Chapter 46: The Traveler
Hearing Su Xiao’s words, Kamen fell silent for a moment.
“Under normal circumstances, witch hunters have a three-year probation period. Of course, consider this as something you never heard—don’t spread it.”
Kamen paused there, and after noticing Su Xiao had no reaction, he continued, “Of course, there are exceptions to this. To be blunt, I don’t believe you’re from the Northern Border. Everyone has their secrets. For a military organization, while a member’s identity doesn’t need to be fully verified, their purpose must be known. Before you destroyed Westport, I wouldn’t have said these words to you. Witches have infiltrated the Holy Healing Church more than once, but at the cost of the entire Westport and Morisha’s lives…”
Kamen shook his head. He said these words with two meanings. First, he didn’t want to dig into Su Xiao’s origins—the Holy Healing Church’s witch-hunting department was a relatively free-spirited faction. Second, it concerned the Red Hunters.
“By normal procedure, you still can’t become a Red Hunter, but exceptions exist for everything. Your contribution to the Holy Healing Church cannot be erased by anyone.”
Having said this, Kamen stood up.
“Kukulin Bai Ye… can we trust you?”
Kamen’s murky old eyes narrowed. For a monster-level combatant like Su Xiao, he was prepared to take some risks and bear some responsibility. He was Su Xiao’s introducer in the Holy Healing Church. If Su Xiao ever rebelled, Kamen would have to risk his life to hunt Su Xiao down—that was the duty of a Holy Councilor.
“Whether you trust me or not, that’s for you to judge.”
“…”
Kamen smiled without speaking. After a moment.
“Very well. You are now a Red Hunter, a Red Hunter of the Holy Healing Church. If you ever decide to betray the Holy Healing Church, remember—kill this old man first.”
The witch-hunting organization of the Holy Healing Church was peculiar. Becoming a Red Hunter came with no grand speeches or solemn ceremonies. Instead, the ugly truths were laid out upfront.
As soon as Kamen finished, Shirley handed over a ring set with a red gemstone, clearly prepared in advance.
“As a Red Hunter, aside from the Holy Councilor’s meeting hall and the personal residences of other witch hunters, you can freely enter any other place. The library is naturally included.”
Leaving behind this meaningful remark, Kamen walked out of the room leaning on his cane, with Shirley following closely. Only Su Xiao remained inside.
[Tip: The Hunter has been promoted to Red Hunter. Current Reputation: 13790/5800 (Red Rank). No further promotion possible (promotion to Holy Councilor requires extensive seniority. Based on the Hunter’s remaining stay time, the probability of promotion to Holy Councilor is below 1.2%).]
[Faction Store has been activated. The Hunter can use Holy Healing Church Reputation to purchase items.]
[Special Reputation Mission: Witch Hunter (106/10) has changed. Due to exceeding the kill quota, do you wish to activate the follow-up mission?]
…
When Su Xiao destroyed Westport, the ‘Special Reputation Mission: Witch Hunter’ had already been completed, but he didn’t immediately receive the reward. Instead, he wanted to see if there were any changes after being promoted to Red Hunter.
This wasn’t a baseless guess. Last time he joined the Holy Healing Church and became a White Hunter, this special reputation mission had also changed.
Su Xiao chose to activate the follow-up mission, and a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Follow-up mission has been activated. Special Reputation Mission: Witch Hunter (106/80). Do you wish to complete this mission to receive the title reward? This mission has no further expansion possibilities.]
[You have completed the Special Reputation Mission: Witch Hunter. You have received the title: Traveler.]
[Traveler]
Origin: Dark Crow World
Quality: Special
Category: Title
Title Effect 1: Non-combat state, Mana Points recovery speed increased by 10%.
Title Effect 2: Non-combat state, injury recovery speed increased by 12%.
Title Effect 3: Non-combat state, increases Charm Attribute by 1 point per hour, up to a maximum of 50 points. Upon entering combat or completing one interaction with a plot character, Charm Attribute returns to its initial value and begins accumulating again.
Rating: Special item, no rating
Introduction: The journey always has sights that make one linger.
Selling Price: Cannot be sold.
…
After reviewing the properties of the [Traveler] title, Su Xiao’s eyes lit up. Although he didn’t know if this thing could salvage his Charm Attribute, wearing it in a non-combat state within a derivative world would be quite effective.
Su Xiao’s [Good Fighter] title leaned toward combat, while [Traveler] was more functional—each had its strengths and weaknesses.
Since the two titles were of different natures, Su Xiao chose the free-switching mode. The so-called free-switching mode meant that once he engaged in combat, the [Good Fighter] title would immediately replace [Traveler], and when combat ended, it would switch back to [Traveler].
Switching the title to [Traveler], Su Xiao immediately felt a slight coolness on his left arm. The dull pain at the wound became less noticeable. This was an unexpected gain, so Su Xiao hadn’t held high expectations for the [Traveler] title. He didn’t expect it to be so surprisingly practical.
Leaving the rest room, Su Xiao headed to the fourth floor. The faction store was located there.
Arriving at the fourth floor, Su Xiao found it very quiet. The corridor was empty. Following the coordinates given by Reincarnation Paradise, he walked toward the inner part of the fourth floor.
Just as he turned a corner, a short-haired woman in leather armor approached from the opposite direction. Su Xiao paused. This woman was a witch—a Black Witch!
Noticing Su Xiao stop, the short-haired woman sighed. She was about to walk toward Su Xiao but immediately halted, because she saw the ring on his hand. This made the woman realize that if she didn’t explain herself, she might be killed on the spot.
No one dared to impersonate a Blood Hunter within the Holy Healing Church headquarters. As for how terrifying Blood Hunters were, this woman had heard a little.
“Obviously, I’m a witch—a Black Witch. But Black Witches also have good and evil. The fact that I can walk around here openly shows I’m a very rational Black Witch, and also a Black Hunter.”
The short-haired witch raised her hand, revealing a ring set with a black gemstone on her index finger.
“So…”
Before the short-haired witch could finish, Su Xiao had already walked past her.
“A Blood Hunter… unexpectedly reasonable.”
The two passed each other. Su Xiao naturally remained vigilant toward witches. The only possibility for a witch to freely enter and exit the Holy Healing Church headquarters was that she had first become a witch hunter and then a witch. Anything was possible. The conflict between witch hunters and witches was one of stance, not of survival methods.
After some wandering, Su Xiao reached the inner part of the fourth floor, arriving at a somewhat shabby wooden door. After confirming several times that he hadn’t gone the wrong way, he pushed the door open.
[The Hunter has entered the Faction Store. As this world is undeveloped, aside from the Hunter, no other creatures can enter the area where the Faction Store is located.]
As soon as Su Xiao stepped into the faction store, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared. Moreover, the room housing the faction store was pitch black, with no one inside.
A machine resembling a vending machine was placed at the inner part of the room. Seeing this, Su Xiao immediately understood why the natives of the Dark Crow World couldn’t enter the area where the faction store was located.
The Holy Healing Church headquarters originally had no facility like a faction store. This was an area opened up by Reincarnation Paradise, where a device for exchanging items was set up.
Approaching the vending machine, a list of exchange options appeared before Su Xiao. He was stunned for a moment, because this was the richest faction store he had ever seen.