Retired S-rank father becomes a teacher

With the looming threat of Sulena's seal weakening and Jupiter's prison failing, Silas had been forced to spend less time with his family in order to ensure their safety. Even as the strongest man in the world, he needed to train and prepare.

There were two types of hunters: the ones who hunt monsters, and the ones who hunt hunters. Silas belonged to the former but had a history with the latter.

The prisoners in Jupiter would require him to hone the latter's skills and so he had to get back into that mindset. For that he teleported to the Hunter Association's Sahara Desert training grounds.

Blazing heat hit him as he walked on the desert sand, seeing the building in the distance, it was shaped like a cube, all metal and dark. Checking his phone, he saw a message from Lucifer. A code that he had to type in to get inside.

He sighed. The bureaucracy was getting to him. Putting his phone away, he approached the gate, the sand crunching under his dress shoes.

Typing in the code, the gate opened and he walked in. Inside, the temperature dropped and the smell of metal and cleaning supplies was strong. Mana hit him, the density was immense, much higher than anywhere on earth and he felt it tug at him.

Pure S-rank mana.

With a whistle, he walked to the front desk where a woman with red hair was sitting, her back was turned to him and she didn't look up.

"Good morning, I am here for training," he announced himself.

The woman turned to him, her face was a bit round and her eyes were brown.

"Silas Vane." She nodded. "Judge Litorei already told us you'd be here. Let's see...we have the simulation room and the sparring room available."

Silas leaned on the counter.

"I'll take the sparring room. I need a real fight," he said with a smile.

The woman typed on her keyboard, her nails clicking against the keys. Then she nodded and took out a note from her cabinet, dense mana coming off of it and she handed it to him.

"Usually you'd receive a standard contract but since Judge Litorei made an exception, this is a special contract that will only last for today along with only being active on your person. Read the contract before accepting." The woman looked at him with a professional expression.

He took the note and unfolded it, the contract was written in formal language and he quickly skimmed over it. The conditions of the contract were simple: he was not allowed to kill his sparring partner, he was not allowed to intentionally cripple them either and he was not allowed to break any rules of the training facility.

Fair enough.

This contract was different. It only measured intent. Which meant that if he accidentally killed someone it wouldn't trigger and it couldn't force him to do anything. A one-way street. Lucifer was being generous, which was strange.

Putting the note in his pocket, the woman stood up.

"Please follow me."

She led him through the white corridors of the facility, their footsteps echoing on the linoleum floors. There were no windows here. Just artificial lights and a sterile environment.

The sound of his heartbeat was the only other noise as they approached the sparring room, the door had a red light on top that turned green as they approached and then it slid open. The woman stopped and gestured to the inside.

"Here you are. When a suitable sparring partner is ready, they'll enter through the opposite door. Good luck," she said with a small smile and left.

Strolling in, he looked around the room. It was spacious, the size of a gym, there was nothing inside except the doors. No furniture, no windows, just a gray floor and ceiling. He took a deep breath and let his mana out. It barely was enough to push out the dense S-rank mana in the air, creating a bubble around him.

Then he sat down in the middle of the room and waited. As much as he wanted to just pluck an S-rank from the streets and fight, this was safer for everyone involved. Evelyn and Haden leveled Mercury after all.

Grabbing his phone, he started to scroll through the Hunter Association website, the profiles of other hunters popping up on his screen.

A list of S-rankers currently active. His name wasn't in there since he was considered retired but it didn't matter. There were around fifty names on the list and he recognized half of them.

In two decades, about twenty-five new S-ranks popped up, which was concerning. After all back at the awakening era, there were around a hundred of them.

"I suppose that is the result of peace." He mumbled.

The world had less need for powerhouses and thus less people rose through the ranks. It also meant less died, which was good for the hunter community.

Scrolling down the list, he saw the names and the abilities of the new S-ranks. Some new type of magic he had never seen before. He wanted to fight all of them just to analyze their powers. Maybe he would.

He was bored. An hour of sitting around was not how he imagined this training session. But most of them were probably in different parts of the world, maintaining the peace and the stability of the Hunter Association.

Just as he thought of getting up and leaving, a noise came from the other door all the way across the room. It opened and in walked a man. Tall and muscular with dark skin and blue hair that was in dreadlocks.

Silas had no idea who he was but the young man recognized him.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is this the legendary Silas Vane in the flesh?" His voice was deep, a bit rough and he walked with a confidence. The door closed behind him. He was wearing the standard Hunter Association uniform, a dark blue and silver.

Standing up, Silas looked at him.

"Yes and you are?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The young man smiled and stopped in front of him, the smell of cologne was strong on him.

"Ogan Eze. Pleasure to meet you," Ogan said and held his hand out for a handshake.

Taking his hand, Silas gripped it. Instantly, the atmosphere snapped. Their conflicting mana collided like tectonic plates, churning the air into a suffocating, thick pressure that made the room vibrate. This wasn't just a spar.

They parted, and Ogan bounded back. "In honor of your legacy, I won't hold back," he grinned.

With a deafening, metallic shriek, his flesh hardened, rippling violently as it transformed into a dull, impenetrable grey steel. He wrenched his neck to the side, the joints cracking like a gunshot against his new, unyielding density.