...
{3rd Pov}
After the practical exam, Mo Fan made a decision that would have surprised quite a few people—if they knew about it.
Ahem
He chose to join the city's Hunter group.
On the surface, he told himself that he wanted to become capable of fighting monsters on his own, without relying on luck or protection.
In his own words the reality, Astreo's words during the incident had hit him harder than he wanted to admit.
They had awakened something inside him—his inner resolve, his anger at his own weakness, and maybe even his inner emo—
Ahem.
His inner hunter.
Mo Fan knew, deep down, that Astreo wasn't wrong.
If someone wanted to become strong in this world, then sitting in classrooms and relying on assessments alone would never be enough.
Without actually hunting demons, without risking his life and experiencing real combat, how could anyone expect to grow stronger?
At least, that was the explanation he used to comfort himself.
The truth, however, was far simpler and far more depressing.
He was broke.
Painfully, embarrassingly broke.
He needed money, and badly.
So in the end, Mo Fan chose the one job that matched both his current abilities and his desperate financial situation—the Hunter profession. I
t was dangerous, unpredictable, and involved a very real chance of dying horribly, but it paid well enough for someone willing to risk it.
And honestly, it wasn't like he had many other options.
After all, there was exactly one thing Mo Fan was actually good at.
Shocking people.
Or more accurately—shocking monsters.
Frying their nerves with lightning until they twitched, convulsed, and eventually dropped dead.
Which, when you really thought about it, made him oddly well-suited for the job.
So, with the idea that he would be risking his life in exchange for money, Mo Fan prepared himself for what lay ahead.
With enough effort—and a bit of luck—he could sell the monsters' body—
Ahem.
Their dead body parts, such as hides, teeth, claws, and other valuable materials, and finally earn some decent money.
Armed with the confidence of someone pretending to be a pig while secretly dreaming of becoming a tiger, Mo Fan headed straight for the Hunter's Union.
In his mind, he imagined the place as grand, orderly, and heroic—a gathering ground for elite warriors who hunted monsters with pride and discipline.
Reality hit him the moment he stepped inside.
The Hunter's Union was nothing like what he had imagined.
Instead of a dignified and professional atmosphere, the place was loud, chaotic, and overflowing with people shouting over one another.
Hunter groups were loudly calling out for recruits, listing elemental requirements, experience levels, and mission details as if they were vendors advertising goods.
"Fire mage needed! At least Novice 3 Tier!"
"Need an Earth mage! Defensive role!"
"Wind element preferred! Quick job, good pay!"
Mo Fan stood there, completely stunned.
This wasn't some noble hall of heroes—it was more like a fish market.
People were bargaining, arguing, laughing, and shouting all at once.
There was no sense of ceremony or grandeur, just raw practicality and desperation mixed together in a noisy mess.
After taking a moment to calm himself and adjust his expectations, Mo Fan finally regained his composure.
He scanned the crowd carefully, listening to the shouted requirements.
Eventually, his attention locked onto a group that was specifically calling for a Lightning mage.
Straightening his posture, Mo Fan walked toward them, ready to take his first real step into the dangerous world of professional monster hunting.
As Mo Fan approached the group, several pairs of eyes immediately fell on him.
From their perspective, he was a complete unknown—someone wearing a mask that concealed his face and made him stand out even more in a place already filled with strange people.
Without wasting time, Mo Fan spoke up confidently.
"I am Fan Mo," he said clearly.
"I am a Primary Lightning Mage."
The moment those words left his mouth, a wave of gasps spread through the surrounding area.
Hunters nearby instinctively turned their heads to look at him, disbelief written all over their faces.
Lightning was an extremely rare element—so rare that statistically, only one out of ten thousand mages managed to awaken it at the Primary Tier.
Even among hunters, a Lightning mage was considered a prized asset.
Seeing their reactions, Mo Fan—now fully committed to his disguise as Fan Mo—didn't hesitate.
He raised his hand slightly, and in the next instant, strands of purple lightning crackled at his fingertips.
The sharp electrical sound and the visible arcs of energy left no room for doubt.
It was real.
The team captain, a Fire mage at Primary Tier 3 named Xu Duahung, immediately broke into a wide smile.
His eyes gleamed with excitement as he looked at Mo Fan, clearly satisfied with what he was seeing.
"A Lightning mage," Xu Duahung said, his tone noticeably warmer than before.
"Looks like our luck isn't bad today."
With that single display, Mo Fan had successfully drawn their full attention—and secured his place among them.
"Good! You can join us," Xu Duahung said with a satisfied smile.
He didn't bother asking about Fan Mo's background or real identity.
In the Hunter world, none of that mattered.
What mattered was whether someone could pull their weight in a fight and contribute during hunts—and a Lightning mage was more than welcome.
After that, Xu Duahung quickly introduced Mo Fan to the rest of the team. T
he second-in-command was Guo Caitang, a calm and sharp-looking woman who was a Primary Tier 3 Ice Mage.
The remaining members of the group were all Primary Tier 2 mages, each with different elements, but none of them questioned Mo Fan's inclusion after witnessing his lightning firsthand.
Once the introductions were done, Mo Fan officially joined their patrols.
They began taking on small-scale hunting missions around the outskirts, targeting low-level monsters that frequently appeared near the city.
Among these were One-Eyed Demon Rats, creatures Mo Fan was already painfully familiar with.
With the support of the group, Mo Fan was able to kill the monsters efficiently.
His lightning spells proved extremely effective, stunning and damaging the creatures long enough for the others to finish them off—or, in some cases, allowing him to land the killing blow himself.
What surprised the team the most wasn't just his element, but his combat proficiency.
Mo Fan's spell casting was fast, clean, and decisive.
He didn't hesitate, didn't panic, and didn't waste time forming unnecessary star paths.
To the others, he looked far more like an experienced hunter than a newcomer.
Several team members exchanged glances during fights, clearly impressed.
For someone who claimed to be a newbie hunter, Fan Mo moved and fought with the confidence of someone who had already been through multiple life-and-death battles.
By the end of the patrol, it was obvious to everyone that recruiting him had been the right decision.
Mo Fan, meanwhile, silently noted every detail of real hunter work—learning through experience, gaining confidence, and slowly stepping into the dangerous world he had chosen.
As time went on, Mo Fan continued working with the hunter team, completing mission after mission.
Little by little, the payments added up, and before he realized it, he had already accumulated around 800,000 yuan.
For someone who had been broke not long ago, the number felt unreal.
One day, after returning from a hunt, the team leader, Xu Duahung, casually suggested that Mo Fan come along with him to look into buying mana crystals for cultivation purposes.
He explained that mana crystals could slightly increase cultivation speed and help stabilize star paths, making them especially useful during the early stages.
At first, Mo Fan was tempted to refuse.
The price of mana crystals was notoriously high, and spending such a large chunk of his hard-earned money made him hesitate.
However, after thinking it through, he changed his mind.
Even a small boost in cultivation speed was valuable.
On top of that, Mo Fan had the advantage of being able to cultivate two elements at the same time.
Compared to others, he effectively had double the cultivation time, and mana crystals would only amplify that advantage.
In the end, he decided to buy some.
If everything went smoothly, he could use them to reach Novice Tier 3 in both of his elements much faster.
That was when Xu Duahung told him something unexpected.
"Grab a mask and follow me," the team leader said casually.
Mo Fan was confused.
He was already wearing a mask, after all.
He didn't understand why Xu Duahung emphasized it.
But his confusion deepened when Xu Duahung himself put on a mask, and Guo Caitang did the same without saying a word.
As if they were going to rob a bank and not buy Elemental Crystals.
The three of them then hailed a taxi together.
As Mo Fan sat inside the vehicle, watching both of them remain silent and concealed, he slowly began to realize that this trip was not going to be as straightforward as he had initially assumed.
Something about the secrecy, the masks, and the way they acted told him that buying mana crystals wasn't just a simple market transaction.
"Isn't this the Star Clan Hall?" Mo Fan asked, staring at the massive building in front of them. His voice carried a hint of disbelief.
He had done some research on Star Clan and Star Industries after Monkey had mentioned them before, so he immediately recognized the place.
There was no mistaking it—the emblem, the structure, and the atmosphere all matched what he had read about.
"Yes, it is," Xu Duahung replied calmly as they stepped out of the taxi.
His tone was low, as if he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention.
"And this is where we'll be buying your materials."
Mo Fan froze for a moment.
"I… I don't really understand," he said hesitantly, lowering his voice as well.
"Aren't they a foreign power?" He glanced at the building again, unease creeping into his expression.
"If we buy things from them, wouldn't that be helping them instead?"
The question had been bothering him ever since he recognized the place.
From everything he knew, Star Clan was not a local organization.
They were powerful, influential, and controversial.
Many people viewed them with suspicion, and some even openly criticized them.
Mo Fan couldn't wrap his head around why his own team captain—someone who worked closely with the local Hunter network—would willingly bring him here.
The idea felt strange, almost contradictory to what he thought he understood about factions and loyalties.
"Buy?" Xu Duahung repeated, letting out a quiet, bitter laugh behind his mask.
"Then tell me—where else are we supposed to buy from?"
He paused briefly before continuing, his tone turning more serious.
"Even though the Great Depletion has officially ended, the prices of nearly everything are still heavily inflated. Supplies haven't fully stabilized, and demand is still far higher than what the market can comfortably handle."
He gestured vaguely with one hand.
"Naturally, that means the things we sell as hunters are also priced higher than before, but that still doesn't come close to how expensive it is to purchase materials through official channels."
Guo Caitang stepped in to explain further, her voice calm and matter-of-fact.
"The price of mana crystals is nearly double everywhere you go," she said.
"And for many other cultivation resources, the prices are still almost three times what they used to be."
She shook her head slightly.
"But compared to those options, Star Clan is different. As a foreign power, they import a large portion of their goods from other countries."
She looked at Mo Fan directly.
"They sell those materials at prices closer to what they would have been without inflation."
Mo Fan was stunned.
He hadn't expected that explanation at all.
If what they were saying was true, then Star Clan wasn't just competing with local suppliers—they were undercutting them by a massive margin.
That realization raised an even bigger question in his mind.
Why wasn't the government doing anything about this?
Why were they allowing a foreign power to grow so openly and aggressively under their own noses, especially when it came to something as critical as magical resources?
Although Mo Fan was still confused by everything he had just heard, he decided to set those thoughts aside for the moment.
Instead, he focused on what he felt was the most important question.
"I see," he said slowly.
"But how exactly are we supposed to buy resources here?" He glanced toward the Star Clan Hall again.
"Don't you need to sign a Psychic Contract just to join Star Clan or Star Industries?"
Guo Caitang shook her head and answered calmly, clearly used to explaining this to newcomers.
"That requirement is only for main members," she explained.
"For ordinary customers like us, it's much simpler. We can register an ID similar to a Hunter's Union ID and purchase resources up to the Intermediate Mage level without signing any contract at all."
Xu Duahung nodded in agreement and added, "If it weren't for the fact that Caitang and I have been buying resources from here, neither of us would have reached Primary Tier 3 so quickly."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"We're already on the verge of breaking through to Intermediate Tier."
Hearing that, Mo Fan was genuinely shocked.
He hadn't expected such a direct admission.
The idea that his team captain and vice-captain had only become this strong because of resources purchased from Star Clan completely overturned his assumptions.
It meant that Star Clan wasn't just influential—they were actively shaping the growth of mages all over the city, quietly and efficiently.
Standing there, Mo Fan finally began to understand why so many hunters, despite political pressure and public opinion, still chose to deal with Star Clan.
Mo Fan still felt conflicted as he followed them inside.
Even after hearing the explanations, part of him was still uneasy about the idea of buying resources from Star Clan.
However, all of those thoughts were instantly pushed aside the moment he completed the registration process and actually saw the prices listed on the displays.
He was shocked.
Not only were the prices far lower than anything he had seen elsewhere, but the quality of the resources was also clearly superior.
The mana crystals were purer, the cultivation aids were better refined, and even the supplementary items were far above what official channels usually provided.
This wasn't cheap junk—it was genuinely high-quality material being sold at prices that felt almost illegal.
Before he even realized it, Mo Fan was breathing heavily under his mask, his excitement completely out of control.
He looked like a man who had just discovered treasure after years of poverty, barely able to restrain himself.
His hands moved quickly as he selected item after item, mentally calculating how much faster his cultivation would progress with these resources.
Xu Duahung and Guo Caitang exchanged knowing looks.
They remembered this feeling very well.
They hadn't been any better the first time they came here either.
After Mo Fan finished buying everything he needed, the three of them exited the building together.
They quickly booked a taxi and left the area without lingering, maintaining their cautious behavior until they reached a nearby park.
Only after they were safely away did they finally take off their masks.
Mo Fan let out a long breath, his expression still filled with disbelief.
"Most civilian mages like us sell our monster materials to the Hunter's Union and then turn around and buy cultivation resources from Star Clan," Xu Duahung explained as they walked through the park.
His tone was calm, but there was an undercurrent of frustration in his voice.
"To be honest, Star Clan's presence has actually strengthened Chinese civilian mages after the Great Depletion. Without them, a lot of people would have stagnated or given up entirely."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Even so, that doesn't change the fact that their conditions for becoming a main member are extremely demanding. Not everyone is willing—or able—to meet those requirements. On top of that, the Chinese authorities openly dislike this foreign power, which makes the whole situation even more complicated."
Guo Caitang nodded and added her own explanation.
"That's why most of us still buy resources from Star Clan, but we don't advertise it. Since it's frowned upon, we use masks like you saw earlier. It's easier to avoid unnecessary trouble that way."
Mo Fan listened carefully, finally understanding the complexities of the situation.
The balance between survival, politics, and personal growth was far messier than he had ever imagined.
In the end, he simply nodded, having grasped the ins and outs of the matter at last.
As a beggar—
Ahem.
As someone who was painfully poor, this whole setup felt almost unreal to Mo Fan.
Selling monster materials to the Hunter's Union at inflated prices and then turning around to buy cultivation resources from Star Clan at half the normal market rate was simply too profitable to ignore.
From a purely economic standpoint, it was a dream scenario.
Of course, it wasn't without restrictions.
Mo Fan had noticed them almost immediately.
As an external customer of Star Clan, he could only purchase a limited number of items within a given time frame.
On top of that, anything above Intermediate Tier resources was completely locked off to people like him.
No matter how much money he had, those higher-tier materials were simply unavailable.
Even so, that didn't dampen his excitement.
With the resources he could access, Mo Fan had already begun mapping out his future cultivation path in his head.
He knew exactly how he would push toward Intermediate Tier, how he would allocate his mana crystals, and how he would supplement his growth step by step.
Everything was planned out carefully, even if the method itself felt a little… shameless.
Cough.
After all, he was technically the classmate of a Young Master from Star Clan.
So really, this was completely reasonable behavior, right?
He wasn't exploiting anything—he was just contributing to his classmate's clan by stimulating their economy.
A mutually beneficial transaction.
Absolutely fair.
Completely valid.
And he was definitely not betraying his nation.
Definitely not.
Ahem.
...
As more time passed, Mo Fan's progress began to skyrocket, largely thanks to the Lightning mana crystals he had purchased.
His Lightning Element steadily reached Primary Tier 3, and his Fire Element wasn't far behind either, sitting right on the verge of breaking through to Primary Tier 3 as well.
All of this happened long before the scheduled duel, which filled him with growing confidence.
Mo Fan genuinely believed that he could win his own upcoming battle without too much trouble.
From his perspective, his cultivation speed was already impressive, and his combat experience as a hunter gave him an edge over most students of the same level.
However, when his thoughts drifted toward the future duel between Mu Ningxue and Astreo, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.
'Even if Astreo manages to break through to the Intermediate Tier by then,' Mo Fan thought to himself, 'he still shouldn't be able to compare to Mu Ningxue.'
After all, she was already an Intermediate Tier mage, and not just any mage—she was an exceptionally strong Ice Mage.
On top of that, Mu Fan knew very well how Mu Zhouyun operated.
'That bastard dotes on his daughter like crazy,' he reasoned.
'There's no way he won't arm her with a ton of powerful magic tools.'
Thinking along those lines, Mo Fan actually felt a bit relieved.
To him, the outcome of that duel seemed almost predetermined.
Unfortunately, in his confidence, Mo Fan completely overlooked one important detail.
The exact same logic applied to Yu Ang—the opponent he was supposed to fight.
Just like Mu Ningxue, Yu Ang also came from a powerful background and would almost certainly be equipped with powerful magic tools.
Mo Fan, caught up in his optimism, failed to consider that factor at all.
In short, while his cultivation had improved rapidly, his overconfidence was already setting the stage for future trouble.
...
After that, Mo Fan continued attending school as usual.
During that time, he gradually realized that He Yu, the girl Zhang Xiaohou had a crush on, had officially joined Star Clan.
The news spread quickly.
Not only had she received a Stardust Magic Tool, but she was also given a significant amount of money as part of her recruitment benefits.
On top of that, people began noticing that she was often seen much closer to Astreo than before.
Whether it was during breaks, training sessions, or public appearances, the two were frequently spotted together.
Naturally, rumors started circulating almost immediately, and the topic became a favorite subject of gossip among the students.
Seeing all this, Mo Fan decided to talk to Zhang Xiaohou.
He tried to cheer Monkey up, telling him to forget about He Yu for now and focus instead on getting stronger.
According to Mo Fan, worrying about relationships at their level was pointless.
If Monkey worked hard and became powerful in the future, women would come naturally.
Whether that logic was comforting or cruel was debatable, but it was the best advice Mo Fan could come up with.
At the same time, Mo Fan's life outside school didn't slow down at all.
He ended up dealing with a Demon Rat cave near his sister's school, an incident that turned out to be far more dangerous than expected.
Not long after that, he also encountered an evolving One-Eyed Demon Wolf, forcing him into yet another life-and-death situation.
Between school, hunting, and constant emergencies, the year passed in a blur.
And after such an eventful and exhausting year, the moment everyone had been waiting for finally arrived.
It was time for the duel.
To be continued...
(A/N: NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE ABSOLUTE CINEMA! YOU CAN ASK PATREON READERS WHETHER I AM SPEAKING TRUTH OR NOT!)