CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 14: HUNTER "BACK TO SCHOOL" SEASON

"Yan Luo, you finally made it."

Li Xinyue and the members of the seventh squad were gathered on the third floor of the Hunter’s Guild. When they saw Yan Luo coming out of the elevator, they couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, lifted a hand, and smiled as they greeted him.

Yan Luo nodded, pulled out the chair next to Li Xinyue, and sat down.

Before they could start discussing, a Hunter leaned over, hooked an arm around Yan Luo’s shoulder, and grinned, "Impressive, Yan Luo. You managed to take down another deadly creature, and with a group of young people who were only Sequence 5! This is usually the work of Sequence 4 Hunters."

Yan Luo removed the Hunter’s hand from his shoulder and replied seriously, "Sequence 4 Hunters can handle deadly creatures alone. We combined our forces and had nearly unlimited ammunition supplies. As long as the tactics and command are right, killing deadly creatures isn’t hard."

The Hunter didn’t feel embarrassed, folded his arms, and laughed, "Oh? Are you complimenting yourself now?"

Yan Luo nodded, "There’s no need to be modest. After all, in the hunt for that deadly multi-legged tiger, my contribution was at least 73%. I formulated the tactics, I was in command, and I dealt the killing blow to the multi-legged tiger."

Saying so, Yan Luo turned to look at the members of the Glazed Group’s seventh squad and asked, "Do any of you have an issue with this percentage?"

The young people looked at each other and shook their heads.

They even felt that Yan Luo was being modest; in reality, his contribution was even greater.

The Hunter noticed that Yan Luo and the members of the Glazed Group’s seventh squad had matters to discuss, so he laughed it off and turned to leave.

With the outsider gone, and the team members evading the issue among themselves, the acting captain, Li Xinyue, pressed the projection button on the table before them, projecting an image of the tiger bones.

"This is a complete skeleton of a deadly multi-legged tiger. The Guild’s appraiser estimates it at 4 to 5 million. The main group found a few interested buyers for us, with the highest offer being 5.2 million. Do you think this price is appropriate?" Li Xinyue turned slightly to look into Yan Luo’s eyes, her heart racing uncontrollably.

Yan Luo gazed at the three-dimensional projection in front of him, lost in thought.

After a moment, he asked, "Who is the buyer?"

Li Xinyue took a deep breath, withdrew her gaze, and swiped in front of her to pull up a list.

"The highest bidder is Vikenda, a company mainly selling Hunter equipment. Next is Wei Ming’s private museum in Celestial City..."

Yan Luo made a quick decision, "I don’t have much goodwill toward Celestial City. Let’s sell it to Vikenda. Raise the price by 700,000; they’re likely planning to use this tiger skeleton to create a star Hunter team. With the upcoming Hunter Skills Competition, they probably want to showcase themselves, so asking them to round it off to 6 million shouldn’t be an issue."

The Hunter Skills Competition, a biennial world-class entertainment event.

The competing Hunters are newcomers with less than two years of experience. They will enter a hunting ground created by the organizers to hunt mutated creatures.

Once, this event aimed to train rookie Hunters. Now it has completely transformed into a platform for major corporations and families to advertise themselves. There are many behind-the-scenes deals, even scripted scenarios, but the show’s entertainment value is undeniable, and people love to watch.

Even if many know it’s fake, they’re there to be entertained, so what difference does it make if it’s real or fake?

Listening to Yan Luo’s reasoning, Li Xinyue felt he made sense, so she looked at the others to ask their opinions.

"Let’s go with Yan Luo’s suggestion!"

"I think he makes sense."

"If we add 700,000 more, the captain and vice-captain’s shares will be a bit larger, and their kids..."

Mentioning this, the members of the seventh squad became overwhelmingly gloomy.

Yan Luo, a bit curious, asked, "What’s the specific situation?"

Li Xinyue sighed and replied, "A few months ago, our vice-captain got pregnant. She extracted the fertilized egg, placed it in an artificial womb for incubating, planning to surprise Uncle Li when the child was born. We only found out after we returned. The child was almost six months old. In another month or two, he could have been born, but before he was born, he lost both parents and his grandfather... We don’t know what to do."

Yan Luo fell silent, eyelids drooping.

"...I’ll take 60%, and the remaining 13% goes to that child."

With that, Yan Luo stood up and left.

He’s not a particularly kind-hearted person, but he empathizes, as if he saw his reflection in that child.

Yan Luo took the elevator to the first floor of the Guild, where he encountered a crowd standing in the hall, each accompanied by a reception robot, all new faces, and not everyone had exoskeletons.

Yan Luo intended to leave directly, but he overheard a Hunter leaning against the wall remark, "Another ’school season’ is upon us! I wonder how many rookies will survive this, successfully making it out alive this year."

Intrigued, Yan Luo stopped and looked at the veteran Hunter leaning against the wall, curiously asking, "Is there something like a ’school season’ for Hunters too?"

The veteran Hunter smiled and explained, "Each year, some students graduate in the Abyss Hunting major. They can’t find jobs in the city, so they come to explore the small town. For these students, successfully joining the military is the best option because soldiers don’t have to enter the Abyss; the hardest job they have is clearing mutated creatures. On Blue Star’s home ground, clearing mutated creatures allows the use of heavy weaponry, and if nothing else works, you can call in missiles. It’s extremely thrilling.

"The next best option is to become an employee in the small-town locale, working on Abyss-related duties without actually entering the Abyss. The worst choice is to become Hunters like us, risking our lives every day. Though it pays well, not everyone can make it big. Not to mention, many can’t survive their first Abyss Hunt or even pass the Hunter exam, failing repeatedly and wasting both money and time."

The veteran Hunter motioned with his chin, "Those young people are probably this year’s graduates from Lingquan University, and some who didn’t pass their previous tests are here for retakes today."

So that’s what’s going on!

Yan Luo nodded slightly, thanked the veteran Hunter, and took a step to leave.

Today, he wasn’t wearing an exoskeleton, just carrying a hand axe. As he passed by those graduates, their gazes were drawn to him, puzzled by his young face.

Yan Luo remained unfazed, not sparing them a glance.

"Hey, Yan Luo, wait up!"

Just as he was about to exit the Guild’s doors, he heard someone call his name from behind, and he paused, turned back to look.

The person calling him was Yu Tiantian, a Guild staff member.

Yu Tiantian walked up to Yan Luo and asked softly, "The Guild wants to organize a pre-exam training session for those rookies and is looking for a Hunter with a solid foundation to be their instructor. After thinking it over, you’re the most solid Hunter under Crimson No.2 here. What do you think about this?"

Yan Luo didn’t rush to refuse, asking instead, "Compensation?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Tiantian breathed a sigh of relief.

Yan Luo hadn’t immediately refused, so she was halfway to succeeding.

Therefore, Yu Tiantian sent Yan Luo a message in the form of an image.

"The Guild’s latest space item: the Square Inch Type 2 Safety Box, which outwardly appears as a regular-sized briefcase, contains a 12m x 2.4m x 2.4m space inside."

Free space item?

Yan Luo was slightly taken aback but quickly understood.

It seems the Guild has already found the spatial crystal mine previously occupied by the Purple Fox Squad and has completed mass production of space items.

"Deal." Yan Luo nodded.

He indeed needed a space item.

Yu Tiantian smiled, pulled up a contract, and sent it to Yan Luo, kindly reminding him.

"Sign it, and after signing, you’ll be the instructor for those new recruits. But before you sign, take note of the requirements, because our supervisor stated that the pass rate for this pre-exam training must reach 70% of the total participants!"