The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  Although there were people like Linda who had magic marks abilities which could control the blood. But once the blood was out of the body it was not subject to their control. So this set of blood testing method was by far the most 'scientific' and accurate way.

  During the initial test, Dudian learned that he had to stay in here for seven days. Virus would affect scavenger's body in three days while it would take almost a week for it to change a primary hunter. A silver level hunter would have to stay for half a month while senior hunter would need to wait for a whole month.

  This was the sole reason why senior hunters would perform a task once or twice a year.

  Chapter 128: Good sword

  Seven days passed in the blind of an eye.

  All of the indicators were normal except Dudian's body radiation content which had increase and reached 1.5. It was much higher than primary hunter's average result which was close to zero.

  Dudian knew that the main reason for such a result happened because he had soaked in the pool. But he didn't worry as the radiation value lower than 5 would not affect his body's functionality. If his body's radiation content had passed 5 he could buy purification water from the Holy Church the eliminate the radiation. Although the purification water was expensive but as much as he could solve out the problem with money then it would not be difficult.

  On the eighth day, it was female Knight of Light which came to the cage and raised her hand indicating the apprentice knight to open the cage. Apprentice pulled out the key and unlocked the cage.: "You can leave now, person from your consortium has been waiting for you outside."

  Dudian stood up and patted off the dust on his body and followed after them.

  As he came outside the place Dudian saw a carriage with Mellon consortium flag parked. In the past few days of the examination, the guards had asked him about his identity and had helped him by informing Mellon consortium about his return.

  As Dudian came close to the carriage, the coachman immediately jumped out of the carriage and respectfully asked: "Are you Mr Dean?"

  Dudian nodded.

  "I'm here to pick you up, sire. Please get in." Coachman politely said to Dudian.

  After living in poor conditions in cage for sometime, Dudian's heart had a trace of satisfaction as he sat in luxurious and spacious carriage.

  The carriage drove out of the desolate and dilapidated town. After a short while, it entered the outer edge of the commercial district. The surrounding towns and villages were getting more clean and smooth.

  A few hours later, Dudian had returned to hunter headquarters.

  Dudian thanked coachman after he got off the carriage and turned back to the castle where his previous training had happened. He was stopped by the guards but after showing his hunter medal he was able to enter the castle.

  He directly went over to the archer training ground near the river. As he get close by he saw five shadows standing in their respective training corners and practicing archery. They were practicing aligned shooting.

  Five of them were surprised as they saw Dudian approach the field. The one who was closest to Dudian asked in surprise: "Are you alright?"

  "Do I look bad?"

  The boy suddenly knew that he had been rude towards Dudian so he quickly said: "No, no,w hat I meant was you actually was away for so long that we all thought you..."

  Dudian smiled but did not say anything. He saw the servants responsible to help him were not present so he picked up his own training bow and arrows and re-entered the training groun that belonged to him.

  "What was the task about? What did you do?" The youth on next training ground was curious as he asked Dudian.

  Dudian remembered him as the youth was the kid who had exchanged words with him when he had breakfast. : "I helped to track a beast. The hunt has been over for sometime now."

  "Completed?" The boy asked: "Was it dangerous? Was the beast powerful? "

  Dudian saw that the other were looking over curiously so he said: "It was very dangerous and cruel. If we don't train properly, and meet such a beast on our own we will be its dinner and turn to its excrement."

  "Dirty!" The girl who heard the word 'excrement' quickly covered her mouth.

  Dudian shrugged, did not say anything and continued to shoot arrows.

  The other's were disappointed as they saw Dudian didn't continue to talk about the task. However, they didn't take his words too seriously. They had heard a lot of stories such as Dudian's. They knew that the beasts were very dangerous in comparison to mutated beasts that lived within the giant wall. But they were confident that once they would get their hands on magic marks they will have super-human power and earn large sums of gold money.

  Training continued.

  Half an hour later, the young instructor ran over as he saw Dudian in the field. His face was relieved as said to Dudian: "How come you came back so late?

  "It 's been sometime that I was back it was just they kept me for disinfection period.," Dudian stopped archery training and began to explain.

  Young instructor snapped: "I know about that. But if seven days ago we didn't get news from you the consortium was ready to mobilize a mission to search for you. Glenn and the other who had performed task with you had been back for a long time!"

  The five who were close by were surprised and their eyes widened as they heard Glenn's name. All of them had heard about top two hunters of the Mellon consortium. Glenn's name was widely spread even between the trainees too. Everyone was familiar with her status.

  All five of them envied him as they didn't expect Dudian to follow such a legendary figure while implementing the task.

  Dudian observed young instructor's grim expression so he coughed up before saying.: "I went back to clean an area from undeads. I killed way too much. Actually I have forgotten the exact number."

  "Well, I know!" Young instructor continued, " You have brought back total of 723 cold crystals. According to one to one exchange principle, 723 gold coins has been prepared by the Finance Department for you. Well, if you are going to fetch it, you should have told us in advance!"

  Dudian was relieved as he saw that young instructor was not angry. He smiled and said.: "Yes, I'll."

  Young instructor said: "Alright, it should be counted as a good training but you are not allowed to do so again. This time we are not faulting you as a newcomer, but you aren't allowed to go on your own until you are finished with the training."

  Dudian nodded in understanding.

  Young instructors face also eased down as he saw Dudian's good attitude. He no longer continued to say anything. In fact he was very satisfied with Dudian. He knew that not just newcomer but even normal primary hunters wouldn't be able to hunt 700 pieces of cold crystal on their own. Only some veteran primary hunters would be able to get a result such as that.

  Psychological pressure alone was a difficult hurdle to cross.

  Moreover, instructor knew that Dudian's talent as a hunter was extremely good if he was able to hunt to many undeads in about 8 or 9 days. Whether it was courage or hunting skills, all of them were compared with a primary hunter. Dudian's only inadequate forte was his lack of experience. He should further enhancing his skills too.

  Moreover the 'ghost assassin' Glenn had mention Dudian after they had returned. Also she had said few positive words about him and appreciated Dudian's attitude. This matter had been spread in the training camp and the boss had praised him a lot these days. In addition boss had said that he had nurtured an exceptional hunter.

  P.S: The translation of

  Chapter name was GOOD SWORD but I had to change it to 'Exceptional hunter'. Because in English, you can't nurture a good sword. J

  Chapter 129: Scattered shot

  "You have just came back from outside so I'll allow you to take two days off and come to train the day after tomorrow." Young instructor said.

  Five people couldn't help but look with envy at Dudian. They were selected as the beast from all over the
place. However, they never had break after they had joined the camp. Even if they were wounded, as long as it was not a life-threatening injury, they had to continue the training. Holidays was already a luxury for them.

  "No," Dudian shook his head, said: "I've rested for seven days while in detention. If I rest a bit more, I'll forget the feeling of bow. "

  Instructor was surprised by Dudian's reply.: "Alright, then today I won't give you a task to complete, so practice on your own. Tomorrow I'm going to teach you new archery skill thou."

  "What kinda of archery?" Dudian was curious.

  "Scattered arrow." Young instructor continued: "This time you have to learn it. Scattered arrow shots are very important in archery. Especially if you encountered a group of monsters then this is the best way to destroy or create the greatest harm in the shortest time. Moreover, you can support warriors and knights at the same time. Its not same as aligned shots so you can't neglect this skill."

  Dudian lost interest as he learned the name of archer. IF the lethality of the arrows was to weak then even if eight or nine arrows were shot at the same time they wouldn't have much of an effect. Although in sum a great number of enemies would be injured but the effects would be less than a single destructive shot.

  Moreover, if you didn't kill monster then it didn't amount to anything. As only wounding a monster didn't make much sense. Additionally, he was concerned and in pursuit of individual combat capabilities, rather than fighting in groups. After all, by relying on gunpowder he had enough resources and power which was in no way inferior to a group of hunters.

  He didn't have 'light physique' which the rest of hunters had. So each time he went out to hunt his body's radiation content would increase. So he had to harvest a lot of valuable maters to be able to buy purification water.

  "I will." Dudian replied. But in his heart he thought that if it would not be too difficult then he would learn it. But if it was going to be difficult then he wasn't going to waste energy.

  After all, his training time was only one year. So he had to learn more practical skills most suited to his own, one man team.

  As the young instructor left, Dudian went back to training. The other five quickly came over as they curiously asked Dudian: "You followed Glenn to hunt? Did you see her fight? Was she exceptionally powerful?" "

  "What was her magic ability?"

  "I heard that when she hunted monsters, she appeared and disappeared as if she was a phantom so they call her Ghost Assassin."

  "You have heard wrong. She is called Ghost Assassin because the magic marks she had obtained originated from ghosts!"

  Dudian saw the these people for going to ask and talk for long time. He was stunned and speechless as he said: "After you graduate you should be able to see her hunt. It's better to see in person, as it would be hard to describe!"

  "After we graduate we will be junior hunters. How are we going to go to hunt with her? "

  "Yeah! Come on, talk to us about her. "

  All of them were eagerly look at him.

  Dudian was getting headache because of them. Apparently they have not figured out the mess they were in. The consortium was simply imparting knowledge and skills to them right now but wasn't giving them training in combat. They would get personal experience throughout the brutal hunting.

  Dudian said few words to cope up with their curiosity and later on sent them off and continued his training.

  The next day.

  Young instructor come to teach Dudian "scattering" archery. The main trick behind this skills was that when hand went back to get an arrow from the quiver, he would have to catch more arrows in between the gaps amidst the fingers. Dudian had to repeat this to exercise and perfect the skill. If he spent too much time while getting the arrows then the whole point of scattered shooting was pointless.

  The second trick was finger adjustment.

  After fingers caught the arrows and brought them to the bow, they had to adjust the angle of arrows according to the distribution of monsters. The spacing would not be uniform and had to be adjusted rapidly through the fingers.

  Otherwise, even if he shot the arrows not only he would waste them but also affect efficiency and power.

  In general, the scattered archery was not difficult. But to have great effects while shooting you must meet the three 'F' criteria.

  Fast arrow! Fast aiming! Fast adjustment!

  "Practice well. It is one of the skills an archer must master!" Young instructor was serious: "Aligned arrow shooting didn't matter much but you must master this!"

  Dudian nodded. Although the scattering archery was of little significance for him but the arrow grabbing speed and precision training was obviously of great effect to him.

  After the young instructor left he began to practice.

  The training ground for the scattering archer was separate from the place where the other five were practicing. It was a separate subdivision where four targets was meant for a single archer trainee.

  Dudian listened to young instructor talk about senior hunter's super archery skills. He was able to grab eight arrows and shot them at different parts of eight monsters. It meant that each finger caught two arrows but also adjusted both arrows at different angled. The sound of it was incredible but Dudian knew that young instructor wouldn't lie.

  As he trained, Dudian realized the hardship. Sometimes arrows would slip from fingers. The other time they wouldn't clip from the beginning. After several hours of boring repeated practice he was gradually getting better but his speed while grasping the arrows was very slow.

  Dudian knew that initially he would encounter such problems and the patience was the only solution. The only thing he could to now was to continue to train.

  After training, Dudian went to Finance Department to receive his gold coins.

  He took heavy bag which had seven hundred gold coins in it. He sat into a carriage arranged by consortium and was ready to go to his house assigned by consortium. It was night and weather was pretty dark.

  He was planning to take Jura and Gray over as soon as possible. By the way, he could let Mason and the other two settle in his house too.

  Rumble!

  Thunder echoed. Dark clouds had covered the sky, and after a moment heavy rain began to pour down.

  Dudian pulled the curtain to prevent rain from splashing into the carriage. He sighed. The rainy season was to troublesome as rain would fall too frequently. But he thought that the other two seasons weren't much better either.

  They were half the way to his house when carriage stopped as neighs of horses resounded.

  Chapter 130: Again

  Dudian frowned as he was displeased. He slightly moved the curtain to check outside.

  He saw a middle-aged gentleman wearing a coat while standing in front of his carriage as the heavy rain poured down. He had raised the stick that he was holding to stop Dudian's carriage. He seemed relieved as the carriage stopped in time. Middle-aged man immediately approached to the driver.: "Our carriage is broken so we will need to temporarily requisition your carriage."

  The coachman looked behind the middle-aged man. Heavy rain affected his line of sight but he still could see an exquisite carriage parked in front. An oil lamp lit the carriage. He hesitated for a moment but still looked back at carriage. : "Sir, this... ..."

  Dudian didn't wait for him to finish his word as he waved: "Don't!"

  The middle-aged gentleman heard the tender sound coming from the carriage. He was stunned as if he couldn't believe the words coming out of carriage. He stepped forward and said.: "Hello! I am housekeeper of Burong family. Would you please use the next carriage. Of course, I'll pay you double the price. You can use our carriage to shelter from rain until the next carriage passes by while I can use yours to get lady of my house back to home. The weather is still early, I believe there will be carriages that would pass by."

  Dudian knew that Burong family was one of the two highest ranking family in Mellon consortium. He didn't
expect that he would face someone so troublesome.: "Sorry, I am in hurry. You should continue to wait for another carriage."

  The middle-aged gentleman's face turned a little ugly. He was about to say something when a tender voice echoed from the aristocratic carriage that was behind him.: "Uncle, forget it. Give me a coat and I'll ride back home!"

  Middle-aged man quickly turned around.: "The rain is so heavy! You will catch flu."

  "Its alright! My body is very strong." The girl's voice echoed out from the carriage.

  The middle-aged gentleman continued to hastily persuade her.

  Dudian listened to the familiar sound coming from the carriage. Although the rainstorm interfered but he wasn't an ordinary person either. He knew that he heard the voice somewhere but couldn't remember when and where. However, the next moment a figure flashed in his mind as he quickly said.: "You come here for a moment."

  Middle - aged gentleman to hear him call Dudian, stunned for a moment, turned and said: "Do you agree?

  "Well," said Dudian, "but there is a condition. That is I won't leave the carriage. If your miss wants, I can take her home."

  "This ... ..." Middle-aged gentleman hesitated for a moment and shook his head: "No, miss can't stay alone in a compartment with a stranger. "

  Dudian was disappointed as he heard the middle-aged man talk.

  "There is nothing to be worried about uncle." The female's voice echoed from the broken carriage: "The knight will be riding alone too, so there won't be anything dangerous. "

  Middle-aged gentleman looked at the knight who had full body armor and was sitting on top of the horse close to broken carriage. He hesitated a bit: "But, I wanted to personally escort you back."

  "No, there is not enough space." Dudian immediately refused.

  Middle-aged gentleman almost suffocated in anger: "What do you mean? What are you after? Ha? What are you trying to do to our family's lady? I tell you, Burong family is not something that you can provoke."

  "What I meant was, can't you see the size of the carriage?" said Dudian.