Unable to repay my student loans, I had no choice but to work part-time as a demon hunter.

Gordon picked up the invitation and examined it carefully.

A charity sale for Easter sounds like it'll have lots of good stuff. Many people might think they're just dealing with trash, but Gordon is a master at finding treasures in the garbage.

"...However, Charlotte must have said something else as well." Gordon was still concerned.

"She asked me when I was moving out." Vera didn't even look up.

"What was your answer?"

"I said, I have no intention of leaving."

Gordon slowly turned his head.

"You know that this statement can be seriously ambiguous, right?"

"have no idea."

Gordon observed Vera's expression; she seemed exceptionally clear-headed.

"...What was Charlotte's reaction?"

She smiled.

"That's usually not a good thing," Gordon muttered.

……

After Gordon finished eating, washing up, and tidying himself up, Vera finished practicing a set of sword techniques and rested on the spot.

When the lower abdomen is taut, it is as firm as a sculpture; when relaxed, it regains its unique suppleness. The massive contours undulate gently beneath the bandages, and sweat gradually slides down the beautiful back, leaving marks on the ground.

Gordon admired it for a moment.

She was very fast; Gordon could read her movements, but he couldn't keep up.

He knew very well that it would hurt a lot if a big truck ran over him, but when that happened, there was nothing he could do but let it run him over.

“Sir, times have changed,” Gordon said. “Sinclair said he would bring the world a new gun that reloads very quickly.”

"Yes." Vera wielded her sword again, her movements graceful but increasingly slower, as if accompanying a fading song, "The gun is getting faster and faster."

  

"But you're not afraid of guns at all," Gordon said. "Whether it's wet-footed men, thugs, or other people who want to kill me in the future, they'll all have guns, but you're not afraid."

"Fear doesn't conflict with taking action. The more I worry about gunpowder, the more I need to practice." Vera brandished her weapon.

"I see that you've mastered a very sophisticated technique."

"The hound's swordsmanship. It can only be used when you are focused."

"Looks like it'll require some brainpower."

"Yes. When I was at the hunter school, I studied various techniques and tactics, including how medieval hunters used swords, how naval boarding fighters fought, and how modern soldiers killed their opponents, trying to incorporate all kinds of experience into my swordsmanship."

Gordon understood.

Her sword strikes were so fast they seemed instinctive, as if she were born knowing how to kill her enemies.

But in reality, there are layers of accumulation beneath instinct.

This includes, but is not limited to, her training at the Hunter Academy, her own scientific research, and the countless people and demons who have died by her sword.

These experiences have never disappeared; they have simply sunk deep into our memories and are now gradually being revived.

"Do the moves have specific names?" Gordon asked, "Like the Merciless Sword or something."

"No need. Truly mastered techniques eventually disappear into swordsmanship. In the end, there are no first moves or second moves; it's simply about making the most appropriate movement at the most appropriate time."

"That makes a lot of sense." Gordon took two steps forward. "Then the most appropriate thing for us to do now is to pack up and go to the charity sale..."

"No," Vera grabbed Gordon. "You have to keep training."

"besides?"

Gordon recalled the special training Vera had given him before he went to the pumping station.

After dodging the copper fragments and sensing the fists, he finally gained a basic grasp of the power of the source.

Clearly, the battle at the pumping station wasn't a final exam, but just a preliminary test.

"Sometimes, we are doctors and patients," Vera said earnestly. "And sometimes, we are coaches and students."

"Very good, very good." Gordon felt that the offensive and defensive positions had been reversed.

"You now have excellent perception and positioning abilities, but the development of your Source Essence can continue. It can be integrated more deeply and strongly. At first, it only changes itself; the school calls this stage 'Self,' where the power is still trapped within the flesh and blood. Taking another step forward, the Source Essence will spread its influence to the surroundings."

"Let's get a more academic summary."

"The next stage is called 'Force Field'," Vera said, tapping her sword on the ground. "It's about letting the laws of nature leave the body."

She slightly unleashed her source energy.

Although fate did not bind Gordon with its tearing bite, Gordon felt as if the ground had become scorching hot, and a terrible mental pressure followed.

It seems Vera has truly created a dueling arena on the spot, a cycle of despair from which there is no escape.

Here, only hunters and prey remain.

Immediately afterwards...

Gordon felt that his precise perception of his surroundings had been severed.

In this situation, he couldn't even sense Vera's body temperature and heartbeat like before.

"...My power has returned to my body." Gordon savored the moment.

"It's been covered up," Vera said.

"In other words, if I encounter other ability users and they deploy this kind of 'force field,' my senses will become ineffective."

"Yes, unless you can also unfold source matter into a force field."

Vera withdrew her power.

The invisible pressure dissipated, and Gordon was able to keenly perceive everything around him again.

"How? Last time you only said 'Know thyself.' The next tutorial shouldn't include any more five words."

"It's still just five new words," Vera said, "'Integrate yourself'."

"It seems that the people who write Hunter x Hunter textbooks don't pay for their work based on word count."

"You can start meditating while you're merging now; it might take a while," Vera said, letting Gordon pause for thought.

Gordon closed his eyes and deeply felt the inner changes.

Knowing oneself means observing oneself from the outside.

To merge oneself means that there is no longer an outside.

The so-called continued integration means that the boundary between humans and the source matter becomes even thinner, to the point that there is no distinction between inside and outside.

He looked at himself in the mirror.

【A shimmering miniature source material - "The Unbroken String"】

Gordon calmed himself down.

In the past, he always regarded it as a switch in his head, which, once turned on, allowed him to use synchronous transmission to sense everything around him.

This approach still separates "human" and "source matter" into two separate things: one gives orders and the other receives them.

He then thought of what Vera had just said.

Truly masterful techniques will eventually disappear into swordsmanship.

The same applies to the source matter.

In fact, he shouldn't have invoked the source material, or even distinguished it.

With this in mind, Gordon attempted to draw out the source matter.

The force slowly sank...

It entered every corner of Gordon's body, from his shoulders to his arms, from his chest to his abdomen, from his thighs to his feet.

It's amazing.

When the entire body is permeated by this power, it seems that the flesh and blood can no longer contain it.

As a result, a certain "property" overflowed from under the skin.

At that moment, Gordon saw a scene he couldn't comprehend.

The unbroken string hangs like a spider's thread in the darkness.

He traced it upwards, but could not see its end.

Behind one line are countless more lines, thousands upon thousands, crisscrossing and spreading across the vast expanse, numbering in the billions!

In his view, the world is no longer made of mud and flesh; its essence is revealed, a picture that is still being perfected and woven.

Further up...

All the lines seemed to originate from a massive shadow.

It looked like a...loom!

The mere existence of it creates a sense of oppression.

Gordon tried to observe, but he could not see the edge of the loom, nor the hand that was operating it.

Perhaps that hand is hidden in a place higher and more distant than the mortal world, or perhaps there was never any such hand at all.

The loom simply operates, spinning out threads that connect the entire world.

Gordon's "Unbroken String" is just the very end of it.

It came from an immeasurable height, fell into the mortal world, condensed in the body of a spider demon, and was eventually obtained by Gordon by chance.

As he tried to see clearly, the vision gradually faded away.

The mythical loom eventually disappeared behind the infinitely high sky.

……

I don't know how much time has passed.

When Gordon opened his eyes, it was already broad daylight.

The sunlight shone on his face.

His first concern was being late for class, but then he realized it was a holiday for disaster relief, and how great that felt.

"Awake?" Vera sat not far away.

"How long did this take?" Gordon's throat was dry, and he was both excited and exhausted.

"Ten hours, I guess."

"Ten hours!"

"Um."

"Have you been here the whole time?"

"Um."

Gordon rubbed his eyes.

While he observed the cosmic loom, Vera watched him in a daze. Their levels of mystery were roughly the same.

"I saw something incredible, like I've figured it out a little," Gordon said.

“Different people see different things,” Vera recalled. “Occasionally, I would dream of a hunting ground shrouded in a blood moon, where I would run, but there was no end in sight…”

What are you chasing?

"I don't know," Vera said, somewhat lost in thought. "Chasing after the unattainable."

Gordon silently felt the invisible, growing source power within his body.

After ten hours of meditation, he felt that his mental strength had been greatly enhanced.

Source matter is a kind of higher power, which Gordon learned about from "The Nature of Source Matter".

Those scholars wrote over three hundred pages, but the amount of information was about the same as Vera's "I don't know" just now.

In any case, Gordon had to wash his face and cleanse himself of the feeling of witnessing a miracle.

He went into the restroom to check if the water company had connected the water pipes to the Blackwater River.

[Lundnium tap water. No citizen fragments or otherworldly components found today.]

To ensure the water quality met the standards, Gao Deng filled the ceramic basin with water and wiped his face with a towel.

The chill dispelled the drowsiness in his head, and he felt his mind was much clearer.

Just then, he saw two towels on the towel rack.

Her towel. It smells like her.

[Your towel. But it might not be just yours.]

Gordon paused for a moment.

Because of his increased abilities, he could now see faint, fine lines on both towels.

Gordon tried to unleash the power of the source matter on them.

then……

Two thin lines extend out, passing through the bathroom door, across the air, and all the way to the living room.

Gordon took his towel and walked out, following the line.

Without realizing it, he stopped in front of Vera.

"?" Vera looked at Gordon.

"I've noticed that it's far too closely connected to you," Gordon said.

"I took the wrong one once," Vera said casually.

"One mistake wouldn't necessarily lead to such a deep connection."

Vera remained silent.

This silence lasted exceptionally long.

"Maybe more than once." Vera suddenly felt guilty and took the towel from Gordon's hand naturally, as if it had always been hers. "Give me this one, I'll buy you a new one."

"One isn't enough," Gordon glared at her.

"Okay." She folded and put away Gordon's towel, quickly changed her clothes, picked up Charlotte's invitation, "...Well then, it's time to go."

Clearly, she was trying to gloss over the detail as if it hadn't happened.

"Walk."

After leaving No. 9 Knight Road, the world remained peaceful.

He felt as if he had entered a door, behind which no new power appeared out of thin air; he had simply taken a step closer to the mysteries of the source. He also lost a towel.