In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.
All of Dudian's test indicators were normal, except that the radiation content in his body had increased significantly, reaching about 1.5, which was several tenths higher than that of an average junior Hunter.
Dudian knew that it was mainly because he had soaked in the pool of Disaster Rainwater. However, he wasn't worried. When the radiation value didn't exceed 5, it basically wouldn't affect his physical functions. Once it exceeded 5, he could still buy purification water from the Bright Holy See to eliminate the radiation. Although the purification water was expensive, for him, anything that could be solved with money wasn't a difficult problem.
On the eighth day, the female Bright Knight whom Dudian had first met came to the front of the prison cell and raised her hand to signal. An apprentice Bright Knight behind her understood and stepped forward to take out the key, opened the iron lock on the prison cell, and said to Dudian, "You can leave now. Someone from your consortium is waiting for you outside."
Dudian stood up, patted the dust off his body, and followed them out.
When he came outside the Purification Guard Station, Dudian immediately saw a carriage with the flag of the Mellon Consortium parked in the distance. During the days when they were examining his body, the Purification Guard Station had asked about his identity and had already informed the consortium he belonged to.
Dudian came to the front of the carriage. The coachman was a middle-aged man who immediately jumped off the carriage and said respectfully, "Are you Mr. Dudian?"
Dudian nodded.
"I've been sent to pick you up and take you back. Please get in the carriage." The coachman said respectfully.
Dudian stepped into the carriage. The interior was luxurious, spacious, and extremely comfortable, which was worlds apart from the environment he had lived in at the Purification Guard Station. This also made him feel a little satisfied.
The carriage drove out of this desolate and dilapidated small town. After a while, it entered the outer edge of the commercial area. There were more and more small towns and villages around, and the road sections became cleaner and smoother.
A few hours later, Dudian returned to the Hunter Headquarters.
Getting off the carriage, Dudian thanked the coachman, then turned around and went back to the ancient castle where he had trained before. As soon as he reached the entrance, he was stopped by two guards. Dudian took out his Hunter's medal and showed it. After being confirmed, he entered the ancient castle manor.
Dudian went directly to the previous riverside hunter training ground. He saw five figures standing in front of their respective training positions, still practicing archery. Dudian took a quick look and found that they were practicing the Continuous Arrow. Two of them had already reached the level of shooting three arrows in succession.
When Dudian got closer, the five of them noticed him and were suddenly a bit surprised. The young man closest to him asked in surprise, "You're okay?"
Dudian smiled. "Do you want something to be wrong with me?"
The young man immediately realized his rudeness and quickly waved his hand, saying, "No, no. I mean, you actually came back. You were gone for so long, and we all thought you..."
Dudian smiled and didn't say anything. He went back to his training position and found that the two servants who had originally been responsible for assisting him were not there. He could only pick up the training bow and arrows by himself, aim at his target, and resume his training.
"What kind of mission did you go on this time?" The young man at the adjacent target position looked at Dudian and couldn't help but ask curiously.
Dudian remembered him. They had chatted a few words during a meal before. He said, "I helped track down monsters, and the hunting is already over."
"Did you complete it?" The young man asked, "Was it very dangerous? How powerful was that monster?"
Seeing that the other people also looked over, their eyes filled with curiosity, Dudian sighed in his heart and said, "It was very dangerous and brutal. So if you don't train well, when you encounter monsters, you'll just end up as their dinner and excrement."
"So disgusting!" One of the girls quickly covered her mouth when she heard the word "excrement".
Dudian shrugged and didn't say anything more. He continued to pull out arrows and train.
Seeing that Dudian didn't say much more, the others retracted their gazes in disappointment. They didn't take his words too seriously in their hearts. They had heard similar words too many times. They also knew that monsters were extremely dangerous things, even more terrifying than the beasts in the radiation area. But they were confident that once they obtained the Marks of the Demon, they would also possess that inhuman power and be able to earn a large amount of gold coins.
The training continued.
Half an hour later, the previous young instructor ran over. Seeing Dudian from a distance, he clearly relaxed. He quickly ran over and said to Dudian, "Why did you come back so late?"
"I came back a long time ago. I was at the Purification Guard Station before." Dudian stopped shooting and explained.
The young instructor said unhappily, "I know. If we hadn't received news of you from the Purification Guard Station seven days ago, the consortium was going to mobilize the investigation team to search for you. Glary and the others who went on the mission with you have already come back!"
"Glary?" The five people beside them were a bit surprised when they heard this name and looked over. For the other Hunters in the entire Mellon Consortium, as one of the only two senior Hunters, Glary's name was well-known. Even they, the apprentice Hunters, had long heard of her great reputation and almost knew all her basic information by heart.
They didn't expect that Dudian had actually followed such a big shot on this mission. The five of them couldn't help but feel a bit envious.
Seeing the young instructor's stern expression, Dudian coughed softly and said, "I went back to the cleared area to hunt zombies. I was so absorbed in killing them that I forgot the time."
"Hmph, I knew it!" The young instructor snorted coldly, "The number of Frost Crystals you brought back has been counted. There are a total of 723 of them. According to the one-to-one exchange ratio, the gold coins have already been prepared for you by the Finance Department. If you want to get them, it's best to give them a heads-up in advance."
Seeing that he wasn't really angry, Dudian let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "Yes."
The young instructor said with a straight face, "Train well. But don't act so recklessly again in the future. This time, considering that you're a newbie, I won't record your fault. The consortium didn't cultivate you just to let you hunt zombies specifically."
Dudian nodded to show that he understood.
Seeing that his attitude was good, the young instructor's expression softened, and he didn't say anything more. In fact, he was very satisfied with Dudian in his heart. When he learned that there were more than seven hundred Frost Crystals, he was a bit shocked. Although zombies were monsters with a hunting level of 4, for a junior Hunter newbie, they were still very difficult to deal with. Only some experienced junior Hunters who had hunted a lot of them and were familiar with the zombies' weaknesses could easily kill them in an instant. For newbies, they were extremely troublesome.
Just the psychological pressure alone was a very difficult hurdle to overcome.
As a hunting newbie, being able to hunt so many zombies within seven days was enough to show that Dudian had extremely good hunting talent. Both his courage and archery skills had passed the test. Compared with other experienced junior Hunters, what he lacked was just experience and the further improvement of his skills.
Moreover, after the Ghost Shadow Assassin "Glary" came back, she had mentioned Dudian and even gave a few comments, showing great appreciation. This matter had already spread in the training camp, and he had also been praised by his superiors these days, saying that he had cultivated a fine sword.