Since he knew he had full rights to the body… He knew that he didn’t need to carve his parts and that they would be transported where he wished to. Then it hit him what this meant: he would have to make a full gear out of it… Nikki seemed to expect this, but he still felt weird about that. But he would not disappoint her by chickening out. So he knew he would have to send a letter to Aki as soon as he could. Elder bodies did not decay for a while, but they still were on limited time.

  She had sent him instructions on what to do if he ever needed her services for more extensive work than the knife she did for him. And he knew a full set of armor, along with a weapon fitted the bill.

  One hour later, he spotted some shapes coming from the horizon, and he quickly realized that it was the full team of hunters that was coming… But there were also two more hand gliders than there should. He fired his green flare once again so that they could see that there was no doubt, and rapidly saw them aiming for landing.

  A half-dozen minutes later, all of them landed on the flat top of the hill, but he could immediately see that something was wrong with the Rathalos-clad hunter. His movements felt stiff, angry.

  He immediately reacted when he started unsheathing his weapon, a huge red-scaled Gunlance with its accompanying shield, and unsheathed his weapon in turn. He held it protectively, like a shield so he could deflect the explosions the hunter could blast at him if he dared to.

  “YOUUUUUUU! YOU HAVE RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU WERE SIMPLY SUPPOSED TO HOLD IT OFF UNTIL WE ARRIVED TO SAVE THE DAY! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE WAITED TO BE PERMITTED TO HUNT AN ELDER? YEAAARS! NOW YOU’LL PAY!”

  Valen prepared himself to react, the hunter had the range and defense advantage… If it came to a fight, he would have to use his mobility.

  But right before he seemed to be about to lunge at Valen, a voice immediately cut the tension.

  “Hunter Kayden! Stand down right now or you’ll be kicked out of the guild immediately and branded as a poacher!”

  The hunter immediately froze, as it seemed he had forgotten that they were accompanied by the Commander. Who harshly reminded him of his presence.

  “Know right now that you’ll be held in a review, and that your behavior will no longer be tolerated! This is your last warning. We have received numerous reports, but your team dismissed them… So they’ll also be held to the same review.” He said while shooting a glare at the mentioned hunters. One of them seemed shifty, but the other two seemed to grip their armored fists further.

  The Rathalos-clad hunter seemed about to disobey the orders, before sharply turning his head to the side, and sheathing his weapons, shooting a glare through the eye-holes of his armor at Valen. The Commander followed him until he was back with his team, then he looked at the corpse and nodded to the last person of this group. “Guild Knight, confirm the hunt.”

  The aforementioned Guild Knight nodded and walked up to the body and inspected the numerous wounds on it. It said. “Some wounds are the result of a turf war between another Valstrax, but the most grievous ones are caused by a Switch Axe, on this chest, the wings membranes, and the right fore paw. A killing blow seems to be a stab in the brain. The only odd wound is this long gash in the chest, but I suspect it’s caused by the crash landing. The presence of blood in the trench seems to confirm this. Hunter Valen is the sole hunter of this Elder Hunt.”

  Valen released a breath. There had been attempts of disguising group hunts with a hunter and some poachers as solo hunts, but the guild randomly sends Guild Knights to inspect the bodies to confirm they were caused only by the weapons the hunter wielded. And it was mandatory for Elder Dragon hunts. But now they confirmed he did complete the task solo.

  The Commander nodded at this, then looked at Valen. “Hunter Valen, allow me to congratulate you and express the thanks of the Guild for resolving this emergency.” Then he crossed his arms. “Now that formalities are done, allow me to ask: How the hell?”

  Valen smiled behind his helmet and he answered. “Lucky shot at the beginning and more luck. I managed to wound its chest vents when it was still recovering from the crash landing, which would have satisfied the condition of preventing his retreat, but I did not have the time to fire a flare as its goal immediately became to try to murder me without giving me any breathing room… And I guess I managed to finish it in the struggle.”

  The Commander nodded. “That seems a good explanation, it immediately enraged, and I expect that an enraged Elder would give no quarters. I’ll wait for your detailed report, but first, do you know of a smith that can take care of this?” He nodded towards the body.

  Valen nodded in response. “I know somebody yes. I already plan to send a letter to her as soon as I can.”

  “If you can write it now, you’ll be able to send it as soon as the airship arrives… Speaking of which.” He picked up his flare gun and fired it up, which was yellow this time. “The airship will now be able to depart to pick us up. Every other hunter will have to return to towns by their means, as they have been instructed, we simply do not have the opportunity to pick them up. Their belongings will be safely stored at Bherna village.”

  It seemed fair for Valen. “I should wait though I guess?”

  “Indeed, a Felyne cart is waiting in the Airship and will be able to carry your rewards where you need them. The cost of transport is paid off by the Guild.”

  After this, they fell silent, and the Commander seemed to be finished with him… But then he immediately turned to face the hunting team. “As for you four… Know that disciplinary actions will be taken. What I’ve seen was unacceptable, and you can expect harsh retribution from the guild.”

  Valen noticed that the hunter that was about to assault him was gripping firmly his weapon, likely debating assaulting the Commander, but he seemed to notice the Guild Knight who also had his hand on his weapon of choice, being a Lance, and seemed to relax. He likely realized it wasn’t a battle he should fight.

  What followed was a tense half an hour while all of them were waiting, it seemed the hunter still wanted to go at Valen but the Commander and the Guild Knight were standing between the two of them, and the Knight never let him leave his sight as well. Several times Valen saw his arm twitch towards his weapon but every time he seemed to reconsider.

  Once the airship finally arrived and stopped above the group. The Commander ordered somebody to grab Valen’s belongings, and a Felyne climbed down the rope, managing to not be overbalanced by the large backpack it was carrying. Valen checked them and declared everything was in order. Soon after, pulleys lowered a large cart from the airship, and several Felynes were waiting at the bottom. Valen had penned and sealed a letter and then sent a messenger Hawk who would deliver it to Aki.

  While the other hunters were climbing back up the airship, on the Commander’s order, he returned to Valen’s side and said. “Once your new gear is crafted, you are requested to go to Dundorma. Everything that happens after will be decided there. Do not take too long!”

  “I won’t.” He was about to turn around when the Commander grabbed his shoulder, then pulling closer to his ears, he whispered:

  “New doors are opening for you, but you’ll quickly find you did not make only allies in this endeavor, your feat will not go unnoticed, and beware the Zinogre in Moofas clothing.”

  “I will be careful! You’ll also find I’m not defenseless.” Valen replied.

  The Commander seemed satisfied by this response and with a final nod, climbed back up the ladder dangling from the airship. Once he was up, he seemed to shout orders and the airship took off slowly. Valen watched it soar before turning around, and noticing the Felynes had already secured the body with ropes to the cart, and a dozen of them were ready to pull it. One, seemingly the leader of the group walked up to Valen.

  “We are puuretty sure everything is ready! Where do we go Meowster?”

  Valen then pulled out his map and pointed at a destination a bit to the south of Harth. “There, it’ll be a journey of several days but I’m sure we can manage. I’ll take care of any threats that dare to take on us.”

  The lead Felyne checked the destination on the map then emitted some meows in the private language of the Felynes, and soon all of them were heading off, towards Aki’s home.

  The journey lasted almost a dozen days, but finally, they stood in front of the gate of a fortress built into the mountains. The stone looked ancient like it had been built long ago, but it was still standing and sturdy. Aki told Valen it was her home, and it had been built generations ago. The area outside of the walls was barren. Countless ruins of farmhouses or barns stood, and there were a lot of acidic pools and a couple of open-flowing lava. The Felynes gave cool drinks to the whole group to help with the ambient heat.

  But finally, Valen arrived at his destination. With a nod to the leading Felyne, he walked up to the massive wooden doors and slammed the giant knocker built into it, the sounds reverberating around.

  The group waited but it only took a few minutes before he heard movement behind the door, and soon after a person came up on one of the (meurtrières) and asked. “Who comes here- woah that’s a large body.”

  Valen had a smile appear on his face but he looked back up and said. “Hunter Valen, here to request the services of the Smith Aki.”

  A moment passed, where he could hear voices discussing, but then they turned back around. “We have been told to expect your arrival indeed. Can you show me your card?” Valen did so, pulling it out of his bag. After a moment, they were answered. “Everything looks in order, Open the gates!”

  Soon after a loud grinding noise started to echo in the valley, and slowly, the doors started to open. It took the better part of a minute before the opening was large enough for the cart to be rolled in, so Felyne pulled it through, Valen following them. As soon as they were clear of the opening, he heard the doors stopping opening, and a couple of seconds later, starting to close behind them.

  What he faced was a massive keep, that stood strong to the tests of time. He could see parts where it had been demolished and rebuilt by the cleaner aspect of the stone, but most of it was still made of older stone. There were several houses around, a tavern, a couple of farms with fields behind them, and others of which he could not guess the purpose of. There were however ruins that spoke of an ancient catastrophe, as he guessed outside it, there were some square shapes of stone, the foundations of long-gone buildings, but what surprised him were the stone statues that he sometimes saw around. Most of them depict people in frozen faces of fear or attempting to flee.

  That is only a while later that he realized that they had been people once, trying to flee one ancient calamity but having been caught in it. Looking at the mountain that dominated the fortress, which had lava streams flowing from it, he suspected it was an eruption that once caused the devastation.

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  The convoy stopped at the doors of the keep, which immediately opened and Aki walked out of it. She saw Valen and smiled. “So! I leave not even two months and you take down Elders? If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you were the crazy one!”

  Valen chuckled. “Don’t think it is a present for you, but I’d be lying if I did not think of you once the deed was done.” He then took a more serious tone. “Hello Aki, It’s great to see you again.”

  “Likewise Valen. No other guests than your little party am I right?”

  “You are right, should we drop our package at your forge so we can free them from their duties?”

  “That would a-purr-eciated.” The lead Felyne said.

  Aki nodded in response, then said. “Come, follow me.” And she motioned to the group of Felynes, who while they weren’t dropping dead, were exhausted from the long travel they had to endure.

  Thankfully the trip to the forge was a short one. Aki led them to a cavern built into the mountain and stopped at a storage area. “There, you can leave it there, I’ll take care of the rest. As an official Smith, I consider your Duty complete.”

  The Felynes cheered in a cacophony of meows. And they all but ran out of the cave. Only the lead Felyne stayed a bit longer, thanking Valen for taking care of the dangers in their journey, and then followed them.

  Aki and Valen were now alone, but she quickly motioned him to follow her back out of the cave.

  While they were walking, Valen asked. “So. You’re a noble?”

  She made a so-so gesture. “Officially, we are not, but the fortress is of such a high quality that it’s almost like we are, everybody who is living here is of their own free will, and we greatly appreciate them for that. The fortress is about one thousand years old from what we could deduct. It was built by our Ancestor, who had managed to acquire a fortune due to the legendary quality of his weapons, he was the greatest smith of his age. He had built this forge, and then the fortress to dedicate his craft to the King of old.

  Eventually, he died and the fortress went generations upon generations, a lot of our family were smiths. But one day a calamity struck. We think it was a rampaging Elder Dragon that tried to build its nest in the area, we suspect a Teostra but we aren’t sure at this point. What eventually happened is that his power reawakened the dormant volcano, and created an eruption. It happened so quickly not everyone was able to take cover in the fortress, which weathered the eruption. However, everything else was buried in ashes. The area outside the fortress became acidic and barren, but for some reason that didn’t happen inside the walls. This is why we can get by with such a small area, the grounds inside are incredibly fertile and produce great harvests.

  Eventually, over the following centuries, we have rebuilt and we even discovered the forge, with the now awakened magma, is the perfect place to craft high-quality equipment. You’ll hardly find a better place for this.”

  Valen nodded. “I guess the reason relates to what you cannot tell me?”

  Aki looked at him in the eyes and had a smug smile. “Indeed, and now that you’re a G-Rank hunter, I’ll tell you everything I know about it. Not now though, I’ll wait until we are sure the possibility of unwanted ears is null.”

  Valen nodded, it made sense.

  They returned to the keep, and there Aki told him to drop his bag for everything he didn’t need, he also dropped his armor to her request, being given something else, which was more layers of insulating clothes than anything else. “This will help you better withstand the heat of the forge, cool drinks won’t cut it alone. Also, put this on your head.” She said while handing out some kind of mask. “I know you can support the noxious gas, but since we’re surely staying there for several days, it’ll be more than you can handle, even if I still wear them.” She finished while putting on her filter mask.

  Valen followed her instructions to the letter, he knew that Aki knew the security protocols of her home the best, so obeying her simply made sense.

  Once they were all geared up, they returned towards the forge, Valen noticing the sun was starting to begin its descent, which meant they were at the beginning of the afternoon, but he already had eaten on the road so he was satiated for a while longer.

  This time in the forge they passed the storage room and went deeper into it, which didn’t seem to be the forge room itself, but some kind of bedroom in it. Aki locked the door behind them and removed her mask. “There, I’m sure we won’t be spied on while here. There’s ventilation in this room, you can remove your mask.”

  Valen duly did so, and he asked. “I’m guessing that’s where you sleep when doing big projects?”

  She smiled and nodded. “Indeed! So! First things first, did Nikki do anything more unusual since I have last seen her?”

  He frowned and then snapped his fingers. “Yes, you know how she always made my weapon weaker when we sparred? This time I think she made it stronger, like she was doing with the armor, when I was fighting the Valstrax, it felt like I was cutting through the scales more easily than I should.”

  Aki hummed and answered. “That tracks, if she could imbue the armor with her energy, and could deplete your weapons, it made sense she could also do the opposite for each.”

  “Apart from that, there isn’t anything new… Oh right… I wish you were here, but she did some kind of funeral when I slayed the Valstrax, it was hauntingly beautiful and I did not expect her to use music to create sound.”

  “She did? Hmmm, yeah the way her wings work would make it able to do that… Would also make a kick-ass Hunting Horn if that was your weapon too.” She sighed. “How did she react when you slayed a member of her species?”

  “That’s the strange thing, it was her who encouraged me to do it in the first place, she only told me that he was sick and afflicted with some kind of madness once the deed was done.”

  “That is strange indeed, but I believe she had a reason, and that probably meant that Valstrax was too far gone… Anything else?”

  “No, that’s everything. So, what’s the deal with that energy?”

  There Aki took a deep breath and started boiling some water on a stove. “It’s called Bioenergy. Some theorize it’s the energy of life itself. But from what we know, it helps monsters to function. Because some aspects of physics we know don’t make sense to them. They should be slower for how massive they are, a lot of them have wings too small to be able to fly. Bioenergy helps fill out these gaps and allow them to live.”

  “That… I can see why it would be kept secret from the general public. But why aren’t all hunters aware of it at least?”

  “Because that’s the secret to armors and weapons. When we forge equipment made of monsters, they retain the Bioenergy they had, maybe even in a more condensed form. This is why gear made of simple bones or ores is so ineffective on the higher-ranked monsters. They simply do not have the Bioenergy to go through the defense of a monster.”

  Valen frowned then something jumped to his mind. “Wait, does that mean you need Bioenergy to go through their defenses?”

  Aki nodded. “Indeed, the excess energy monsters have makes it that it reinforces the outer shell of, be it fur, scales, or feathers. Only excessive force, like the one produced by Dragonators, can go through it normally, or repeated strikes on the same spot.”

  Valen sighed. “I guess I was fortunate on the Plesioth hunt, good thing I had a hunting partner else I doubt I’d have managed it alone.”

  “You still pulled your weight on that one, so don’t say you did nothing! Still, this is why it’s almost impossible to try hunting Elders with basic iron or bone gear, their Bioenergy is so potent that it makes conventional attacks ineffective, as I’m sure you witnessed during your spars with Nikki.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I wondered… What about armor? You said weapons allow you to go through the Bioenergy of monsters, I guess armor helps you counteract theirs?”

  “Exactly! From what we could determine, the Bioenergy of armor allows to spread the impact on the whole surface instead of only the area struck, more powerful monsters can go through this of course, but it… Let’s say it’s like an invisible shield around your body that can tank a couple of hits. No more though, as there’s a finite pool they can draw from before they are completely overwhelmed. It’s why it’s recommended to have breaks between hunts instead of chaining them.”

  “That explains so much… Okay, anything else?”

  “That’s the gist of it, there’s more but it’s more details and I’ll explain it while we work on your equipment.”

  This made Valen remember the gem he carved from the Valstrax. “Oh right, before I forget… Nikki pushed me to carve a specific spot of the body… And I extracted this.” He retrieved the drawstring bag from his pouch and opened it, exposing the ruby-red gemstone that he had extracted. “Any idea what this is?”

  Aki gasped, she stared at the stone for a long while, before rubbing the back of her prosthesis hand, and then she sighed. “Valen, if I needed proof that you would become a legendary hunter, this would be enough. You have no idea what this is?”

  “I only know that Nikki felt it was important, and I can sense some sense of… Awareness of it? Like it’s judging me.”

  She nodded. “That tracks. Okay, this is one of the biggest secrets of the guilds, and especially the smith, bigger even than the Bioenergy, though it relates. This is a Gem. It’s the crystallized essence of a whole monster. They are incredibly rare… And not because they’re rare in themselves. A monster had to judge a hunter to be worthy for it to exist.”

  Valen almost stumbled back. “What do you mean by that?”

  “These gems exist on every monster that is high enough in the food chain… But in most cases, they dissolve on death, dispersing the Bioenergy they contain in nature. However… In rare cases, a monster can respect a hunter, for being honorable in their fighting, for delivering them of pain by it, without taking joy in it. Or simply, because they can feel they deserve it. We have several recorded cases of regular wyverns… But for Elders? I have enough fingers on my hand to count them all. My injured hand.”

  “That… What does it mean exactly, what does it contain, the soul of the monster?”

  “Not really, more like… Its essence. They are not sentient for sure, but… Strange thing happens around them, they can make a weapon feel stronger in time of need, or you take a hit that should have broken your body. Or they can help you completely recover the function of a lost limb.” She said while holding up her right hand, which Valen now noticed, had a green gem embedded in it.

  “When I was collecting the parts to craft my prosthesis, I needed parts of an Apex monster, so I decided that I’d challenge a Rathian. The hunt was close… I almost lost my life in it. However, as she was about to die, it felt like she was acknowledging me. I later learned that she was well known and a right terror when she was younger, being very protective of her nest, but she had lost her Rathalos mate recently, she probably wanted to go out with a bang.”

  She looked at him seriously. “I know I don’t need to tell you this, what with your relationship with Nikki, but respect monsters Valen, they deserve their place there as much as we deserve ours. And too many have forgotten that fact recently…”

  Valen nodded. “Do not worry, I will do my very best to do that.”

  “Keep that Gem with you, and I’d suggest not letting anybody touch it, if it’s anything like mine, it won’t react well to that. It chose you and only you. It’ll be kind of the same with your armor and weapons. Past a point, only those who participated in the forging can wear or use it. Anybody else would find it defective.”

  “Alright.” He pulled the strings tight to close the bag and replaced it in its pouch. “What next? Do we start forging right now or?”

  “First of all, we do the plans for the armor and weapon. Elder Armors are custom-made, especially if they have been slayed by a solo hunter. You’ll find it’ll be the very best armor you can wear, and your Plesioth’s will be miserable in comparison. So, let’s start drawing! Do not hesitate to tell me you want to add something, if it makes sense for you, it will work.”

  “I see… let’s do it then!”

  Thus Valen and Aki went both to design the armor that would be made out of the Valstrax’s materials. They first drew up the armor, but when Aki showed it to him, something felt missing, so he asked if a certain addition was possible. She looked pensive, then grinned at him.

  “Oh yes, it is, I would have said no if you didn’t have the Gem, but since you do, it’ll allow us to be more ambitious! Oh, since you use a Switch Axe, we can do something similar to it, we’ll just have to install a second slot for a Phial!”

  Valen frowned and then asked. “How about a third? Here’s what I have in mind.”

  He told her and she frowned, then nodded. “It’ll be a good emergency tool if you ever need it.”

  The night had long fallen when they finished designing.