Chapter 122: Blood of the Variant
Edward Harriman walked out of his usual dwelling. To conceal his identity, he changed into a hunting windbreaker and put on a cloak over it.
Leicester’s rain was heavier than usual, and more bone-chillingly cold.
With trepidation and unease, Edward walked towards the location of Black Raven Port from memory, avoiding people as much as possible, but the oppression and fear in his heart never receded.
He made no preparations, or at least Edward felt there was no need for them.
If the journey was peaceful, then there would be no need for any preparations. If he encountered difficult and dangerous challenges that were hard to overcome, there would also be no need.
After all, he had gambled his life.
“May Glor have mercy, guide my direction, and protect us vile ones; may Your kingdom come, according to Your will…”
He passed through the Old Town and then entered the sewer system. Leicester’s sewer system was as complex as a maze, dark, smelly, and damp. If it were any other time, Edward would have been extremely unwilling to approach it.
However, in order to bypass the dense surveillance of the Kingdom Army and the Disciplinary Bureau and infiltrate Black Raven Port, he could only find a way through the sewers.
His stiff boots stepped on mud, garbage, and some mushy, unidentifiable substances, making a sound akin to the decay of a corpse. Edward’s face contorted, wishing he could tear off his nose. The stench was unbearable, especially for him, a Transcendent Hunter who had been injected with werewolf blood.
Normally, his sense of smell, four hundred times sharper than that of ordinary people, gave him a great advantage in both life and combat. He could easily detect traps, assassinations, and poisons, or accurately capture a person’s scent from six thousand meters away, enabling long-distance tracking.
But now, in this filthy and foul sewer, Edward’s extraordinary sense of smell brought only torment.
Leicester’s sewers were intricate and could easily lead one astray. Edward had previously carried out a “great purge” in the sewers with the Disciplinary Bureau. He was still familiar with some of the more recognizable sections. As long as his memory didn’t fail him and he didn’t get lost, finding Black Raven Port shouldn’t be a problem.
Edward tried to tread as lightly as possible to avoid disturbing rats or anything else.
According to those old sanitation workers, places like sewers that accumulated filth were prone to breeding monsters and curses. Many homeless wanderers chose to enter the sewers to avoid freezing to death, but no one ever saw them again after that.
Some gangs in the city would chop up corpses and flush them into the sewers after gang wars. Edward had seen such scenes from afar. Usually, such actions would breed vengeful spirits, ghoul-like creatures, or attract more terrifying existences.
*Pat.*
A very light sound was caught by Edward’s sensitive hearing. He was sure that such a sound was definitely not made by rats or anything else.
It was the sound of flint and steel. Hearing this sound, Edward could easily imagine that a few passages away, someone was using flint and steel to light tobacco in this damp and smelly space to dispel their emotions.
The vagrants parasitic in the sewers had no tobacco or flint and steel, and fugitives, wanted illegal Transcendent, and cultists would certainly not make any noise, lest they attract investigators more sensitive and persistent than dogs.
In other words, the only ones who could light tobacco nonchalantly in the sewers were personnel from the Disciplinary Bureau.
Edward held his breath, not daring to make any sound.
He didn’t know why there were Disciplinary Bureau personnel here. If he had to find a reason, it could only be that they were very close to Black Raven Port. He had long anticipated that this mission would be dangerous, but to face the risk of being caught by the Disciplinary Bureau before even reaching the port was truly unexpected.
Edward pondered a way to break the deadlock. The best-case scenario was that the Disciplinary Bureau was simply patrolling the sewers as usual and would leave soon, not staying in one place. The worst-case scenario, naturally, was that the Disciplinary Bureau had sealed off this Black Raven Port for that item, and even dispatched personnel to guard key locations in the sewers.
If it were the latter, then Edward would have to find a way to move past those guards silently, otherwise, he would surely be hunted by the entire Disciplinary Bureau.
Edward didn’t think for too long. He took a deep breath and activated his Stage Two ability.
Each promotion for a Transcendent Hunter required injecting the blood of a monster or a variant race into their body to gain their power.
For his Stage One promotion, Edward injected the blood of a wilderness werewolf. They were wild and ferocious, feeding only on the flesh and blood of living beings, and usually appeared in forests and wilderness, sometimes attacking villages and towns. Almost all Transcendent Hunters would use werewolves as the first brick in their path.
This was because wilderness werewolf blood was relatively easy to collect and was more powerful than common monsters such as goblins and brownies. Most importantly, it was very easily digested by Transcendent Hunters. It could be said that from the birth of the class, wilderness werewolf blood was the most suitable for beginners of this class.
Compared to Stage One, the choices for Stage Two were not so friendly. Transcendent with ample funds could find the blood of ogres and mountain trolls in the black market. Those who were powerful or had connections could try to hunt cockatrices or subterranean troglodytes.
The former could bring about a huge improvement in physical fitness, while the latter could grant Transcendent Hunters the power to cast spells.
Edward had neither money nor strength or connections. He chose to inject the blood of ratmen for his Stage Two promotion.
They were one of the most common variants, weak, low-intelligence, with no abilities other than reproduction, and could only appear in groups. Individual ratmen were no match for even a farmer. But if no one controlled them, ratmen in vast numbers could easily devour an entire city.
The reason Edward chose ratmen was simple: he had no money. The werewolf blood alone had exhausted all his funds that could be invested in the Transcendent world.
However, although ratmen were weak, there was no such thing as weakness for Transcendent Hunters.
After the promotion, the ratman blood brought him a slight increase in speed. Besides that, he could communicate with other ratmen without obstacles and would even be regarded as one of their own. If necessary, Edward could easily bite through bones or stones.
And these were all bonuses. Just as wilderness werewolf blood could allow Transcendent Hunters to transform into werewolves or wolves, ratman blood could also allow Transcendent Hunters to turn into rats.
As the ability activated, Edward’s bones and muscles began to shrink. He could feel his internal organs compressing, but it was not uncomfortable. His vision narrowed, his clothes turned into fur, and his body became light and agile as never before.
In a short while, Edward’s figure disappeared, leaving behind a gray-haired rat fatter than a wild cat.
