything as it collapsed on the ground. Adion stood beside the body and panted heavily.

That was probably only about 2 or 3 three seconds, even if it felt like minutes. It’s risky, but it's good enough to have some confidence against Silver beasts. Having a space core is incredibly powerful. No one else would be able to land such a clean strike against a stronger foe while coming out unharmed. Of course, it’s all because of the Celestial Phoenix Wisdom Pill. Otherwise, I’d be pretty useless.

I need to find a way to increase this power. I haven’t given it enough thought so far.

Adion then turned around to look at the mages that had been fighting the tiger earlier, and they were all staring at him with wide eyes.

“Y-you,” One of them stammered, “You’re a Gifted, right? But you’re so young. And you’re already a middle Bronze mage at that!”

Damn. I forgot to hide my aura again after fighting the boar. How should I handle this?

Adion thought about killing the men to not leave any witnesses, but quickly discarded the idea. He couldn’t kill them just to keep his secret. They didn’t know about his space core or his pills after all, only that he was Gifted and very talented. He could live with that information being public. And he could still just run to another city and remove his mask if worse comes to worse.

“Yep,” Adion simply said, “You can have the Silver beast. I have a peak Bronze beast over there already.”

“Would you mind giving us your name, savior?” The man asked, “I apologize on behalf of my team for bringing trouble to you.” The man bowed deep and looked sternly at his teammates, who quickly apologized as well.

I guess my perceived background has become even more frightening now. But these guys are pretty old and still Bronze mages. I don’t think they come from a family clan. Those people will probably be more direct with me and ask about my clan and where I come from.

Things will definitely become complicated from now on, but I will attract attention no matter where I go if I don’t want to hide my strength and only hunt weak beasts. I might as well stick around here for a while and see how things play out.

I should tell them my name, too, so I don’t get some stupid nickname like ‘the beast freezer’ or something.

“I’m Adion. Pleasure,” Adion said and left to find his peak Bronze boar that had been left behind.

Adion grabbed the body with his space power and carried it along with him back to Trabis. He opted to reveal his middle Bronze strength as it would soon be revealed anyway, and Adion didn’t want anyone to figure out that he could hide his strength. That would make it more complicated if he needed to ditch his masked identity.

This, of course, caused quite a commotion when he entered the Outskirts Guild. People had already been shaken by his previous age and strength, but thanks to the stories revolving around the young master of the Gratton family, it was something people could accept. But a middle Bronze mage before reaching 15 was not something anyone had heard of, and a minor commotion broke out.

Adion ignored the people talking and just left the boar to receive his money and merit. The clerk behind the counter was also somewhat affected by Adion’s increase in strength but still did his job.

Adion left immediately after to hunt another peak Bronze beast. There was still plenty of daylight left to burn after all.

It took him 2 hours before he found a peak Bronze beast. It was another Blue Fire Boar, and Adion killed it easily.

When he returned this time around, a lot more people were looking at Adion than earlier. He hadn’t even reached the Outskirts Guild yet, and there were still a lot of people on the street who stared and whispered about him.

When he entered the Outskirts Guild building, he immediately heard a loud shout.

“That’s him! Adion the Ash Willowin Mask!” A young man yelled as he pointed towards Adion.

Ash Willowin Mask? I guess it’s an alright nickname.

“It’s really him, Adion the Beast Freezer!” An old man shouted.

Damn it.

People started yelling and pointing, and everyone in the tavern had their attention directed toward Adion. Adion ignored them and went to the reception, where he dropped the boar on the floor. But before he could say anything to the clerk, one of the men who had been silent suddenly stood up. He seemed to be in his late twenties and was one of the few Silver mages in the outpost. He walked toward Adion and spoke arrogantly.

“Hey, kid! I’ve looked you up, and I know you’re not from some bigshot family,” He turned to the rest of the people in the tavern to see that they were paying attention, “You’re just a lucky kid who has found some natural treasure, right? Isn’t it only fair to share what you found so everyone can enjoy it?”

Adion was starting to get pissed off as he realized what the man was trying to do, he hadn’t found any natural treasure, but if the people there looked through his backpack, he would be in trouble.

“And I hear that you’re a Gifted now, too?” The man continued, “I’ve never heard of Gifted running around here, but if it’s true, you should share your discoveries, right? This is the Age of Discovery, after all, and it would be a slap in the face of the Sages if you kept it all to yourself.”

Adion decided that this had gone on long enough.

“Believe whatever you want,” Adion said, “If you’re looking for trouble with me, just say so and stop with this charade.”

“Hahaha!” The man laughed arrogantly. After all, he was a Silver mage and wasn’t threatened by Adion.

However, one of the young man’s friends approached him, “Are you sure he doesn’t have any backing, Jab? He might just be laying low.” he said.

“What backing could he have? I’ve never heard of someone like him in the Noble families,” Jab answered, “He’s probably just some discarded bastard of some whore.”

Suddenly, the bar was completely silent. Not a breath could be heard, and the only movement happening could be seen in the eyes of the people there as their pupils were frantically moving about. Not only in the tavern, but a similar scene played out in the surrounding buildings and on the street outside.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard, and everyone stared at the masked man who could apparently move unhindered. The footsteps sounded eerie, as the air itself was frozen, but somehow, they could still hear the sounds of boots hitting wood that did not match the speed of their frantically beating hearts.

“I was just going to teach you a lesson for seeking trouble with me,” Adion said as he stopped before the man named Jab, “But for those words, you die.”

The next sound everyone heard was that of Jab’s head landing on the wooden floor.