Mixed Blessing System

“By the way, my name is Sebastian Von Hardenberg.”

Upon hearing this name, Lothur readily recognized the number 4 of the Seraphim Church, Sebastian, The Tyrant, who had in his record the deaths of more than 50 demons.

This old man should be a few thousand years old and was an ancient demon hunter who had his name spread all over the continent, known among humans as a hero and among demons as a killer.

“What’s your name, boy?”

“Liam Mandl.” Lothur said, still keeping his guard up but showing less fear of that man.

His worry was at its peak, but he could not show too much fear of this person, for it was strange for humans to fear members of the Church so much.

Besides, this man had just suggested an alliance to him, so even with fear, Lothur had to appear more relaxed.

“Liam? Where did you come from, Liam? Why have I never heard of you before?” The old man approached Lothur as he asked.

“I am from a small family living in seclusion south of the continent.

In normal situations, no one from my family would come this far, but after finding a soul fragment that gave me his inheritance, I decided to leave to carry out the mission he had left behind.”

Lothur told this to make his lie more feasible and to decrease the suspicions that the old man might have about him.

‘A fragment? So that’s why your level is so high at such a young age?’ The old man from the Church thought, assuming that the fragment had helped this young man advance quickly.

“So you’re not from the Church? But you know how to hunt demons? Who did you learn it from?”

“From the soul fragment. He was a demon hunter.” Lothur did not hesitate to speak the truth.

“So that’s it… What was the demon hunter’s name? Maybe I knew him.”

“Mathias Scheidemann.”

‘Hmm, the name is not unfamiliar to me, but I can’t fully remember where I heard it…’ The old man closed his eyes and believed Lothur’s story.

“So, Liam, what will it be? With this ability of yours, you may encounter those creatures in the future, but it will take time for you to be strong enough to defeat them on your own.

Maybe by that time, someone like me, with a strong group, will have eliminated those three…

What would you prefer?”

Lothur knew this and quickly decided on this proposal.

“I can join the elder’s group. But can I really take one of the bones? How many people are in your group elder? Won’t they see a problem with that?”

Hearing these questions, Sebastian looked at Lothur and answered him truthfully. “Besides me, five more people are part of my group.

But you shouldn’t worry so much about the number of Soul Bones to the number of demon hunters, Liam. There is no guarantee that these bones will be the kind that any of us already have.

Some of our companions may not be compatible with what these three demons form.

What’s more, who can guarantee that those creatures won’t team up with other demons? Sightings like the one you had today happen with some frequency in this area. I myself know that there are at least 10 more groups like that within the Rablus empire.

If they were to meet up with just one more of those groups, we’d have a lot more bones at our disposal.”

That made sense. Lothur himself could no longer absorb five types of bones. Hence, the probability of him finding a bone incompatible with him was relatively high and would increase with each new bone absorbed.

This old man was very strong, and so should be his group allies. In that case, the chance of them having the same number of bones or more than Lothur’s was not small!

At the same time, Soul Bones did not only vary in terms of bone type, quality, and power rating. They also had different affinities, which might or might not be interesting for one to absorb.

For example, the bone Lothur had sent to Elke had an affinity for flames, while Annaliese’s for ice.

Annaliese had a bloodline compatible with water and ice, and naturally, bones with similar abilities would have stronger and more positive effects on her body. Meanwhile, bones with flame-related abilities would weaken some of her strength.

As for Elke, both types of bones could make her stronger, as her affinity was not with either of those two elements, and she would be strengthened by whichever one she absorbed.

Of course, now that she had absorbed the bone with flame ability, it would be better for her to go that route, but before doing that, her possibilities were vast.

In that case, the chances of a group of 7 people having a disagreement over 3 bones would be slim.

“OK, I’m willing to join your group if you help me find information about this soul fragment,” Lothur said. “He left me a mission to find his family; if I don’t complete it, I will suffer severe punishment.

Since you belong to the Church, it will be easy to get the information I need.”

“That can be done.” Sebastian laughed, pleased to find a promising young man like Lothur.

Lothur’s strength did not draw much attention. Sebastian could sense that this young man’s soul was not particularly powerful for someone at level 20. But he had no one in his group with such good tracking skills. ｂ𝚎𝚍𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎ｌ.ｎｅｔ

He had just spotted those demons a day ago and had been chasing them from afar ever since. But just like Lothur, he didn’t feel he could beat them, as well as he would have a hard time gathering his group while keeping those creatures under observation.

Demons were very sensitive to spiritual fluctuations, and someone close enough to them to keep watch on their position could easily give away their position by trying to send messages through formations or even beasts.

So it would be difficult for Sebastian to follow those creatures if he had to move away from them to gather his team or even take his time to plan an attack.

But with someone like Lothur on their side, they could put those creatures aside temporarily, gather their team, plan the attack, and then go out hunting without haste.

That was the importance he saw in this black-haired young man, which made him valuable to their team!

With that, they soon set off side by side, leaving the demons aside to go to the city in the vicinity of that area, where there was a Church post.