After getting Reno and the boy to hand over their weapons, the three-person group entered the old decrepit hut.

Looking around, Reno realized that the shack looked worse than the outside.

The floors felt like they would crumble with each step he made.

Every time the breeze blew the hut moved like it was dancing as well.

Along with that, the room that they were in was the only room.

In the room was a crusty couch with mold all over it, a mattress on the floor, and a large suitcase with what seemed to be some food in it.

The boy took off the black cloth he was wearing and flung it onto the mattress.

“Take a seat on whatever floorboard you think won’t break.”

“Pick a good one, the latrine’s under my hut.”

“I’m going to grab some crackers for you guys.”

Reno was irked.

‘What. The. Hell.’

‘He was trying to kill me a while ago and now he’s inviting us for tea and crumpets.’

‘What have I gotten myself into?’

Trista dropped herself onto the floor and even started stretching her joints.

This caused Reno to stare at her as if she was crazy.

Reno then probed and found a stable enough board and sat down.

The boy came back with some crackers and what seemed like raspberries.

“These berries are around a day or two old but they should be fine.”

He then sat down right beside Trista.

As soon as the boy sat down, Trista stretched out her arms and concluded her stretching session with a yawn.

“Now then that we’re already ready to let me introduce the situation and also you guys.”

“Reno this is Kenric”

“He’s a hybrid and I’d say he’s like a little bro to me.”

“Kenric, this is Reno Mochizuki and I’d say, hmmm, disciple?”

Upon hearing Trista’s introduction of him, Kenric was startled and he began staring at Reno to see how he’d react.

Reno was dumbfounded by what Trista had said.

‘A hybrid!?’

There were three commonly known cases where the DNA of any race was combined with another.

Creating a new life while usually allowing the usage of the abilities of both races.

These cases are called: A genetic enhancer, A hybrid, and a forsaken one.

Genetic enhancers were the most common case and was when human DNA was combined equally with another race’s.

This would allow someone partial or even full access to the power systems that other races had.

Examples are the spirit control or soul magic of druids, the elemental control or spirit synchronization of elves, and much more.

For forsaken ones.

These were those that would allow their entire DNA to be changed to those of another race with only the mind partially retaining their persona.

Most of the ones who ended up like this would succumb to desires as they have little to no experience dealing with the ups and downs of their race.

That would not be the worst part though.

The name forsaken ones came from the fact that all humanity branded these people as traitors and would try to kill them on the spot.

This is the reason that Kian wanted to pass off his transformation as a genetic enhancement and not become a forsaken one.

There have been a lot of cases like that in the past as well.

With forsaken ones pretending to be genetic enhancers if they could control their urges well enough.

The last type would then be hybrids.

This would be a case where the two races that are not human are combined to make a new life.

The funny thing was that this idea was created by humans and not those of other races.

Even so, as they have no human DNA in them at all, almost all humans shun and hate hybrids.

In the case of other races, no matter which one it was, they hated all hybrids.

Not only were they a symbol of their hatred towards humanity but in most cases.

They could not fully use the abilities of either race and could be called lackluster.

The names that humans and other races loved to call hybrids include :

Impure, curse, plague, etc.

Due to this most hybrids have to live in the shadows or outskirts of human cities.

If they tried to live in any place with another race then death might be the least of their concerns.

Reno knew all this from the memories he had so he was a bit surprised.

Was he disgusted or peeved by the boy though? Not even a single bit!

If anything, Reno felt like he could relate.

He had never had the scorn of an entire race but he knew what it was like for one you trusted the most to hate your entire existence.

Along with the fact he was coreless most of the people who found out and had cores would prefer to pretend he was air.

Seeing that Reno’s face didn’t even change a bit, Kenric lightened up a bit.

Reno put his hand on his cheek and took up a raspberry.

“I can’t say anything as I don’t even have a core so don’t worry.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

Kenric was skeptical but he still nodded, he then looked towards Trista who was grinning.

Before when Trista had come to visit him in the past month.

She was always chatting about how she was teaching a core-less and that he was almost at the D-rank level.

He was always skeptical but after his little bout with Reno, he realized that she wasn’t lying.

The coreless he had fought before flew at least 10 meters back if he held back with his arrows, even if they were blocking.

Even though he was still holding back, Reno barely flew back.

Pulling Kenric out of his thoughts, the old-fashioned watch on his hand started vibrating.

“Ah, time to head to work.”

Reno looked at his smartwatch and noticed two things.

“He’s going out to work at 8 pm!?”

“Also, is the signal blocked here? My watch is bricked and I can’t access anything.”

Trista leaned over Reno’s shoulder.

“Oh yeah, Kenric’s house was purposely excluded from Wester’s data system meaning our watches don’t work here.”

Kenric came back after 5 minutes and he had changed his outfit.

Before he was wearing some old smelly brown clothes with a black cloth over it with his hair covering his face.

Now he was wearing a fully black uniform that looked almost the same as what Mae wore.

The only difference was that Mae’s uniform was covered with many achievements and her tie had one stripe on it.

Kenric’s own had four stripes on his tie.

Reno knew what this signified.

“Impressive. Being able to become a rank four guard despite all the scrutiny he must face as a hybrid.”

“Hiding something like that when he was signing up would be impossible after all.”

Kenric’s long orange hair was also now tied in a ponytail.

This made Reno realize the mark of a pink flower on Kenric’s head along with how big and bushy his eyebrows were.

Reno decided not to probe to not be rude to Kenric.

Kenric then flung two pairs of clothes towards Reno and Trista.

Change and then let’s go.

He then started munching down on his crackers and raspberries.

Reno slowly turned his head towards Trista who gave him a thumbs up.

He then went outside to change and came back in when he was finished to see a changed Trista and ready Kenric.

The three then left the house, took a left, and began walking down a long and dark alleyway.

Seemingly remembering something, Kenric turned to Reno.

“This is an hour's walk so I hope you ate enough.”

He then turned around and began to walk again.

Trista followed after him and Reno just wanted to go home but followed after the two.

Around 30 minutes into the walk, Reno had a question that was stabbing at the back of his throat he needed to ask.

“I’m curious… Trista, can’t you sponsor Kenric some money so he doesn’t have to live that?”

“You did say that he’s like your little bro after all?”

Trista answered without even turning around.

“Of course, I wanted to help him before but once you get to know him, you’ll see that you two aren’t too different.”

“At least in stubbornness. You’ll see what I mean soon.”

The three then soon arrived on one of Wester City’s main streets.

Before they went any further, Trista did a hand movement over her face and also handed Reno a clown mask with one side crying and the other smiling.

Trista's hair colour changed from black to lavender and her eyes yellow.

"Reno, I'm not saying that anything will happen but just in case, it's better like this."

"I'd say a bounty from an original family is enough on our plate."

Reno took the mask and put it on before responding.

"Agreed."

Trista then grabbed the hands of the two and dragged them along.

"First off, let's go to the carnival district! I love the candy apples and games they have there!"

Reno and Kenric looked at each other with a look of understanding before nodding.

Trista saw this and smiled.

"Let's go!"