One-Eyed Monster

Chapter 49: Chapter 47 Sol’s Story_2

And yet, the Gaoju Family succeeded!

The Gaoju Family’s chief lost an arm and half a dozen elites, but he managed to secure the Tree Spirit’s Ear in the Dark Night Forest.

When the Tree Spirit’s Ear was handed to Queen Wensi, it signaled a triumph. The Gaoju Family’s Dual Fish emblem blazed brilliantly in the Hunter’s Hall, far outshining the Deer Horn of my Sol Family.

This was the disgrace of the Sol Family! It was also the most significant sign of our descent from our pedestal and into mediocrity.

The Sol Family later summarized the reasons for our fall from grace: a stubborn adherence to old ways, a refusal to embrace new things, and an inextricable, crippling obsession with bloodline heritage.

Afterward, the Hunter families fractured; the Sol and Gaoju Families became rivals. Later, the Gaoju Family transformed into upstart Hunters, and the ancient Hunter traditions vanished from them completely. My grandfather led our family in constant competition against the Gaoju Family, but his efforts were largely in vain. Under the Wensi Empire’s patronage, the Gaoju Family grew stronger, and as upstart Hunters, they attracted more followers than ever before.

After this period of painful lessons and reflection, the Sol Family welcomed its fifty-seventh chieftain: my father.

My father endured humiliation and carried heavy burdens. During our family’s most difficult period, he chose to retreat, no longer directly confronting the Gaoju Family. Instead, he withdrew into our family’s unique mountain forests to slowly consolidate our strength.

Of course, the once-scorned Secret Sensing Skills were re-evaluated. My father was no once-in-a-century genius; his method was to meticulously dissect the Scholars’ writings, observing and re-observing, to separate the wheat from the chaff, the essence from the dregs.

At that time, my eldest brother Tobin was ten years old, and I was just a month old.

My brother, a rare genius with Hunter’s blood coursing through his veins, captured a giant python in the mountains when he was eleven. He made a lantern from the python’s eyes and a Binding Beast Rope from its muscles and bones. The rope holding you captive now is my brother’s Binding Beast Rope.

At the same time, my brother also started to learn the Secret Sensing Skills, admired by the upstart Hunters. During the learning process, Tobin suddenly came to an even deeper understanding.

All things possess Spirit.

It wasn’t until I was fifteen that I fully grasped the meaning of my brother’s words.

Everything in existence is enveloped by Spirit Power. Every flower and blade of grass, every tree and stone—even Dead Objects, which many believe lack Spirit Power—are surrounded by a unique form of Spirit that ordinary people cannot perceive. These Spirits are unlike ordinary Spirit Power; they are elusive, erratic, and impossible to hunt without immense focus and willpower.

Anything that bears Spirit can be hunted.

My brother truly was a rare genius among Hunters. He single-handedly hunted down Diving Pearls, unseen for fifty years, and the elusive Running Ginseng, a once-in-a-century find, presenting them both to Queen Wensi. These were treasures he snatched from the Gaoju Family.

My brother once patiently explained to me that as long as Spirit was present, anything could be hunted. Lightning, fire, Rain Crystals, ocean waves, ice shards—all these and more, he could capture.

At that time, the entire family saw my brother as the hope for restoring the Sol Family’s former glory. Reviving our family’s honor and washing away our shame became his driving ambition.

However, because he had seized the grand tribute the Gaoju Family prepared to curry favor with Queen Wensi, they secretly deemed him their greatest adversary. Through Queen Wensi, they repeatedly created difficulties for him.

My brother discovered that continuing to hunt for Queen Wensi would not earn her genuine favor. The dream of reviving our family was too arduous without a powerful patron to rely on.

My brother reasoned that since the Gaoju Family was already serving Queen Wensi, there was no need for him to seek patronage from the Vero Realm.

So, at the age of seventeen, my brother threw in his lot with Rostov.

I don’t know why my brother chose Rostov. But we are brothers, as close as the palm and back of one hand; many times, I can feel his blood flowing within me.

At the age of fifteen, I experienced the revelation: All things possess Spirit.

At seventeen, I truly grasped the concept: Any Spirit can be hunted.

The flame in my palm is a seed I hunted from the Wensi Volcano. It’s as skittish as a frog; it wouldn’t have taken the bait without the lure of flying insects.

It was during this year that the Thunder Army appeared in the Kayne Empire.

People said that Rostov had made a pact with a Devil, thereby gaining control over the power of Lightning... but I knew in my heart: that was the Lightning my brother had captured.

My kinsmen knew this too. Everyone eagerly awaited my brother’s return to our mountain forests, bearing King Kayne’s favor...

But what awaited us was a massacre!

Rostov’s League Guards, leading a pack of savage hounds, ransacked our hidden sanctuary.

To this day, I still haven’t figured out how they found our secret mountain forest. The hidden refuges of Hunters are supposed to be impossible for outsiders to discover.

Thanks to the frantic resistance of our clansmen, the League Guards and their hounds eventually withdrew from the forest. But our Sol Family had suffered a devastating blow, our losses grievous.

I kept asking myself: what kind of Devil had my brother allied himself with, that he would raise a butcher’s knife against our own kin?

In the years that followed, I led the tattered remnants of our family, constantly hiding and fleeing. On this path of exile, I gradually came to understand the price of hunting things that seem unhuntable.

I can capture any flame, but in exchange, I must expend my own Spirit Power. Gradually, I began to lose the ability to speak at a normal pace, and my verbal responses grew increasingly sluggish.

I also felt, within my own blood, a share of my brother’s torment. Capturing Lightning is far more difficult than capturing fire. I sensed my brother’s life force ebbing away; sometimes, I could no longer even feel his blood flowing within me.

During those years, I also secretly learned more about Rostov—that despicable man who would stop at nothing to achieve his aims. He had indeed made a pact with a Devil.

He threatened, intimidated, and even massacred our kinsmen to control my brother. He used the blood of our people to force my brother to hunt Lightning for him—all so he could secure himself a position in the Kayne Empire! Everything he gained was bought with my brother’s dying life force! Our Sol Family will never forget this blood feud.

After receiving news from the Crow, I began my own hunt—or as you other Hunters would call it, I became a ’Hunter’.

When I saw these stones on my pursuit, I felt that part of my brother’s blood stir once more within me.

Within these stones, the Lightning writhes like a serpent. I can sense the Spirit of the Lightning, and in it, I recognize my brother’s unique aura.

The way the Lightning moves speaks of struggle and fury. If ignited by flame, this stone will shatter.

Perhaps this is a message my brother left for me. We brothers are bound as close as the palm and back of a hand; our blood flows as one.

If I am incandescent rage, then he is the roaring Thunder.