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

Chapter 91 Source Quality Training Method

"Can you keep up with my speed?" Gray spurred his horse forward.

"certainly."

Gordon crouched low, gripped the reins tightly, and his coat fluttered in the wind.

Riding through the countryside is a lot of fun, and the faster you go, the more exciting it is.

Anger loves the wilderness.

Leaving the crowded streets of Lundnium, it stretches its long legs and gallops freely.

Gordon left all the carriages and pedestrians behind in one go, leaving them to eat his dust.

Gray looked back, expecting Gordon to fall halfway down, but Gordon looked very calm.

He felt a slight pang of regret. He had lost the chance to laugh at Gordon for the rest of his life.

Gordon, on the other hand, had been thinking about training methods.

Martin is setting up a blockade of Green Mansion and could issue an order to storm in at any moment.

Vera's injuries have not yet healed.

She was able to lift Gordon into the air while crouching, but she was clearly not using her full strength.

Given Vera's normal lower back strength, Gordon should have been broken long ago.

Even for the sake of human safety, he has to become stronger.

First, figure out what Green Shade Mansion has to offer, and then you'll gain access to the core battlefield of Blackwater River. Finally, when the Empire faces the Fishing King, you'll be able to enter and reap the rewards.

If you're still not strong enough by then, you can only stand outside the warning line and watch from afar as the masters clash.

That's unacceptable.

Gray slowed down.

"What are you thinking about? Have you finally realized that going out with me is an honor?"

"I'm thinking about more important things."

"explain."

"You have no beneficiaries; everything will revert to the Imperial Treasury after your death. Are you truly content with that?"

"What other ideas do you have?" Gray asked warily.

"We could set up a birdwatcher's fund. Every year, we could use the interest to provide nuts and health checkups for the crows of Lundnim. That way, even if you die, the bird community will remember your contribution."

Gray thought about it very seriously.

"That sounds pretty good."

"I have to be the fund manager."

"I guess they'll be able to eat nuts in the first year, but in the second year they'll only be able to eat bran."

"A year? More like a week."

The road rises steadily along the hills, and beyond a patch of green pasture, a long red brick wall lies across the horizon.

The wall was three stories high, with cannons mounted between the crenellations, all pointing towards the open field.

Further on, shooting towers, fortresses, and pointed teaching buildings rise one after another, with thick steam pipes running along the outer walls, spewing out bursts of smoke, and the black and gold school flag fluttering high appearing and disappearing intermittently.

At first glance —

Gordon felt that the Hunter School was like a military academy and an arsenal, and also like a large prison.

[The stone bridge. It makes students realize that dropping out of school requires swimming across the moat.]

[The wall. Its main function is to prevent things inside from getting out.]

[Artillery. It can also be turned inwards if necessary.]

"Are you trying to lure me in and chop me up?" Gordon questioned.

"Don't worry, there are plenty of people who deserve to die more than you."

An iron bridge spans the moat of the fortress, and at the bridgehead is a diamond-shaped granite block engraved with the school motto: "Restraint, Self-reflection, Humility."

Gordon rode ahead and turned to look at Gray.

"I feel you don't quite fit the school motto."

"Still not good enough? Restrain yourself from bullying the weak, reflect on why you are always so outstanding, and humbly believe that one day you people will be able to see my back, of course, with binoculars." Gray said dismissively.

The officer at the entrance registered them.

He checked Gray’s hunter’s license and library card, then noticed Gordon’s office badge, gave him a second look, and finally let him through according to procedure.

They entered a wide road that could accommodate six riders abreast.

Gordon heard commands that sounded almost like insults.

"You otherworldly demons wouldn't even deign to eat your teeth, you maggots! Lift your legs!"

"You are the lowest and most despicable trash of Lundnim!"

"You'd better behave yourself! Or I'll twist your head off!"

Gordon looked around.

To the left is the track and field, where about twenty new recruits in black training uniforms are doing physical training, running with lead weights on their backs, sweating profusely.

To the right is a sunken training camp where several trainees wearing heavy protective gear are besieging a young armored demon.

It has a dark red shell on its back and its main attack method is to charge, knocking away novices who aspire to challenge the Otherworldly Demons.

boom!

Several comrades caught the new recruit as he flew out of the water. The four of them rolled several times on the ground. Before they could even catch their breath, they quickly got up and continued their charge.

The instructors surrounded the pit, cursing the unfortunate boy inside.

"What are you hesitating for! Those are demons! Charge!"

"Don't come at me from the front! Did you leave your brain in your mother's tummy?"

"That's ruthless. What kind of people do they hire here?" Gordon asked curiously.

"Physical fitness is up to standard, willpower is strong, and it would be best if they could prove they're tough enough in some accident. Orphans are good, the whole family wiped out is even better, those who survived falling off a cliff, or those who were originally useless but suddenly unleashed their talent, are the best candidates for training."

"It seems there aren't any truly prominent people among them."

"Yes, this place is full of men and women who want to get ahead, but there are no blue-blooded families here." Gray raised his riding crop and pointed to the main building of the Hunter School.

Amidst the thick fog and steam, nine shields are arranged beneath a black and gold banner.

Gordon only recognized the FitzRoy family crest, the family of Charlotte's best friend Cecilia, which had it on her backpack—a white lion holding a scepter.

In comparison, the Charlotte family is far inferior to this truly extraordinary noble family.

Newly emerging high-quality source material is often seized by high-ranking dukes through schemes, monopolized within their families, and accumulated as private property.

As they grew stronger, they continued to plan for the source resources for their descendants. This cycle was extremely solid; as long as it wasn't broken, the nine families would be like nine mountain peaks, growing ever higher.

"Those are ducal families who fought alongside their monarchs to the very end during the Noon War. They have their own training methods and reserves of source material, and they constantly exchange benefits with each other. They don't need their children to be scolded here at all," Gray explained.

"Who is so kind as to give ordinary people a way to get ahead?" Gordon asked, looking at the new recruits crawling and rolling in the mud.

"Who else could it be, Lady Generous? She couldn't tolerate all the high-ranking forces becoming the private property of the nine families. So she supported the Hunter Academy, forcing the nine families to send money to the Hunter Academy. These badges are either to commemorate—or to humiliate—they."

Gordon thought of the meeting on King's Mountain.

Lady Elizabeth the Gentlewoman was impressive. Her awe-inspiring “generosity” almost covered a third of the table when Gordon analyzed the losses caused by the Blackwater Hermitage.

He wanted to consult the charity foundation about paying off his student loans early, but he was also curious whether the generous minister would introduce new terms.

"She will not allow the nine major families to monopolize all the source matter," Gordon concluded.

"On the one hand, there is serious inbreeding and excessive intermarriage among those with abilities, resulting in newborns being contaminated. On the other hand, the old man likes to hoard large amounts of source material, and once he dies, his children, sons-in-law, and relatives and friends will fight over the inheritance and even dig up his dead body, making things very ugly."

"The family atmosphere is very good."

"On the other hand, their power is too great, which inevitably leads to unnecessary thoughts. In Logris, the civil servants represented by the Seven Lords are one thing, and the nobles represented by the Nine Dukes are another."

"Therefore, the Hunter School is responsible for selecting new blood from the common people and training hunters who are loyal to the Empire."

"Yes," Gray nodded. "If it weren't for the hunter school, your Uncle Gray would still be herding cattle in the countryside."

"Cattle herders have more time for bird watching."

"very good."

"But it might make you not like birds at all."

"That's bad."

Gordon saw that the recruits were suffering terribly during training, yet none of them relaxed.

"Can new recruits obtain Source Matter after graduation?"

"No, they're just qualified to compete. They'll participate in low- to medium-intensity source material wars. If they're lucky, they'll go to volcanoes, tsunamis,..."

Digging things up at the earthquake site. If you're unlucky, you might end up on the battlefield.

"It sounds like the survival rate isn't high."

"The principal thought the same way; he opposed sending completely incompetent recruits to the battlefield. But there was no other way; some people are born qualified, while others have to fight tooth and nail to prove they are."

Gordon looked at the muddy training field and could probably picture a younger Vera standing there.

She was probably shorter and more naive back then, trained to the point of numbness, learning how to kill and how to cover up pain in the rain and mud.

Finally, he broke through the encirclement and became one of the best among the new recruits of a certain batch of hunters, winning her essence.

People who survive such high-pressure training environments inevitably carry traumatic memories.

The two horses passed through the cast-iron archway and arrived at a building called the Mercury Building.

This is the Hunter School's crafting center. It looks square and resembles a large warehouse.

Leaving the horse with the stable boy at the door, Gray walked upstairs, straightened his trench coat, and smoothed his hair with his hand.

"Welcome to the Hunter's Internal Source Refinement Grounds, which is usually only accessible to outstanding graduates, instructors, and invited experts."

Gray led Gordon to the No. 2 refining room in the Mercury Building, expertly turned on the gas lamps, and lowered the blackout curtains.

"Have you been here before?" Gordon asked, observing.

"Of course, before working with you, I knew other alchemy experts, and I'd like to see how you compare to them." Gray gestured to the refining equipment, "Spiritual reactor, active projector, contamination decontamination device—you'd be hard-pressed to find anything better in Lundnim."

Gao Deng observed.

The Hunter School's Spiritual Reactor is unique; it's short and stout, and equipped with a silver mirror for observing the reactions.

Next to it was a coffin-like decontamination device that emitted the smell of disinfectant and absinthe. It was connected to a combustion chamber underneath, used to destroy defective products.

The spiritual reactors in the Sherwood Laboratory Building are different; they have more sampling ports and are clearly more concerned about whether new data will be left after contamination occurs.

"Wait. Where's the book?" Gordon suddenly asked.

"What book?" Gray feigned ignorance.

"You promised me the training manual."

"Give it to me after you've finished refining it."

"But what if the manual you're talking about just teaches me how to run laps like those new recruits outside and wrestle with otherworldly demons?"

Gray disagreed.

He went out for a walk, and five minutes later, he returned with a thick book in his hand, which he slammed on the table.

"You can only look at it on campus, you can't take it out. This is the Hunter Academy's teaching material, not some public property of the university," Gray warned.

Hunter's Code: From Transcendence to Death

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