Question Marks???

'So it wasn't a dream? Was it?'

Pondering this, Zevrad practically inspected his surroundings as he left the room he awoke to and made his way to a nearby auditorium, filled with other people. Many of them were once elves of two different kinds. One who worshipped the sun and the other the moon.

The elves who worshipped the sun were called Blood Elves with an appearance similar to humans. The only exception would be their long pointed ears and their taller stature. Dignified and modern, they had recently lost their capital city by an undead army instigated by the demons.

The other group was called the Night Elves. They were taller than most Blood Elves as they're more ancient and traditional in the beliefs that mostly kept to themselves and avoided mingling with humans or other mortal races. Their skin varied within the pink or purple spectrum color, whom most were pale as they spent their time within the moon and night rather than the sun and day.

Zevrad belonged to the latter.

Now, each one of these 'elves' belonged to a new faction, a group called demon hunters.

Or Illidari, in their elven tongue.

What made them distinct from their former selves was their jagged horns protruding from their crowns. Many varied in size and shape, some were short whereas others were long. Another characteristic found was the burning eyes that emitted from their sockets.

Gone were the eyes they were born with. Either melted or gouged by themselves, the demon hunters would be gifted with a new sight as a common ability found when consuming the heart of a demon.

Yes, when the initiates were previously informed on the method to be a demon hunter, surprise and terror were filled on their faces whereas some knew the risks and accepted what was heard. This was called 'The First Hunt.'

To select an appropriate demon to hunt and discover its 'true' name to inscribe on a ritual blade. The hunted demon will then have its blood filled with several vials to be used as materials. The most important aspect was the soul, momentarily attached to the heart, that will be used for the ritual known as 'The Dark Path.'

It is a powerful ritual that can invoke the secrets to a demon's unnatural strength and magical prowess onto the one who magically binds their souls to it. The heart and blood will be physically consumed and the unused blood would be etched onto their skin to magically cage the demon and keep it under their control using arcane energy. Since the magic in the arcane school counters demonic magic.

Many of them were confused and discussed amongst themselves their situation.

Suddenly, a voice came from the halls as a leather-clade man walked on the stage in a dignified and disciplined manner. Everyone present was quite surprised since there was no one there just a moment ago.

The stylishly dressed Blood Elf sported a clean and neat hairstyle, as well as a blindfold over his eye that emitted green light from his eye sockets. He raised a hand towards a Night Elf standing by the entrance clad in a similar fashion.

"Is this everyone?"

The female shook her head softly, pointed towards the group on the right side of the hall, and then raised four fingers up.

"Four people. We can't wait any longer, so just close the door and begin."

When the blue-haired Night Elf showed some sign of hesitation, the man narrowed his eyes.

"I am your Guide. It's not like it's difficult to get here. Those who haven't awakened yet aren't needed here."

In the end, the Night Elf obediently lowered her head and quietly closed the door shut. She then made her way near the stage where the man was at.

Meanwhile, the man on the stage clapped his hands twice to draw everyone's attention towards himself.

"Welcome. I am called Kayne Sunfury, tasked with guiding all of you this time around."

The maid quickly walked to his side while her blue ponytail danced in the air.

"First of all, the contract documents, please. How many do we have? Twenty-eight? Quite a lot, isn't it? And we have eight invitations amongst us?"

Kayne didn't even take a look at the bundle of the contracts and simply shoved them underneath his jacket. However, he still held onto the invitation letters tightly in his hand.

"Ahem, firstly, let us confirm the identities of those present today. Although we have the invitation letters here, it's meaningless if we don't personally confirm."

The silence still remained inside the auditorium. Kayne simply smirked.

"I'm sure that you're curious about many things. But let us follow the protocol. Everyone present here, please, think of bringing up your [Character Window], or simply yell the word in your mind. It's fine to say it out loud, as well."

'Character? Window?' Just as Zevrad thought like this…

In the empty air right in front of his eyes, a sudden avalanche of texts came crashing down.

***

[System Message: Hello, Friend.]

[Character Window]

[1. General Information]

Name: Zevrad Stargazer (Alias)

Sex/Age: Male/??????????

Height/Weight: 237.8cm/150.1kg

Current Condition: Good

Class: Demon Hunter (N/A)

Race: ??????????

Affiliations: NA

[2. Traits]

1. Temperament:

- Competitiveness: A desire to win.

2. Aptitude:

-Average. (Born normal in every way; possessed no particular talent.)

[3. Attributes]

-Strength: Intermediate

-Endurance: Low

-Agility: Low

-Stamina: Intermediate

-Mana: Low

-Luck: High

-Soul: ??????????

Remaining Ability Points: 0

[4. Abilities]

1. Innate Abilities (2)

-Six Desires Illusory Arts (Grade Unknown)

-?????????? (Grade Unknown)

2. Passive Abilities (2)

-Fast Analysis (High)

-Improved Vision (High)

3. Active Abilities (1)

-Spectral Sight (Intermediate)

4. Skills (0)

-N/A

[5. Level of Cognition]

-Actions: Curious

-Emotions: Chaotic

[6. Interests]

1. Likes

-Sculpting

-Stargazing

2. Dislikes

-Demons

-Idle Chatter

[7. Bound Demon]

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'̷̢̛̼̻̩̄̈́̒̊͌̔͒̒̕A̸̳͕̱͗͘l̷̡̧̳͎̝̤̟͕̦̺̮̍̑̀̐͆͐̾̆͘̕͘͜͠ ̷̰͚̺̼̭͖͓̣̜̳͕̓͜͠ͅt̷̛̛̮̱͕̯͖̘̻̩̳̗̤͔̰͑̐̆̍̃̌́́̓̆̌̒͝h̷̛̰̝̲̩̻͚̼͇̉͌͋̏͗̕̕͜ͅţ̷̢͔̮̳̰̮̤̖͚̼̠̬̓̒̓ ̸̥͎͉̤̦̟̘̫̩̔̉͂́͜͝į̸̢̟̖̻̫͚̮͉́́͂̑͂̂̃͐̔͘̚͝s̵̡͖̠̎͐̅́͛͊̒̒̍̑̔̑̂̕ ̴͈̪̓̈̉̉̆̋̂̅̓̅̆̎̒̔͘Ṍ̶̖̞̙̝̘̺̖̦͍̗̅̋ȩ̶͖̜̤̅̿'̸̨͙̠̦͍͎̰̙̜̈́̈́̌͛̄̀̾̚ ̶̨̨̞̫̹̠͈̣̦̘̥̣͉̓͌̽̇̊̏̆̂̈͊͘̕͝͝ͅa̴̢̱̟̤̮̎̓̕̚c̸̤͎͛͜t̸̢̢͈͙̱̮̘̗̳̥͐̋̈́͊̾̒͊ ̷̨̥̠͍͓͕̻̣͙̖̐̃͒̇̓̋̓̄̕͜ḑ̷̡̨̛̙̟͖̺̣͚̱̱͇̌̆̀̆̓͒̆̀͒n̶̛̛͈̳͗̓̉̉͐̂̾̀̿̓̈̚͠ ̸̡͖̝͓͈̝͕̻͉̦̪͗̈́̈̂̐͌͜g̶̡̡̛̟̺̗̙̳̮̬̭̮̻̦̥̜̏́̋́͋̐̿̅̅̀̈́̚ö̷̢̹̫̖̦́́̎͛͛̈́͆͝͝.̶̨̧̖͙͖̠̞̪̘͈̥͗̈͆̅̍̈͒͆̍̓͘.̷͙͖̮̤̟͙̖͔̙̘͈̍̀̐̈͊́̔̈͜͝.̸̡̛̠̠̹̖̲̘̼̮̦̝̮͐̐͛̎̀̚͜

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***

"Ohhhh..."

"Wha- what is this?"

People began gasping in surprise everywhere. Zevrad was no exception. Although he had seen magic tens and hundreds of times before, personally experiencing new ones always felt different.

"What's this [Innate Ability] thing?"

The whispering woman asked the person beside her but a response came to her from on stage, "Excuse me? Do you perhaps possess an [Innate Ability]?"

The person who answered her was the Guide, Kayne. The Blood Elf didn't expect her words to be overheard from this far, so she got flustered while she shook her head in denial.

"N-No, I don't have one. I was just curious."

"Oh, well, it's only normal for you to not possess an [Innate Ability]. That's how it is with most people. You don't have to mind that section of your [Character Window]."

Kayne smiled brightly as he spoke.

"Well then. Let's stop being surprised, shall we? This is a new magic that the Illidari developed called [Character Window]. Further explanation will be discussed on a future date. Now, at this time, please reveal the name of your bound demons. Just like before, just think about it or speak it out loud, and it will be done. Don't worry, I won't be able to see anything in your [Character Window] besides what's been revealed."

The auditorium got a bit noisy. However, Zevrad was still intensely staring at his own information.

Kayne definitely said it was normal to not have any [Innate Abilities]. However... the Window in front of his eyes showed that he had them. Two, as a matter of fact.

'Six Desires? And what's with the question marks?'

He suspected that it was somehow related to his ability to distinguish people's aura with colors, but what was up with the question marks?

"Let's see... since we don't have a lot of time remaining, I shall just directly move to the next step in the procedure. Hmm... most of you who are invited are being nurtured with care and have demons in the middle category. Oh? An observer demon? That will come in handy for infiltration."

Five people out of the left side's eight nodded their heads before staring at Kayne with somewhat befuddled eyes.

Kayne asked and answered his own question, then he threw five invitation documents in the air. Suddenly, using magic, the letters shone brightly before transforming into five bronze-colored bags that fell down to the ground.

"These bronze bags will only receive one [Regular Item] as per the item rules."

The blue-haired Night Elf picked the five bronze-colored bags and handed them over to their respective owners. Meanwhile, Kayne unfolded two more invitation letters. While reading the contents, he carried on.

"We advise you to immediately activate your bonus items right away. The Tutorial will begin soon, so it'd be a pity if you died without using them... hmm?"

Kayne's demeanor always maintained a level of disinterest, but a small glint of surprise flickered in them now.

"Hoh. We have two high-category demons. I'm genuinely looking forward to guiding all of you. Kor'vas? Allari."

"Yes!"

Kor'vas shouted out energetically. The hoodie-wearing girl, Allari, simply nodded her head once.

"For the high-category demons, normally it is two [Regular Items] but there is a [Special Bonus] for Miss Allari here."

This time too, the invitation documents turned into bags as they fell down to the floor. If there was one thing different, it was that these bags were silver-colored rather than bronze.

The blue-haired Night Elf moved busily. Meanwhile, the eyes of Kayne landed on one man. And that was Zevrad, still stupidly staring at the empty air in front of his eyes.

"Please reveal the info of your demon."

Kayne's voice was low, but it contained an undeniable power. Zevrad was too preoccupied with the whole [Innate Abilities] thing until then, but when the voice powerfully reverberated within his eardrums, he quickly snapped out of his daze and asked back.

"R-Reveal my demon's info?"

"Yes. Now that you said it out lou- hmm!?"

Kayne suddenly stopped his words and stared hard.

"What...?"

His eyes widened as he stared at Zevrad, or to be more specific, his revealed demon's info.

"It's... glitched!?"

The blue-haired Night Elf, who finished distributing the bags, lightly trotted to the stage and used her elbow to gently poke the waist of the dumbstruck Guide.

"Ah!"

Finally regaining his senses, Kayne lightly coughed and cleared his throat while lowering his gaze.

With the remaining piece of paper in his hand, he became overtly cautious as he slowly unfolded the invitation. He read the contents from top to bottom without leaving anything out. Then, he breathed out a long sigh.

"We appear to have a very important guest this time."

His voice was quiet. But, still— the noisy clamor came to a dead stop, and dozens and dozens of eyes focused on one person. Zevrad could actively feel his cheeks reddening right about now that he forgot the most important question of all. 'Why was it glitched?'

"I'd like to apologize. It is my first time guiding an esteemed guest, after all, no, even in history, there has been only one prior event like today. I've only heard about it until now."

Zevrad wondered if his bound demon was such a shocking matter. Kayne's words didn't even sound like an excuse, just some babblings of a stunned man.

When the blue-haired Night Elf giggled softly, Kayne cleared his throat again.

"Alright, let's carry on, shall we?"

He lightly threw Zevrad's invitation letter. The paper exploded into a brilliant shower of light before transforming into a single bag.

And there were six things written on the tag on the golden bag.

Three regular bonus items, plus three special bonus items unique to even to the invited, unlike anything Kayne had seen as if his sponsor made sure Zevrad's bag to the brim.

"For our esteemed guest... oh?"

Kayne's jaw dropped after he read the list.