'Why does my MP still not increasing? I already leveled up to10, and yet...' Victor frustratedly sighed, then shook his head after. 'Forget about it. Thinking about it would just give me inconvenience. [System] has less information. It is still the same as in Kluma and I could just rely on the descriptions that would appear.' Victor thought before looking down where the lady was.

"So... who are you?"

***

The mercenary group was still on their way searching for Victor. With Claren as their leader, behind him was the vice leader, Karen, who was also his twin sister. She had red hair and an average body and face.

Behind the two of them were the remaining five members of the group: John, Michael, Diana, Hubert, and Ysabel. They were also just like the two of them, average looking, but deep within them despite their average appearance was an undeniably good talent that made them reach the B-rank of being an awaken mercenary.

"Still no other clues?" Hubert asked while carrying his huge battle ax on his shoulder.

They had just finished fighting some ogres, and it was already their first day in the Rotting Land. But despite that, they just saw one clue: the direction that Victor took when he escaped from the facility.

"Hey, I saw dead bodies here!" Ysabel shouted, pointing at the corpses with her red mage staff.

Everyone gathered around the bodies and examined them. There were signs of ogre attacks, which made them conclude that they died from fighting ogres.

"This is not our target's doing, right?" Hubert asked.

Claren nodded and the others as well.

"Yeah... and this uniform they were wearing, it is from the facility. They were guards from the facility." Claren said.

"Woah... so they are too weak to die by the hands of ogres," Karen said, which caught everyone's attention.

"Here you are underestimating people again." John, the scout, mumbled.

Karen simply ignored him with her eyes rolling, then went back to the direction Victor took. She inspected the path carefully while the rest of her group was still looking for something on the corpses of the guards.

"This should be enough..." Michael said as he took out the daggers that he got from the bodies.

Karen peeked at them and realized that they were extracting things from them.

Meanwhile, Claren saw nothing unusual in the corpses and assisted Karen in studying the path. They walked slightly away from the group, but not so far away as they were still keeping in mind the danger in the Rotting Land. It was a good thing that they did this as they saw a footprint, moving slightly to the west but still moving forward.

"Hey guys, let's continue. We saw footprints." Claren announced. Everyone packed up and rejoined them.

They followed the footprints and then stopped at a particular spot. They saw the location where Victor took a rest. The print of his buttocks was still there.

They continued searching for clues again, and magically, they saw each step he took. Being stealthy, away from the inconvenience fighting monsters, the mercenary group finally reached the cave where Victor stayed.

"He went inside..." Claren announced and made everyone take their guards up as they slowly entered the cave.

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They took every measure to notice if Victor was there, but Claren suddenly paused and stared at one particular large dead body.

'He took down a Rotting Bear? This monster is at least level 40, yet he killed it? Didn't the employers say that this kid was a newly awakened awaken? Does this mean that he awakened A-rank?' Claren thought as he inspected the damage the Rotting Bear took.

Other members were shocked as well, expressing their thoughts about their target. Some of them were amused, but some were extra vigilant as it seemed that he took down the Rotting Bear easily.

"One vertical slash... This slice is from swords or sharp objects..." Claren faced his group and asked, "Did you find any sword?"

Everyone shook their heads. "We saw nothing."

However, Michael, a swordsman, saw something particular near the carcass of the Rotting Bear.

"This is not from a sword. These splatters looked like splattering from a hand."

"What does that mean?" Claren asked.

"I think that the kid had his hands covered with a thick volume of blood, but, for some reason, it didn't match with the slice from the Rotting Bear."

"Probably, he dipped his hands in the body?" Ysabel suggested.

However, Michael shook his head and pointed at the dried blood and flesh of the Rotting Bear's carcass.

"No sign of his hands touching the blood, or even dipping his hands into the body. Which means that this slice wasn't from a simple sword."

"Then, what is it?" Karen asked, slightly impatient.

"I don't know. This doesn't make any sense. He couldn't just possibly kill this monster with his bare hands but leave a clean and precise cut, right?"

Everyone became silent, and Claren supported his suggestion.

"Yeah, it is not reasonable. We still don't know how he attacked, but the employers said that he awakened with some electric powers."

Diana, the group's timid healer, made a suggestion. "Maybe... he conjured a sword using his hands. In that way, he could create a clean slice, right?"

Everyone stared at her and thought deeply about what she said.

"This is frustrating. This is just the first day of our mission, but it seems like this kid is giving us a headache. We still don't know how he really attacks. And what you said Diana is impossible. He doesn't know the basics, so conjuring a sword is the impossible thing he could do since it is impossible for any half-ass awaken to do."

Diana almost gasped and moved back from being surprised by Claren's tone, but she held on and just nodded to what he said.

"I-I'm sorry for not being helpful."

Everyone sighed. "Should we see if he left the Rotting Land? This should not be his doing. Maybe some unknown person appeared and saved him out of the Rotting Land."

Everyone nodded to what Claren said, as it appeared the most reasonable and possible thing that could happen with the traces they saw.

"Even if the traces were not of two, that theory is possible."