"I swear to use the sword in my hands to safeguard the Sacred Light!
"I swear to follow the Demon Hunters' seven 'Taboos,' and kill demonic entities forever!
"I swear that I will have a firm will and never be bewitched…"
…
Fang Yuan blended into a bunch of Demon Hunters and pledged with a solemn expression.
This was a small church, the Demon Hunters were attending as if it was a religious service and would go through a fixed ceremony regularly after a certain period of time.
However, in Fang Yuan's eyes, this had another feeling, "In order to confirm one's belief, there is such a meaning in Kotodama[1.Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names]? That's right! As a group of people who come into contact with darkness the most—Demon Hunters are individuals who can easily degenerate. There's also the Sacred Cup and Sacred Water!"
As his identity and position were different now, He didn't need to force himself to wait with the newbie Demon Hunters outside. Instead, he was at the center of the church, observing the process of making Sacred Water.
"Brothers, we shall share the Sacred Water. Give thanks to the power bestowed to us by our ancestors that allows us to have the power to fight against the darkness!"
A Demon Hunter with white hair stepped forward, his hand was holding onto a simple and unsophisticated wooden cup.
This was the vice president of the branch. His name was Roger, but he was different from Flock. As the holder of the Sacred Cup imitation, he usually wouldn't walk out of the branch.
"Sacred cup?" Fang Yuan focused on the other party's movements, a gold glow flashed beneath his eyes.
His shocking vision allowed him to see the model of the Sacred Cup clearly. In actual truth, the Sacred Weapon imitation in the Demon Hunter's hand looked average and was the shape of a normal, wooden goblet. The wooden grains were very detailed and clear.
At that moment, a tiny stream of water gushed out from within the cup when Roger turned it over, as though there was no limit. There was also a fragrance.
"As expected of a Sacred Weapon imitation, a high-grade product made from alchemy!" Seeing that, Fang Yuan had a revelation, "In actual fact… the entire Sacred Cup is an extremely exquisite alchemy medicament array. Its use is to purify and extract the energetic spiritual energy from the bodies of the Night Family Clan to produce Sacred Water?"
As can be seen, there ought to be a large cell within the branch or a storeroom that guarantees the unending supply of the ingredients used to produce Sacred Water.
"Let us share the Sacred Water to fight against evil!"
Roger's voice was old, but firm and filled with power. He raised the hand that was holding onto another ordinary cup filled with Sacred Water.
"Long live the Demon Hunters!"
Many Demon Hunters cheered and drank the Sacred Water.
"Going against evil with the power of evil?" Fang Yuan laughed sarcastically but didn't reject the power, drinking all of the Sacred Water given to him.
"Phew…"
The Sacred Water that was processed seemed to have none of the characteristics of the Night Family Clan's original power. Instead, it had a virtuous presence, so there was no mystery as to why the Demon Hunters were deceived.
In actual fact, if it wasn't for Fang Yuan's rich experience and how he didn't hold onto his first impression, he most likely would've been deceived like the Pharmacist masters and Alchemists.
"However… the Sacred Water really is good for the human body, it'll increase the fitness of Demon Hunters… especially for me!"
Other Demon Hunters could only increase a small amount of their strength, provided that they trained excessively after drinking Sacred Water.
However, Fang Yuan was no longer stuck at a bottleneck, his state was extremely high. With the confidence he had regarding his body, he was able to feel the cells cheering, fighting to swallow the power within the Sacred Water.
Not long afterward, his body's attributes rose again:
"Name: Hulk (Fang Yuan)
Essence: 22.0 (110)
Spirit: 22.0 (100)
Magic: 22.0 (120)
Profession: Demon Hunter
State: Healthy
Technique: Basic Grapple (Proficient), Gun Fighting Skill (Normal), Secret Study (Normal), Pharmaceutics (Normal), Alchemy (Basic), Morning Stars Swordsmanship (Dawn), Shady Flow Flying Claw (Black Claw)
Specialization: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 6)(Peak)], [Fiery Golden Eyes (Level 3)], [Body Seal (Ultimate form)]"
"Shady Flow Flying Claw: A technique invented by Shady Flow Master Jax, it needs to be accompanied by a customized claw Demon Weapon to advance. It's suitable for various complicated environments, it's divided into three levels: Black Claw, Sharp Claw, and Shady Claw!"
"Shady Flow… A martial art-like genre?"
Fang Yuan paused at the description of Shady Flow Flying Claw and had thoughts about it. He promptly saw the increased attributes and was elated, "Sacred Water… with enough of it, I might be able to recover my strength quickly… Weird, why did the Sacred Water from before not give me this kind of feeling… wait a minute!"
After the core Demon Hunters at the scene used the Sacred Water, Fang Yuan looked at Roger in frustration. He mixed the water before handing them out to the Demon Hunters outside.
"D*mn Demon Hunter branch, the Sacred Water that was given to Hulk wasn't only a fake, but also diluted…" He spat out in his heart. Fang Yuan felt the harshness of the Demon Hunter hierarchy, more and more, which was very similar to the food chain pyramid.
The newbie Demon Hunters outside had no qualifications to even enter the church and could only drink diluted Sacred Water. On the other hand, the elites could enjoy the gift of the pure Sacred Weapon imitations.
However, when compared to the branch president, Seres, it was nothing.
"The Sacred Water in the Sacred Weapon imitation has no effect to a Power Obtainer right? Hence, Seres would generally not appear for this occasion. The one he usually uses must be from the Demon Hunter headquarters, the original product from the real Sacred Cup…"
In the rumors, the Sacred Cup could assist in the area of breaking through bottlenecks. Obviously, it was way better than a Sacred Weapon imitation for increasing attributes.
"Maybe… I should request for permission to cultivate in the headquarters?"
A light flashed in Fang Yuan's eyes, "In actual fact, the shared Sacred Water wouldn't be too much if I have permission. After all, there are still a bunch of high-ranking personnel and branch presidents… It's better to teach a man to fish rather than give a man a fish!"
Through the observation this time, he was very clear that even if it was a Sacred Cup imitation, there were definitely brilliant alchemy and pharmaceutic techniques hidden within it.
He didn't even have to talk about the real Sacred Cup.
Unless he could wait until his two techniques reach (Proficient) or (Master) level before obtaining the real Sacred Cup to observe and research on it, he wouldn't have any progress.
…
After the end of the ceremony, Fang Yuan went back to the experiment lab and handed a pile of ingredients that he had finished managing to Master Soma, who was delighted. Then, he promptly took out a small bag and walked out of the Demon Hunter Union.
In the west of the Hurin area, within a small villa.
Almon, who was wearing an apron, was frying some eggs that she would add some flavor to at times. Clearly, she was very satisfied with her days there.
Clang! Clang!
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Rayne went forward to open the door and froze promptly. "Sir Hulk!"
"Yeah, looks like I'm just on time!"
Fang Yuan smiled and walked into the living room without any awkwardness before sitting in front of the table. "Count me in!"
"Okay."
Not long afterward, Almon, who was dressed as a female cook, laid out bacon and eggs, toasted bread, milk, butter, jam, and other food onto the table.
There were only four people at the dining table. Peter, who was sitting silently, was very pale and had one arm in a cast as if he had fractured his arm.
Originally, there were a few other orphans besides Almon. However, she didn't dare to put Peter with the other children after remembering about his unusual state. All she could do was to either give them away or entrust them to someone else.
As for Rayne, this half-matured teenager, he volunteered to stay for some unknown reason.
"Sorry… Sir Hulk, we didn't know you were coming and didn't prepare much!" Almon apologized.
"No need to be polite, it's already a huge feast."
Fang Yuan was coincidentally hungry. He placed the bacon onto the bread and spread some jam and butter before adding two leaf pieces. It tasted pretty good.
"I'm glad you like it!" Almon said carefully. After all, no matter if it was her, or Peter, and Rayne, they all needed his shelter and protection. Adding on to the fact that they were said to be his subordinates, she lowered her standing.
"Peter… are you getting used to your right hand?"
After filling his stomach, Fang Yuan half-lied on the sofa, facing Peter.
"It's still alright…" Peter said depressingly, "I felt that it's recovered a lot more after wearing the preventer."
"You have to be careful, it's not restricted by the preventer, but it chose to temporarily enter hibernation. I've brought over some medicament for suppression purposes. Once you notice that the beast inside has a tendency to break through the restraints, use it immediately!"
Fang Yuan gave the bag to Almon, who was beside him and went back to look at Peter, who was removing the bandage on his right arm.
After a large number of obstructions were removed, one could clearly see that it wasn't a plaster cast on his hand, but a large metal arm case. There were also numerous shackles on the outside.
"My alchemy skill is only enough to do this much, at this point in time…" Fang Yuan said, slightly regretful. He then stepped forward to check the seal, "very good… the state is perfect. Remember to give me your blood later on and tell me about the state of your heart when you suppress it!"
He paused for a moment before looking at Almon, "And you! I've come up with somewhat of a conclusion as to why Voodoo Corpses like you—after you gave me your fresh blood the other time."
"That's great…" Almon's expression was very unnatural and seemed to be perturbed.
"Lastly… I've prepared to leave the Hurin area for a period of time. Hence, I Intentionally came here today to visit…"
Fang Yuan put down a pile of cash, "With this, it should be enough to support all of you until I come back."
"Sir Hulk!"
At this moment, Rayne couldn't help it anymore. "There's still me… I'm already old enough to do something for the adults."
"Oh, there's still you!"
Fang Yuan hit his own forehead lightly. "Rayne… you want to become a Demon Hunter, don't you?
"Yes, sir!"
Rayne clenched his teeth and kneeled down on one knee as he knew that this was an opportunity to change his fate.
"With my name as the referrer, I'll send you to train with the other children at the branch. We'll have to see how hardworking you are, in order to determine if you're able to become a Demon Hunter in the future."
To Fang Yuan, Almon and Peter were the most important ones.
As for Rayne? He was only an extra. However, since he came forward helplessly, there was no reason to reject him.