Shadow Covenant

Chapter 9 "The Heart of the Demon Hunter"

The rainstorm didn't stop until the noon of the third day. The fragrance of mud and grass was everywhere outside the manor, and the air was exceptionally clear.

At this moment, someone was walking anxiously on the wet gravel road, and the moccasin boots made a rustling sound when they rubbed against the ground.

At the end of the road, there stood a young boy in aristocratic attire, with black hair shawl, and a slightly immature baby face. It was difficult to tell the gender unless he was close.

……

"I'm sorry, Master Woody, I originally wanted to hand it over to you in the morning, but it's raining too much, so I'm really sorry."

Woody calmly looked at the owner of the mountain goods store who apologized repeatedly and kept wiping his sweat. He didn't look too anxious or angry, and took the long wooden box he handed to him very naturally.

From the gap in the wooden box, there is a hot and strange fragrance that is stronger than the air after the rain-just taking the box at random, opening a gap, and the smell coming out of it caused Woody's mind to be moved a few times. root string.

When the wooden box is fully opened, the torso that resembles a humanoid creature, the bright yellow tentacles derived from the limbs, and the iconic carrot head come into view.

Undoubtedly, the quintessential vintage of "Dalagan Roots".

"As long as there is no problem with the things, I will ask the housekeeper to pay you later."

Woody nodded slightly, and ignored the shop manager who bowed his head to thank him. Being late for a long time did not change Woody's mood.

He has not been idle these three days, but has made a rough plan for his future.

After becoming a demon hunter, in addition to storing relevant resources as much as possible, the most important thing for him is to collect anecdotes and strange things in the world. He needs a piece of news, or a location.

The place where the "whale" appeared.

The whales referred to here are of course not ordinary whales in the sea, but the group of "astral whales" that accidentally entered the astral world from the entrance of the astral world in the ocean tens of thousands of years ago and developed the spiritual power in their brains.

He wants to leave this world that is about to decay and wither through the Astral Whale. No matter what ancient evils he is, he can only show his strength in Assenland, and if he has the ability to go to the main material plane Terra, there...

Well, there seems to be nothing to do with this corrupt mother tree, but the gods have too many ways to stop him from the crystal wall of the material plane.

Whether it's changing the trajectory of the comet he's parasitic on, directly smashing it, or directly expelling it from another world, there are too many ways to keep the corrupt mother tree away from that world.

Astral Whale is a famous "shared bus", and it is also the simplest tool for interplanetary travel. As long as you hold a token, it can take you into the astral world and travel between planes. Woody has taken this kind of bus more than once in his previous life. Convenient, fast, and free means of transportation.

It's just that unlike the plane portal of the elves, the location of the next world of the astral whale is not fixed.

But for Woody right now, there's no world worse than Asenland.

Abyss invasion?The devil came?Evil sacrifice?Race war?Crown conspiracy?The dragon wakes up?
Or a volcanic eruption?A hurricane is coming?Or is the epidemic rampant?Tsunami coming?

After all, the disasters you can think of have already erupted rounds in Assenland, and each round has plunged the aborigines inside into a dire situation. Woody, who was a player in his previous life, felt the most.

The gathering place of the adventure ranges from the prosperous and prosperous royal capital to the temporary gathering place built with wood, the refugees in ragged clothes, the nobles who are no longer proud... Bit by bit of memory, let this life as an aboriginal, no longer have The player's immortal Woody became more and more sure of his plan to escape from Asenland.

Under the wave of ancient evils, their group of "Holy Adventists" all depended on the aborigines, and with the help of those legendary professionals, they managed to break through the siege of the corrupt mother tree on Asenland.

Without the help of the system, his character who has just reached the second-level template, the 10th-level fighter/2nd-level berserker, probably has long been thrown into the Styx reincarnation.

He doesn't feel that he is a son of the times born by fate, a hero with heavy responsibilities.

After knowing that the future disaster is coming, the only thing in his mind these days is not how to save the world, but "survive".

Whether it is in Terra or in other planes.

Survive, the most important thing.

The only thing he can do is to tell the aboriginal adventurers in this world some hearsay rumors, additions, deletions, deletions, and changes during the next trip, so that they can make early preparations to avoid the first wave of disasters. I didn't know it, and fell into the Styx indistinctly.

……

"Cousin Woody?"

Just when Woody entered the manor and was about to go downstairs to enter the underground alchemy room with the "Mandala Root" he just got, a clear and tender female voice stopped him.

Looking back, I saw at the railing on the second floor, a slender, fair-skinned curly-haired golden-haired girl about fourteen or fifteen years old, standing at the entrance of the corridor and looking at him, followed by several young maids.

The memory in my heart revived.

This is his cousin "Villand Edith".

It is also the only daughter of Aunt Susan. Not long ago, she wanted to match him and Verando, but Woody sternly refused. He grew up with Verando, and it can be said that she was deeply teased by Verando when she was young. That weird character really gave the original owner a headache.

Later, Verando entered another aristocratic women's college in Palermo, and it was much better to only see each other at home occasionally on "holidays" a week.

She also gradually became a lady, no longer jumped up and down, and rarely entered Woody's room.

Woody didn't respond indifferently according to the demeanor in his memory, but raised his eyebrows, his face was strange, and his eyes couldn't help but look at this aristocratic girl who was still in youth.

Because in his player memory, there is also information about "her", but she was already seventeen or eighteen years old at that time, she had already lost her body, and became one of the many undead wandering in the ruins of Palermo.

The first time he saw him as a player was in the basement under the ruins. The delicate blond girl was curled up in a corner, crying and mournful.

However, at that time, her pair of bright eyes that occasionally showed a sly color had been replaced by empty black eye sockets.

The undead girl who claimed to be Verando lost her most important treasure, and she begged players to find items with her name in the ruins.

She is one of the few neutral monsters who can obtain "Undead Crystal" and "Experience" by looking for items without attacking. It is said that players who find the most precious items will receive large rewards.

At that time, many players who entered the ruins of Palermo found things for her, and Woody was no exception, but he was not the lucky one who found things.

Later, the forum broke the news that Woody knew the appearance of the girl's precious treasure for the first time.

"I wish Wei Landuo a happy life every day and grow up quickly - "W&D"

The name was engraved on the bottom of a broken rabbit statue, and the handwriting was crooked, like a novice practicing his pen.

It was something he gave her.

The two kinds of memory are chaotically intertwined.

When the memory hidden deep in my heart suddenly appeared, and today broke ground, Woody looked at the girl with a bright smile in front of him again.

He suddenly had a sense of dislocation in time and space.

He didn't feel this way when he walked around the Palermo city.

"Villandot, what's the matter?"

He suppressed the tide of emotion and asked in a calm tone.

And the girl complained to Woody in a soft tone while walking down the stairs.

"It's nothing, it's just too boring, I want to see what you are doing, I heard from my mother that you are doing alchemy recently? Don't you want to sculpt?"

In the second half of the conversation, the girl's eyes were tightly locked on the box in Woody's hand.

"Is that herbal medicine? What is it for? Woody, can you refine gold? I heard that alchemy can make a large piece of gold with a click. If you can, I don't have to look for it every time. Mom wants money."

The noble girl seemed to have endless questions to ask. When the last words fell, the girl's shattered fair face was less than ten centimeters away from Woody's chin, and the curled hair was less than three centimeters away. The heat is very real.

When Woody lowered his head, he could see the velvet on the girl's white face, the delicate collarbone extending downward, and the touch that had begun to take shape...

"It's nothing, I'm just tinkering around. Gold probably requires a lot of alchemy to make. I'm still learning, and it's relatively superficial."

He took a few steps back as if nothing had happened, then looked away, turning a blind eye to the disappointment on the girl's face.

"Okay then, can I go in and have a look?"

The girl made a request.

But all he got was Woody's rejection.

"It's too dangerous, inside, I can take you in to have a look next time when you don't do experiments—if you have time."

Woody didn't say it to death. Although the girl was a little unwilling after hearing this, she had no choice but to give up.

Woody was right.

Alchemy is indeed dangerous, and there is no shortage of explosions.

"Well, you have to pay attention to your own safety. By the way, Cousin Woody, the Harvest Festival will be in seven days. Shall we go to the city together?"

"It was a full moon that day, and I heard that the priests of the temple would pray for Palermo on the astrologer, and it seems that they can still see the meteor shower."

"But can't you see the same thing here?"

"Atmosphere! Important atmosphere!"

"Is the atmosphere the smell of sweat from that group of people? Or is it the vomitous fragrance after the perfume is mixed?"

"Woody! I won't tell you anymore, if you don't want to go, forget it!"

"Feel sorry."

Seeing Weilando walking away angrily stepping on her little leather boots, Woody was slightly relieved, finally able to be quiet for a few days.

His most urgent task now is to refine the potion of "Green Grass Trial" first, and everything else can be put aside.

After entering the alchemy room, Woody locked the door, put on special gut gloves, and started the final work.

Arrange the yellow-eyed vine, bitter orchid leaves, whalebone grass, and the datura root just obtained in order, and start to take out a knife, a beaker, a wooden mallet for mixing herbs, and a stone trough.

Skillfully disassemble the roots and hairs of each herb to separate the medicinal properties.

Time passed by, and the liquid in the beaker in the alchemy room was bubbling with the help of the flame.

The work of decocting medicine is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The decoction process of "Green Grass Trial" is not long, as long as it is cooked.

Therefore, half an hour later, Woody finally breathed a sigh of relief looking at the several potions of different colors in front of him.

Three days is not a long time, but before the potion is finished, every night, he can feel the pustule cyst raised after touching his neck with his hand, and the pus-like herpes covered with dense white goose bumps on it, which makes him feel sick every night. I couldn't sleep all night, but when the sky was about to wake up, I fell into a light sleep for a while.

Now, I can finally sleep well.

Thinking about it, Woody drank the three beakers without hesitation, and poured the remaining two into the injection and injected it into the blood vessel.

The scalding medicinal power of the herbal medicine hit Woody's body through the blood vessels and stomach, and Woody immediately fell into a half-dream and half-awake state.

Consciousness is clear, but his body cannot move.

It's hallucinogenic, the paralyzing mandala is working, Woody is very calm, and everything about the herbal medicine is following the steps.

According to the previous "Green Grass Trial", due to the excessive effect, each child needs three days or even a week to survive the trial.

Only the children who survived in the end can truly pass the trial of green grass, but the death rate of that trial is quite high.

After all, the recipe at that time was the flesh and blood of various monsters.The improved version of "Grass Trial" configured by Woody this time is a gentle version with the help of Nigger, the demon hunter mentor of the master of pharmacy. It only takes one to two days to completely complete the "mutation" in Woody's body. ".

1-2 days is enough. He also told the housekeeper to buy a bed and food in the alchemy room, and he will study behind closed doors.

So there wouldn't be any problem if he didn't show up for a short time, and he got a chance to not be disturbed for a long time.

The potency of the medicine gradually seeped into the depths of the blood, and began to provoke the power sleeping deep in the bone marrow.

If someone else is here, they will find that Woody's whole body has undergone obvious changes, and the bones seem to be alive, creaking every inch and every joint.

As time progressed to three hours.

The young man's originally plump face became shriveled, and the outline of bones could be seen. His bright eyes also became dull, with sunken eye sockets and a sluggish face.

The fingers that looked like eagle claws grasped the skirt deeply, and the maid's ironed shirt was wrinkled, but she didn't care.

seven hours later.

Woody seemed to be the living dead, his breathing was slow and long at the beginning, and it also became hoarse and loud, like a windmill under the stove, making the exhausted sound from his lungs.

And Woody, whose consciousness is still clear, knows that the most terrible level has passed.

The competition in this level is physique and strength, and anyone who is weaker in one of them will not be able to pass the "Green Grass Trial".

Fortunately, the daily training in the college and the abundant diet that only nobles have allowed Woody to build a good physique. His physique and strength are not inferior. According to attributes, they are 14 and 13 points respectively, which are beyond ordinary people. It has reached the level of a normal fighter.

For eleven hours, listening to the disappearing footsteps in the basement, Woody knew that night was coming.

Creatures of the night come into play.

Squeaking sounds and the sound of quadrupeds running came from the floor, the ground, and even under him. Woody still controlled his body and lay on the grass and rattan chair, and his skin began to ooze cold and sticky due to the drop in temperature. Sweaty.

The rejection reaction brought by the herbal medicine finally acted on this body. Woody wanted to vomit and cough very much now, but it was as if a light bulb had been stuffed into his mouth, and he couldn't swallow it or spit it out. muffled.

The weakening of the effect of the medicine made Woody gradually feel the limbs and body, and the pain was also fed back to Woody's brain nerves in time.

All Woody can do is to use force, restrain the surging desire, and slowly calm down the manic heart. The price is that the hand is getting harder and firmly grasping the wicker chair. Fortunately, Woody deliberately prevents it. Scratching, leading to the spread of parasites, the handles of rattan chairs are cushioned.

No. 15 hours.

The sweat-soaked clothes on the boy's body also began to dry gradually, his body temperature began to rise, and his breathing gradually changed from loud and hoarse to the initial steady, but each breath was half a beat slower than the initial one.

Mutations begin.

Woody knew it well.

I don’t know how long it took, probably on the second day, when the footsteps came from the ceiling, Woody’s body felt light and light, as if his body was as light as a feather. He only needed a single thought to jump up to the ceiling. ,This is impossible.

However, the feeling of ecstasy caused Woody to fall into a period of indulging, like a baby returning to his mother's womb, and his consciousness fell into a deep sleep. During this period, his dim eyes began to close, and his lips also closed , only the breathing of the nose is running, just like a sleeping person.

There was no abnormality until six hours after No.30.

Woody woke up from his sleep and opened his eyes.

The surrounding candles had already been burned out, but in the darkness, everything in the alchemy room was very clear to him, as if he could see the fire.

If someone is on the sidelines, they will find Woody's eyes, which are a pair of... viper-like eyes.

The pupils were replaced by vertical pupils, emitting a chilling light.

Woody knew that the "Grass Trial" had been completed.

Open the panel.

"Name: Woody."

"Race: Human."

“属性：力量13、敏捷16（+1）、体质14、智力15、感知16（+1）、魅力13。”

"Faction: lawful neutral."

"Background: Nobility"

"Occupation: None (career paths detected)."

"Health: 8/8."

"Experience value: 0."

"Attribute points: None."

"Status: sub-healthy (healing), vulnerable (parasitic), pain-reducing (parasitic)."

"Background Skills: Noble Etiquette 10, Appraisal 12, Sculpture 20."

"Professional Skills: None."

"Professional expertise: extensive knowledge (sculpture, aristocratic history), heart of hunting demons."

"Generic Feats: Ingenuity, Toughness, Intuitive Reflexes."

Woody keenly noticed that on the column of career paths, career information available for employment suddenly appeared.

Woody clicked on it, and the data bloomed.

"It is detected that the pre-specialty "Demon Hunting Heart" has been satisfied, yes/no to be a demon hunter."

Without hesitation, his consciousness touched the column of inauguration.

Inauguration...

"Demon hunter."

　Five thousand character chapter, ah~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)