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"I asked you. What\'s wrong with my skin?!"

Now it\'s not just agitation anymore, there was also anger and dejection.

Does this hermit really have that skin color? I know I only tried to guess. But to get the correct answer… luck?

Why is an Anzean here? No, in the first place, why didn\'t he attack me immediately? Instead of attacking, he talked to me and asked for my purpose. In fact, I could\'ve died if he shot that gun right after appearing in front of me.

I couldn\'t say I was careless. I really didn\'t see him coming despite my enhanced intuition and my Adaptability which could detect danger. It\'s like I was outclassed by him in Sneak levels.

"I actually just made a guess. But if you asked what\'s wrong about it. I only know that this world was being attacked by an Alien Civilization with dark green skin. As to my interaction with them, I was being chased by them yesterday but I managed to shake them off."

If my guess is correct, this one didn\'t even know that he\'s an Anzean. How is that even possible?

"…Alien Civilization? Am I not from this world?"

"Don\'t ask me. I still haven\'t seen you due to this gun in front of my face. Do you not know your own origin?"

That doubt in the Hermit\'s voice sounded real. Was that why the others always attack him? When they saw that dark green skin, they determined that he\'s an Anzean. Possible. Maybe I could learn something from this guy. Apart from pointing that gun at me, he didn\'t have any hostility. He just really wanted to be left alone.

"No… I was born and raised here at this land."

"You\'re raised here? Where are your parents?"

"Dead."

"I see. I\'m sorry for your loss. But as per my experience with you. You\'re not actually violent. If you don\'t want me here then I will leave, just tell me one thing… what happened to the ethnic tribes?"

They\'re one of the reasons why I went here and Nysia recommended for me to do my attempt at Transcendence here, if I leave, I only have more than a day left to find a hidden place like this.

The trees here even if they\'re already scorched were all at least 30 meters, the Door of Transcendence both appeared at that height during Yumiko and Yuko\'s Transcendence. That\'s also probably how it happened for Nysia.

"Dead."

"Huh?"

"Mutant Beasts. They got strong enough to overwhelm them. Because of my skin color, they loathed me and never asked for my help."

"I see. Thank you for answering. I\'ll turn around and leave now. That\'s what you want, right?"

I don\'t know if what he said is real. I guess I\'ll just have to make sure not to alarm him when I ventured further to confirm his claim.

He\'s an Anzean as he claimed to be, though he\'s not as violent as one would expect of an enemy, I couldn\'t just take all his words at face value.

"Yes."

After 30 minutes of walking back from the way I came from, the sense of danger on the back of my head vanished.

That Hermit finally put away his gun.

A few seconds later, I heard the sound of his footsteps when he acted as if he was going back. He probably thought I wouldn\'t notice but he only maintained a certain distance and hid to observe me.

I\'ll play his game then.

Having decided that, I made sure not to lose him from my range of detection.

To not let him be suspicious, I continued walking for another 30 minutes straight outward the Scorched Forest.

Like I thought, he continued following me.

I acted as if I looked back to see if he was still behind me and sighed in relief.

Without letting him know I was aware of his presence, I changed my direction to test him. To the opposite direction from where we came from.

I don\'t need to be in conflict with someone without hostility against me.

However, that Hermit was certainly curious about me or just wanted to make sure I would really leave like I told him.

Soon enough, the former was proven to be the answer, he\'s still behind me without trying to expose himself…

Is it because of what I said? I don\'t know.

In any case, I continued to walk further in and he continued following.

Along the way, I met with the Mutant Beasts Nysia mentioned through them and I confirmed that it\'s not as weak as she described. Like that Hermit said, they evolved and have gotten stronger.

The first Mutant Beast I encountered was a lamia-like beast, instead of a human upper body, it has a wolf head and more importantly, its skin was completely black. Like scorched black. The same as the trees and the ground in this place. If it didn\'t move and exuded its killing intent, I wouldn\'t notice it.

Before it could even approach me, I swiftly killed it without batting an eye. It\'s anticlimactic but apart from a Transcendent or that Hermit\'s gun, nothing could threaten me now.

From how hard it was for my sword to stab it, I estimated that it was at least in the middle of Rank 4 Mortal, a far cry from the information Nysia mentioned, a Silver-rank or Rank 2 Mortal.

If I factor the time from when she was heer, it wasn\'t impossible for them to evolve their strength since everything was able to naturally absorb the Meta Energy, albeit it differs from person to person.

Ah. About my Sword Mastery, it was stuck at 99%. I don\'t know what happened to it but it already reached 99% when I knocked down the ice-blue Metagen of one of the triplets back then. After that, it never gained any experience again when I fought the other two.

Am I missing something?

As I continued to venture further inside, the Mutant Beasts gradually grew stronger as if I was just at the outskirts earlier and I\'m approaching the center where it was occupied by the King of these Mutant Beasts.

In this forgotten land that was away from the advanced technology of this world, for something like these Mutant Beasts to exist… Am I discovering the early traces of another catastrophe that would soon befall this world?

If we could become Transcendent, it\'s not wrong to believe that even these Mutant Beasts could do that as well.

Wait. I just thought of a possibility.

"I know you\'re following me since earlier. As you can see, I am confirming what you told me."

I said without looking at the direction of the hidden Hermit.

He probably deliberated if he would show himself as it took him a minute before he showed himself.

"I thought you\'re going back. Did you lie to me?"

"Look. I already told you my reason. I couldn\'t just believe someone who pointed a gun at my face, could I?"

Still without any hostility.

When I noticed that, I turned around and finally saw the Hermit that suddenly showed up and has been following me.

Dark green skin, the feelers on the head.

Other than that… long white hair? Short ears?

And the face that was half-covered by a black cloak as dark as the surroundings is without a doubt from a female.

The voice was being muffled by that cloth which made it hard for me to determine the gender earlier.

After her head, my eyes naturally travelled down, there was that mounds on the chest and also a figure that could rival Nysia\'s.

Huh?… a female Anzean? No. Even if a female Anzean looked too different from its male counterpart, this Hermit\'s eyes were that of a Human. Apart from her dark green skin and that shorter than average feelers, she\'s certainly a human.

A hybrid? A half-human, half-anzean?

"That judging eyes…"

While I was busy checking her out, she muttered something which was immediately followed by her decisive action.

The gun on her hand that my eyes haven\'t reached yet was once again aimed at me and this time, the Hermit pulled the trigger!

Since there\'s a distance between us, I had the chance to dodge.

Using Flash Steps, I sidestepped to dodge that destructive force that was unleashed by her gun.

I didn\'t check the damage it did as I immediately followed the Flash Steps by Elusive Steps to arrive next to her.

"Wha-?!"

This time, before she could even react, I swiftly took her down and aimed my sword at her neck while using my knee to keep her in place.

My foot immediately kicked the gun away from her hand. Though the dangerous feeling from it was already gone, I made sure that she wouldn\'t be able to fight back.

Judging from the slow reaction and the pressure her body was exuding, she\'s only a Rank 4 Mortal.

How could that gun be that destructive when she\'s this weak?

"Why did you pull the trigger?"

"You\'re just the same as the others! As soon as they saw me, they would only be momentarily surprised before attacking me without any explanation, taking back the words they said!"

I see. If I was a denizen of this world, I might do the same thing as they did.

"Did you think I would do the same and attack you? This is self-defense, you attacked me and I retaliated. Honestly, I can kill you now and be done with this but I\'m curious about you. About your origin. Also about these Mutant Beasts and the ethnic tribes. You lied to me. They\'re still alive, right?"

With my sword touching her neck that only needed a little push to slit her neck cleanly or behead her, I told her my suspicions.

She tried to resist at first but her strength was proven insufficient to take my knee off her. After a few tries, she gave up and closed her eyes before nodding slowly on my question.

If my guess is correct that gun and the increase of the Mutant Beasts strength is because of her. But I can\'t really be sure without her confession.