CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 52.5 THE ANOMALY (SUPPLEMENT)

Stan Sol was a Hunter. His family, ancient and mysterious, had a concept of a Hunter that wasn’t quite what Igor understood. The ancient Hunters had mastered certain obscure skills and secret techniques. Although the rise of Hunters in recent years had caused these ancient Hunters to be gradually forgotten by the world, it was undeniable that they still possessed the Yowein Continent’s most detailed hunting resources.

The hunting resources possessed by the ancient Hunters were passed down solely through family tradition. Much like the older generations of the Sol Family who placed great importance on bloodline, they regarded these skills and knowledge as family treasures. No one outside their own family members could ever hope to access these detailed records.

Hunters, however, were different. Any apprentice whose Spirit Sensing was sufficient to unlock the Secret Sensing Skills could become a Hunter through training. The emergence of these Hunters was thanks to Scholars. The Scholars’ exploration of all manner of things had stripped many ancient professions of their mystery. Hidden secrets, after being analyzed and calculated by Scholars, gradually transformed into principles that could be written down. These principles gave literate commoners a chance to approach these mysteries and even diminished the perceived stature of legendary Soldiers. The esteemed position of Scholars on the Yowein Continent was inextricably linked to the appearance of these principles.

However, the Sol Family’s traditional legacy was not based on principles calculated by Scholars. It lacked detailed explanations or calculations; it simply stated the results and methods.

For example, concerning the Zhì Rou Grass Stan had captured, the family legacy only detailed its characteristics and necessary precautions.

As for why consuming Zhì Rou Grass required exposure to sunlight to dissipate the resulting heat, the Sol Family’s records contained no detailed explanation.

Therefore, Stan could not answer Igor’s question.

Stan tugged the Binding Beast Rope. The issue with the Zhì Rou Grass had clearly affected their progress somewhat. All morning, the boy named Igor had talked... a lot, while the Alien Species had been surprisingly quiet.

"These birds all seem to look the same," Igor remarked. No longer fixated on the Zhì Rou Grass, his attention had been captured by a new observation.

Igor noticed that while the number of birds had increased recently, they all looked identical: short, round bodies covered in mottled grey and white feathers, flitting about in the sky and squawking.

"Not just. Birds. Also. Others." Stan’s range of observation was much broader than Igor’s. Besides the sparrows in the sky, he had also noticed well-hidden field mice, wild rabbits, and even ants scurrying over bushes and rocks.

"Uh, I can only see these birds, huh." After hearing Stan, Igor instantly felt he had missed a lot.

"Those things are not birds," Kadi, the usually quiet monster, suddenly stated.

"Huh?"

"Bird. Shell. Human. Scent," Stan replied to Igor’s thoroughly puzzled expression.

"What do you mean? Bird’s body? Human scent?" Igor still couldn’t understand, even though he had a rudimentary knowledge of a Hunter’s Secret Sensing Skills.

"You people would call these things Exchange Beasts, I suppose," Kadi added.

"Exchange Beasts!" Igor’s heart lurched. Exchange Beasts are rare, seldom seen. For so many to suddenly appear on the mountain, and in such tiny forms... it must correspond to an immense amount of Spirit Power!

What perplexed Igor was why, out of the three of them, only he hadn’t sensed anything abnormal about the birds. His reaction time was incredibly slow.

Stan is a Hunter, so it’s not surprising he could sense the birds’ abnormality, Igor thought. But Kadi sensing it too... that, I don’t quite get.

After mulling it over, Igor finally arrived at an answer: Kadi was a monster, after all.

A monster’s senses are probably different from a human’s...

In reality, Kadi the monster hadn’t identified the birds as Exchange Beasts by sensing Spirit Power. He felt something was amiss because he knew Dawn Peak of Guru Mountain thoroughly. His understanding was like knowing how to walk or eat—he could do it with his eyes closed, always knowing the next step.

"This shouldn’t be," Kadi mumbled, so quietly that only he could hear.

"Are all these birds flying past really Exchange Beasts? Isn’t it possible that at least one of them isn’t?" Igor voiced a new doubt.

"No. Chance." Stan’s reply was blunt and decisive, leaving Igor no shred of lingering hope.

"Why? How can you be so sure?"

"This mountain. Strange. So far. I haven’t sensed. Any presence."

Stan’s reply only deepened Igor’s confusion. It felt as if he had gone from searching for an oasis in a desert to suddenly having to find a single grain of sand.

This mountain... is it really that strange? Igor was already frustrated enough with his task of finding an oasis; now he suddenly had to search for a grain of sand. It feels like the whole world is changing, and I can’t sense any of it.

"Not strange. Just a bit... special compared to other places, that’s all," Kadi interjected again.

"Special in what way?"

"Haven’t you noticed? Dawn Peak has bird calls and animal cries, but no actual traces of these animals."

Igor, of course, hadn’t noticed this point Kadi mentioned. If he had, he wouldn’t have gone out with Liko that night to catch wild rabbits, let alone set those few crude traps himself yesterday.

"Why is it like this? How can there not be a single trace of any animal?" Igor’s questions kept piling up; new ones arose before the old ones could fade.

"That... who knows." Kadi’s reply was direct. Indeed, no one knew why Dawn Peak had no animal traces. "Anyway, here at night, you don’t need to guard against any wild beasts. There’s no need to, and it’s not necessary, because Dawn Peak simply can’t have any animal traces."

"Ah, so that’s how you decided all these birds were Exchange Beasts?" One of my questions seems to be getting a little clearer, Igor thought.

"Mhm."

"Not through Spirit Sensing?" Igor, when persistent, could be quite formidable.

"Your so-called Spirit Power... I don’t really understand it," Kadi admitted openly. Though his own inner doubts hadn’t vanished, they had clearly lessened.

Listening to the conversation between the two behind him, Stan began to understand more about the peculiar nature of Dawn Peak.

Since Dawn Peak has no animal traces, finding a living person here should be much easier, Stan mused. This information helped him eliminate many unnecessary worries in the vast mountains. He no longer needed to consider trivialities like whether a Spirit he sensed might have been dragged into a cave by some beast.

However, Stan didn’t know that Kadi’s confusion stemmed from an entirely different matter.

From Kadi’s perspective, Exchange Beasts moving back and forth on the mountain wasn’t strange. What was strange was that such a large number of them hadn’t attracted the attention of Kevin and those other old-timers.

Logically, the traps on Dawn Peak should make it impossible for these Exchange Beasts to come and go so openly.