Chapter 277

Chapter 262: Hunting Team

Prit Kingdom, Upper Igewent.

Early in the morning, on Nanyang Flower Road, Gregor woke up from his slumber on the apartment building. Sitting on the bed, he looked at his hands and recalled the events of the previous night’s dream.

‘With Mr. James and his team’s help, my spirituality increased significantly last night. If this continues, I’ll be able to fill up my spirituality soon.’

Gregor thought to himself. Over the past two months, he had been hunting dream realm beings in the Dream Realm every day, gathering their spirituality to prepare for an upgrade.

At first, when he was alone, he could only catch small creatures like rabbits and mice, making the accumulation of spirituality very slow. However, with colleagues’ help, they could hunt slightly larger dream realm beings, which sped up the process considerably.

‘Let’s keep pushing forward… The sooner I accumulate enough spirituality, the sooner I can go to the headquarters for promotion… I can’t wait to see Dorothy again; she must be feeling uneasy being alone in Tivyán…’

As he pondered these thoughts, Gregor got out of bed and changed clothes before stepping out of the bedroom into the living room. After washing up in the bathroom, he picked up breakfast prepared by Mrs. Hack downstairs and sat down to eat at the coffee table.

While eating sandwiches and grilled sausages, Gregor glanced around the spacious living room, his eyes resting on a closed door on the wall—a room that once belonged to Dorothy.

‘It’s just me now…’

Gregor thought, feeling a sense of loneliness as he recalled breakfasts shared with his sister. The apartment was originally meant for two, and now, with him alone, it felt too empty.

Relaxed, Gregor slowly enjoyed his meal. With the backlog of work from the bureau gradually cleared, and no major incidents occurring, along with the Holy Communion, the source of turmoil in the Igewent Secret World, having been destroyed, Gregor had been enjoying a relatively easy time recently.

Gregor hadn’t worked overtime for three consecutive weeks, and even during work hours, there wasn’t much to do. Compared to the relentless overtime from before, these peaceful days were almost overwhelming for him.

‘The days with Dorothy were always busy, leaving me little time to spend with her. Now that things have settled down, she’s gone, and it’s such a pity.’

Reflecting on this, Gregor finished his breakfast, tidied up, and left home, descending the stairs to the ground floor of the apartment building. He then walked to work as usual.

Soon, Gregor arrived at the Cedar Shirt Building. Upon entering the lobby, he approached Ada at the front desk and greeted her.

“Hey, Ms. Ada, good morning.”

“Oh… Good morning, Gregor. Just in time, James has something for you. After you go down, head to his office,” the elderly Ada said, handing Gregor a key. Confused, Gregor asked:

“Mr. James, what does he want with me?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s related to your promotion. In any case, you’ll find out when you get there.”

“Alright, thanks, Ms. Ada.” Taking the key from Ada, Gregor thanked her and entered a hidden door leading to the Igewent An Yin Bureau beneath the Cedar Shirt Building.

Arriving at the bureau, Gregor greeted some colleagues before heading toward James’s office. Passing by James’s former large office, he waved at the vine plants wriggling behind the glass window, which responded by shaking their leaves.

Reaching James’s office, Gregor straightened his collar and knocked lightly on the door. Hearing a response, he entered, closed the door behind him, and approached James seated at his desk.

“Mr. James, why did you call me here?”

“It’s about your promotion. Please sit,” James replied. Obediently, Gregor sat opposite James, who then asked:

“Gregor, how is your progress in accumulating spirituality?”

“Not counting the auxiliary spirituality provided by the headquarters, my main spirituality, ‘Shadow,’ has accumulated quite a bit. Last night’s wild boar gave me a lot of it. If we encounter four or five more like that, I think my ‘Shadow’ will be full.

“If I had anticipated this promotion opportunity earlier, I would have focused more on accumulating spirituality. It might have been better if I had.”

Gregor responded, reflecting on his journey. As a newly appointed hunter captain and an apprentice-tier extraordinary being, he was young and inexperienced, making it unlikely for him to advance to black tier so quickly. In the entire Prit system, black-tier individuals could already serve as directors of ordinary cities, and many apprentices had spent decades without advancing.

Therefore, when Gregor became an apprentice, he didn’t consider further advancement. He believed it would take over a decade of experience and minor achievements to qualify. Thus, he hadn’t paid much attention to accumulating spirituality. But fate had intervened, and he found himself with a promotion opportunity after just one year.

Due to his lack of focus on spirituality accumulation, he now faced a shortage just as an opportunity arose. Although with the help of the director and colleagues, his spirituality had increased rapidly over the past two months, it still fell short.

“Hmm… It’s indeed difficult to accumulate enough spirituality in a short time. When I received my promotion, I also lacked spirituality and took half a year to gather enough with various help.

“Large dream realm beings are hard to find. Like the wild boar last night, it’s not easy to locate them. Our bureau members rarely operate in the Dream Realm and aren’t familiar with its conditions. Finding such beings next time will be challenging.”

James explained to Gregor, who became serious upon hearing this.

“Yes… There aren’t many dream realm beings suitable for our hunts… Either they’re too powerful to defeat or too weak to be worth it. Accumulating spirituality in dreams is indeed troublesome. I wonder how long it will take.”

Gregor said with concern. Then James spoke again:

“You needn’t worry too much. I can tell you that the headquarters has a specialized Dream Realm Hunting Team. They are well-versed in the Dream Realm and excel in tracking and hunting dream realm beings. They’re specifically formed to gather spirituality. New recruits with promotion needs can join them to hunt, and their expertise will greatly speed up the process.

“A Dream Realm Hunting Team? Such an organization exists at headquarters?” Gregor asked curiously, to which James replied unexpectedly:

“Yes, since most of our bureau’s extraordinary beings specialize in ‘Shadow’ spirituality, forming such teams is necessary.

“Often, team members operate independently, guiding potential candidates for promotion across divisions in spiritual hunts to help them accumulate spirituality. And right now, I happen to have such an opportunity for you.”

James continued, looking earnestly at Gregor.

“Gregor, I’ve already applied for you to join the Dream Realm Hunting Team. My application has been approved. Next week, you can join the headquarters’ hunting team to gather spirituality. If luck favors you, you might gain substantial spirituality within a week.”

James said slowly. Hearing this, Gregor’s eyes lit up, and he immediately expressed his gratitude:

“Really? Thank you so much, Mr. James. I don’t know how to repay your kindness!”