Volume 2 Chapter 19: Wrongly Aligned

The fingerprints taken from Baron Albert and Bonnie on the wine glasses did not match those found on the test tube in the medical kit. In other words, the old Baron and Bonnie hadn’t entered Qin Lun’s room. The identity of the person who tried to investigate the medical kit remained a mystery.

However, Qin Lun didn’t show much disappointment. He had just arrived at Albert Castle back then, hoping only to find a breakthrough using this little trap. Now that he had become a demon hunter and acquired better leads, that person’s identity was insignificant. Finding that breakthrough didn’t matter anymore.

Qin Lun stood up, went out to hand the two wine glasses to a maid, and returned to his room to start pondering the clues mentioned in the recent death notice.

The mystery of Stephen Albert’s death involved regional history, which wasn’t surprising. The Albert Family, being the actual rulers controlling this area, must have been fiercely suppressing secrets that certainly weren’t simple.

As for triggering the World Plot Mode of Shattered Starry Sky and transforming what was originally just a Guidance Mission intended for probationary apostles into a Satellite-level World Plot – this could be considered Qin Lun’s reward for his tireless pursuit of the Albert Family’s secrets over this period.

Compared to that reward, Qin Lun was more intrigued by the “World Essence Plunder Permit” mentioned in Shattered Laws Articles 100 and 788, along with the related World Exploration Degree.

These two Shattered Laws gave Qin Lun an inkling of the reason why Shattered Starry Sky dispatches apostles into numerous other worlds to undertake so-called Otherworld Missions. He still remembered what the Goblin Elder had told him back at the Scavenger Lu-Lu Tribe camp.

The Goblin Elder had mentioned that Shattered Starry Sky contained civilizations of all kinds – mechanical, magical, technological, Eastern immortal realms, and so on. It seemed Shattered Starry Sky was like the creator’s experimental plot. The Goblin Elder even likened it to “a garbage dump discarded by the Creator God.”

Since it was a garbage dump, filled with numerous intelligent civilizations and essentially its own small universe, Shattered Starry Sky naturally didn’t possess the survival laws of normal universes. Put another way, Shattered Starry Sky lacked the law-resources necessary for maintaining existence in a normal universe. Its creator—whether real or not—simply used it as a place to dump trash.

Under pressure to survive, Shattered Starry Sky resorted to plundering the law-resources from other normal worlds to sustain itself. So, what essential survival resources would a Space-Time World require?

Setting aside physical factors, Qin Lun believed it was most likely the World Origin mentioned in the Shattered Laws – the Space-Time Laws that drive a world’s development and change. In other words, the historical plots unfolding in different places across various historical stages.

Shattered Starry Sky sends large numbers of apostles into other world timelines. By assigning Otherworld Missions of various levels, it has apostles explore and unearth the historical plots within those worlds, accelerating, delaying, or even altering their historical development to plunder the Historical Origin that originally belonged to that world.

The higher the level of the Otherworld Mission an apostle completes, and the greater the World Exploration Degree achieved, the more World Origin Shattered Starry Sky manages to plunder. Naturally, the apostle’s mission rewards become more generous as well.

While this was still just Qin Lun’s speculation, he found it convincing enough.

Having thought through this part, Qin Lun soon focused his attention on another piece of information he found incredibly interesting.

That was the explanation regarding Satellite-level World Plots!

A single Satellite-level World Plot directly involved the entire history of the Aodia Region. Following that, the Planet-level and Star-level World Plots mentioned later in the Death Notice – wouldn’t those involve the entire Maize Duchy, or even an entire continent, shaping the future history of the whole world?

The mystery of Stephen Albert’s death certainly couldn’t have that kind of impact. Not even the Albert Family possessed such influence.

So far, among all the events he had encountered, only two had the potential to develop to the point of affecting an entire nation, or even a continent. One was the Gargoyle incident, the other was that strange epidemic disease!

The Gargoyle incident was linked to the witch. Although Qin Lun hadn’t personally witnessed the witch’s black magic yet, judging by the gargoyle’s combat ability – if there were thousands of them in the Great Forest Maiar – they certainly could threaten the entire country.

As for that epidemic disease capable of airborne transmission… once it left the sparsely populated Aodia Region, surrounded by forests and mountains, and entered densely populated, well-connected large cities, spreading across the continent and the entire world would be only a matter of time.

Even though this world had an Exorcist Organization and its civilization was gradually entering the nascent stages of modern technology, with countless methods potentially capable of suppressing the epidemic’s spread, it was undeniable that the worst consequence of the plague spreading could profoundly affect the world’s historical development.

Lost in thoughts about this world’s future history, Qin Lun slowly drifted into sleep.

At that moment, outside the window of Qin Lun’s room overlooking the cliff chasm, a white figure hovered. The figure gazed at the young man sleeping soundly in bed, then slowly shook its head in disappointment and vanished into the darkness.

Qin Lun had no idea that signing that Demon Hunter Oath under the name Wellington Stan would cause him to miss an opportunity: the chance to fully understand the mystery of Stephen Albert’s death and unravel the Albert Family’s greatest secret.

Since Qin Lun entered Albert Castle, that white figure had been observing and testing this young doctor – the only person in the Aodia Region who could cure the epidemic virus.

Finally, on the night Qin Lun and Frank killed the gargoyle, it decided to seek a chance for genuine contact with the young man, to entrust him, this plague-curing doctor, with the immense secret that had long troubled it.

However, after Qin Lun signed the Demon Hunter Oath, it believed the doctor’s stance was now tied to the Albert Family, making mutual trust impossible. Naturally, meeting Qin Lun was out of the question.

Lying in bed, Qin Lun’s body emitted a sacred glow invisible to the naked eye. This was the guardian power, formed from the combined faith power of the Longevity Seekers’ believers and the transmission force of the demon hunters.

The Demon Hunter Oath scroll Qin Lun casually signed was no joke. The Longevity Seekers’ believers had permanently endowed it with a “Life”-attribute faith. It also contained the millennia-long transmission force of the Albert Family’s lineage of demon hunters.

This was the fundamental power enabling demon hunters to fight against witches and magical creatures; it was also what set them apart from ordinary humans.

Qin Lun slept soundly that night, even snoring like a baby. For the first time since entering Albert Castle, he didn’t have to worry about being inexplicably attacked during the night.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Bonnie gave him a private invitation.

“Is something wrong, Master Bonnie?” Qin Lun followed Bonnie to the hall of another subsidiary keep.

This hall was different from the one he had entered before. It wasn’t filled with demon hunter lore books; instead, it resembled a spacious arena. Various cold weapons and crossbows lined the walls, along with a small number of flintlock guns from that era.

“Doctor Stan, in a few days, once the nearby demon hunters arrive, we shall enter the Great Forest Maiar,” Bonnie said, taking two knightly swords from the wall. He tossed one to Qin Lun. “We do not wish for a doctor to engage in combat, but if you possess some self-defense capability, it would be a greater help to us.”

Clang! A sharp metallic clash echoed through the hall. Bonnie nimbly sidestepped, hooked his right foot, and Qin Lun immediately stumbled headlong onto the floor.

Bonnie shook his head in disappointment. Although firearms and crossbows had developed in this era, swordsmanship remained the preferred combat skill for gauging a demon hunter’s fighting prowess.

Qin Lun simply didn’t know swordsmanship, and there was no attempt to hide it. Bonnie, trained since childhood, was practically a master swordsman. He could instantly discern the doctor’s true skill level.

While Qin Lun seemed reasonably agile and had passable strength, his martial arts were truly inadequate. Testing his swordsmanship alone told Bonnie all he needed to know. He didn’t even need to see Qin Lun try other weapons to conclude the doctor possessed no proficient martial skills. Qin Lun was just an ordinary person with a decent bodily foundation.

Once he ascertained this, Bonnie stopped sparring and began earnestly teaching the doctor some defensive evasion techniques.

“It’s far too hard to master a high-level martial skill within just a few days!” Bonnie remarked to Qin Lun with a smile. “Instead, I’ll teach you some evasion techniques. Most of a witch’s black magic is long-range. Among the magical creatures they command, gargoyles are the most numerous. Mastering the dodging techniques I teach you will at least grant you some self-defense capabilities.”

Of course, Bonnie didn’t voice another thought aloud: if Qin Lun could defend himself, he wouldn’t become a liability. This thought filled the blond youth with considerable resentment; inviting a doctor to join the scouting party wasn’t his idea. If intense fighting broke out, Qin Lun, an ordinary person, would surely become a burden. Bonnie would still have to guarantee the doctor’s safety, after all, as Qin Lun was currently the only person in the entire Aodia Region capable of curing the damned epidemic.

Dust coated Qin Lun, yet a smile still brightened his face as he enthusiastically practiced the techniques Bonnie taught him. This was a completely novel experience. The Demon Hunter’s combat skills differed significantly from the martial arts taught at Academy Eiflit Bogg.

During his half-month at Academy Eiflit Bogg, the elves had mainly taught the probationary apostles some flexibility exercises and archery drills. They hadn’t begun teaching formal martial skills yet.

This was quite normal. Most probationary apostles were ordinary people. Learning flexible body movements and archery skills that enhanced physical agility – skills requiring less time than martial arts – could actually increase their survival chances at this stage.

For the next several days, Qin Lun spent most of his time with Bonnie. This pattern continued until the afternoon of the fifth day…