Donghuang Kingdom, Yunling Prefecture.
Boom—!
A super-large eerie creature's body cracked open, exploding outwards with thuds. It lasted only a moment before slowly collapsing.
"That's the second three-star eerie creature."
"The hunt was easier than last time, and I even got to leech off the Investigation Bureau's strength. Perfect!"
Xing Jinglei walked forward, standing beside the slowly dissipating colossal body of the eerie creature.
His innate talent, 'Body of Ghoul Slaying,' was passively activated. Invisible strands of energy dispersed and gathered before him, forming a red eyeball.
It dropped with a snap.
Falling into the small, open box in his hand, Xing Jinglei promptly closed it.
"I didn't manage to loot my most desired two-dimensional material this time, but this material seems to be green-grade. Its rarity is ten or even dozens of times that of ordinary or incomplete materials."
"Submitting this to the organization will earn me a few contribution points."
"Uh, four or five points don't seem like much?"
Xing Jinglei felt he was getting overconfident. A one-star mission usually yielded 0.05 to 0.15 contribution points. He typically needed to complete five hundred missions to accumulate five Spark contribution points.
But that was before.
Before, he could only hunt one-star eerie creatures. Not long ago, he could hunt two-star eerie creatures. Now, even three-star eerie creatures were nothing in his hands.
Spark, mentor, forever god!
"I am too strong."
"Now, a single three-star mission can yield up to 5 contribution points. If my efficiency is high enough, two three-star missions a day is not a problem."
"And thinking about it, other people in Spark only get 3-5 contribution points for hunting one three-star eerie creature, while I can loot materials and get 7-9 points. That's double the efficiency of others!"
"Overtaking the senior members of the Spark organization is just around the corner!"
"What's the point of comparing myself to the trash in the Investigation Bureau? If Xing Jinglei is going to do something, he'll be a strong one in Spark, step by step, step by step, ascending to the highest, uh… the second highest."
Thinking of the mentor who bestowed him his power, Xing Jinglei felt he needed to play it safe.
Just be cautious.
…
At this time, two to three hundred kilometers away from Xing Jinglei, in a densely forested area.
Eerie creatures congregated here, listed by the Investigation Bureau as one of the most dangerous forbidden zones within Donghuang Kingdom. A Gateway to the Eerie Realm had once appeared here, and wisps of grey mist permeated the entire world.
The surroundings were utterly desolate.
Animals were extinct, trees withered, leaving only the faint, flickering silhouettes of massive eerie creatures and their rising, terrifying roars.
No one could venture deep into this place, not even the special operations teams of Donghuang Kingdom.
Two teams had previously come here to scout, and both vanished without a trace.
However,
In such an absolute dead zone, amidst numerous ferocious, terrifying, and chilling large and super-large eerie creatures, a figure was walking.
He wore human clothing, a somewhat tattered special forces uniform. From afar, he resembled a human, and at first glance, he was indeed human. If one could ignore the writhing arm within his sleeve, and a face that looked like countless maggots intertwined together.
"Hiss~ Hiss hiss~"
"Blue Star… humans…"
"Another delicious world, for my master…"
…
"Ding~"
"Master, Apostle Xing Jinglei has completed one three-star mission, several two-star missions, and submitted various materials. Today, 18.9 contribution points have been issued."
"Apostle Yin Ling has researched two new types of elixirs today, rewarding her with 35 contribution points. The organization will now place orders for elixir production."
"Apostle An Jianyou completed two two-star missions and several one-star missions today. However, she sold twenty white-grade weapons, issuing contribution points…"
"Apostle…"
A sum of money had been deposited into the organization's account. It seemed An Jianyou had already sold the weapons to the Investigation Bureau… Currently, the primary buyer was, in fact, the Investigation Bureau alone.
Of course, selling to the Investigation Bureau would trigger numerous chain reactions, which Fang You had considered. However, after much deliberation, he still felt he had to sell.
Not selling materials and hoarding them in his base would be a waste.
Once sold, it would benefit Spark, the Investigation Bureau, and Donghuang Kingdom. This was a win-win-win situation. As for whether it could be a win-win-win-win or even a win-win-win-win-win, it depended on the Investigation Bureau's subsequent reactions.
"Xiao Huan, increase the attention level of Bureau Chief Bai Jiang and the Investigation Bureau Headquarters by one more notch."
"Okay~!"
"Next, let's open up two more training grounds."
"Okay… Ding~!"
At this moment,
Fang You was in the Spark base, in front of the spacious hall on the first floor.
Xiao Huan transferred the notification sound from the Salvation Game to Fang You's mind. "Notification: 30 Ghoul Crystals deducted. You have opened Training Ground E4."
"Notification: 30 Ghoul Crystals deducted. You have opened Training Ground E5."
With a faint hum, two large doors appeared on the wall of the hall, Training Ground E4 and E5.
Currently, there were not many official apostles, so three training grounds were sufficient. However, previously, to train new recruits, Hei Dao had moved a lot of equipment out of several training grounds.
This equipment was very practical and advanced, with many rare items that couldn't be bought or custom-made elsewhere.
For instance, a high-intensity punching power testing machine, or equipment for training evasion abilities, etc., were all accessories of the training grounds.
He was now buying a training ground for the freebies, but thinking about it carefully, it seemed…
Not expensive.
A mere twenty Ghoul Crystals, which he could earn more than enough from a single outing.
Fang You walked into Training Ground E5. "Xiao Huan, bring up my status panel."
"Okay, Master~!"
A light screen unfolded before him.
It displayed Fang You's character and a clearer, more intuitive list of data beside it.
The version had been upgraded again, and again.
'Savior of Destiny (Second Awakening)'
'Physique: 12.3 → 12.8'
'Spirit: 6.9 → 7.7'
'Mystery: 215.5'
'Life Energy: 9.7 + 5'
'Equipment: (Details omitted)'
'Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (Expert: 60.1%), Eerie Tracking (Mastery: 18.1%), Palm Thunder (Expert: 86.6%), Detection (Mastery), Others (omitted).'
Fang You glanced at his status panel. Compared to the last time, the improvement was not significant.
Of course, this was only referring to what was displayed on the panel. In the past few days, he had been out eliminating eerie creatures, and his combat experience and skills had also improved. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that if his combat power could be displayed numerically, he would have increased by at least 30%.
"Now, the development of Spark has basically entered the right track, but the improvement of personal strength cannot be neglected… Both are equally important."
"Although eerie creatures originating on Blue Star currently only reach up to three-star, the true horrors among eerie creatures far exceed this."
That day, by brushing against the edge of the Eerie Realm with An Jianyou's 'Eye of Ethereal Passage,' he had, with just a few glances, seen several eerie creatures whose terrifying nature far surpassed three-star.
He didn't know when such eerie creatures would appear, so he could only keep improving himself.
So that he wouldn't be powerless when disaster struck.
Fang You returned to the lounge and said,
"Xiao Huan, use the skill training cards for me, one every ten minutes."