Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest novel Chapter 1062

"Of course he's here."

Astron's pace remained fluid, measured, his breathing so steady it might as well have been silence. He didn't seem startled by their approach—just aware of it, the way one might notice a shift in the wind before a storm.

Ethan caught up first, falling into stride beside him.

"Yo," he said, casual—but his voice faltered just slightly at the end.

Because now that he was closer, he could see it clearly.

Astron's training uniform—normally sleek and self-regulating—clung visibly to his frame, the material darkened and sticking in places where sweat had soaked clean through. His shoulders, lean but sharply defined, moved with practiced control. His breath still came evenly, not ragged, but his skin shimmered faintly in the light with that unmistakable sheen of exertion.

It wasn't just that he was fit.

It was that his body looked… active. Like a drawn bowstring. Alive with energy.

More than that, the sweat didn't make sense.

The academy's training suits were designed to absorb and filter moisture, venting excess heat through layered mana-weaves.

But this? This wasn't normal post-run sweat. This was saturation. This was hours of movement—an effort so prolonged that the suit had reached its limit.

"…Wait," Ethan murmured, eyes narrowing slightly. "How long have you been out here?"

Astron glanced at him, expression unreadable. Then, simply, calmly:

"The whole night."

Ethan's mind blanked for a second. "The whole—?"

Just then, a second pair of footsteps rushed up from behind.

Julia reached them with a small huff, brushing a few loose strands of hair back under her headband. "You two took off like rockets—" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

She stopped mid-sentence.

Her eyes landed on Astron.

Her gaze dropped.

And narrowed.

"…You've got to be kidding me."

Astron didn't look back.

Julia blinked once, then twice, visibly trying to make sense of it. "Did you run through a damn waterfall or something?"

Ethan still hadn't found his voice again. His mind was replaying Astron's answer on loop.

The whole night.

He wasn't joking. There was no trace of irony in his voice. No smugness. No bravado.

Just fact.

That was the strange part.

No—that was another strange part.

Because Ethan knew what intense training smelled like. The tang of sweat. The sharp edge of burnt mana. The faint iron sting of someone pushing their body just past the threshold of human.

But standing this close to Astron—he didn't smell any of that.

No rank sweat. No scorched scent of overworked glyphs. None of the usual signals.

Instead, the air around him carried something else entirely.

A faint scent—clean, crisp… almost floral.

Ethan blinked again, confused. It wasn't overpowering, but it was noticeable now that he'd slowed down. Something light. Calming. A touch herbal, but not artificial.

Lavender?

It hit him all at once. Not some cheap cologne. Not body wash. Something deeper. Subtle enough to feel natural.

Which made it all the more unsettling.

He glanced sideways again.

Astron still ran at a steady rhythm, his eyes distant, his breath even.

"Okay," Ethan muttered, half to himself, "what the hell."

Julia must've noticed too, because her head tilted slightly and she leaned just a little closer.

And then frowned.

"…You smell like a damn herbal garden," she muttered. "What is that?"

Astron didn't break pace.

"I do not carry artificial scents."

"Okay," Julia said, baffled, "then what is it?"

There was a brief pause.

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