Chapter 84: Half the World Covered with Darkness.
The first thing Levi sees when opening his eyes is darkness. After a while, his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and he could see more clearly. It seems like he transmigrates to this body.
"Am I human?" Levi gazes at his hairy primate hand and examines his large body. He is calm and already prepared mentally. Expectations can lead to disappointment; it’s better to go with the flow.
He is in a dark forest, and the weird thing is that the night sky doesn’t have a star or moon. It’s like the sky is blanketed by a dark membrane.
While he is thinking, information is transmitted into his brain. After a short while, he finally knows where this place is.
In the twilight world, half of the planet is covered in darkness, while the other half has a night cycle. Because of that, humans lived in areas that had daylight, and the darkness caused the creatures to mutate and become stronger. The humans called them monsters of darkness, or M.O.D.
Fortunately, M.O.D. can’t live in sunlight. However, they can hide in dark places, like a dark sewer or abandoned buildings, and come out at night to attack humans.
"It looks like I am the monster of darkness."
Levi's mission is going to be harder to complete. Since he needs to create the greatest hero, he can’t train the monster to be the hero. Because of that, he needs to go to the human settlement to gather more information about this world.
"Grrrrr!" Several black leopards with glowing red eyes come out of the dark woods and surround Levi.
"Now let's test this boy." Levi, seeing that, looks calm and stands up. His black-fur primate body is three meters tall and has a long arm.
The black leopards pounce at the large primate, and Levi can feel that their bodies are strong at the same time his mana energy is returning. However, at this speed, it will take time to fully restore his power.
One of the nearest black leopards opens his mouth wide to bite Levi. But when a fist hit the leopard's head, a cracking sound could be heard, causing the leopard to fly away and stop moving after hitting the ground.
The other black leopards ignored their comrade's death and continued to attack. Levi punches and kicks the incoming enemy.
Nevertheless, Levi can’t block all the attacks. Soon there will be a bloody scratch and bite on his body and limbs.
The black leopards in this world are stronger and faster than normal leopards. He notices that his injury is slowly healing. But he is feeling hungry; maybe the healing process requires nutrients from the body. Suddenly, he had an idea of how to replace it with mana energy.
"It’s possible." Soon his hunger stops, and the mana begins healing his injury.
Levi grinned, but the black leopard misunderstood his expression and became afraid. The leopards, seeing that their attack couldn’t bring down the primate, fled into the woods, leaving the dead black leopard behind.
"I am hungry." Levi, seeing the carcass, begins to dismantle the black leopard. Inside one of the carcasses, he found a dark, round core. Sensing energy inside, he consumes it and can feel his mana increasing.
It looks like consuming the round core can help restore his energy. Too bad he only found one. He soon cooks the carcasses and eats them. Other than satisfying his hunger, there are no other effects.
Levi explores the dark forest and fights any creature that tries to kill him.
-
A few months later, Levi finally arrives at the border of darkness and light. The light from the other side doesn’t enter the darkness, and vice versa. It’s like two different worlds, but he knows the balance will collapse once the night comes.
Levi moves his body near the boundary and raises his arm to enter the light. His strong hand, when touched by the sunlight, turns red, and his fur is burned, although there is no fire smoke coming out of his hand.
Feeling the extreme pain, he quickly pulls his hand out of the light, and his hand starts to heal itself.
For a few seconds, and my hand is already blistering." Levi needs another way to gather information. He is sure that humans will enter the dark world. Other than the M.O.D. energy core, there are plants and materials that Levi found valuable.
He doesn’t believe that humans in this world don’t have any greed.
-
Morning, Plesa City.
Darkness Hunter Association People wearing bulletproof vests are checking their firearms.
"Okay everyone, it’s like usual since we can’t use communication devices inside the dark territory. Use your flare in an emergency or return to the first checkpoint if you get lost, and don’t you dare steal the M.O.D. core energy if you find it!"
"If you meet Rank 2 M.O.D., wait for others to gather before taking action." The new hunter, especially after killing rank 1 M.O.D., gets overconfident and wants to kill rank 2 alone. But ended up in the M.O.D. stomach.
Before becoming a hunter, the new recruit is required to take a test to identify M.O.D. Only by passing the test can they be trained to hunt.
The M.O.D. is categorized into ranks 1, 2, and 3. Rank 1 is the weakest, while rank 2 requires a group of hunters. For rank 3, a normal hunter can’t defeat them; it’s better to run away. Even the M.O.D. fusion hunter can die.
After long research, the scientists found out that the energy coming from the M.O.D. core energy is clean energy and has more power than solar and hydro energy. Another benefit of M.O.D. core energy is that it can help people boost their body strength, speed, or defense, depending on the M.O.D. type.
However, not all humans are compatible enough to fuse their bodies with the M.O.D. core energy. Although the M.O.D. is dangerous, with the high pay, most people are willing to take the job to become hunters.
"How is your fusion?"
I failed, but I will save money for the next one."
"I agreed." A hunter who had no M.O.D. fusion casualty is higher compared to the hunter who had one.
"When are you going to fuse?"
"I am saving money to go to the elite M.O.D. fusion center."
"What can you afford?"
"You should know they had the best doctor and equipment for the fusion; the chance to succeed is higher."
"Make sure you don’t take a loan. My friend, in the end, needs to work for the guild like a slave. I'd rather stay in the Darkness Hunter Association." The Darkness Hunter Association was created by the government and is a place normal humans can enter to become darkness hunters. Compared to the guild that required its members to have one M.O.D. fusion,
Humans can get as much M.O.D. fusion as they want as long as they have money and M.O.D. core energy. But until now, the limit was three.
Although the risk of dying has lessened thanks to the technology, it’s better to get only one M.O.D. fusion. Because there will be a conflict between M.O.D. and fusion that can cause death.
Half an hour later, armored trucks and trucks come out of the city, heading to the dark territory border. When they arrive, they can see the dark membrane separating the two worlds.
The people come out of their vehicles and wear night vision goggles.
The new hunter is cautious, while the experienced hunter enters without fear. They know that M.O.D. doesn’t go near the border because of the sunlight, except at night.
Once they enter, it’s like a different world; they can see a dense, dark forest.
The vegetation here, even without sunlight, grew lush because it had adapted to living in the darkness. Not only that, but the darkness in this place had some properties that made anything that lived here strong.
In the past, they tried to establish a human settlement here but failed. The M.O.D. kept attacking until their defense was breached; at that time, only a dozen survivors managed to escape. The M.O.D. destroyed the road path, railroad, and airport, preventing people from rescuing and escaping from the dark territory.
"Be careful; some of the plants have turned to M.O.D." The leader of the hunt is a burly man holding an assault rifle.
Following the hunters are porters, whose job it is to carry the materials. Since most of the good stuff near the border has been taken, they need to go deeper.
An hour later. They have already arrived at their location.
"Set up the camp." The burly hunter's order, now they will make this area their base while they send a team to search for valuable resources and hunt down the monster of darkness.
When the camp and wire barricade are already set. The burly hunter pointed at map and begins to talk about their mission and what their job is. They are not the only team inside the dark territory to avoid conflict; each of them has been assigned a designated area.
Nevertheless, their place is safer compared to the guilds that are deep in the dark territory, and although the reward is higher, the risk of the whole team getting wiped out is high.
On the tree branch, a bird with a small hole in its chest is observing them.
