A place that could fix weapons as well as mend people, Zheng Yichen noted down the location and glanced back at the research institute as he made his way home. Although he had slacked off a bit during this battle, it was due to his lack of experience.
Overall, it was quite thrilling. He thought about it and figured that if it had been a task like those at the farms, it probably wouldn't have felt the same. Bears were a bit challenging to deal with, but when it came to poultry like chickens, ducks, and geese, he could skewer them easily in close combat.
Night Banquet Bar.
The bartender placed a cup of fruit wine in front of Zheng Yichen, "This one's on me."
"Aren't you worried about getting docked pay?" Zheng Yichen lifted the fruit wine and asked.
The bartender smiled gently, "For those I know who have completed their first quest, I always offer a free drink. Would you be interested in talking about your experience this time?"
"It might be a bit dull since I was quite sloppy this time." Zheng Yichen, appreciating the rather tasty fruit wine, didn't mind giving a rough account of his experience. He could gloss over the parts without battle. As for Lewis and the others, they were just ships passing in the night, who had just added one another's contact afterwards.
With a basic understanding of each other, they could quickly form a small team in the future if needed for cooperation.
There wasn't much interaction in other respects.
"It seems you met some decent Hunters this time. Indeed, acquiring firearms is the best way for novice hunters to improve themselves," the bartender nodded and continued, "However, if a Hunters wants to really go far, they still need to develop their own unique specialization."
"Are you a Hunter too?"
"I used to be."
"Usually, those who say things like that are experts."
The bartender chuckled and didn't elaborate much. Zheng Yichen took out the address Jamie Seth had given him, "Do you know of the Dusk Cathedral?"
"The Dusk Cathedral?" The bartender thought for a moment, "That's not a traditional cathedral. You can think of it as a place where Hunters exchange information. They also offer some weapon maintenance and healing services there."
"It can stay open without being a traditional cathedral?" Zheng Yichen was somewhat surprised.
"Why not?" The bartender smirked and retorted, "There aren't that many rules in the lower city district. It's irregular but not illegal. From the outside, it just looks like a rather large cathedral. The reason it's considered irregular is that it doesn't worship a god, but rather, Dusk."
"Well, it's not strange for Hazy City's lower city district to have such places."
The bartender glanced at the address on the piece of paper in Zheng Yichen's hand, "It's not a bad idea to check it out, just don't bring too much money with you."
Zheng Yichen looked at his empty cup and pushed it forward a bit, "Another one, please."
This cup wasn't free anymore.
The bartender who refilled his cup said, "Hunters come into contact with a lot of extraordinary creatures, so they always have some things that need dealing with. The Dusk Cathedral is a place that can handle those things."
"Novice hunters often spend money indiscriminately in those places out of curiosity, lacking the ability to discern, they easily buy fake goods or things that look unique but are utterly useless. Instead of wasting money, it's better to buy a gun,"
the bartender's words were very sensible. Novice hunters could just go to Dusk Cathedral to appreciate the scenery and learn more about the circle. In fact, there were quite a few places similar to Dusk Cathedral.
Night Banquet Bar was similar to Dusk Cathedral, only the 'business' aspect was different. Here there were agent services for handling hunter licenses, introductions to task commissions, but no weapon or item trades, nor medical services. Some non-dangerous small items could also be traded here, as they were private transactions.
The bar environment meant that such transactions were difficult to conduct, and the scale here was much smaller than Dusk Cathedral.
The common ground was the exchange of information between hunters.
Dusk Cathedral lacked the 'business' services of Night Banquet Bar, but was said to be good for weapon maintenance and medical treatment. In Hazy City's formal hospitals, treating gunshot wounds or some peculiar wounds required keeping records.
At Dusk Cathedral, that wasn't a problem—money was all you needed.
Following the bartender's story, Zheng Yichen learned about several places like Dusk Cathedral, but the bartender did not provide additional details about their exact locations and names. The topic then focused primarily on Dusk Cathedral.
To sum up, it was a place that was fairly good for novices, provided that once there, they could restrain their impulses to buy things and bluntly say 'no'.
Back home, after half a month away, there was a thin layer of dust in many areas. He cleaned the place briefly, thinking that next time he went out, he should prepare some dust covers.
He took off his coat and stood in front of the mirror, looking at his reflection. Although he had slacked off during this task, overall, the gain was not bad; in his fight with the humongous bear, he had obtained some of its blood.
It wasn't much, but the quality was far superior to that of ordinary creatures like chickens, ducks, geese, or mice.
Looking at the state of the skin on his chest, even if he were to lie down for half a month, he could probably still go out shirtless and be in good shape.
As for physical enhancement, the blood he had consumed was too little to be noticeable, but based on past experience, even if direct enhancement was not obvious, the gains from subsequent training would not be weak.
As for training, the rate of improvement for a novice and someone who trains regularly is different. It's very difficult for the latter to improve even a bit, while a novice can see significant short-term improvements with a reasonable training regimen.
Zheng Yichen had encountered this issue before, but he had an anomaly within him that, once it negated the negative aspects, functioned like a cheat, always enabling him to remain in the 'novice training' phase of improvement as long as he put in the effort.
Back on his own familiar bed, Zheng Yichen took out the business card Lewis had given him, considering the possibility of getting one or two guns. They might not be needed, but having them would definitely come in handy, like in this task where someone who lacked any means of ranged attack desperately sought opportunities for close combat.
A group of teammates with strong firepower provided ranged support, and he managed to attack only once during the entire battle. Although it was an effective hit, it still made him look too much like a freeloader. He even got injured because he wanted to close in for the attack. If he had even a pistol in his hands then, even if firing aimlessly into the ceiling, it would have made him seem more involved.
Before buying a gun, he would have to register with the local authorities. After registration, he would have to make another trip to wait for information like the type of gun he was licensed to hold.
The next day, Zheng Yichen went straight to the nearby relevant office and got registered. It wasn't the police station but the 'Hunter Management Bureau.' Using his license, he completed the registration, then took a cab to the lower city district, first to visit Dusk Cathedral and then to the gun store Lewis had recommended.
He had seen gun stores before, but unlike in some free country he knew from before his transmigration where buying a gun was easy, those places required proper documentation. He couldn't buy one before, but now the problem wasn't significant.