Hunter Market

The lesson lasted more than two hours.

Yet time seemed to fly by, and in the blink of an eye, it was over.

The young hunters were all very interested in joining the Storm Corps and crowded around the podium to register as reserve members.

Ji Xun had no intention of joining a team for now, so he walked out of the Hunter's Guild building.

Although the lesson had covered only the basics of Spell Card Masters, he had gained quite a lot from it.

Before he knew it, he had wandered back to the guild's bounty hall.

Ji Xun stopped to take a look as well.

Just as he had expected, several days had passed, yet there was still no wanted poster or bounty notice in Sinless City seeking him.

Fourth Young Master Cao was probably afraid of leaking the news and could only search for him in secret.

That made Ji Xun feel that the threat had greatly diminished.

As he walked, he also scanned his surroundings from the corner of his eye and spotted several suspicious figures.

Perhaps they were after him. Perhaps they were after something else.

But Ji Xun was far from the only person in Sinless City with secrets.

He did not pay them much attention.

After all, they had failed to catch him on the train last time. Finding him now would be even more impossible.

Ji Xun did not dwell on it. He left the building and continued wandering through the market outside the Hunter's Guild.

It was rare for him to have a day off, and he was quite interested in the strange and curious wares on the stalls, so he strolled along at leisure.

Though these street stalls looked crude, everything on them had been brought back firsthand by hunters from ruins. Extraordinary materials, ancient documents, antiques, blueprints, secret art scrolls. Many vendors did not even know what they themselves were selling.

There were plenty of good things.

But whether one could uncover a hidden bargain depended entirely on luck.

After all, Revelation did not work all the time outside.

For things too far beyond one's knowledge, Revelation either showed nothing or only revealed part of the information.

It was like the Causal Medium before. When it was beyond your understanding, you could not even see it.

Over the past few days, Ji Xun had gradually figured out some of the rules behind the mysterious Revelation.

He had discovered that the information revealed to each person was different.

It seemed to be related to one's personal knowledge.

For example, Ji Xun knew terms like "BOSS," concepts that did not even exist in this world.

Yet Revelation still displayed them.

In other words, Revelation was a higher form of special expression that surpassed humanity's current knowledge and was not limited by any kind of written language.

Ji Xun did not find that strange.

With miracles like Alternate Dimensions, this world had far too many secrets.

It was precisely that sense of mystery that made it increasingly interesting to him.

After browsing several stalls, Ji Xun's gaze suddenly stopped in the distance.

He saw two beggars by the roadside.

They were a filthy little girl of seven or eight, holding a younger child who seemed to be her younger brother. The siblings huddled together on a stained blanket, their hollow eyes watching the passersby, hunger written across their faces.

There were two kinds of beggars in Sinless City: thieves, and genuine orphans.

In this city of sin, human lives were cheap. Hunters had a high mortality rate, so there were many such orphans.

The people passing by had long since grown numb to the sight.

Most people in Sinless City were bloodthirsty jackals. No one pitied the weak.

Ji Xun thought of something, picked up a few things along the way, and walked over.

He crouched before the siblings and asked with a smile, "Little girl, what is your name?"

As he spoke, he removed his Gas Mask. As if performing a trick, his face changed into that of a clown with a ridiculous red nose.

The brilliant smile on his face alone seemed enough to make anyone who saw it laugh and feel happy.

Hunger had left only indifference in the older sister's eyes, while her younger brother curiously stretched out a hand, seemingly wanting to touch the Clown Mask.

Ji Xun did not mind. Instead, he grinned. "I'll show you a magic trick."

As the siblings finally looked at him with a little curiosity, he extended his hands and performed a few flashy flourishes, showing that they were empty.

"Watch closely."

The smile on the clown's face grew even brighter. He held his left hand across before him as if hiding something, then made a grabbing motion with his right hand and began pulling something from the web between his left thumb and forefinger.

The next moment, the younger brother's clear eyes suddenly lit up, because he saw a black object being pulled out!

There was even the wheaty fragrance of freshly baked bread.

As if he had witnessed the most unbelievable sight of his life, the younger brother swallowed hard and cried out, "Sister, it's bread! Bread!"

"That's right~ Look how long it is~"

The clown was immersed in his performance, but he was not finished yet.

He kept pulling and pulling, and a loaf of black bread as thick as an arm grew longer and longer in his hands.

As if by magic, he actually pulled out a loaf of black bread longer than his own forearm.

Watching the miraculous scene, the younger brother danced with excitement, tugged at his sister's clothes, and said eagerly, "Sister, sister, look! This gentleman really made a loaf of bread appear!!!"

It was merely a little trick many magicians knew.

Yet on those two innocent little faces, it was as if the whole world had suddenly lit up, light shining into hearts shrouded by dark clouds, warming their bodies in an instant.

Seeing that, the curve of the clown's exaggerated red smile stretched all the way to the corners of his eyes. He handed over the bread, showing no pitying charity toward the weak, only goodwill that made them feel equal. "Eat. It's for you."

One loaf of bread would keep the siblings from going hungry for the next couple of days.

He had not given them money because he knew perfectly well that they would not be able to hold on to it.

Holding the bread, the siblings' eyes trembled with emotion. At last, the deathly gloom on their little faces gradually brightened.

Seeing this, the clown smiled in satisfaction.

The moment he rose and put his Gas Mask back on, his eyes had returned to their usual sharpness.

Ji Xun turned and left.

After he had taken a few steps, the older sister's hurried voice called out behind him. "Thank you, sir. My name is Ning."

Hearing that, Ji Xun smiled faintly beneath his Gas Mask.

But he did not turn back and simply kept walking.

His own life was clearly going badly, yet he could not bear to see others suffer.

Perhaps that was what it meant to be a clown.

Life kissed him with pain, yet he always answered it with laughter.

With ridiculous performances, he brought happiness to others.

As Ji Xun thought that, a thought surfaced in his mind.

If not for the kind bearded man from that traveling circus, there probably would have been one more little boy frozen to death in a cave by the railway during that cold winter.

It was like a minor incident in life, nothing worth making much of. Just a casual act of kindness.

Or perhaps it was an occupational habit carved into his bones after playing a clown for so many years?

Probably.

Ji Xun did not take it to heart at all.

He walked on and soon arrived at a shop with a sign reading "Old Benson's Ancient Books Shop."

The wooden board outside also read: Buying and selling all kinds of ancient books and documents.

It was a small bookstore that sold Breathing Techniques, card-making texts, and all kinds of magic tomes.

Ji Xun had bought his Great Dark Breathing Method from this shop last time.

The shop was not large, but it had a good reputation among hunters. Its prices were fair, and many hunters liked selling their finds here, so it had plenty of good merchandise as well.

This time, he had come to look at other things.

"Boss, the Great Dark Breathing Method I bought last time worked wonderfully. It was well worth the money!"

The moment he entered, Ji Xun first showered the owner with praise before saying, "This time, I'd like to look at some other things."

"Oh. Feel free to browse."

The owner seemed to remember that he was a returning customer. He swallowed the words "don't touch things carelessly" and let him browse through some of the less important books.

Ji Xun did not stand on ceremony and began looking through the shop.

He could not browse books on Breathing Techniques and the like, but the ancient writing on stone slabs and antiques was displayed openly.

It did not matter whether he understood them. The key was that he had a photographic memory.

As long as he looked carefully once, everything would be stored in his mind.

At any time, knowledge was the most valuable thing.

The writing and symbols of any civilization followed patterns. With enough references, they could even be gradually deciphered.

The same was true of pictographs that represented forms, symbols that conveyed meaning, and phonetic scripts made of letters.

The various mysterious symbols and incantations of this world were no exception.

At their core, they all used patterns to convey what the writer wished to express.

Ji Xun felt that if he memorized enough different symbols, he might eventually decipher this world's ancient documents.

Then the secrets of the world would naturally open their doors to him.

Looking at those texts, Ji Xun suddenly felt that his photographic memory might make several scholar-type Card Master Professions in the level-five Wisdom Sequence a good choice for his future advancement.

He rapidly flipped through all kinds of materials in the shop, his mind imprinting the mysterious symbols like a typewriter.

Because his attention was divided, Ji Xun read very quickly. To others, he merely seemed to be casually flipping through things.

The owner said nothing.

There were quite a few customers coming and going. Ji Xun only occasionally glanced at them and paid them no mind.

Before he knew it, another customer entered the shop. Her voice arrived before she did. "Old man, got any new stock?"

Ji Xun had not paid attention at first.

Hearing the voice, he instinctively glanced over.

But upon hearing the question, the owner sprang to his feet, his tone unexpectedly carrying the obsequiousness reserved for an honored guest.

"Oh, yes! Yes! Yes!"

As he spoke, he took out a thick stack of black-and-white photographs from his Storage Ring and explained enthusiastically, "These are the latest ancient documents recently found by hunters. If you want the originals, I'll go find them in the warehouse for you."

The person replied, "Not for now. Let me take a look first."

Ji Xun was stunned when he heard that. ???

This old man was usually indifferent to everyone, yet he was so enthusiastic toward this customer?

He was even using honorifics.

Who was this person?

With a sidelong glance, Ji Xun saw that the newcomer was a woman in a black leather motorcycle jacket. Her figure was exquisite, the fitted leather perfectly outlining her graceful curves. But she wore a half-face Gas Mask that obscured her features, while her eyes were sharp.

Ji Xun did not care much about appearances. What caught his eye immediately was the Mechanical Equipment she wore.

Though much of it was hidden beneath her clothes, Ji Xun caught a glimpse of a detail and instantly identified it.

It was without question the most sophisticated Mechanical Equipment he had ever seen.

A TR-33 military single-soldier exoskeleton? Someone could actually get their hands on one of those?

He had never seen one, but he had heard of it.

It was said to be one of the Federation military's most advanced individual equipment sets. Its appearance anywhere outside the military was contraband!

Her identity was not simple.

As Ji Xun speculated about the leather-clad woman's identity, he glanced again at the stack of photos the owner had handed over.

The photographs showed ancient books, scrolls, stone carvings, and other items with writing on them.

There were also some blueprints.

Ji Xun could tell at a glance that they seemed to be ancient documents related to machinery.

Steam Machinery in this world was not the product of scientific progress, but archaeology. Like the construction standards in the Demon Cross ruins, structures that had endured for thousands of years and could not be replicated even today.

The leather-clad woman seemed very interested in what was in the photographs and studied them intently, though her brows were tightly furrowed. Clearly, she could not understand them. "Old man, have you found anyone who can translate these Mechanical Blueprints?"

The owner replied, "No. The few scholar-sequence Spell Card Masters I know only understand a little Talen Language. There are many technical terms in the Mechanical Blueprints that they can't translate either. As for a true expert proficient in Taren Script, I suppose only Dragon City has one."

"..."

The leather-clad woman looked somewhat helpless. The drawings on the blueprints alone could no longer meet her needs.

Only then did Ji Xun take a closer look at one of the photographs.

It was covered in strange symbols. This was Taren Script.

The writing of a legendary civilization that had vanished thousands of years ago.

Only after the Old Continent beyond the World Rift was discovered did people confirm that the mysterious civilization of legend had truly existed.

Ji Xun had seen this script before.

The first time had been in Dimension 407.

Demon Cross had actually been a city ruin of the Taren Dynasty.

Dimension 407 restricted entry to Card Master Apprentices and was extremely dangerous. Back then, he had been able to understand it only because of Revelation from the dimension's own rules.

At that thought, an idea surfaced in Ji Xun's mind. If I got my hands on those materials, wouldn't I be able to learn some ancient writing?

The materials he had found in the safe had formed a very thick stack.

Leaving aside their content, their value as texts was in a completely different league from the fragmented documents in those photographs.

Moreover, the brush with death back then had deepened his memories, and he could still recall much of their content even now.

With accurate meanings to use as references, deciphering them would be far easier.

Unfortunately, the materials were with Ninth Day.

He did not know whether she had brought them out of the dimension.

The thought passed in an instant, and Ji Xun reined in his mind.

The leather-clad young woman continued looking through the photographs, occasionally selecting a few and asking the owner to prepare the originals for her to take away.

Ji Xun did not receive that kind of VIP treatment. He quickly finished looking through everything he was allowed to see.

He had no intention of lingering in this shop. There were plenty of others to browse. Then, remembering something, he casually asked, "Boss, do you have any Breathing Techniques that can absorb several elements at once?"

With someone else now speaking, the owner indeed reverted to his indifferent demeanor and replied coldly, "No."

After a pause, he could not help adding, "You're a strange one. The purer your curse power is, the safer and more efficient your card techniques will be to cast, and the less likely you'll lose control when advancing. Yet you want more elements?"

Ji Xun had expected as much.

He had already looked carefully through them all. Every Breathing Technique was attuned to a single element.

He had only asked on a whim anyway.

He figured it was probably as the owner said: absorbing a single element to condense curse power was the proper path. Or perhaps this shop only catered to ordinary people and did not deal in those rare Breathing Techniques?

But no matter what, if he could not find a suitable Breathing Technique, his talent for all-element Elemental Resistance would go to waste.

That would truly be a pity.

Having failed to get what he wanted, Ji Xun turned to leave the little shop.

But unexpectedly, the woman in the motorcycle jacket suddenly spoke up, saying flatly, "You want a multi-element Breathing Technique?"