PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Desmond was tempted to ask Revna for her opinion but upon further thought, he concluded that the girl probably wouldn’t follow the conversation.

Desmond still remembered the trouble he had to go through and how expensive it was to get multiple innate ability awakening potions from the association since they were such a rare commodity.

Still the effects were top-notch, in addition to healing all the hidden wounds on the girls’ bodies and helping to slightly improve their physiques, all the girls awakened some kind of ability; which by the standards of this world made them Espers.

Kira and Yulei obtained abilities related to aura, granting them some kind of strengthening ability making them ideal candidates to become martial artists with great combat power.

The youngest of the group, Sara obtained an ability that gave her enormous analytical capacity, learning capacity, and superior memory, making her an excellent prospect for intelligence agent; Desmond suspected that her ability was related to the Arcana although he had no way of verifying it.

Natalie on the other hand with her succubus body and her angelic face awakened a psychic ability related to the Arcana that allowed her to turn her into a human lie detector, it also gave her the ability to vaguely read the minds of other people and even influence very lightly in people thoughts; Desmond believed that she would make an excellent investigator and interrogator.

Tania’s ability the older sister of the group was simpler, she awakened the ability to control vitality, and she had a natural ability when it came to using that mana to heal others.

Last but not least there was Revna who awakened a rather peculiar ability, Desmond wasn’t sure which system it belongs to as it gave the impression that it was an arcana based ability but also mana based one; Similar to Desmond’s , Revna’s ability was difficult to classify though she had a strong affinity for the aura.

.....

Desmond guessed that the Nordic blood flowing through her veins was what gave her a penchant for following the path of the warrior though this seemed somewhat ironic given that she gained an ability much more inclined to the path of assassins.

With the ability to blend into shadows and even give these a certain corporeal quality, Revna would be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Beyond the abilities that the girls awakened, what amazed Desmond the most was their reaction after they all awakened their abilities, they all looked at him with an almost fanatical adoration shining in their eyes as they thank him over and over again.

In the case of Revna, she went a step further and with the skill of a poet exclaimed: “Master, from this day forward I will be your shadow, always by your side, always faithful, always ready to protect and serve you, so that you do not have to get your hands dirty, I will be the dagger that hides behind your back when you smile, I will brandish your darkness and like my name I will be a raven of ill omen for your enemies”

Her voice was firm and determined, the brightness of fanaticism and obsession filled her gaze, her eyes like maelstroms of darkness that threatened to consume everything that tried to get in her way to fulfill her oath; Desmond swore he saw a hint of madness shine through her for a moment.

Just remembering that oath was enough to make Desmond shiver, he really didn’t know how to deal with that woman, it’s not like he could punish her for being too faithful to him or adoring him too much; it just wasn’t reasonable.

Desmond even thought that Revna’s strange mentality might cause her to have hostility towards Claire or Sasha but it turned out not to be the case, although there was a certain possessiveness in Revna’s mind towards Desmond she seemed to see his loved ones as an extension of himself so her loyalty extended in a certain way to Claire and Sasha.

Speaking of the pair of girls, there they were waiting for him at the door of a quaint-looking restaurant, waving at the girls the trio entered the restaurant whose sign had the word “Garden” written in small tavern-style metal.

Following the atmosphere of a tavern in fantasy literature, the atmosphere inside the restaurant was extremely lively, with constantly flowing mugs of beer and hot food served at every turn.

Two waitresses with dark hair and a slender figure moved around the place serving everyone with a fresh and energetic smile; these girls were none other than Kira and Yulei.

Hiding most of her small but sensuous figure behind the cash register was Natalie, who collected a bill with a friendly smile.

Through a large window overlooking the kitchen one could see the back of a blonde-haired woman with great curves who was working quickly in the kitchen, she was Tania who was helped to a lesser extent by Sara whose androphobia was still too strong for her to work elsewhere in the restaurant.

When one looked at the whole scene with the four beauties in full view, one felt like being in a garden filled with flowers of various shapes and colors each with its own fragrance and unique appeal; hence the name Garden was given to the restaurant.

Unlike when Desmond found them, all the girls looked a hundred times more beautiful and healthy now, especially more lively; a small side effect of the training and resources Desmond put into them, something that was quite well received by the girls.

Due to the arrival of winter military activities greatly decreased and as was the tradition for three years, those officers who participated in the autumn′s training courses could take some extra time off while those officers who did not participate would be busy training the common soldiers.

Ironically, instead of resting, Desmond had worked more in these last two months than anyone could have imagined since he dedicated almost every second of the day to training the six girls.

Desmond’s military squad members always used to say that training with him was like being in hell... they just had no idea, instead of training the girls it seemed like Desmond was torturing them, but none of them complained or tried to quit; not after Desmond gave them the power he promised them.

Beyond that point Desmond could absolutely ask the girls for anything and they would do it, their loyalty was practically blind, so supported by a constant supply of potions made by Sasha and the pills bought by Desmond at the auction of the martial sovereign world; Desmond had turned the six girls into a force to be reckoned with in just two months.

Desmond had even gone so far as to use the few credits he had in his hunter’s book to buy all sorts of training manuals and skill manuals for the girls.

And though Desmond had gotten a pretty satisfying paycheck after his last mission, his current poverty was worth shedding tears for it.

In a way, due to how expensive resources were for Arcanists like Claire and the inherent weaknesses of Arcanists, the girls in were stronger than her.

Of course, Claire was making leaps and bounds in mastering her telekinesis so her talent would win out in the end since the girls in would no longer be able to enjoy so many resources that would improve their strength so drastically.

It was just as Revna had said, Desmond had invested a damn fortune in the girls by turning the six girls into low-level one-star class powerhouses.

Reaching that level of strength in the short time of two months was ridiculous, even Desmond took a month to reach that level and he was already a monster among monsters, of course, the difference lies in the enormous amount of resources that the girls consume and the fact that these resources were specially designed to strengthen the weakest.

Not to mention the fact that the girls’ current strength was quite unstable due to the constant consumption of resources and it would be months before their strength even stabilized.

All details aside, at this point even with their short training time, the girls were already quite a sharp dagger hidden in the dark waiting for Desmond to give an order to fulfill his will.

But Desmond was waiting, even with the hellish training the girls had undergone, they were still a couple of steps away from meeting Desmond’s standards; Pretty high standards considering he was comparing them to a special forces squad.

Perhaps the only exception to the rule was Revna who demonstrated superior strength to her companions, she had a tremendous affinity for assassination and stealth type martial techniques that made a perfect match with her innate ability; combined with her intellect second only to Sara’s, Revna was already a weapon ready for Desmond to use.

Probably the only complaint Desmond had about Revna was that she used to spend most of the day in her shadow spending only a few moments of the day with the rest of the girls in .

So unlike the rest of the girls who got along pretty well with Claire and Sasha as soon as these two started frequenting the restaurant; Revna had only seen the girls from within his shadow.