"Expected you to be in a near death state," said Syam. "But you managed it without suffering a scratch."
"It was a novice. Entitled in its home and hard ever fought with a human or anyone who can use tactics or brains," said Ajax in an attempt underplay his tactics.
"It is inexperienced and had probably never thought that a weaker being can defeat a strong one. It is habit quite prevalent in most," said Syam as he moved towards the beast. "But not you. I like it."
"Well, you know who I am. Had some experience. Almost everyone, I had to face were stronger," answered Ajax shrugging his shoulders with a smile on his face.
"Haha," said Syam. "I am liking you better by the minute. I am going to immediately register you in my team."
"You can't boss. He didn't reach the knight stage yet," came a voice from outside.
"Ok, get to the knight stage as fast as possible. With your strength, I am sure a few weeks would be enough," said Syam looking at Ajax.
"It won't be as fast as you expect. He is a variant who just got the corresponding cultivation technique. Even if he was once, at the knight stage. It would take a few months for it to happen due the change," said the man again.
"The pessimist dampening my mood is called Dean Jenkins, my second in command," said Syam pointing to him.
"Dean why don't you go take back your knives instead of yelling from outside," replied Syam.
"Oh course! Like I would forget my blades," said Dean as he walked. He was still covered completely by the black suit. He quickly picked up the one on the ground and then pull out the other from the golden eater's head.
As he pulled it out orange gold blood leaked out of the wound. He used the same knife and started to make quick cuts in the beast till he found the core of the golden eater.
"Forget about recruitment for now," said Dean. "Ajax come get the core. This is the reward promised to you."
"Yes, take the core, the rest of the beast goes to us," said Syam nodding his head.
As Ajax came to take the core, the blood of the beast spilled on to his hands. Seeing the golden orange blood on the core and his hands, he felt a sudden urge to use try the third technique, blood absorb which he had been given. He was sure that using the blood would allow him to progress faster.
"Can I take the blood too?" asked Ajax looking back at Syam and Dean.
"You want to practice alchemy? Only after knight stage can it be of use to you," said Dean looking at him sceptically.
"No, it is my attribute, I think I can absorb and refine it to increase by cultivation faster," said Ajax. With them already knowing his identity, he didn't consider it essential to keep it a secret from them.
"Well, I can use fire attributed mana stones. It might work for him," said Syam shrugging. "Consider it an advanced gift for joining my team."
"Thanks," said Ajax as he pocketed the core.
"Don't bother collecting it, I will have it delivered to you," said Dean.
"Thanks," said Ajax nodding his head. "What do I do with the core though?"
"Give that to me for now," said Dean chuckling as he took it back from Ajax. "I will help you get in contact with a good blacksmith to refine it into a weapon after you become a knight."
"Ok, what now then?" asked Ajax. He kind of felt like he had been cheated. Thought, he was promised rewards for his effort in entertaining them, none could be used now.
"Now, you sleep," said Syam and before Ajax could say no, he felt some liquid fall on his neck after which he lost consciousness.
"You know that those knockout drops are not to be used on fellow guards, right?" asked Dean.
"Those are more of guidelines. The faster you understand that the faster you promote to a captain of a team," said Syam waving his right hand offhandedly as he supported the falling figure of Ajax. "Now, be a good fella and come to Krev's office after you place him back at his quarters."
Shaking his head, Dean took Ajax unconscious body and after about ten minutes, he found himself in front of Krev standing beside Syam.
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"So, is he a fit?" asked Krev looking at Syam.
"He is intelligent enough and has good enough mindset. A couple of missions, I think he would be a typical hunter. I personally want him on my team," said Syam.
"You can't have him. We are full," said Dean rolling his eyes.
"Ahhmm," coughed Krev looking at Dean and holding a small paper. "Yeah, he can actually have Ajax in his team. He kicked you out. That is what we were discussing before you joined us."
"Congratulations, you got promoted," said Syam as he started to shake Dean's hand vigorously. "I hope you will be an asset to the hunters and lead your team better than me."
"You are kicking me out of the team, just to have him join?" asked Dean surprised. The hunter department has strict rules and such changes can't be forced by generals either. They are the ones who are responsible for weeding out traitors among humans. So, the usual politics are strictly forbidden and this confused Dean more so.
"You are making them all his bodyguards," said Dean as he realized the reason for his removal from the team.
"His identity as an ex-prince. That isn't enough for such treatment. Is it due to his attribute?" wondered Dean.
"Yes, in a sense and I know your intelligence is wasted on such a thing. So, you are getting a faster promotion," said Syam. "I am going to modify my report stating that you have been the most instrumental in weeding out the recent traitors that we have capture. It will give you enough credit to promote you. The general has also agreed to do the same."
Dean looked toward Krev who confirmed Syam's words with a curt nod.
"Lastly, we are going to say that Ajax managed to kill one his captors and thus, I am recommending him to the department and decided to personally train him as a new member of the team," said Syam. "Moreover, I need to help you gather members for your team and also the team deserves some days off, during which Ajax can probably reach the knight stage."
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Six passed and Ajax found himself in a daily routine training and cultivating alongside all the other new trainees. Most of the day was spent cultivating and studying, except for the time he spent working on his training as a spirit chef. He had to work in the kitchen for both lunch and dinner as a part of his apprenticeship.
He had no contact with Syam, Dean or heard anything about the recruitment except for today when Dean came to provide him with the blood that he collected from the golden eater.
During this time, Ajax also tried to absorb the blood of other beasts which were slaughtered to provide food. As an apprentice spirit chef, he had to process meat and even kill beasts raised for food. So, it provided him a supply of blood using which he practiced the blood absorb technique.
When he tried it for the first time, he expected it to provide him a good increase in mana absorption which it did but only on using it did he realize about the drawback of the method. He was really glad that he didn't use the method directly in the kitchen but was precautious enough to fill up blood in a small bottle and use it in the privacy of his room.
When he first injected himself with the blood, he felt extreme discomfort like there were bugs moving through his blood vessels. The pain and burning sensation felt like a thin current was being sent into his body.
His time as an agent during he was subjected to electric shocks and other forms stress and torture. It was due to that, that he had developed a strong will and resistance to such an experience. If not for that, he was sure that he would have been unable to continue using blood to cultivate.
At first, he was sure that he had done some mistake due to the side-effect. There was no mention of such an experience in the book and if there was no mention, it made no sense for him to experience such pain. So, he strongly felt that either there is a mistake in the technique or the way he was using it.
Though it hurt him, Ajax didn't give up. All body strengthening techniques hurt and tired the user. In a sense, it could be considered that a little bit more of pain meant that the method was working better. He felt that this was acceptable as it pushed in more mana and vitality into the body than other methods.
He felt the increase in mana absorbed to be higher than that of a normal cultivation method including the one he was given through the legacy. He could feel that his progress was much faster on using the cultivation technique - "Art of Evolution", after using blood absorb.
Only after repeated trials, did he realize his mistake. It was not that the technique was flawed or his use of it, but it wasn't meant for those who are at body strengthening stage.
Cultivation was the process of absorbing the mana, refining the ambient mana into a form more suited to the individual and using it strengthen one's body or store it for later use. This was the essence of cultivation. So, any mana stored in a creature's blood would be refined and suited to that individual creature and has the signature of that creature. This is much different from the ambient mana or neutral natured mana.
Using the blood of others to absorb mana from it, was similar to a fire attributed cultivator using a water attributed or wind attributed mana stones. Due to it being a different nature, it would clash with the body and would result in discomfort or pain. At knight stage, the body would already have certain amount of control on mana due to the mana core which reduces this effect.
Realizing the issue with the technique, he started to think about measures to reduce the side-effect. The first thing he could think about was to refine the blood like an alchemist.
Refining blood is just alchemist speak for boiling the blood so that the mana remaining in it is excited and then loses its attribute allowing it to be used easily. As he was an apprentice spirit chef, he could borrow some equipment in the kitchen to refine the blood. He also had a bit of apprentice level alchemy experience as his mother had taught him.
He felt that the side-effects of blood absorb reduced a lot after refining the blood. But after a couple of times, he could easily notice the amount of mana that he absorbed from refined blood was much lower compared to normal blood. Though it was more painful, he could absorb more mana if he used blood without refining.
After a bit of thinking he realized the reason for loss of mana. Though heating excited the molecules enough that the mana became more neutral natured, the same thing also causing certain amount of mana to be released into the air from the blood. After a couple of times, he realized that about a third of mana is being lost during refining.
Still, he realized that though unrefined blood is taking him twice as much as time to use as it is hurts and harder to control, if he could get more refined blood at least 50% more, he would be able to progress faster.
With him working at the kitchen it was much easier to get extra blood and refining it. So, it was all working good for him. He also occasionally went to the gym in the military to test his strength. Just due to the enlightenment, it had already crossed 2000kg of punching strength and he could still feel that he hadn't reached closer to his limit.