Blade of the Demon Hunt

Untitled Part 8

The primary duty of the Demon Hunter Guild is, fundamentally, to hunt demons."It's quite simple to become a hunter," D said with a smile. "All you need is for a weapon to recognize you as its master. Once you become a hunter, you'll enjoy special privileges within the guild. The guild will provide you with a private residence, free meals, and all the necessities of life. Anything you need can be obtained for free. Aside from the occasional mandatory tasks that you'll be required to complete, you can arrange your time as you wish.""Even if we don't go out to fight?" Amir asked, puzzled."That's right," D nodded with a smile. "However, the free items provided by the guild are obtained through task points, so if you don't perform tasks, you won't be able to receive these items.""That's just a roundabout way of making money," Amir said."No, no, no, you didn't get it," D said, shaking his finger. "Those things can't be bought with money; they can only be exchanged with points.""Alright," Amir said, understanding that the guild doesn't support idle members. It seems that if you want to get something from someone, you have to make an effort; you can't just gain rewards without working for them. Amir grasped this concept."How do I get tasks?""The guild has a dedicated website where all task information is listed," D explained. "You just need to select the task you want to take on from the site. Once the task is completed, report back to the officer, and you'll receive points and rewards.""There's also a reward?" Amir asked in surprise, thinking that points were the only reward."Of course," D said matter-of-factly. "The more difficult the task you solve, the higher the reward. The demon you encountered earlier was a C-level, so the reward wasn't very high, and since it was mostly handled by Zahra, you got an even smaller share.""I was involved in that too," Amir pointed out, noting that he wasn't a guild member when he encountered the interview demon, but it should still count for him."Of course," D replied with a smile. "Since you joined immediately, we counted one-third of the task's reward for you. Your guild card isn't ready yet, but it will be credited to your card once it's made.""Well, I'm grateful, but won't this be unfair to Zahra?" Amir asked with concern, wondering if the ice queen might hold a grudge against him for taking credit for her work."Hahaha, you don't need to worry about that," D laughed heartily as if hearing a particularly funny joke. "You don't know Zahra well enough. She doesn't care about these things.""Is that so? Then I feel better," Amir said, feeling reassured after D's words."Anyway, I haven't congratulated you yet," D said, taking a sip from his tea cup and then extending his right hand to Amir. "Welcome aboard, and congratulations on becoming an intern hunter with the Demon Hunter Guild."Amir instinctively reached out to shake D's hand, then reacted with confusion, asking, "Intern hunter?""Of course, since you've just joined and haven't completed a task yet, you can only be considered an intern hunter for now," D explained with a smile. "It's like any other job; there's a probation or internship period. Just think of it that way."Amir felt a pang of frustration, as if a thousand nagging thoughts were racing through his mind."Don't be so glum," D said with a grin, shaking Amir's hand up and down. "As long as you complete one task within six months, you'll graduate from the internship.""Is there a graduation exam too? Maybe I should just quit.""If you don't complete a task within six months," D seemed to read Amir's thoughts, his hands clasped on the table, eyes narrowing slightly as he spoke softly, "the headquarters will consider you unsuitable to carry a weapon. In that case, they will take appropriate actions.""What kind of actions?" Amir asked, momentarily stunned and swallowing hard."Ha!" D couldn't help but laugh at Amir's reaction. "Don't worry, don't worry. They'd probably just force you to go back to headquarters for special training. It's nothing to be afraid of."Amir felt like he was being toyed with."You don't look so well. Is your wound not fully healed?" D asked with concern. "Let Dina take you back to your room to rest. We can discuss the remaining issues when you have more time."After an hour of conversation, Amir was utterly exhausted. He nodded without hesitation and left with Dina, returning to his original room."Oh, you really are devious," a man said as a hidden door in the corner of the study, concealed behind a bookshelf, swung open. He stepped out and smiled at D, who was sitting behind the desk."Wait, didn't you say you were heading back to headquarters? Why are you still here?" D turned his head and raised an eyebrow at the man behind him. Despite the question, his expression showed no hint of surprise."I was curious about what the new recruit is like, so I stayed a bit longer to observe," the man said, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses and smiling. "By the way, is it really okay to deceive him like that? The kid seems so innocent. Don't you feel any guilt?""It's not really deception," D said, stroking his beard with a smile. "The headquarters will take action if the internship period isn't completed in six months. That part was truthful.""The actions taken by headquarters aren't as gentle as you described," the man scoffed. "For hunters who fail their internship, the headquarters only employs one measure—directly reclaiming their weapons.""Isn't telling him this just putting pressure on him?" D shrugged. "It would be a shame if we scared the kid away by accident.""Oh?" The man raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like you think highly of him.""Earlier, when he was kidnapped by a C-level demon, I observed him for a while. Although it wasn't very obvious, he seems to be a good candidate," D admitted. He indeed had a good impression of Amir. The fact that Amir could display such resolve and determination in that situation showed he had a strong inner spirit and willpower."Is that so?" The man glanced at the door, shrugging. "In any case, if he fails the internship, it's all for nothing.""Hehe, let's wait and see," D replied with a squinting smile.Amir carefully examined the black card in his hand.The card was the same size as a regular bank card, with a pitch-black surface and no patterns. In the center, it displayed the golden words "Demon Hunter Guild," and in the lower right corner was a string of numbers: "070100131."He had just received it from Dina, and it was said to represent his identity within the guild."This card is pretty impressive," Dina explained to him. "The number at the bottom is your ID number. '07' is the code for the Magic City district, '01' indicates your role as a hunter, and '131' means you're the 131st hunter in the district. You can use this number to access tasks on the guild's website. All your rewards and points will be directly credited to this card. It serves as your identification card within the guild and can also be used as a bank card outside.""Ah, an all-in-one card," Amir said, sweating a bit."Pretty much," Dina nodded."131 hunters? That's quite a lot," Amir said, surprised. He had expected hunters to be rare, but there were over a hundred just in one district."This number represents the total count since the guild was established in the Magic City district. Over the past three hundred years since the district was founded, only this many have existed," Dina explained. "As far as I know, including you, there are currently fewer than ten hunters in our district.""Alright, it really is quite rare," Amir thought to himself."You're still in the internship phase, so you'll stay here for now. Once you become a full-fledged hunter and get your own place, this card will also serve as the key to your house," Dina continued excitedly, seemingly more thrilled about the card than Amir himself."Wow, there's actually going to be a house?" Amir said in surprise, noting that the benefits were indeed quite good.But"What exactly are the internship tasks?" he asked, focusing on the most pressing issue—completing the so-called internship tasks. After all, he didn't want to be kicked out after six months."Well, I'm not really sure about that," Dina said, scratching the back of her head with an apologetic look. "I think there's an introduction on the website. You can log in and check it out. Since I'm not a hunter, there are many parts of the site I can't access.""Got it," Amir nodded and turned on the computer in the room. "How do I log in? Should I just search for 'Demon Hunter Guild' on Baidu?""Yep, just use Baidu," Dina said matter-of-factly.Amir was surprised but did just that. To his amazement, the search results included a link to the guild's official website with the prominent label "Official Site."Seriously, guild tech staff, you're something else.He clicked on the website, which immediately prompted him to enter a username and password.Amir thought for a moment and entered the numbers from his ID card as the username."Now just enter the password you set," Dina said from behind him. "The first login will record this password, so it will be used for future logins."Following Dina's advice, Amir typed in a password and then entered the website.After a brief look at the homepage, which seemed to have many interesting features, he decided to go straight to the "Hunter Tasks" section. There, he found the information about the internship tasks.Amir began to read the details carefully.