High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2980: Chapter 24: Xianqin’s Newcomer

”——Since you’re planning to venture into the New World, you must discard some old family rules and forget your background. Don’t be like that fool from the O’Brien family, who thought he could gain the loyalty of the cat-eared girl, only to have his throat bitten off at midnight... Our morals are based on the laws that govern our society. The world is different from society, and naturally, the laws will be different. You must not cling stubbornly to old practices.”

Uncle Zhang Zhi followed closely behind his brother Zhang Boren, listening silently to his nagging. These words, he had heard many times since childhood, and he could repeat them with his eyes closed, yet his brother tirelessly went over them again.

He was not the least bit impatient.

He listened earnestly.

Being born into the Tianmen Zhang family and having served as the Sacred Will’s Lei Zhe, he knew clearly that any organization with enough historical longevity held the logic for its endurance within these seemingly ordinary and inconspicuous little details.

”——Have you decided your next step?” came the concern of his brother from nearby, ”Will you join my hunting team, or let the hunting group allocate freely?”

The ’hunting group’ that Zhang Boren mentioned is the ’Xianqin Hunting Group’ that Uncle Zhang Zhi plans to join today. It’s one of the seven super hunting groups in the Wizard World, with a Legendary Wizard overseeing a vast New World territory, acquiring countless magical resources annually. The dividends a hunter receives in it far exceed the dead salary of a Trident Sword Commissioner or a school researcher, not to mention the meager allowance received monthly in the family.

These days, noble families find it difficult to make money, so any young wizard with a bit of ambition must venture into the New World to accumulate resources for advancement or magical research.

However, some young wizards are conservative and cautious, following family hunting teams; others are ambitious and choose newly established, adventurous hunting teams; and yet others find a middle ground, leveraging family strength to enter famous large hunting groups in the Alliance, collecting ample rewards without the family disputes and ensuring stable ’Legendary Level’ gains with safety assured.

Theoretically, with so many benefits, the clan’s wizard disciples should flock to it.

But super hunting groups can’t be joined just by virtue of a surname.

For such organizations, a surname, alongside recommendations of high-level wizards or a championship in a certain magic skill contest, serves merely as an entry token. After all, people do die in New World exploration wars, and recruiting unqualified hunters is irresponsible for the other four hunters or more in the team—every hunter is unique in these groups, and life weighs equally on Anubis’s balance scale, hence the entry threshold is exceedingly high.

Of course, for Uncle Zhang Zhi, joining Xianqin is not a difficult matter.

With his credentials as a former Sacred Will Lei Zhe and an excellent graduate of the First University, even without the ’Tianmen Zhang’ title, joining any super hunting group is as easy as pie.

But the choices after entering reveal differences between civilian wizards and aristocratic disciples—knowing one’s team leader’s character and preferences, whether there’s care from group seniors, preferring small profits with risk-free tasks, etc.—and initial team selection is the most inconspicuous yet profoundly impactful part.

The so-called super hunting group is not merely the enlargement of a hunting team model.

A hunting team that continues to grow sees hunter ranks and reputation rise, facing increasingly heavy and challenging tasks, leading to manpower shortages.

Then, the team has two expansion options—either continue recruiting, turning one team of five hunters into five teams and expand continually, ultimately forming a pyramid-structured super-large hunting group; or directly absorb already-formed teams, structuring a ’semi-alliance’ joint approach.

In Xianqin Hunting Group, the former belongs to Xianqin’s direct teams, named straightforwardly, like ’Xianqin Team One,’ ’Xianqin Team Two,’ etc.; the latter acts like ’lords’ within the Xianqin Hunting Group, somewhat independent, choosing whether to accept group-assigned tasks independently, but correspondingly bearing hunting group obligations and sharing higher hunting yields with the group.

Furthermore, ’lord’-typed teams are rather passive in selecting new hunters, often only choosing new hunters left by direct teams.

Zhang Boren’s ’Kunpeng Hunting Team’ belongs to the ’lord’ type. In theory, an outstanding seed like Uncle Zhang Zhi would be immediately transferred to a direct team, but rules are not beyond negotiation; a little price paid, letting him enter Kunpeng isn’t difficult.

Upon hearing his brother’s inquiry, Uncle Zhang Zhi promptly contained his thoughts, composed himself, then slightly shook his head.

”——Neither, I plan to establish a new hunting team myself.”

He evidently had thought ahead: ”Before leaving school, I and a few friends agreed to organize a hunting team together. But the newly formed team might not register yet, so I was wondering if we could temporarily affiliate under your Kunpeng to accept tasks.”

His brother seemed prepared for his choice.

Upon hearing his words, he merely laughed lightly.

”I knew it.” He murmured, curling his lips: ”You guys who’ve served as Lei Zhe and Augustus rarely join others’ teams. I thought you were my brother...”

”I still am now!”

”Hehe... Clear accounts among brothers; since you want to establish a team and hang under mine, per rules, yields are split seventy-thirty, daily expenses and casualty insurance are your self-responsibility.”

”Just for affiliation, you take thirty percent? Too high!”

”Thirty percent? Thirty percent is yours! You give me seventy percent! That is already discounted! Teams like yours without registration, if directly under Xianqin’s ’New Star Hunting Team,’ would have eighty percent of yields extracted...”

”Damn! That’s so extortionate!”

”Extortionate? You haven’t seen ’Crucifix’s new teams; they submit all earnings while offering their faith... ’God Zhou’ ’Holy Tang’ prices match ours ’Xianqin.’ Don’t think of comparing and managing auction prices... Moreover, remember, you get what you pay for. Hunting in Xianqin’s territory guarantees stable monthly earnings of a hundred, eighty jade coins without too much effort. Wandering recklessly, risking entering some great wizard demon’s lair is not to mention; merely going months with no yield can be unsustainable. Do you truly think picking scraps under Legendary Wizards’ noses is easy? Every area with any value long since divided by high-level wizards, and the Griffin Giant’s adventure story is from ages ago, an old yellow calendar...”