Chapter 61 - An upgrade

The world retained its calmness.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but I came to with my body feeling somewhat lighter than it was before.

I wondered what had changed as I looked around me and saw hunters looking around in a confused manner while my summon continued its rampage.

I observed the blue boxed panel in the corner of my eye to see if there were any changes there. Nearly everything seemed the same, with exactly one simple change that was shining blue at the bottom of the panel

[Skill Combination- Combine skills of the same rank to bring out unknown power. Compatibility is the key. Limited to skills at 100 proficiency.]

I blanked out for a second after reading the description of this newly appearing function. I then looked at the multitude of skills in my panel that had all reached 100 as I began to feel excited

I thought I had grown powerful enough, but with this, I can go even further.

I had been rushing about the entire time this past week and currently felt mentally exhausted, and I was planning to relax the next few days

I didn't get another message or voice after defeating the dragon, making me assume that the system addition of [Skill Combination] which the mysterious voice was talking about had taken a toll on it, and it would take some time before it approached me again

I was planning on slowly learning about this new function, which skills were compatible to combine, and what they become after the combination. Ideas were already mixing in my head that I couldn't wait to try

I left my Virulent Abomination to continue clearing the thousands of beasts that had yet to run away as I moved from my position in the air to heal the many injured hunters around the battlefield

I could feel the eyes of the hunter I saved watching me very closely as I moved, but I ignored it for now. I was curious about him too as he was deemed important enough by the mysterious voice to be saved, and I was even more sure of it being him after recalling one of the figures I saw in the three smaller rooms. That smirk on his face very closely resembled what I saw

Clearing the battlefield took a significant amount of time as two hours quickly passed. Hunters that were standing on opposing sides helped one another as squads were made to go clear the remaining countries that the dragon had occupied

With its death, the powerful rank A hunters could easily work together to take down the lower ranked beasts and save their people

The hunter that was watching me closely approached me as I was healing an injured soldier on the ground

"Noah Osmont, right? Thank you for saving my life."

I turned to look at the man with dark hair that had a confident smile on his face.

"Not a problem, it was something I felt obligated to do. You are?"

I was replying as I healed the hunters around us. After a certain point, they just brought more and more injured people where I was, which I found to be easier than running around looking for them myself

"Kazuhiko, or most commonly known as the Dark Sword."

The person and the face clicked as I remembered the famous hunter that stood atop everyone else in the United Federation

"The most powerful hunter in the United Federation huh? Thanks for holding down the beast until I made it in time"

He scoffed as he heard this

"Hah, what most powerful hunter. If I took that title, then what are you supposed to be?"

I smiled when he mentioned this, and Kazuhiko continued

"I admire your strength. I only heard very few things about you, but didn't think you were so overpowered to such an extent. Is it your inherent skill, or is there another secret to your strength?"

He really couldn't hide his aims as he asked this so blatantly, and I replied by telling him it was my inherent skill. His shoulders slumped for a moment before quickly coming up again as he talked to himself

"That's okay, it just means there is someone stronger than me that I can look forward to surpassing!"

The katana by his side seemed to vibrate as he said this, and I just listened while I finished healing the last hunter.

After this, Kazuhiko pulled me aside while boisterously saying that after a hard fought battle, we had to go enjoy ourselves. I was feeling exhausted and hungry after all this time and chose to go along

The Virulent Abomination had finished chasing down all nearby beasts and ripping them apart, so I unsummoned it far in the distance and watched it explode while releasing noxious gas for the last time. I wondered if I would find any compatible S rank skills in the future to combine and make this beast even stronger

High ranking hunters and officials took the lead to clear everything around the battlefield as Kazuhiko took me further inland. We bypassed the walled defenses and arrived to a large military compound not too far off from where the fighting was occuring

Kazuhiko walked in as if he owned the place and said a few things to the soldiers there, and we were soon seated in a dining area with drinks and foods being brought in every minute

An entire half a day of flying on the back of my poisonous summon and the constant fights these past weeks had exhausted me more than I thought as I enjoyed the ever so increasing feast in front of me

Foods that I've never tried before made their way into my mouth. There was a platter of something called Yakitori that I couldn't get enough of. Another one that I truly enjoyed was something that Kazuhiko called Sukiyaki, it was an enormous pot that had the softest stew of beef and vegetables

I enjoyed the food and company to say the least, listening to the boisterous hunter talk about his journey to the peak of rank A. My main focus was the food as I half heartedly listened to the stories

Kazuhiko seemed like a good guy. From the way he talked, he looked like that friend that always seemed to have a screw loose but was holding it in and staying sane. He always took the initiative to talk and ask me questions, making it his goal to try and understand everything about me

Talking to him gave me a reminder of just how drastically my life had changed from just a few weeks ago

When a plate of food called Takoyaki came, my entire attention was stolen away as I found myself devouring the round balls filled with octupus and I don't know what else in a blink and calling out to the soldier delivering the plates to bring out even more of them

The day passed like this as I enjoyed food I hadn't had before.