"We have arrived at Saba City. Passengers, please—"
As the airship slowly docked at the airport, Kevin stepped off.
He gazed at the familiar airport and reached up to take off the sunglasses he was wearing.
"Back to this godforsaken place again."
This place used to be his "home," but the current Kevin had no attachment to it whatsoever.
The reason he came here at this time was, naturally, because he had business to attend to.
Kevin walked off the airship and headed toward the exit.
Outside the exit, someone was already waiting for him.
White Tree was leaning against a green camouflage jeep. Seeing Kevin walk out of the exit from afar, he immediately reached out and waved vigorously.
Kevin wove through the crowd and walked toward White Tree.
"Long time no see, Kevin."
The two hugged warmly.
"It's only been about half a year," Kevin replied with a smile. "Let's go, get in the car first."
As White Tree spoke, he opened the car door for Kevin.
The jeep started up, drove away from the airport, and headed out of the city.
Along the way, the car drove through winding forest paths and finally entered a military restricted zone.
Looking at the scene outside the car window, Kevin couldn't help but frown.
"It's been half a year, and the problem still hasn't been solved?"
When he left last time, the defenses here weren't this strict. Now, it had completely turned into a military restricted zone, which was a stark contrast to before.
This indicated that the matter hadn't been resolved and might have even become more serious.
That's right, his return to the Milsy Wetlands this time wasn't to do anything in the wetland itself; it was mainly to find Bergel.
Hearing Kevin's question, the usually optimistic White Tree had a rare look of melancholy on his face.
He sighed softly.
"No, the problem is even more serious than when you left."
"More serious?" Kevin was somewhat surprised.
It was just a common biological disaster. Although there seemed to be some conspiracy hidden behind it, Bergel was, after all, a One-Star Professional Hunter.
Solving the current regional disaster shouldn't be difficult. As long as they found the monster causing the trouble and eliminated it, wouldn't the matter be resolved?
One had to know that Bergel was leading a professional team, and he wasn't the only Nen User in his group.
It was just that only Bergel was a Professional Hunter; White Tree and Sant were also Nen Users.
"How should I put it? I can't explain it in a short while. So many things have happened in the past half year."
"This incident isn't just an isolated problem in our Forest Preserve; the scope of the involvement is very wide."
"Once you see the boss, you'll understand what's going on."
Seeing White Tree looking as if he didn't know where to start, Kevin nodded and stopped asking, turning his gaze to the scenery outside the window instead.
Along the way, there were more and more patrol vehicles. These weren't the common police patrol cars seen in the city, but actual military vehicles.
Many of the dense trees that were originally on both sides of the road had been cut down to widen the road.
Compared to when he left, the defenses here had clearly been strengthened significantly, and blocking nets had been re-installed in many areas.
The car drove through the forest road, took a few turns, and suddenly, the view opened up.
It was the research base where Kevin had stayed for a while.
Now, the research base was several times larger than before. Next to the parking lot originally used for vehicles, a temporary small airship airport had even been newly cleared out.
On the airport, one could see two or three small military airships, and one was hovering steadily in the sky, not knowing what it was observing.
Two soldiers stopped the car.
White Tree naturally took out his pass and handed it over.
A soldier nodded, then looked at Kevin.
"He is the boss's guest. He is Mr. Bergel's guest."
"Even so, we still need to verify and register." The soldier didn't budge and said directly.
Kevin readily took out his hunter license and handed it over.
The soldier took the hunter license, swiped it, and only returned it after confirming it was correct. He saluted them, signaling they could pass.
At this moment, White Tree exclaimed in surprise.
"You've already become a Professional Hunter?"
Kevin nodded: "Didn't I say before that I would participate in this year's Hunter Exam?"
"I certainly remember, but isn't this your first time taking the exam? The pass rate for first-time examinees is very low."
"I really didn't expect you to pass on your first try. That's amazing!"
As he spoke, a look of obvious envy appeared on White Tree's face.
Seeing him like this, Kevin asked in confusion: "With your strength, passing the Hunter Exam shouldn't be difficult, right?"
This made White Tree give him a strange look.
"I can tell from your expression that the questions you encountered this time definitely weren't difficult, right?"
"No, not that they weren't difficult, but they were very suitable for you."
Hearing White Tree's words, Kevin immediately understood what he meant.
At this moment, White Tree muttered to himself: "I participated before too, but I only took it once. It's quite embarrassing to say, but I was eliminated in the second round."
Speaking of this, a look of indignation immediately appeared on his face, as if he still harbored a grudge about it to this day.
"At that time, the second round of the exam actually asked us to make sculptures out of large rocks."
"I was already a Nen User back then, so carving rocks was naturally a piece of cake for me, but the examiner actually said the rock I carved was too ugly to look at."
"He also said he couldn't stand someone like me with zero aesthetic sense, and eliminated me for that reason."
As he spoke, White Tree seemed to want Kevin to be the judge and see if that was right or not.
After hearing this, Kevin couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
Fortunately, he hadn't encountered such an outrageous exam question.
But there was no helping that; every examiner's discretion was simply too great.
As long as no particularly serious problems occurred, Netero, as the Hunter Association Chairman, would not intervene.
There certainly weren't many people who could actually sculpt; in that exam, people with this skill were few and far between.
Plus, this was the second round of the exam; it would definitely eliminate a large number of people, but many would certainly pass as well.
Thinking about it this way, White Tree, as a Nen User, not passing the exam might really be because what he carved was just too ugly.
"I even specially brought my sculpture work back at the time, wanting to let Bergel and Sant judge for me."
White Tree continued while driving.
"And then? What did they say?" Kevin's curiosity was piqued.
White Tree shrugged helplessly: "They didn't say anything."
"I admit it was a bit ugly, but the exam question itself was very bizarre, right?"
Kevin nodded.
But he was more curious about what that ugly sculpture looked like, so he asked: "What about that sculpture? With your personality, you must have kept it, right?"
After all, in a sense, that sculpture did have a certain collection value, though of course, only for White Tree himself.
"Oh, you mean that sculpture? It was thrown away by two new interns at the research base at the time."
"They said this thing affected their experiment success rate. It was clearly their own problem. The world is just too malicious toward my work."
"That's a pity. I won't be able to see your masterpiece."
"You guy, are you trying to mock me too?"
The two drove into the parking lot, laughing and chatting just like that.
It was only then that Kevin noticed that although the defenses here were tighter than when he left, the research personnel in the research base had all returned, and the number of people looked even higher than before.
Taking a closer look, it seemed the entire research base had been expanded, and many new buildings had been added.
There were all kinds of supporting buildings around that he hadn't seen before. In just half a year, this place had taken on a completely new look.
Bergel walked out of the house. Upon seeing Kevin, he smiled and hugged him.
"Long time no see."
Bergel greeted Kevin, gave a few instructions to White Tree, and then took Kevin away.
The two arrived at a reception room.
"I heard that you've become a Professional Hunter. Congratulations."
Hearing this, Kevin just smiled slightly.
"Just good luck. I didn't encounter any difficult questions."
Bergel smiled knowingly, then his expression straightened as he asked, "So, what brings you to me this time? Or are you looking to switch from intern to a full-fledged research member?"
He was joking. He certainly knew that Kevin wouldn't join his team.
However, he really didn't know the specific reason why Kevin had come to see him, as Kevin hadn't explained it in detail over the phone.
Kevin smiled without saying much and took a small box from his pocket, handing it to Bergel.
Bergel took the box and opened it to find two different cards inside—one gold and one black.
The commonality between the two cards was that they both had an irregular red stone logo in the center.
"This logo..." Bergel noticed this first.
"Red Stone Pharmaceuticals, right? It seems to be quite famous in the news lately."
After realizing, Bergel looked at Kevin. "So, this company is under your name?"
Kevin hadn't expected the other party to focus on this first, so he nodded slightly.
He brought the topic back on track: "You should be aware that my Nen Ability can create various potions with peculiar effects."
Bergel nodded; he certainly remembered that, especially since Kevin had swiped some materials from him back then.
Regarding Kevin's magical potions, Bergel had once asked others if they could be used. After all, upon seeing such a Nen Ability, the first reaction is to think of auxiliary functions; such a thought is perfectly normal. However, the reply he received was that these potions had side effects.
To be honest, it was quite surprising; at least to Bergel at the time, the setup of this Nen Ability seemed somewhat subpar.
"After leaving here, I thought of some ways, spent some time and effort, and removed the side effects."
After Kevin explained it this way, Bergel suddenly realized and nodded. "So these are membership cards?"
"That's right, but one is a membership card, and the other is a Supplier partnership card."
"What's the difference between these two cards?" Judging by Bergel's tone, he seemed to have guessed that these two cards weren't both for him, but rather that he was to choose one.
Kevin handed two forms directly to Bergel; one was the Supplier partnership agreement, and the other listed the effects, prices, and purchasing qualifications for the various potions. Bergel began to read them carefully.
Honestly, Kevin naturally hoped that Bergel would choose the Supplier partnership card because the other party indeed had the potential and qualifications in this regard. After all, Kevin had stayed here for a month and even entered Bergel's material warehouse. There were many materials in the warehouse that could arouse his desire, but for Bergel, these were just minor collections he didn't care much about, mostly items placed randomly inside.
As a Conservation Hunter, Bergel spent almost most of his time in the wild, shuttling through various nature reserves or dangerous restricted areas. He didn't go to conserve every endangered species; as a Hunter who had long roamed the wild, he knew the law of the jungle well. For those beasts and monsters that had attacked humans or were highly aggressive, he would hunt them down without mercy. His professional characteristics and work area destined him to be able to provide a sufficient source of materials for Kevin.
At this moment, Bergel finished reading the documents in his hand. He barely hesitated before nodding and picking up the black card directly. "I don't seem to have a reason to refuse." He looked at Kevin and said with a smile.
Kevin also revealed a brilliant smile, reached out his hand, and the two shook hands firmly. "Happy to be working with you."
"So, can I buy those magical little potions of yours now?" Bergel asked with a smile.
Kevin nodded: "Of course you can, and I guessed that you might have a need to purchase on the spot, so I specifically brought some over."
As he spoke, he moved the briefcase that had been sitting to the side onto the table and opened it. The briefcase was densely packed with potions; potions of various colors emitted a soft glow under the light, slowly swirling, looking dreamlike and illusory.
"Let me see... there are exactly twenty vials. This must be my purchasing quota for the year." Bergel looked at the neatly arranged potions in the briefcase and the labels on them, discovering that many were exactly what he wanted to exchange for after reading the form.
Kevin pushed the briefcase directly in front of Bergel and said with a smile: "Accurately guessing a customer's needs is one of the essential qualities for a boss like me."
Bergel didn't stand on ceremony either; he closed the case and took it, indicating he wanted all of them. This was something Kevin hadn't expected. The other party actually wanted everything and used up the full quota.
"I will transfer the money later according to the website mentioned on this. Now, what I want to exchange with currency is the special potion indicated on the form that only Suppliers can exchange for, which is what you called the 『Repair potion』, 50 currency units, right?"
Kevin hadn't expected that the first person to exchange currency for a potion would be Bergel, and that he would want it on the spot. However, he had to admit that Bergel indeed had the capability; his private warehouse had enough materials.
"Alright, you really are a big client. I will have someone air-freight the potion over, but your annual quota only allows for an exchange of two vials."
Bergel nodded: "Then I want two. You can just go to my warehouse to take the equivalent materials when the time comes. I believe the things inside will definitely be enough for you to use. You've definitely been eyeing them for a long time, right?"
Hearing this, Kevin smiled and laughed it off: "Not at all, not at all. Don't paint me like that. Isn't this a legitimate transaction?"
After the two chatted for a while, Bergel leaned back against the chair, took a sip of tea, looked at Kevin, and asked: "Alright, let's get down to business. You came all this way; it surely isn't just to sign a Supplier contract with me and promote your products, right?"
Given the special nature of the potions, Bergel would definitely become Kevin's client, and they both had each other's contact information. Such matters could be handled entirely over the phone, but when Kevin said he was coming, he hadn't explained the purpose of the trip in detail, and Bergel hadn't asked much at the time. But looking at it now, it certainly wasn't just such a simple matter.
"I can't hide it from you. The real reason I came here is that I want to see your real collection. You must have that kind of private, secret 『Treasure Vault』, right? Not the kind of private warehouse where you just stack miscellaneous items, but a place where you keep your beloved treasures."
Hearing this, Bergel couldn't help but frown. He looked at Kevin and said with a serious expression: "Since you know, you should be able to understand what the things placed in the 『Treasure Vault』 mean to me."
Of course he had such a 『Treasure Vault』; inside were stored some specimens he loved, as well as some items with great collection value. Not every single one of these things was worth a fortune, but to him, each one had a unique significance. Simply put, there was no possibility of trading these things. Or rather, the possibility of trading was low; it specifically depended on what the item was.
"I certainly understand. I'm definitely not here to take away what someone loves. I just want to take a look, learn a bit, and if possible, it would be best if I could touch them."
"Touch them?" Bergel was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized.
He recalled some of Kevin's actions from half a year ago and associated them with the material identification method mentioned in the contract he had just signed. He also deduced some of the conditions for Kevin's Nen Ability from this. "So that's it. You want to confirm whether there are any high-quality materials you want in my 『Treasure Vault』, right?"
"Your purpose sounds very clear. And you're certain that the materials you want are in my 『Treasure Vault』, so what channel did you get this information about the materials from?" Bergel asked; the other party definitely knew that he had a certain material that was needed. Kevin smiled. That's right, his main purpose for coming this time was exactly for this.