I Evolve By Collecting Infinite Spirits

"W-what? I didn’t even finish my statement--"

He was cut off again.

"I have learned from previous experiences to not do stuff like that, with all due respect," Sin replied as formally as possible, hoping to not get buddy-buddy with the guy and go about his way.

"Just listen, okay? Even I’m sure you know that the Annual Harvest Quest is coming up soon. I believe it’s close to a month away from now."

’Oh?’ Sin raised a brow, his attention increasing.

"It’s actually quite an honor for you to be invited by me to attend this quest. As you know, all Hunters are allowed to join this quest, but most don’t because they don’t have powerful teams or aren’t strong enough by themselves. However, I am giving you a free pass. I am giving you a team that has your back. This way, even if you just barely get to the end of the quest--the benefits you will reap will be immense."

Sin didn’t say anything for a while, quite a few questions darting through his head.

"I... have actually never heard of this quest."

"I thought you might say something like that." Javen smiled as he took out a rolled-up piece of paper and handed it over, "This is the poster for the quest. Take a good look at it... it’s the largest quest in the history of this kingdom."

"What?" Sin looked up from the poster and at Javen with a brow of confusion raised, "Not just Solstar, but the entire kingdom? Of Captainia?"

Javen smiled, "That’s right."

Sin continued reading the quest, his intrigue only increasing.

After reading through it he understood that the quest was a very lucrative but dangerous endeavor.

It was called the Annual Harvest Quest--a massive mission that recruited every Hunter and Hunter team within the entire Kingdom.

Truth be told, most kingdoms had similar quests like these. It was a way for a kingdom to stand out and make its name known among the other kingdoms in each Sanctuary.

The Estate Heads of each Sanctuary would notice the power of each kingdom during these annual quests--promoting or demoting their status in the bigger geo-political scene.

It was a way for each kingdom to prove their prowess and growth--or their downfall depending on their current position.

Another large factor that played into this was that Annual Quests such as these were the main way that normal Hunter’s would be promoted to Dark Troop Alliance members.

Hunter’s inside of the Dark Troop Alliance were the only ones able to leave their Sanctuary--making them the most respected Hunter’s in the entire Sanctuary.

The quest itself was no less grandiose.

Hunters would be deployed into a large piece of land specially curated to be used for the Annual Harvest Quest every year.

There, they would be tested for a week straight. Their survivability, strength, speed, and stamina among other things would be heavily challenged.

Their goal was to collect as many Treasure Plants as possible. These were ingredients like flowers, roots, leaves, or other items such as these that were guarded by powerful beasts or gangs of weaker animals.

Each one would give a different point distribution depending on its rarity and difficulty to attain--all of which was carefully made by the kingdom in order to maintain equality amongst all competitors.

This was a place filled with monstrous beasts that only the strongest of Hunters could rival. On top of that, the terrain was said to be deadly--nothing that a normal human could withstand.

"The scariest thing isn’t the beasts or the harsh conditions... it’s actually the other Hunters. They are allowed to steal your Treasure Plants, as it is only a test of who is stronger. Many Hunters actually go with this game plan and don’t collect anything at all until the last moment. Others wait until different groups succeed in order to rip them apart. It’s quite fearsome... speaking from experience."

Sin’s eyes narrowed. He stared at Javen for a good five seconds before replying:

"So if you mean everyone... that means every strong Hunter group too... right?"

Javen found this to be a bit redundant but answered anyway: "That’s correct."

"Including powerful teams from this city too?" Sin asked again.

"Well of course! In fact, Solstar in particular takes this challenge to heart. Teams like Ace and Blue Metal always represent our city. Of course, mine is the same... but we can’t really compare to the power of Blue Metal or Ace..."

Sin grinned as he heard that name, ’Perfect... that’s just perfect. And it’s also exactly in one month. That gives me the perfect amount of time to get prepared.’

Javen’s brows furrowed, "Uh... are you alright? You suddenly looked like some sort of demon right there..."

Sin looked at his left foot which was now made of wood, "I’ve been waiting for this." He muttered.

Javen was even more confused, "Waiting? I thought you didn’t know it--" He was cut off.

Sin looked up at Javen before saying, "I’m just really excited."

"Oh? So that means you will join my team!?" Javen’s expression turned bright instantly.

"The answer to that is still no."

"What??"

"I will join it by myself... maybe I can get lucky and survive until the end."

Javen was left speechless, "You got balls... but I think you will regret that decision." He turned, slightly bitter.

Sin clenched his jaw, ’Don’t try to target me if we see each other... you might have saved my reputation, but that doesn’t mean I am loyal enough to repay any favors.’ He hoped Javen wouldn’t get any wrong ideas.

He didn’t want to kill someone who had helped him in the past.

With his tail finally free, Sin began looking for beast material shops as soon as possible.

’I need to not just find a small store... but a large shop with a high bulk-load. I also need to make myself more trustable...’

He didn’t want to just pop up and sell hundreds of Spirit Crystals out of nowhere. That would look quite obvious to anyone who had ties to Surfin.

Once the news of what happened to the recent dungeon quest reached Surfins ears, Sin was sure that the word would spread quite quickly.

If he revealed his stash now, he would easily get caught as the main culprit.