Supreme Hunter

The next morning Tom and Red were woken up at first light, as usual. They got ready and headed out to get Alex and some breakfast.

As they left the dorms, they saw a man standing off to the side of the road. He was Alex, and he had weapons.

Alex only slept for an hour or two that night. With his constitution he only really needed four hours a night.

Unable to sleep, he decided to turn in his form for training weapons. His recommended weapons were two single handed double bladed battle axes, along with a very large two handed axe called a siege breaker.

Apparently, the weapon was called that because long ago a contractor had used an axe designed this way to single-handedly end a siege, by rending the gate of a castle in two with a single swing.

The axes weighed at least forty five pounds for each of the smaller and a staggering one hundred and twenty for the large axe. Even though they were blunted, these weapons were still very deadly in Alex's hands.

From the look of him, Alex was clearly not in the mood for conversation this morning. So, other than pleasantries, and a few pointed questions about the weapons, Red and Tom talked more around than to Alex.

In the afternoon Alex was partially back to his old self, but only slightly. He made a joke now and then, but the look in his eyes was not the same. It was as though now he had a goal.

In fact Alex did have a new goal. Before, he was simply happy to learn and grow with his friends. Now, things were different. He felt a pressure. It was hard to put words to it. He only knew that what he was doing was not good enough. The pace he had been living at was not fast enough. He needed to grow. He needed to be stronger, the strongest. For Eluril. For his mom.

Alex had payed attention in class before, but now he thirsted after knowledge.

This continued all week.

Red and Tom were a little worried that Alex might snap from the strain of it.

They would have been even more worried if they had known that Alex was only sleep three to four hours a night. Every night he would sleep from midnight until three or four in the morning.

After waking Alex would spend the next two and a half hours in one of three ways. He would either spend it practicing controlling his energy, spend it practicing with his new weapons, or spend it in the library studying.

Most of the time he spent it experimenting with his energy. Tuesday night Eluril had told him what she knew about his energy.

"Where I come from no one trains using pure energy, and there are no Spirit Contractors. Everyone, animal, man and even plants cultivate. Cultivation, is the process of taking in the energy of the universe, you call it mana, and making it your own. It is to rebel against nature. Cultivation is how true freedom can be achieved." Eluril had told him.

It sounded like a sales pitch. The concepts were so vague and poetic that he decided he didn't care how people of the other world cultivated. Eluril had already told him that she had no idea how humans cultivated. She only knew how her race progressed through their cultivation.

So, Alex had no choice but to stumble around in the dark and look for his own path. There was one thing that she told him that Alex liked. The name for the energy inside his body was qi.

Through experimentation, Alex found that any interior organ would take in as much energy as he could offer up. But strangely, only his interior organs worked like this. Whether it was his muscles, bones, or exterior organs (such as his eye, or skin) they all would not absorb the energy.

Alex still had not decided how to proceed with this knowledge. Eluril had told him that this was most likely enhancing his organs and changing them so that they could benefit from his cultivation. As she put it, "You are still a mortal. Not yet a cultivator. A cultivator's organs can make use of his qi and operate on a super human level." Which sounded great. But he had no idea which organ he should focus on first.

He had a feeling that each organ would give a a different, large, benefit. So, decided to put the decision off until after he spoke with the professor on Saturday. Hopefully he would have an idea by then. For now he focused on control and moving his qi around his body.

During this same time period, Red and Tom had been keeping busy learning to use their weapons as well.

Red's weapons were no surprise. With his speed and reflexes it was obvious. His weapons ended up being a six food longbow, a bandoleer of throwing knives, and two daggers. It was the standard scout weapon set, and it fit him perfectly.

Tom on the other hand was a surprise. He only had one weapon. It was a single handed mace that weighed twenty pounds. He did receive another item, but unless it was in the hands of an expert it could hardly be called a weapon. It was a large tower shield weighing over forty pounds.

The three together looked quite intimidating. All three carried their weapons at all times. Partially, because they wanted to get used to them, but mostly it was because they would take every extra moment to practice.

Saturday morning they all awoke to find a thick letter attached to their door. It wasn't only them. Every student got one.

The letter held a note from the headmaster followed by many loose pages that each contained a lot of detailed information.

The note from the headmaster was a surprise to everyone on campus.

"Students, I am happy to inform you that the administration has at long last decided on a school wide ranking system.

Enclosed are details about the ranking, possible benefits, and rules. Please be sure to read carefully.

To give a simple explanation, it is a mercenary system. You will accept jobs from the academy as a group or individuals, and completion will earn you points for the ranking, and rewards.

The rewards and points will depend on the job taken and how well it is carried out. One last detail, jobs will be separated by year.

A new list of jobs will be released every Saturday morning. All jobs will be closed by eleven fifty nine Sunday night.

Lastly, please be warned. There is no guarantee of safety or success. Please be careful."

Alex didn't have the time to read the rest of the contents of the letter. He had to meet up with professor Keller.