Victoria

"Hmm, so stressful."

In the attic above the apartment, Guilliman could be seen frustratingly looking at a giant book in front of him.

The happenings of two weeks before were of no substance to him right now. They were always like this; it wasn't any different. However, he couldn't pretend that he wasn't pissed off.

If he had wanted, he could probably have broken the old man's arm that night, but it would bring up too many questions. Involving real administrators in a matter of violence would open up a can of worms.

He wasn't in the right place to tackle all this right now. He still needed to become stronger, and the first step was right here.

His father—or the father of the previous inhabitant of this body—was apparently more of a historian than a slayer. He kept a logbook of every beast he had either encountered or heard of in his career as a slayer, and in it, he categorized them in terms of importance, power, and intelligence.

"This one…" After scanning through the book, which looked like a whole bunch of scribbled words with old water stains, Guilliman pointed at a particular word with a focused look on his face.

To become stronger as fast as possible, he needed to hunt and slay powerful beasts at his level or slightly above. That meant that while his fellow slayers were going after basic ordinary beasts, he would need to go after king-code beasts like the Black Rabbit King.

"Hmm, a Swordfish?" Looking at the diagram before him, Guilliman frowned. There was no river or stream in the Claw-Wood Forest area, not even a pond. However, this diagram and description indicated a fish through and through.

I wonder.

He couldn't quite understand what this was, but clearly, it was king-code.

Just like there was a difference in the ranks of beasts, like that between an ordinary and a mutant, there were also differences within the rank, and that was the code.

To be precise, it was the genetic code.

A Black Blade Rabbit could be born in the ordinary rank, but its genetics could lead it to become the strongest and most influential amongst Black Blade Rabbits. That was a king-code rabbit.

Of course, having a high code didn't necessarily mean one was strong. It was more of a potential thing than anything, but it was extremely important to the beast. The codes were divided into:

• Soldier

• Knight

• King

"Oh well, I'll just have to work with what I have." Guilliman sighed, closing the book gently and placing it under his bed.

His information wasn't the best, but at least he knew where to look and what to look for. That was about enough for him.

"Now it's how to get out of here." Guilliman looked around, feeling a bit out of place. The morning sun was still rising, but the house was already empty. Apparently, these guys took training extremely seriously? Where was this treatment when he reached the age?

Guilliman couldn't help but smirk as he slowly got out of bed and looked outside his window with the corner of his eyes.

His windows had been sealed shut by metal bars, stopping him from jumping down or going up. The old man was rich enough to ensure his imprisonment but not enough to pay a simple bribe.

The entire fiasco with the vacancy was born from his refusal to pay the standard bribes to the building's communal administration, so they watched the apartments like hawks and swooped in when Guilliman was out.

This place was a cesspool of corruption, so it wasn't out of place for things like this to happen. However, now that he had finally paid the bribe, there was really no reason for him to still remain.

But the old man Yasper was quite adamant about punishing Guilliman by keeping him locked up.

"I'll take some precautions first." Guilliman walked down the stairs and did the house chores as usual. Then, in a flash, he locked the doors and barricaded them with some furniture.

The past few days he had spent at home had been used to slowly gauge the out-time for his family—when they'd leave and when they'd come back.

They all had things to do, and thank God for the shelter's fixed schedules. They wouldn't be back any sooner than normal. As for the building's communal administrators, after the bribe, that was it for the month. They wouldn't come back.

So Guilliman rushed back into the attic and reached under his bed to pull out two long blades. He placed them on his back and walked to the center of the attic.

"Hmm, they would never guess." He smirked, looking at the two other windows above him.

They were extremely high up, so the old man didn't bother to barricade them with steel beams. Guilliman would never be able to reach them unless he wanted to break a few bones.

"Up we go."

His assumption, of course, was based on a preconceived notion that Guilliman was still ordinary.

Two rings of light shone around his legs, revealing a set of braces around his ankles.

In the next second, his body became light as he jumped incredibly high and suspended himself on a wooden beam easily.

It seemed like he had a lot of practice. Using his body weight to swing forward, he grabbed hold of the window handle and pulled, before using its momentum to push through.

Before you knew it, he was gone from the apartment, seemingly disappearing into the morning.

…

"Good morning, Victoria."

"Lady Victoria ."

"I need to replace this armor, Captain."

"Can I shadow the big guy today?"

At a far-reaching side of the shelter, not so far away from Sector G of Claw-Wood Forest, a group of young men and women could be seen gathering in front of a steel barrier.

These young men and women, at first glance, looked like the average training center students. But upon closer observation, one could quickly recognize that these were not ordinary young men and women.

They were all Slayers.