Werewolf Hunting Rules.

Chapter 470 Observing the Essence
Behind the cheerful smile lies a gleeful encouragement for the bloody experiments.

Julius felt no discomfort because he had no right to criticize the messengers of the Holy Grail Order. His own bottom line was much lower than that of ordinary people, and he didn't care about eating other people's brains as long as he could gain power.

He was only interested in the results the other party mentioned.

“Saisu, it seems you don’t intend to do business only with the Friendship Association.”

“Of course not,” the young envoy, known as Saisu, said frankly, not worried that the others in the café would hear him. “They need us, but he’s not the only one who needs us.”

“If the elders’ council of Sasha is willing, we can also serve the elders’ council. In your honor, I will offer some discounts.”

Clearly, his friendly attitude towards Julius stemmed from business.

He knew Julius, Julius could call him by name, and Hazel was able to contact this group of alchemists for the same reason as the Mutual of Faith.

They were all magicians from Strauss.

Hazel belongs to the Stone Gate School, Julius belongs to the Soul Stealing School, and Cesu belongs to the Primitive School.

The three seem completely different, but they are connected in some way because of the public academic sphere.

The "Primitive" in the Primitive School is an alchemical term referring to matter that remains after all external attributes have been removed through alchemy; it is considered the foundation of the world. Alchemists of the past believed that color was the sole attribute of matter, and that the colorless, black substance was the Primitive.

Of course, with the advancement of alchemy, modern alchemists know that "color" cannot represent all the properties of matter, but they are still searching for things that exist between existence and non-existence, namely, the theoretical Primitive.

The Stone Gate School studies techniques to circumvent curses and magic by eliminating personal connections.

It can be said that the Shimen School was trying to mold people into a "primordial entity" between existence and non-existence, so as not to be contaminated by "color".

Julius and Cesu's connection is relatively simple: the secret art of the Soul Reaper School is to control people's perception, and various hallucinogenic drugs are also within the research scope of the school's members.

Julius studied herbal alchemy, and herbal alchemy and petrification are not entirely unrelated fields in alchemy.

The three knew each other, but Cesu and Julius were closer, as both had decided on their future paths before entering the academy.

“For your sake, I’ll try to make this deal happen, but you really surprise me now. I thought your position in the Order was that of a scholar, not a salesman,” Julius said with a grin, twirling the spoon in his coffee cup.

“I’m an observer,” Sesu corrected him. “Besides business, I also need to see how they affect the outside world and collect more data.”

"Can you give us a sneak peek at what makes the product you're bringing this time so special?"

"I can't reveal it yet, but you'll see soon enough," Saisu said with a mysterious smile.

The crucial information he wanted to know was shrouded in mystery, and Julius wished he could stuff all the sugar cubes on the tray next to him into his nostrils. "Stop keeping me in suspense, at least give me some clues so I can guess."

Saisu thought for a moment, then seemed to feel that maintaining a secret that would soon be revealed was not very meaningful, so he moved his lips slightly.

"The origins of the Highland Group."

Upon hearing this word, Julius was startled, his expression turning serious: "Are you serious? Back from the dead?!"

The Highland Regiment is one of the most powerful infantry regiments in the Kingdom's army, named after the legend of the Hundred Warriors of the Highlands from the ancient Dorn.

Legend has it that two city-states were at war with each other. The Highland City-state suffered repeated defeats and was on the verge of destruction. It could not even organize a legion of five hundred men and could only select one hundred warriors to go out of the city and fight the enemy to the death.

These last warriors were incredibly brave, each one capable of taking on ten men. But the enemy was simply too numerous; on the first day, seventeen of the hundred warriors perished, and the rest retreated back to the city with their corpses.

The generals of the plains city-states therefore believed that as long as casualties were disregarded, the army would soon achieve a complete victory.

But to everyone's surprise, the very next day, those who had died reappeared on the battlefield.

These warriors' ability to rise from the dead comes from a magic cauldron that continuously produces miraculous liquid. Simply immerse those who have died in battle into it, and they will be resurrected after a few breaths.

The rest of the story is unnecessary to elaborate on, as only the part about the magic cauldron could interest the wizards present.

Julius has only ever seen one truly immortal human being, and that was in Gevor. His inability to die came from the unfinished opening ceremony of the Fairy Realm.

He later studied how to crack this ability, and following the approach of specialized problem-solving, the answer was to complete the ritual.

Common methods also exist, such as inserting a lead weapon into his brain and heart. Lead has the power to sever spiritual connections and can block most rituals.

In Gevor, Clayton disemboweled Kok but failed to kill him. In fact, a direct shot to the heart and head with a musket would have solved the problem, though no one knew this at the time. Even vampires, widely perceived as immortal, have their own nemesis.

These beings, representing eternal decay, are restrained by living water; throwing them into a river or the sea will easily kill them.

What are the methods the Holy Grail Order uses to raise the dead? And how can these methods be broken?
Julius was eager to know the answer.

But there was no way that Saisu could tell him these secrets.

Saisu only revealed some limitations of the technology: "We obtained some fragments of the legendary original from an archaeologist, so we tried to imitate the magic cauldron. The effect is not as powerful as the original recorded in history. It has high requirements for the freshness and integrity of the corpse, and the resurrection time it provides is only two days, but it is enough for most conflicts that occur in cities."

"For many soldiers, they would be happy to die together with the person who killed them once."

"It's incredible technology, a major breakthrough for the magical world," Julius nodded in admiration, but soon felt a new sense of doubt.

How long after death can someone be resurrected?

"Within an hour, both humans and animals are within an hour." Saisu did not hide anything. Even if he did not say it, this data would be quickly deduced by others, since the Demon Cauldron was to be displayed publicly.

"How many magic cauldrons did you build?"

"There's only one. It wasn't easy to make this thing; it practically emptied the cult's savings accumulated over many years."

Julius frowned, slowing his movements so that the rising steam from the coffee cup was no longer being shattered by his hands: "Conflicts are breaking out in many parts of Weaudi. How can you be sure that the corpses that want to be resurrected can be transported to the Cauldron in time? The traffic here is far from smooth."

“We don’t pick and choose corpses,” Saisu said seriously. “We’ll follow the battle line like medics with the magic cauldrons, and whatever’s on the ground, we’ll throw into the cauldron.”

Front lines?

This term cannot be used for small-scale conflicts.

"Just how big of a fuss are you going to cause this time?"

"I don't know that."

Saisu spread his hands, looking innocent: "But Jeremy Basby told me the first time we met that there would be a huge war against the Darkin soon, and we could just wait and harvest all kinds of superhuman corpses, so we simply signed the contract."

The diners at the next table finally couldn't stand the crazy talk coming from there. They glanced at them with a slightly contemptuous look, as if they were madmen, then immediately put on their hats, got up, and left. Neither of the two people they looked down on paid any attention to them.

Julius's spoon, which he used to stir his coffee, had stopped.

He believed there would be a war, but he didn't think friendship could control where the battlefield would appear, nor did he think the war would break out immediately.

Since they had made preparations in advance, the Weaudi government should have had a list of information on the Dark Ones.

After the announcement of the extermination of demon-possessed individuals is released, the Friendship Association will definitely publish a few names on the list first, claiming that these individuals are possessed by demons, and attempt to deal with these individuals through legal means.

Under this threat, the Darkborn who choose to remain in Weaudi will unite like never before, but they will not act immediately. Instead, they will first contact the associations and cults among the workers. Only when strikes, demonstrations, and looting distract the Mutual of Friends and force them to deploy a large number of people to deal with the situation will they attempt to attack the East District.

Conionai and the local association have already set a good example of unintentional cooperation.

The key to defeating the Friendship Society lies not in combat ability, but in harassment from all sides; the initiative is with the Darkkin. In particular, Conione's forces are now stationed in the North District, diverting the local garrison troops and leaving them no time to maintain order.

Julius could almost deduce the whole story, but he still felt there was something discordant about it.

His thumb rubbed against the handle of the spoon, and suddenly a thought struck him, and he realized the source of the strange feeling in his heart.

He had known Cesu for a long time and knew that this guy was used to quoting the original words when he repeated what others said, without adding his own feelings and understanding. But Cesu said that Jeremy Basby had promised him when they first met that there would be a steady stream of superhuman corpses to be provided to the Grail Order as part of the "War against the Darkin".

While this statement may sound plausible—and the Holy Grail Order does indeed require a large number of superhuman corpses, and may have even written in advance explaining their desired spoils—would a person with normal morals make such a statement?

Shouldn't a normal person talk about winning or losing the war first?
Collecting corpses, a taboo topic in the eyes of the world, should be avoided as much as possible.

In particular, Jeremy used the term "superhuman corpse" instead of "darkin corpse".

His tone and wording suggested that he didn't care about winning or losing the war against the Darkin, so it didn't matter how many people died or which side died.

But what else can war care about if it doesn't care about winning or losing?
War itself?