Pampas

"Drip—drip—"

Dark red blood dripped onto the ground.

It was nosebleed.

"Here we go again." Su Wu drooped his eyes in boredom, casually wiping it away with his sleeve.

Being chased while bleeding from the nose while using skills.

The entire way, his mana bar had never been full—just as it recovered a little, he'd immediately spend it.

Especially with that last Azure blast.

So now, he was drained dry once more.

Thus, he wasn't in a hurry to reach the church. Instead, he unhurriedly lifted his foot, preparing to stroll over at a leisurely pace.

Taking the time to wait for his mana to recover on the way.

When he finally reached the church at a snail's crawl, unimpeded the whole way, he saw several figures trudging out from inside, covered in dust and grime.

They were the ones he'd just sent flying with that Azure blast.

Though their bodies were covered in wounds and their clothes barely hung on them, their limbs still seemed intact, with a dense layer of energy tightly wrapped around their bodies like a cocoon.

As expected of Enhancement-type users—their physical resilience was no joke, they didn't even die.

It seemed his current Cursed Energy reserves were still too low, and his strength too weak.

When the group spotted Su Wu, they glared at him viciously, but didn't dare do anything near the church. They could only support each other and leave in indignation.

Ignoring their resentment, Su Wu stepped straight into the church, then unceremoniously sat down on a nearby seat.

He casually grabbed some fruit and snacks from the table and started eating.

These things were rare in the lower district but commonplace in the upper district.

Replenishing sugar, replenishing sugar, replenishing sugar.

If he didn't get his sugar levels up, he felt he'd have no mood left to negotiate with anyone.

The consequences of severe hypoglycemia... were pretty serious, after all.

Even sitting inside the church, the Six Eyes diligently kept capturing information, as if as long as the owner of these eyes lived, they would keep working.

A passive skill that couldn't be stopped.

What a pain.

There were no statues of any gods in the church, but there were quite a few members. They weren't wearing uniforms, but each bore inverted cross accessories or tattoos somewhere on their bodies.

And through the Six Eyes, he could tell that every member in the church possessed Nen ability.

Plus, each of them carried a gun—some even more than one.

It was clear Meteor City didn't lack weapons.

If he remembered correctly, he'd once seen an online analysis claiming Meteor City had secret dealings with outside gangs. Looked like the analysis was right.

"What did you want to discuss with me?"

After finishing all the candy on the table, Su Wu's spirits lifted considerably, and he felt like talking.

"You were set up and abandoned in Meteor City, weren't you?" The only one dressed like a Priest sat down beside him, but answered with a non sequitur.

"Hm?" Su Wu neither confirmed nor denied, just letting out a questioning tone.

What made the other party reach that conclusion?

"You were injured, then dumped into Meteor City by a garbage transport airship—along with the trash."

"Judging by your appearance, is it a family power struggle? Or... is Meteor City your training ground?" The man continued analyzing, his tone calm, while subtly observing the new ability user.

From the looks of it, the other party was surprisingly young, yet his personality was quite strong and arrogant. His strength, however, was within expectations.

And his appearance... was very striking.

Cold, holy features paired with sinister, bizarre black tattoos on the same person.

There was a special charm, like a god and a demon rolled into one.

Especially those eyes, like Sky Jewels...

In his view, the beauty of those eyes could even rival the Kurta Clan's Scarlet Eyes, one of the Seven Great Beauties of the world.

Unusual looks often meant an unusual background.

This one in front of him probably had a significant origin.

Some special families would throw their children into various arenas to train.

Meteor City was one of their training grounds.

But for people from those families, Meteor City's environment could only serve as a child's training ground.

Take the famous Assassin Family—the Zoldycks, for example.

That family had a habit of sending their children to Meteor City to improve their strength.

So the best attitude toward these outsiders was to ignore them.

"Did I permit you to ask me a question?" The white-haired, blue-eyed youth raised the corner of his mouth arrogantly, his tone unreadable—whether pleased or displeased unknown. The black markings on his body seemed alive, rising and falling with each breath.

As expected, his temper wasn't great.

"I was just talking to myself." The man didn't seem bothered, as if he was long accustomed to dealing with difficult people.

After all, he was a resident of Meteor City. He had seen plenty of people with worse tempers than the youth across from him, even some with bizarre and twisted personalities...

"Meteor City doesn't care about your goals, but this place is our shared home. Even if you're an outsider, I hope you can remember that."

"As compensation for breaking the gates of each district, other buildings, and the church doors..." The man scanned the youth, finding nothing valuable on him.

Or rather... the most valuable thing was the youth himself.

His strength, his body, and his eyes.

"You've been hit by the Vulture Gang's Nen ability..." His gaze fell on the back of the youth's hand.

"As long as you carry this mark, the Vultures can track your location and find you."

"The church can remove this mark for you. As payment and compensation, you'll have to stay in Meteor City for a year, and during that time, you'll have to do some work for the church." The blond man said with a smile.

"Fine. When I leave Meteor City in a year, you'll provide me with a valid identity document." Su Wu leaned back in his chair, head tilted back, not even looking at the man across from him.

He needed to get rid of the Inverted Pentagram Mark. He couldn't stand having that thing on him for even one more day.

He also needed a legal identity document when he left Meteor City, and time to quietly develop his strength.

All things considered, staying in Meteor City was a decent choice.

After all, Hunters was a high-risk world.

Six Eyes had clearly displayed the exact amount of Nen everyone in the church possessed before him. Of course, analyzing this information also made him feel his nosebleed starting to flow.

He absolutely couldn't let it drip in front of others—that would ruin his aura.

Even though Six Eyes told him most people in the church were probably not weak—at least their Nen reserves were several times greater than his Cursed Energy—this meant they had more endurance and stronger vitality than him.

But that didn't mean Su Wu had to fear them. He was just so excited he could barely stop himself from trembling.

"Deal." The man ignored the youth's arrogant, nose-in-the-air attitude and agreed lightly.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm a member of the Elder Council responsible for managing District 12—"

"Pampas." He seemed to remember only then that he should introduce himself.

"As for me, just call me Hill. Hill Devil." The white-haired, blue-eyed youth still had his head tilted back, his voice somewhat muffled, brazenly making up a fake name to brush people off.

Hill, derived from the French ciel, meaning sky. A foreign teacher gave him that name in kindergarten.

Put together with the "Wu" in his real name, it would make one think of a sky shrouded in thin mist.

Of course, that teacher gave English names to the whole class.

As for Devil, he made that up himself.

"I wish you a pleasant stay in Meteor City, Hill." Pampas offered a blessing.

"Church members have their own residences. Someone will lead you there later. Clothes are also provided for free. By the way, I hope you can start working tomorrow." His words seemed full of goodwill, but upon closer inspection, there was an undertone of trying to squeeze work out of him.

"Are you that short on people?" Su Wu stood up, looking somewhat uninterested.

Who would be happy working for someone else?

"I just hope you can demonstrate your value as soon as possible." Pampas smiled.

He didn't look like a good person.

Su Wu said nothing more and was led by a church member to District 3, to an empty house.

"Even the strongest ability users can only live in District 3. District 1 is where all Elder Council members reside, but they each manage other districts. District 2 is the territory of Meteor City's families."

"Your specific address depends on where you're assigned to work. Of course, after joining the church, you can freely enter and leave all twelve districts except District 1. Any vacant house is ownerless and can be moved into freely."

Meteor City had existed for about a thousand years, so the existence of so-called families wasn't surprising.

Su Wu didn't speak. He just took his newly issued supplies, courtesy of the church, and entered the place he would stay tonight.

The house was empty. It looked decent from the outside, but inside there were only basic furniture, making it feel somewhat hollow. Still, nothing essential was missing—there was even food in the cabinets.

The faucet produced water too. That was enough.

Su Wu wasn't picky about his environment, as evidenced by the fact that he hadn't complained when he first sat on a pile of trash.

So he quickly ran some water, took a shower, changed clothes, confirmed there was no blood, dust, or strange smells on him, and then lay down on the bed.

Everything he had experienced in just one day was still a bit overwhelming for him.

But following his old habit, he reviewed his day's experiences every night.

"Right now, I can use Blue and Red as attack methods. Blue can also move me at high speed, but these attacks consume a lot of energy. My current energy pool isn't enough for many uses. Also..."

"Although Six Eyes can track Nen trajectories and my physical condition is decent, I'm still not strong enough. My reaction speed isn't fast enough either. If I run out of energy and someone gets close, I have no means of fighting back."

"I need to find a way to increase my energy reserves, improve my reaction speed, and learn some close-combat skills..." He lay on the bed with his eyes closed, reflecting on his shortcomings, and finally summarized the areas he needed to strengthen.

Nosebleed War God, good good good (?)