When he woke up, a handsome man with long silver hair and a face that could rival all male models on earth sat beside him, casually reading a book.

"Good, you're awake earlier than I calculated."

Dropping the book, the man said gently as he stood up from the chair.

Marlon observed him — judging by his silver-coloured hair, he could already tell he was the father of Stormis and the husband of Victoria, the one who had something to discuss with him.

Curious to see how strong he was, he activated his inspection skill on him.

[ .... ]

[Race: ??? ]

[Power level: ???]

[Power rank: ???]

[Talent: ??? ]

[Skills: ??? ]

[Blessings: ??? (Mythic rank) ??? (Mythic rank) ??? (Mythic rank) +4 more]

A bunch of question marks, meaning he could not see them, just like how he could not see those of Stormis when he used the skill earlier.

Nevertheless, this guy in front of him…

He was the real monster.

Three blessings of the highest rank and four more blessings that weren't even listed.

Just who was this guy?

No… not just this guy — his entire family, starting from his wife who possessed a rare talent to his son who was already stronger than most veteran hunters, and now even the head of the family was an even bigger anomaly.

As he closed the system window and turned back to the man, their eyes met, and for a moment he felt like he was staring at a galaxy.

It sent a chill down his spine.

"You were inspecting my powers." The man's lips parted slightly as he spoke, and then he continued, "That is a very disrespectful thing to do to someone you just met."

"Sorry."

Marlon apologized. He could not tell how this guy knew, but his instinct screamed at him not to annoy him.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one that has tried to peer into my powers."

Waving his hand, the man dismissed his apology, and then a spark of curiosity glinted in his eyes as he proceeded to ask,

"I'm curious though, what did you see?"

"Nothing."

He wasn't lying. A string of question marks starting from the name to even his race — he was actually telling the truth with his response.

Shaking his head, the man decided to end the topic.

"What do you want to ask?"

"Huh…"

"I can tell from the expression on your face that you've got questions, so proceed with them."

Marlon nodded…

Standing before this mysterious man, he had suddenly become nervous and anxious about his response.

It was unusual. But he understood.

"Although I cannot see any of your powers, I can tell that you're really, really strong, but why is it that I have never seen you anywhere or heard the mention of your name before?"

He asked.

The silver-haired man chuckled, amused.

"Every child in Arden your age grew up with at least one poster of me in their home," he responded.

"Well, a poster of my actual appearance."

Saying that, a golden flash suddenly emanated from his body, bathing the room with a powerful sun-like radiance before vanishing just as quickly as it came.

The light blinded Marlon briefly, causing him to shield his eyes, peeking through his fingers at the figure that appeared after the light vanished.

It was a tall man, taller than the man standing beside him previously by a few inches.

Golden hair cascaded down his shoulder, shimmering with divine opulence.

Eyes that shone like the sun stared back at him, causing him to shiver.

Not out of fear, but out of strong familiarity.

Eyes widened, he gazed at the god-like figure.

"A-Axel Storm!"

He stuttered.

Nodding, Axel Storm confirmed his suspicion.

And then a silver glow enveloped the room once again, and afterwards he reverted back to the handsome man figure he used earlier.

Marlon stared at him speechlessly.

He could not believe that he was in the same room with the strongest hunter in the entire world.

And thinking about it now, he understood the reason why his inspection skill could not pick up anything.

"Your mental fortitude has indeed improved after the divine trial. Hunters your level and age usually fall unconscious after seeing my true appearance."

As he was lost in thought, Axel Storm said with a bit of pride in his voice as he grabbed the book he was reading before he woke up and sat back on the chair.

He gave Marlon the time he needed to process everything he had just witnessed.

And this lasted for about ten minutes before he finally came back to his senses.

Marlon had a lot of questions, but at the moment, one took priority over the others, and he asked right away.

Fortunately, Axel Storm answered him.

"Because I was the first human to actually take the divine trial, and so far, you're the second."

"Second to take the trial?" Marlon muttered, surprised. "But there are at least one thousand hunters who've attempted the five-star breakthrough trial, although none of them had actually survived."

"Those were five-star breakthrough trials. The five-star breakthrough trial is a lot different from the divine trial."

How was that possible?

If it was different, then why wasn't it pointed out by the system?

"There are a lot of things you do not understand about the system yet," Axel Storm began, his eyes still fixed on the book he was reading.

"The breakthrough trial is one of them. Although I am not allowed to tell you the entire mastery behind it for now, I can tell you that you're special to the system and to Arden."

"Special…"

Marlon murmured.

Why was he special?

"You've received the limitless blessing, right?"

Marlon's eyes widened at the question.

"How did you know?"

"I was notified."

He asked, and Axel responded casually.

"Before you ask, I was already aware that you would be taking the divine trial, and when you did, I was informed as well."

He listened quietly to Axel's explanation, or rather he had nothing to say.

Who could've thought that his decision had already been foreseen? And not just that, by the strongest hero himself.

There were other minor details that Axel revealed about the system and himself that he didn't even understand despite the explanation.

One of the questions that lingered in his mind was who Axel Storm really was and why he was so special.

He was not the type to hide something bothering him, so he asked, but he was met with the usual You're not strong enough to receive this information yet response.

Which he couldn't help but agree to at this moment.

And as he was still in the process of integrating the influx of data into his head, Axel dropped another bomb.

"That website a few days ago about the true history of Arden… what do you think about it?"

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