PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

At first, Desmond thought that, given how illustrious Lilith had been in her time, she should appear in all the history books. Lilith’s downfall apparently was later covered up or disguised as something else. Yet, Desmond believed that, as one of the progenitors of the most powerful race in this world, it was only fitting that she would still be remembered.

One can imagine Desmond’s surprise to discover that no matter how hard he tried, Lilith’s name was nowhere to be found. If that were all, Desmond would still understand, given the power of those who planned Lilith’s downfall; erasing the woman from history didn’t seem impossible, but that wasn’t all they did.

Although Nicolai’s memories weren’t the most useful information source, some details were still pretty obvious. As fragmented and scattered as Nicolai’s memories were, it was impossible not to learn a thing or two. Among the things, Desmond learned was about the power level of this world.

To put it bluntly, the Lilith that appeared in Nicolai’s memories was insanely powerful. By Desmond’s conservative estimate, she should be able to wipe an entire country off the map in a single move. Although it was hard to estimate how true this was due to how subjective everything seemed when viewed from Nicolai’s point of view, the truth was that Lilith should still be absurdly strong.

This was where things got weird from Desmond’s point of view. He had to mention that even if Lilith was the most powerful of the progenitors, the gap was not insurmountable, which was proven by her eventual defeat. However, from the little that Desmond had researched on this world, beings this powerful did not currently exist. In fact, they never existed.

To Desmond, this could only mean one of two things: either Nicolai’s memories were wrong, or someone buried this world’s past along with Lilith’s name. Then Desmond’s mind wandered back to the unholy presence that filled every inch of this world, that feeling of decay.

This might be an unsubstantiated conclusion on Desmond’s part, but he believed that this strange scent in the air had something to do with all of this. The reason was quite simple: no matter what it was, this essence seemed to have long since corroded the mana, aura, and arcana in the air.

Whatever that scent was, Desmond knew it couldn’t be good. Then Desmond had an idea. What if everyone in this world had been corroded by that airborne essence? Although Desmond might be ignorant of the exact nature of that essence, he was very clear on one thing, that thing was not something natural.

.....

Whatever the case, Desmond believed that should somehow be related to the absence of beings as powerful as Lilith. It makes sense that such beings could no longer be born in a world corroded by an alien force.

None of that was Desmond’s business, though, at least not something he’d need to investigate. What Desmond did discover was the location of the families that participated in Lilith’s downfall. The five noble families still existed within the city, believing there was no need to change their names to hide since everyone who knew that lost story had died.

The Lupan family is a dignified clan of werewolves, mighty warriors, and hunters. Among the five main races of this world, their physical power was the most notorious, as well as their regenerative ability. Although, if one asked Desmond what he thought of them, he would say they were nothing more than a bunch of rabid dogs. They spent half their time fornicating like animals in heat and the other half viciously tearing others to pieces for fun.

The Hearth family is a family of succubus and incubus, dangerous sexual predators with seduction and mind control abilities, as well as powerful abilities related to mental and spiritual attacks. They were a clan that was difficult to deal with if you were hostile to them but easy to get along with if you were willing to spend time in bed with them. However, the latter could also end in an early death.

The Tremor family, the family to which that seductive and lustful spider woman Desmond met on his first day in the city, Araksia, belonged. The half-spider clan was, to some extent, more deadly and dangerous hunters than the werewolves. Unlike the ferocious werewolves of the Lupan Clan, the Tremor Clan preferred ambushes and traps. They were known for their stealth and incredibly difficult-to-destroy spider silk. Their venom was also said to be absurdly deadly, though that seemed to be more rumor than anything else.

The Licht family from the description that Desmond had obtained for them, one would think that they were some kind of zombie or living skeleton, but that idea was wrong. The special ability of the Licht clan gave them the power to manipulate their own bones to use them as powerful weapons or armor, which is why most of its members were always covered in an exoskeleton. From the information Desmond gathered, they are the most discreet of the five families. Not much is known about their abilities and specialties other than that you should never mess with them.

As always, the best came last. The last of the five families was none other than Nicolai’s family, the Darkblood family. With strength, speed, regeneration, stealth, and even mind manipulation, as well as some powers related to blood manipulation, the Darkblood family had it all. However, the Darkblood clan was your typical jack-of-all-trades master of none.

Nicolai’s case was very special, and Desmond now knew exactly why. Aside from spending the last three days researching Lilith and those who destroyed her, Desmond had been experimenting with his new powers. That was how he understood what made Nicolai so special.

To put it in simple terms, Nicolai’s mutation deprived him of stealth, mental and spiritual powers, and the blood manipulation traditionally used by his clan. In turn, Nicolai’s other aspects were maximized.

According to Nicolai’s memories, in his prime, his strength, speed, and regeneration were far superior to that of any werewolf. With his physical power alone, Nicolai could have run rampant for a long time, but that was far from all he had; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so special. What really made Nicolai, and ultimately Lilith, so special was his special blood manipulation ability.

Unfortunately, Desmond still needed to experiment with said ability. Although powerful, Nicolai’s special ability had a rather troublesome and demanding prerequisite; Desmond needed blood and lots of it. To make matters worse, the blood couldn’t be from just anyone. The way the skill worked, the more unique and powerful the source of the blood, the better the skill would work.

That way, even if Desmond drank the blood of a million normal people, he wouldn’t get anything out of it, aside from quenching his thirst, of course. On top of that, the ability had another condition, although this one Desmond found more reasonable.

In essence, Desmond had to avoid taking more than he could handle, put another way, the ability was limited by Desmond’s actual strength. That way, even if Desmond somehow finds the blood of a fucking god, the only thing that would happen if Desmond tried to use it is that he would burn to death.

Regardless of his findings, Desmond now had two goals in mind. The first was to find a reliable blood source, preferably someone with a powerful lineage. Desmond’s second goal was to find a way to rub shoulders with the five noble families.

After all, though the five clans had dwindled compared to his old glory days, Desmond was far from being able to fight openly with any of them. Less than a day after he arrived in this world, Desmond saw one of the Licht clan’s experts go on a rampage in the city for no apparent reason. According to Desmond’s observations, that was a three-star class expert.

Given how his last encounter with a three-star class expert ended, Desmond preferred not to look for his own death. Desmond didn’t doubt for a second that the rest of the clans would also have three-star class experts.

The only thing that left Desmond somewhat defenseless was that that expert from the Licht clan was actually looking for him, or rather the heir of Nicolai’s blood. Desmond found out about this when he discovered that the expert had been asking questions about new people in town. Given the timing, Desmond was unwilling to believe this was a coincidence.

Now, if Desmond wanted to associate with the five noble families, he would have to be careful not to have his identity exposed. This was difficult since he wasn’t an actual resident of this world, so his lack of background would give him away immediately.

Fortunately, Desmond had a plan that would help him achieve not only his goal of associating with the five noble clans but also help him ensure a stable supply of blood.

As he walked towards an elegant but gloomy mansion with a black widow as its emblem, Desmond couldn’t help but mutter. “I would really prefer not to have to resort to her.”