Nobody else moved. Nobody spoke. The killing intent filled the chamber like a physical presence, making it hard to think clearly, hard to do anything except focus on the primal instinct to survive.
Then soone started clapping.
The sound cut through the oppressive atmosphere, slow and deliberate applause coming from the back of the room near where the guild representatives had been sitting.
An old man stood up from a chair positioned in the corner, half-hidden behind so of the younger representatives who’d been blocking him from view. He looked to be in his seventies at least, with white hair and a weathered face marked by decades of scars that spoke of countless battles survived. He wore simple clothes, no guild insignia, no rank badges, nothing to indicate his status or affiliation.
But the mont he stood, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
He walked forward slowly, still clapping, a broad smile spreading across his weathered face. The killing intent washed over him as he moved, there was a slight heaviness to his steps, a minor resistance, but unlike everyone else in the room, he wasn’t being crushed by it.
One of the guild representatives who’d managed to stay standing noticed him moving. The woman gasped, her eyes going wide.
"Is that not him?" she whispered, barely audible over the continued clapping.
Another representative managed to turn his head to look, his face going from pale to completely white. "No way..."
"The Chairman’s been here this whole ti?"
"We didn’t even know..."
Shocked murmurs spread through those who could still speak. Several guild representatives looked stunned that the Chairman of the Hunter Association had been present in the room and none of them had noticed or been inford.
The old man continued walking toward Aiden, still smiling, still clapping, his shoes clicking against the polished floor with steady rhythm. He studied Aiden carefully as he approached, taking in every detail. The masked figure standing calmly on the platform. The controlled killing intent that had crushed an A-rank Enforcer and a guild representative simultaneously. The casual way this young man stood there like none of this was particularly impressive.
The Chairman stopped a few ters from the platform, still well within range of the killing intent but showing no sign of distress.
"Remarkable," he said, his voice carrying clearly despite the oppressive pressure filling the room. His tone held genuine appreciation, the kind that ca from soone who’d seen countless awakeners over decades and could recognise true quality when it appeared.
Aiden looked at him for a long mont, asuring, assessing. The old man’s spiritual pressure was imnse, carefully controlled but present like a dormant volcano. SS-rank at minimum, possibly higher. The kind of power that ca from decades of cultivation and refinent, from surviving battles that would have killed lesser hunters.
The Chairman’s smile widened slightly. "You can release it now. You’ve made your point."
Aiden pulled back the killing intent.
It didn’t vanish imdiately. The pressure lifted gradually, receding like a tide going out, giving everyone in the room ti to adjust rather than leaving them gasping from the sudden change. Within seconds, the suffocating presence was gone completely, leaving only the lingering sensation of having stood at the edge of an abyss.
Kane gasped for air, his chest heaving as he pushed himself up from the ground with shaking arms. Sweat covered his face, dripping onto the polished floor beneath him. His amber eyes were wide, pupils dilated, the kind of expression soone got when they’d just stared death in the face and survived by pure chance.
He managed to get his knees under him, then slowly stood, one hand braced against the floor for support until he was certain his legs would hold. His entire body trembled with the aftereffects of the Intent, muscles still locked in survival mode.
The A-rank guild representative pushed himself up from where he’d been forced to kneel, his movents stiff and careful like soone testing whether their limbs still worked properly. His face had gone from confident professionalism to pale shock, and he kept his distance from the platform now, backing away several steps until he was well clear of where Aiden stood.
Both Kane and the guild representative looked at Aiden with expressions that were identical despite their different reasons for being there. Wariness. Recognition that they’d severely underestimated what they were dealing with. And underlying fear that they were trying very hard to control but couldn’t quite hide.
The Chairman seed completely unbothered by what had just happened. If anything, he looked pleased, his weathered face creasing with satisfaction as he gestured toward Aiden with one hand.
"Reginald Cross," he introduced himself, his tone respectful rather than condescending. "Chairman of the British Hunter Association. And you are clearly sothing exceptional."
He paused, letting the title settle, then continued without waiting for Aiden to respond.
"I’d like to make you an offer. Join the Association directly under my authority. SS-rank hunter position, assuming the reinforced orb confirms what we just witnessed." His eyes glinted with genuine interest. "Full operational autonomy. You pick your missions, your team, your assignnts. No bureaucracy, no restrictions. You answer to alone, and I don’t micromanage."
Before Aiden could respond, movent erupted from the guild representatives.
They surged forward as a group, several talking over each other in their eagerness to make their pitches heard. The temporary paralysis from the killing intent was forgotten completely, replaced by the desperate hunger that ca from recognising a once-in-a-lifeti recruitnt opportunity.
"Wait, Vanguard Guild can offer better terms than the Association—" A man in sleek black combat gear with red accents pushed to the front, his words tumbling out rapidly.
"Crimson Aegis has facilities and resources the Association can’t match—" A woman with silver hair cut in sharply, her voice rising to be heard over the growing noise.
"Join Obsidian Edge and we’ll give you division command imdiately, full authority over—"
"Titan Guild offers a £500,000 signing bonus—"
The room descended into chaos as different guild representatives tried to outbid each other, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of increasingly desperate offers. They crowded forward, forming a semi-circle around the platform, each one trying to edge closer to Aiden while simultaneously blocking their competitors from getting too near.
One particularly aggressive representative, a woman in her thirties wearing expensive combat gear with the Titan Guild emblem prominently displayed across her chest, physically pushed her way through two other representatives to reach the front. Her eyes were bright with the kind of intensity that ca from knowing her entire career might hinge on this single recruitnt.
"Titan Guild will pay £500,000 signing bonus," she said, her voice cutting through the noise with practiced authority. "Right now. Cash or direct transfer, your choice. Plus percentage of all dungeon clears, full equipnt suite worth another £200,000, private training facilities, and—"
"Stormbreak Guild offers £750,000," soone else interrupted, a tall man with lightning scars running up his arms that marked him as an elental specialist. "Plus priority access to A-rank and S-rank dungeon raids, profit sharing on guild contracts, and—"
"One million from Ironveil Guild," another voice cut in, this one belonging to a stocky man with the build of soone who’d spent decades in close combat. "Million pound signing bonus, no strings attached. Plus all the standard benefits, private housing in Central London, and first choice on any equipnt drops from guild raids."
The offers kept escalating. Representatives were practically shouting now, each one trying to be heard over the others, throwing out numbers and benefits that would have made any reasonable hunter’s head spin.
"£1.2 million plus shares in the guild corporation—"
"Priority S-rank dungeon access, that’s worth more than cash—"
"Access to our guild master’s technique library, that alone is worth—"
"Penthouse in Canary Wharf, fully furnished—"
The Chairman raised his hand and everyone went silent imdiately. The gesture was simple, almost casual, but the authority behind it was absolute. Every guild representative stopped mid-sentence, mouths still open, argunts dying on their lips as they registered who had just signalled for quiet.
Reginald Cross looked at Aiden, his weathered face showing nothing but patient interest. "You don’t have to decide right now. Take ti to consider the offers, speak with the representatives privately if you’d like, weigh your options properly. You can make your choice after the war if you prefer, once you’ve seen how different organisations operate in actual combat."
"No need," Aiden said. His voice was calm behind the mask, carrying clearly across the now-silent room. Final. The kind of tone that left no room for negotiation or discussion. "I’m registering as an independent hunter. No guild. No Association authority."
Complete silence filled the evaluation chamber.
The guild representatives stared at him like he’d just announced he was planning to fight the Valdris invasion single-handedly with his bare hands. Several mouths hung open in genuine shock. A few representatives glanced at each other, clearly wondering if they’d misheard or if the masked awakener had lost his mind.
Soone had just offered him one million pounds plus benefits that would set him up for life, and he’d turned it down without even a mont’s consideration. Without asking questions, without negotiating, without showing the slightest interest in what any of them had to say.
The Titan Guild representative recovered first, her professional composure snapping back into place even though her eyes still showed confusion. "You’re making a mistake. Independent hunters have limited access to resources, no backup in dangerous situations, no support infrastructure for—"
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