Aaron, standing in the corridor of the command center on the second floor beside the training ground, turned to report to Commander Augustus Grace of the Queldin sector, who was gazing out towards the training fields.

Even with his silver hair, Commander Grace stood tall and commanded respect. “Sir, it has cost us a total of 122 gold coins.”

“Hmm.”

With a simple nod, Augustus Grace turned to his aide behind him and instructed, “Son, have Jonathan escort the lad to the town's Alchemy Guild to pick out a suitable pair of alchemy spectacles.”

“Ding~ Ding~”

Catching the two gold coins with precision despite not looking back, Aaron felt a knot of confusion unravel as he finally voiced his concern,

“Sir, the gold spent on these recruits could buy a top-notch alchemic longsword even in Leon City. Such a weapon would mark a qualitative leap in combat abilities, whether for Captain Ford or the cavalry brothers, far outweighing the potential of these twenty-nine, who would require months of training before they might become somewhat capable...”

“A better investment, you think?”

Augustus Grace, sensing his aide's implication, couldn’t hide a trace of disappointment shaking his head, “Child, you need to look further ahead. Winter is coming, and we are not in short supply of sharp swords or sturdy bows. But what good are these weapons if there’s no one to wield them, only to be left gathering dust in a storeroom?”

“Remember the days when Queldin was undefeated, boasting over two thousand demon hunter brothers on its roster. How formidable we were then."

"And now, look at us. Between Helensburgh, Shadow Keep, Moon Tower, and the Forest Camp, including reserves and utility men, we barely muster three hundred and twenty-six. The ranks of true demon hunters have dwindled to a mere eighty-two!”

“What can eighty-two men do in the long winter of sixteen years that looms over us? … We could do nothing--even hunkering down in Helensburgh might prove challenging!”

“Therefore, my child, while we old bones still have the strength to move, we must do everything in our power to replenish Helensburgh with fresh blood.”

“Our time is running out…”

………………

After stating their names and ages in front of a scholar, Kane, and twenty-eight others were brought before a middle-aged man who had just been bargaining with Baron Dorne.

This man seemed to be a key figure among the Demon Hunters.

This middle-aged man stepped onto a stage behind him, faced Kane and the others, and announced, "I am Stanley Ford, the squad leader of the third squadron of Demon Hunters in the Queldin sector. I'm also the training officer responsible for shaping you all into qualified Demon Hunters."

"You should already have an understanding of what the Demon Hunter force is all about; I won't elaborate on that here. Whether you've been robbing commoners on the roads, or petty theft, doing the sneakiest of deeds, once you've arrived here, no one will dwell on your past, nor will anyone seek trouble with you over it…"

"Of course, you must abide by the rules here. And the rules you must follow before becoming formal Demon Hunters are simple: obey, obey, and obey again!"

"Alright, dismissed!"

"Mark, show them around to get acquainted with the surroundings."

...

After familiarizing themselves with the surrounding areas of the training ground and learning which areas were off-limits to newcomers like Kane and his group.

A middle-aged man in his thirties, sporting a beard, wearing a black cloak, armored, and with a long sword at his side, named Jonathan, approached Kane and the other twenty-eight individuals as they were heading towards the dining hall.

Aware that this attire signified formal Demon Hunters, and having heard from others who had arrived with him that these extraordinary individuals had the power to take on ten trained, fully armed soldiers single-handedly, Kane couldn't help but cautiously inquire about the intentions of the man before him.

Learning that he was to accompany him to the Alchemists' Guild in Leon City to choose a pair of alchemical glasses, Kane felt relieved and followed Jonathan.

Rather than exiting through the same city gate they had entered, they opted for an inner gate of Helensburgh, their path winding through an aristocratic cemetery.

During this short five to six-minute journey, Kane experienced "Treasure Seeker" resonance with unclaimed treasures three times—a stark contrast to when he passed through a vast commoner cemetery outside the city without any resonance.

This provided Kane with an excellent initial understanding of the aristocrats, the ruling class of this world's human race.

Silently following Jonathan, he arrived at the Alchemists' Guild in Leon City and was fitted with a pair of alchemical glasses suitable for him.

The respect shown to Jonathan, cloaked in black, by the commoners they encountered—who bowed or doffed their hats in greeting, always met with a polite smile from Jonathan—evidently showed the Demon Hunters' good reputation in the area, easing Kane's mind.

Thankfully, at least I haven't joined any sort of evil organization.

This was the thought in Kane's mind at the time.

On his way back, Kane felt the resonance of the Treasure Seeker's talent time and again. He made up his mind to give it a try and slowed down his steps gradually.

Jonathan, who was walking ahead, sensed something and decisively stopped. He turned around and asked Kane, who had by then put on wooden-framed glasses, "What's wrong?"

"I have a stomachache. I need to find a toilet."

This excuse, however, was admittedly quite poor.

Clutching his stomach as if he could no longer hold it in, Kane's acting was admittedly somewhat overdone.

Therefore, Jonathan, who had pulled out the shiny long sword from his leather sheath, swiftly cleaved a tree branch off with a single stroke as quick as lightning!

Kane was startled by Jonathan's action, thinking he had blown his cover, his face turned a shade paler. But in the next instant, he was confused by what Jonathan did next.

Jonathan, having chopped off a limbless branch, stooped to pick it up and handed it over, saying, "Be careful. This noble cemetery might be well-maintained daily, but poison snakes or insects still favor these cold and damp places."

Even though Kane understood the meaning of Jonathan's words, for some reason, he thought the plot seemed off and still distracted, he asked bluntly, "Um... aren't you worried I might use this as a chance to escape?"

Faced with Kane's question, Jonathan was momentarily taken aback before his lips curled into a smirk, bursting into a hearty laughter.

As if he had heard the world's most ridiculous joke, Jonathan laughed heartily under Kane's watchful eyes for a good two or three minutes.

After a while, with a bellyache from laughing, he took a few breaths before saying, "Boy, don't you know that with my red-bronze-tier strength, even if I let you run for fifteen minutes, I could easily catch you with your still Graystone-level strength?"

Looking at Kane's still puzzled face after such a statement, Jonathan, feeling a bit listless, shoved the stick into Kane's hands and remarked, "Remember to go far enough so I don't have to smell anything foul."

Holding the stick Jonathan handed him and walking through a graveyard filled with tombstones, Kane realized he knew next to nothing about this world. He decided not to test the veracity of Jonathan's words with his own body at that moment.

After all, even though he had been sold to the Demon Hunter organization, which might limit his freedom to some degree,

Being inside an organization like Demon Hunter provided him with a platform to understand this strange world better and faster, didn't it?

With this resolution in mind, Kane looked up at a large tree standing on a grassy knoll in the distance and unconsciously quickened his pace.

Looking at the massive tree ahead, its trunk large enough to require three or four people to fully embrace it, and noticing the bowl-sized hollow more than a meter above the ground, Kane knew the "treasure" he sought was inside. But wasn't this a bit too frivolous?

Shouldn't the discovery of each treasure come after people have gone through countless hardships and trials?

"Oh well..."

After muttering to himself, Kane didn't rashly stick his hand into the unknown depth of the tree hollow. He used the stick in his hand to probe inside.

After waiting a bit and hearing no strange noises, and with nothing weird crawling out of the tree hollow, and worried about taking too long, that Jonathan might come to check, Kane steeled himself and stretched his right hand into the tree hollow.

Fortunately, there was nothing strange...

Wiggling his wrist, he searched around the shallow space with his fingers and felt something hard. Kane immediately used his index and middle fingers to pull it out.

It was a finely made brooch in the shape of a green leaf, its workmanship exquisite. Not knowledgeable about such finery, Kane even thought it might be a pin to secure a cloak over one's shoulders.

Regardless, of whether it was a brooch or a cloak pin, he immediately placed it into his storage space. He then reached into the tree hollow again.

After all, from the feedback of his right-hand touch inside the hollow, there was still a marble-sized, very smooth item...

After a short while, not waiting for Kane to scrutinize the bead that glowed with a soft green light pulled from the hollow, Jonathan's voice traveled over from the other side of the grand tree, "What in the world are you doing, boy?"