New Gods of North America

After verifying Inissa's badge again, the old man also took out his own badge.

The shape is generally similar, but the details are slightly different, and the symbol on the emblem also glows slightly.

Then the old man carried a lantern and led Wayne and Inissa into the "warehouse" of the pawn shop.

Rows of wooden shelves are filled with all kinds of items.

Push open one of the rows of wooden shelves, flip over a floor tile, pull up a pull ring, and open a secret door.

no,

This doesn't look like a decent place...

The old man seemed to see Wayne's doubts. After opening the secret door, he walked down the stairs and spoke slowly:

"Come down, don't worry. This was once one of the Hunter Association's 'safe houses' in the west. When America gained independence, it was not only the Hunter Association in the New World that was liquidated, but also many innocent Beyonders who were implicated.

“So thanks to them, although the local Hunter Association suffered a serious blow, it has not been completely wiped out due to the self-help and mutual assistance of the Beyonders.”

The two followed the old man up the stairs. Before they had walked far, Wayne saw the old man jump two steps and then continue to walk down.

Wayne didn't think much about it and just followed suit.

The old man spoke slowly, and although he never stopped, he got to the point at this moment:

"So there are quite a few traps in this passage. If you come down alone, you need to be careful."

Wayne nodded.

At the beginning of the "test" that the Hunter Association gave to novice hunters, it was said that the test "was not very dangerous", but two bottles of poison were clearly placed inside.

If Inessa hadn't reminded him in advance, Wayne felt that he might have died twice.

So Wayne kept watching the old man's footsteps all the way, and wherever he stepped, Wayne followed.

"This is mainly because the entry and exit of the Hunter Association are relatively relaxed, and it does not reject extraordinary people with multiple identities to join. It is easy to be sabotaged by hostile elements lurking in. Therefore, there are some precautions that are not too dangerous." The old man continued in front.

Walking down to the end of the stairs, there was a relatively spacious space, and there were actually a few people guarding it.

“This was originally an abandoned wine cellar, but was later gradually renovated and put into use.”

The old man finally led Wayne and Inessa to a small room. The room was not big and had wooden shelves on three sides.

Then he took out two tubes of reagents from the wooden shelf. "Since you have a senior hunter leading and witnessing, I won't conduct a serious review on you. Here are two reagents. After you drink them, if there is no problem, then I will help you bind your emblem."

Hmm...

Hearing that he had to drink again, Wayne hesitated for a moment.

Damn it, you’re not going to give me a choice between life and death, are you?

Fortunately, Inissa nodded in approval, and the old man drank half of each tube of reagent, so Wayne thought for a moment and took the reagent as well.

The first reagent has an astringent taste when you take it.

Wayne shuddered a little.

Strictly speaking, it's not even a "taste". My mouth immediately feels dry and my tongue seems to shrink and wrinkle. It's like eating a raw persimmon.

Makes you want to drink water.

Fortunately, it seems to be similar to herbal tea. There is a faint "sweetness" after drinking it, which is not so unacceptable.

The second reagent tastes much better.

It's similar to soda water without sugar, and it seems that small bubbles can appear in the mouth.

If you mix the two reagents and add some sugar,

I guess it’s like “horse urine at room temperature and Guojiao liquor at ice temperature”.

The old man observed Wayne's reaction from the side. After a while, he finally nodded:

“There seems to be no problem with the domain and rank.

"Welcome to become one of our companions who is determined to fight against out-of-control and evil extraordinary people."

…

If using reagents for testing is considered relatively "scientific\

,"Then the binding of the emblem feels a bit "metaphysical".

A magic circle drawn on the blanket, covered with mysterious symbols.

In the center of the ring formed by the two concentric circles, there is a pattern that should be a square.

Then there were candles, essential oils, powders, herbs and other things.

Wayne suppressed his desire to complain:

Why is the symbol that seems to represent "order" actually a square? !

Even elementary school students know that a parallelogram is not stable. You have to at least add a diagonal to make its structure solid.

Then the old man, Inissa, and two guards who were called over later,

They pricked their fingers one by one with their own emblems that looked like beast teeth, and then placed their emblems on the four corners of the "square".

An emblem that seemed to be prepared for Wayne was placed in the center of the square.

The old man made a "please" gesture to Wayne and said, "Press your finger and light up your own emblem."

Wayne hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached out his hand and pressed on the sharp point of the emblem.

As the old man prays or chants,

In Wayne's vision of simple lines, line segments fell from the void like raindrops, converging on the symbols on the magic circle, and finally "spreading" to fill the area enclosed by the square.

It also has a bit of a "twinkle" feel.

Wayne felt that his fingertips should be bleeding, but he didn't see any blood spilling out.

Then Wayne discovered that the symbol on the badge he was pressing, which seemed to represent a hunter, was gradually glowing as if in resonance.

The ceremony is over.

The old man extinguished the candle and handed the badge to Wayne:

"From today on, this will be the emblem that represents your identity as a hunter. Please keep it safe.

"Unless the association uses a specific ritual to 'delist' this emblem, it will take effect as long as you inject a little spiritual power into it. And it will only take effect on you."

Wayne thought about it a little, "If someone forces me to inject spiritual power, or if there are rebellious hunters holding their own emblems, will it work?"

"certainly."

The old man nodded. "Just like a gun, whether you shoot yourself or are forced to shoot, the bullet will be fired. As for the traitors... before being 'expelled', the emblem can only represent whether the person is selected or not. It cannot represent good or evil, nor can it punish traitors."

Got it.

This thing is actually something similar to "iris authentication".

Wayne secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he had not yet thought of betraying the Hunter Association, this thing, at least, was not a remote-controlled bomb...