Kaian followed Dain through the city which resembled a labyrinth. The houses melted into each other at one point and Kaian had no idea how he’d get back. The only thing that stood out to him were the channels around the streets.
The rain flowed from the tilted streets into them and the water continued to the middle of the city. Kaian really wanted to know where it went and what happened to it.
Not too long after they had started walking, the guild appeared in both of the men’s visions. The building was grand, with a taxidermied corpse of a lizard-like beast curled around it. This beast was also in the logo, its pose resembling ouroboros - the snake eating its own tail.
“We’re here. Just go inside and ask to get a certificate.”
“Alright, bye.”
“Ahh, Wait a second. If I was you I’d wash off the paint from your hair. Most ascenders take impersonating a mana blessed pretty seriously. And that crown of yours? Might want to take that off as well.”
“...Thanks for the tip.”
Dain knew that Kaian wasn’t going to take his advice. He shrugged and turned around, it wasn’t his problem.
Kaian squinted his eyes at him and also turned around. The man seemed distracted the whole time, as if he was doing two things at the same time. The changer being the less important thing.
"Tsk."
Opening the door made from dark wood, he entered the establishment. It was pretty much empty except for a lady standing behind some table and a burly man looking at flyers on a wall.
Both interrupted what they were doing and inspected the changer. Their interest didn’t last long and they returned to their work.
Kaian clenched his hands and tried calming himself down so his other personality wouldn’t come out.
[How dare they ignore me?! No, no. This is no matter to be angry about. Deep breaths, Kaian.]
He sighed and approached the woman.
“Hello,” he spoke, now calm.
“Ah, hello. Are you here to collect a reward? ....No, I haven’t seen you before, have you come to register?” she responded with a question.
“That’s precisely it. I’ve been told to do so by a mage.”
“They sent an ascender for this menial task? Did his robe have a golden vertical eye badge?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Oh.”
[Nice job, Kaian, you killed the conversation.] he thought. Wait, why did he care about that? After all he was above-
“Sir? Sir?” the woman asked, disturbing Kaian’s thoughts.
“Yes?”
“I’ll need your name and blood for this.”
This made Kaian go into thought again. He drank blood of beasts regularly and it gave him powers above that of a human. Clearly, blood was special and he probably shouldn’t give it to strangers.
“And if I refuse?”
“You will be forced to do so by an ascender so I recommend you just cooperate and save yourself the embarrassment.” the lady replied smoothly with a smile, as if she didn’t know the meaning of the words she uttered.
Kaian responded by breathing in and out deeply, digging nails into his flesh to focus on the pain instead of losing control. It was difficult.
“..Okay, My name is Kaian.. Just Kaian.”
The lady muttered something that sounded similar to “Just as I thought,” and started writing on a machine. After finishing the writing, she asked for the drop of blood and Kaian obliged.
He pulled out his dagger and stabbed himself in his finger. It was a terrible idea. His skin was way too tough so he had to use more power and accidentally cut himself pretty bad. It also hurt like hell and the only thing that prevented Kaian from crying was his pride.
Unfortunately, the woman noticed that he wasn’t so nonchalant about it and stared at him speechlessly. She quickly took some of the dripping blood and inserted it into the machine, which started giving off the weird attraction Kaian had felt many times before.
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Spitting out a card, the machine calmed down and the woman handed it to Kaian. There was his name written on the front and hunter on the back.
“There. Keep it on yourself at all times. Not doing so will end up in the dispatching of ascenders. The board that the hunter over there is looking at is where you take bounties on beasts. Hunting will ensure you will be given a compensation. Have a nice day.”
Kaian took the card, putting it into the same pocket where Vexastone was and went to check out the flyers. There were 10 of them, which wasn’t much and even the reward written on them wasn’t anything to write home about. Not like Kaian could, anyway.
From what the inn back in the village cost, he could afford around a week of living in a city with his current resources. It seemed like he would be sleeping outside. The reward for a hunt was approximately around what he had right now.
Sighing, Kaian took one of the flyers and took it to the woman. She shook her head and put the paper away, confirming the hunt. Clearly, her expectations weren’t big.
The door opened as Kaian left the establishment. He was on the bottom, worse off than he had thought. There was no way the money he had on himself, even with the hunter reward added, could allow him to learn reading.
Well it probably could if he knew where to look. But that was the problem, he didn’t. His idea was to find someone who would know. Unfortunately, he had no idea where a person like that could be either.
It looked like he had no choice but to hunt and hope that he would eventually find a teacher by coincidence. That definitely wasn’t the strongest of his plans.
…
Kaian walked through the city, completely lost. The walls seemed close, but it was an illusion. No matter how much he walked, there was always something blocking his way and he had to turn around.
He had started having trouble controlling himself a long time ago and the urge to randomly start stabbing people was bigger than ever. Thankfully, nobody gave him an opportunity by annoying him and after many hours, he managed to get out.
And while that was amazing, there was a small problem. Kaian was tired and angry after walking through this fucking labyrinth. The only thing holding him back was sheer willpower.
This willpower was far from omnipotent and the moment he spotted a mage near the gate, he lost it. He wanted to do nothing more but to brutally murder the mage. The moment he thought about doing it, though, the mage turned around and the orange color that appeared nearly blinded Kaian.
The bloodlust Kaian felt evaporated instantly and his survival instincts kicked in, making him run away into the outside, hitting some people on the way.
The mage reached his hand at him, but Kaian was already too far from him. He decided it wasn’t the effort and put his hand down, growing distracted yet again.
…
“Haah, haaah. Dammit.” Kaian gasped and swore. The run he just did was one that Usain Bolt would kneel over and beg to take him as a student.
Despite this enormous achievement, Kaian wasn’t proud of it at all. He was forced to run away again. Swearing that it would be the last time, he looked around crazily, intending to take out his rage on the poor beast.
He knew that swearing wouldn’t do anything, it depended solely on luck. Which was exactly the problem. Kaian’s life or death depended on how nice a mage would feel.
Sure, he could run away and hide in some remote village. But he could also just kill himself on the spot and give up. Would he do either? Hell fucking no.
…
Kaian had to look around and try to remember where exactly he should go for a bit to find the monster’s location. It was close to the main road so it wasn’t that hard to find. He just made a direct turn to the left at a certain point and that was it.
It didn’t take long to find the beast either. Kaian could hear screaming coming from the forest and upon arriving closer, the monster revealed itself to him.
The pathetic creature looked like a big version of an undeveloped bird with slimy wings around its body. Its eyes closed and the beak open, producing screams.
It was extremely annoying so Kaian rushed at it, aiming to kill as soon as possible. The abomination somehow noticed Kaian and inhaled air. Everything flashed orange and the changer managed to touch the stone in time.
He transformed into a snail and immediately got blasted off by a sound wave. He chanted the “spell” in the middle of the air and gracefully changed into a human again. His landing was something else entirely.
Kaian fell on his knees and immediately stood up despite the pain, rushing at the beast once more. The daggers in his hands were waiting for blood, craving it. He would do a good deed and satisfy them.
The bird stopped its screaming and breathed in and out heavily. This attack took a lot out of it. Even better, less effort was required now.
Kaian jumped at it, carving into its body with his daggers. The beast fell and Kaian was once again victorious...
Until he wasn’t. An orange pulse appeared again, this time catching the changer off guard. He grabbed at the stone, but it was too slow.
BOOOM
He got blasted off and landed roughly on some log, bark digging into his flesh. Kaian squirmed around, shocked from the pain and dizzy from the wave. He also felt ringing in his ears and some liquid flowing from them.
Not good! The situation was dire. He would have to rely on his other forms.
[Vexi, Wolf.]
The stone came in clutch, saving him from the pain. He cloned himself and ran at the wounded beast. It tried to scream again, failing miserably this time. The only thing that came out was black blood and pieces of slime.
Wolf Kaian started tearing it apart with his teeth from two sides and the monster entered eternal slumber.
Nonetheless, Kaian wouldn't be satisfied until it was completely in pieces and he did exactly that. Some parts ended up in his stomach and some around the area.
It took a while but he calmed down after doing this, switching to his normal personality that was disgusted by what happened.
Quickly finding some pond, he washed himself and took a nap to recover. Kaian was too tired.