The White Bear Country, on the frigid plains.
Grey fog billowed, and malevolent creatures shrieked. Their massive, terrifying forms were visible even without the creatures' tracking vision.
"Big sister, are we really okay with just a few of us?"
The girl, wrapped in a thick cotton coat, spoke.
Her codename was 'Bai Shuang'. She was once a hunter of malevolent creatures and had participated in the defense of the 'Gate of Hell'. While there wasn't significant danger back then, the entire defense line had hundreds of personnel, including dozens of awakeners. It was completely different from now.
There were only four of them, alone and isolated.
A short girl retorted, "If Big Sister arranged it this way, it must be fine. Don't you trust Big Sister!"
Emmmm...
Bai Shuang certainly trusted Yiluo Xi. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come along.
However, trust was one thing, and reliability was another.
Was Yiluo Xi reliable?
She recalled Yiluo Xi's exceptionally generous nature, how she had provided them with a lot of help and even given them numerous pieces of equipment and potions.
She was quite reliable in that regard.
But in other aspects...
"Our Witch Sisters will surely stand at the pinnacle of the world."
"Mere malevolent creatures, what are they worth?"
"Secret peak, proud of the world, where Luo Xi is, there is the sky!"
She was probably reliable... right?
"It's just that too few people came."
"Exactly! Big Sister helped them so much, and our Sisters' Guild is supposed to be united, but when something happens, they all shirk their responsibilities! How hateful!"
The short girl was indignant.
Yiluo Xi was also a little angry.
Her Witch Sisters' Guild had quite a number of members, with over a dozen awakeners. The trading gatherings hosted by the guild also attracted many malevolent creature hunters, making them flourish.
Yet, when an incident occurred, only three awakened sisters responded... As for those who hadn't awakened, Yiluo Xi hadn't let them come.
It was too dangerous for ordinary people to participate in the Gate of the World of Evil missions.
It's just that...
She had confidently promised her mentor that she could gather a group of people, and now there were so few. She felt so ashamed!
Yiluo Xi blushed at the thought; it was too embarrassing! But she was wearing so many clothes in the freezing cold, so no one noticed.
"There are indeed a bit fewer people, but the four of us are more than enough!"
"Once this mission is over, I'll take you for further training. Let the others regret their envy!"
"Prepare for battle."
Yiluo Xi was very reliable in combat. With a wave of her hand, she began to arrange the battle formation and give orders.
"Ziluo, attack the distant malevolent creatures and draw them all towards us. Bai Shuang, you and Xi Lan will be responsible for containment."
The short girl's codename was 'Ziluo'. She was the second most powerful member of the Witch Sisters' Guild.
Her ability was the dark energy ball.
She extended two fingers, drawing circles with her left and right hands. Within each circle, two black spheres immediately appeared. With a slight flick of her fingers, they shot towards the distance.
They accurately hit two large malevolent creatures.
Boom—
The black energy exploded, also affecting the surrounding malevolent creatures.
Instantly, as if a hornet's nest had been disturbed, more malevolent creatures from further away began to swarm in.
Despite being Big Sister's loyal fan, the young girl Ziluo's face turned pale and she trembled when she saw so many terrifying monsters rushing towards them.
"Is it really... really okay?"
She was no longer sure.
The other two girls, Bai Shuang, were about the same age as Yiluo Xi, while Xi Lan was older and the most composed among them.
Her ability was related to water.
She clasped her hands together as if in prayer. Twenty to thirty meters away, a massive azure sphere appeared. With a low cry from her, "Explode!"
The sphere burst, and azure ripples spread outwards.
Many small malevolent creatures were sent reeling, but the number of creatures actually killed... well, very few, and all of them were weaklings.
Water wave impact.
The girl codenamed Bai Shuang also used her awakened ability – Frozen Wind.
The cold wind carrying frost howled, appearing even more powerful in this icy environment. It instantly froze the malevolent creatures one by one, turning them into ice sculptures.
Even the large malevolent creatures were frozen for a moment, but cracks quickly spread across their bodies.
At this moment, Yiluo Xi shouted.
"Now it's my turn to perform. Watch closely!"
"Witness the true power of your Big Sister."
"Tremble, malevolent creatures!"
She wielded a spiral wooden staff. This was a standard weapon of the 'spellcaster side'. Unlike common weapons such as swords, sabers, and spears, standard weapons of the 'spellcaster side' started at green grade and were more expensive than swords and sabers of the same level.
They could enhance the condensation of life energy when projecting external spell-type abilities.
This effect, well, was the same as ordinary standard combat knives and standard spears. For Yiluo Xi, who already possessed skills, the improvement was negligible.
It seemed redundant and didn't sell well.
But Yiluo Xi really wanted to buy it.
As the leader of the Witch Sisters' Guild, not having a decent weapon was too unfitting. Wasn't money meant to be spent? This weapon looked good too!
What? She still owed the organization a lot of contribution points?
Ahem, she'd be able to repay it after this mission. No big deal, no big deal.
The ice sculptures were cracking.
The large malevolent creatures were charging.
At this moment, a luminous azure regular triangular pyramid gradually appeared at the tip of the spiral staff, slowly rotating.
Within it, at the core equidistant from the four vertices, was a black spherical object the size of a grain of rice, continuously flickering with azure lightning arcs.
It seemed to contain destructive power.
"What is this ability?"
"You've never used it before, and isn't your ability fire-based, Luo Xi?"
No matter how developed a fire ability was, it couldn't be related to this regular triangular pyramid in front of them.
Bai Shuang's eyes widened in surprise.
Surprised? It's right to be surprised! Humph!
Yiluo Xi had only tried this skill in the 'Trial Space'. She had never used it in reality. She had held back for a very, very long time, all for the sake of showing off once.
"Keep your eyes wide open!"
The regular triangular pyramid shot out, flying faster and faster. It immediately struck a small malevolent creature at the forefront.
Zzzzt~!
Lightning arcs flashed, annihilating this small malevolent creature.
Simultaneously, where the regular triangular pyramid shattered, three more lightning arcs split off, piercing into the surroundings.
Zzzzt—x3!
Three nearby malevolent creatures were instantly annihilated, and at the same time, they split into seven more lightning arcs!
This time, there was a loss. Two out of nine lightning arcs were lost. As the splitting continued, the loss rate would increase until the entire skill was depleted.
The number of splitting occurrences depended on Yiluo Xi's skill proficiency.
That's how it was supposed to be.
However, at this moment, as seven lightning arcs split out, next to Yiluo Xi, another regular triangular pyramid suddenly appeared and shot out.
It had only flown halfway.
The seven lightning arcs in the distance had already exploded on the malevolent creatures, annihilating a few of them. As over a dozen lightning arcs split out, two more regular triangular pyramids appeared next to Yiluo Xi.
In the blink of an eye, there were two more.
In another blink of an eye, three more appeared.
Talent: Spell Torrent!
This was the true Spell Torrent!
Azure lightning arcs flickered continuously among the swarm of malevolent creatures, seemingly endless. Even a three-star malevolent creature that had just appeared was struck by dozens of split lightning bolts in an instant. Before it could even let out a roar, it was annihilated on the spot.
In the blink of an eye,
All the malevolent creatures under the grey fog were wiped out. Only the wind on the ice plain was still blowing.
Even Yiluo Xi herself was stunned by the power of this move.
"Am I this strong!"
"B-Big Sister, what is this move called?"
Ziluo's eyes were full of admiration. "I didn't expect Big Sister to have developed such a powerful ability."
Ahem!
Yiluo Xi was very proud originally, but this skill wasn't developed by her. It was taught to her by her mentor. Thinking of this, her urge to show off suddenly vanished.
She could still force it, but if it was exposed later, wouldn't that be embarrassing?
"This move is called Splitting Lightning."
"It's not... it's not created by your Big Sister."
She lowered her head, her boots poking at the snow on the ground.
Ziluo was surprised. "It wasn't created by Big Sister, so how could it be... Oh, I know! Big Sister is just being humble!"
Yiluo Xi poked at the snow on the ground even faster.
...
"Ding!"
"Notification: Yiluo Xi has completed the 'Gate of the World of Evil (Three-Star)' mission, with a mission rating of SS-."
"Notification: Received 'Destiny Points x45', 'Ghost Crystals x55', 'Skill Training Card (White) x30', 'Skill Training Card (Green) x5'."
"Notification: SS- rating also grants 'Novice Weapon (White) x15', 'Physical Enhancement Potion (White) x15', 'Energy Potion (Green) x3', 'Minor Apostle Recruitment Voucher (Green) x6', 'Seed of Skills (Blue) x2'!"
Yiluo Xi performed exceptionally well, and the SS- rating also provided three additional bottles of 'Energy Potion'.
Very good.
Based on the rating and the previously established standards, Yiluo Xi would be awarded 50 Firewood Contribution points.
As for the Energy Potions, Yin Ling had not yet developed the recipe for this type of potion, so it couldn't be produced for the time being. Fang You listed two bottles, priced at 35 contribution points each.
"To obtain items and recruitment vouchers, one must indeed rely on the missions of the Gate of the World of Evil."
Most importantly, the recruitment vouchers. With vouchers, they could continuously recruit more minor apostles.
Therefore,
Fang You dispatched three teams: Pei, Yi, and Xing.
For domestic missions, Pei Hongjing served as the main force.
Domestic missions were easy, but overseas missions were not only far away but also outside the map range. They could only rely on Xiao Huan to infiltrate local mysterious organizations to find some clues and dispatch the 'Yiluo Xi's Sisters' Guild Squad' and the 'Xing Jinglei's Malevolent Creature Hunter Squad' to carry out the missions.
Upon their arrival at their destination, they would set up a 'map anchor point' with them as the coordinate, enabling them to receive mission rewards.
The cost of this approach was that the 30 Ghost Crystals for manufacturing the anchor point would be wasted when it was recovered, but compared to the gains from the Gate of the World of Evil, this expenditure was negligible.
A few more hours passed.
"Ding!"
"Notification: Apostle Pei Hongjing has completed the 'Gate of the World of Evil (Three-Star)' mission, with a mission rating of S-."
...
"Ding!"
"Notification: Apostle Xing Jinglei has completed the 'Gate of the World of Evil (Three-Star)' mission, with a mission rating of S+."
...
"Notification: Apostle Yiluo Xi has completed the 'Gate of the World of Evil (Three-Star)' mission, with a mission rating of SS."
...
In four days,
Not only Yiluo Xi and her group, but Fang You himself had traveled to several locations, and sometimes upon arrival, they discovered it wasn't a Gate of the World of Evil.
Or the gate hadn't opened yet, and there was still a long time until it would.
They had to wait, and traveling back and forth was also a waste of time.
Even so,
Fang You opened his status panel.
"Number of Minor Apostles: 22."
"Minor Apostle Recruitment Voucher: 63"