Area 51, Federation of White Eagles.
Weather satellites captured rapid changes in the atmosphere above Blue Star, with significant anomalies and highly chaotic energy.
Then, in the next moment, everything returned to calm.
No disaster, no strange events occurred, as if the recent anomaly was merely an illusion.
Was this possible?
Inside Area 51, the atmosphere was heavy, and the leader's expression was grim.
They were completely in the dark about the various events that had transpired today: the red moon, the ancient castle, the two anomalies!
They knew nothing about such major events!
"Where are the agents near the anomaly? Why is there no news yet!"
"L-leader, all contact has been lost."
...
The next day,
Morning light cascaded down. Around the former core of the ritual, some stunned awakened scout agents slowly regained consciousness.
They rubbed their eyes, gazing at the blue sky and white clouds above.
It took a long time for them to recall the events of last night.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
They tidied up, organized their equipment, reported their findings, and continued towards their previous destination.
After cresting a hill, they were met with a scene of rubble everywhere. Pockmarked with large and small craters, it was shocking to behold.
"What happened last night?"
They were bewildered.
A helicopter approached from a distance, the whirring of its rotors audible.
Before long, this area of ruins gradually became bustling.
...
Bonfire Secret Realm,
It appeared somewhat deserted today, with few people in the base.
The Apostles were exhausted from the previous night's great battle, having traveled to multiple locations, constantly fighting cultists and malevolent entities. Their stamina and life energy had been depleted multiple times, and their mental strain was immense.
Not to mention, they still bore mental scars from the oppressive aura of the divine incarnation.
As a responsible employer, Fang You didn't want to exploit his employees relentlessly, so he granted them a... two-day leave.
Liu Shang, the Thorn Banshee, and others remained in Fog City because the Banshee Liu Ji was too depleted; she had no energy left to travel to the next location at the time.
They found a well-preserved high-end hotel in Fog City to rest.
And to care for the wounded of Bonfire.
With Xiao Huan forging identities for them, checking in and remaining hidden was effortless, especially since Fog City was already in chaos. The mysterious departments of Sunset Country were busy pursuing and eliminating remaining cultists and dealing with a myriad of other troubles, leaving them no time to pay attention to anything else.
An Jianyou and the others also found rest in a large city nearby after their tasks were completed.
Yiluoxi and the other girls fell into a deep sleep as soon as they hit the bed.
Even a tough guy like Xing Jinglei showed signs of extreme fatigue. He had wanted to keep up with Black Saber's relentless training regime again, but he simply couldn't sustain it.
Black Saber is truly a monster!
An Jianyou and Black Saber were indeed the two in the best condition!
An Jianyou was a non-human level awakened, her inherent resilience far superior to Xing Jinglei and Yiluoxi. The Eye of Tongyou also spared her from, or weakened, some of the special effects.
Not to mention, An Jianyou's battles never required her to act herself.
Yiluoxi fell asleep immediately. She had been quite excited about going shopping, but thinking of the others already asleep and the less-than-peaceful order outside, she sighed and stayed put.
Online shopping it was.
Sister An began browsing the internet.
Black Saber was even more extreme, claiming that the journey itself was equivalent to rest. If he rested for too long, his training tasks for the day would not be completed.
Thus, he began a rigorous weight-training session.
An Jianyou stared, silently thinking, "Terrifying." She felt that in terms of terror, they were not inferior to gods or demons... in a sense.
Thankfully, the mentor had granted them two days of holiday. Otherwise, the thought of the instructor saying, "How can you be slack, continue training," when they were utterly exhausted made her feel like the sky would collapse.
It was truly frightening.
But didn't Instructor Black Saber ever get tired? Even if the Evil Slaying Great Saber could absorb life force, wouldn't there still be losses! And the depletion of physical and mental energy!
How could he train as if nothing happened?
On one side, a monster.
On the other, sisters who needed her care, sleeping soundly and uncouthly, even mumbling drunkenly in their sleep.
Was there no normal person!
Working was hard, Youyou sighed.
...
Most of Bonfire's warriors were still out, but Fang You himself returned to the Bonfire base ahead of schedule.
No,
Upon reflection, he had barely stepped out of the base all day, at most walking to the entrance of the secret realm.
Later, while the power of his character cards had not yet been depleted, he scoured the treacherous realm for treasures and brought a special crystal back to Donghuang.
The items were handed over.
His character dissolved into particles of light, but their brilliance remained in the mortal world.
Fang You looked up, gazing at the unchanging sky within the secret realm.
After a moment, he looked at the special crystal before him.
"Cracked Divinity (Gold)"
"Description: A sliver of cracked divinity left by the powerful entity 'Scarlet Emperor,' containing power related to mythology. Perhaps it can be used as a catalyst to set up a myth promotion ritual? For more usage methods, please explore on your own."
Divinity seemed to be the fundamental basis for the descent of divine incarnations.
The Scarlet Emperor losing a sliver of divinity might mean a heavy loss, possibly even harming his main body.
But who knew.
He had too little information about entities above the mythical level.
Only fragments, the rest relied on guesswork.
Without a doubt, this sliver of cracked divinity was extremely precious.
The fact that it was gold legendary tier alone spoke volumes, but...
"Myth promotion ritual? That's useless to me!"
"The mythical level is too distant for Bonfire at present. By the time someone in Bonfire reaches peak Throne level and is eligible for myth promotion, who knows how long that will be."
"Moreover, how is a myth ritual set up, and how is this sliver of divinity utilized? I have no clue."
Especially since this sliver of cracked divinity was obtained from the Scarlet Emperor. Using his divinity to aid promotion, who knew if he would be digging his own grave.
Ultimately, it was his lack of understanding of higher realms.
A treasure was before him, yet he could not utilize it.
Perhaps he could sell it to the people of Oasis? The Oasis faction undoubtedly had Throne-level powerhouses.
However, that method was also troublesome.
And not necessarily reliable.
He didn't have the channels yet.
"Let Master Wangchui study it first. It's not too late to sell it if no usage is found then."
For now,
"Ding!"
"Notification: Special Mission 'Cultist's Sacrifice' is undergoing settlement. Please wait..."
"Notification: During this mission, six ritual sites were destroyed, time taken 1h29m, cultists killed... main body of the Blood-Beard Sacrifice Priest killed... loss situation on Blue Star..."
"Overall assessment, this mission evaluation is S+ (Six Stars), rewards obtained as follows:
"Obtained: Fate Points x3000"
"Obtained: Void Crystals x3000, Training Cards (White x500, Green x100, Blue x40, Purple x10), Sub-Apostle Recruitment Vouchers x50."
"Obtained: Secret Realm Stone (Gold)"
-
"Secret Realm Stone"
"Description: A treasure that can expand the secret realm and upgrade its level."
Fang You's eyes lit up.
"A good item!"
Upgrading the level of a secret realm could bring numerous benefits. The most basic was that the area would become larger, and the number of secret realm entrances could also increase.
The other basic item rewards were also plentiful. Hundreds of training cards, including quite a few purple ones, and 50 recruitment vouchers could lead to a significant increase in Bonfire's Apostle numbers. Fate Points and Void Crystals went without saying.
"As expected of a large-scale special mission that has been elevated and rated as six-star."
"It's just a shame the mission evaluation was a bit lacking, only S+ class."
The final descent of the Blood-Beard Sacrifice Priest was wiped out almost instantly by him. The timing of its appearance and the speed of its purification were perfect.
However, the destruction of the ritual site nodes beforehand was somewhat lacking.
The four ordinary cities were suppressed quickly, but they still descended into chaos with considerable losses.
For the Wave Flower Nation and Fog City, the losses were even more severe.
The destroyed buildings, the humans affected, killed by malevolent entities or cultists, or injured or even killed due to the chaos, stampedes, and so on, there were many such casualties.
Failing to suppress the cultists when the ritual began and the red moon rose... indeed, it showed Bonfire's shortcomings.
The number of Bonfire warriors was still too small.
Few elites, even fewer powerhouses.
In this battle, only An Jianyou, Black Saber, and Liu Ji played decisive roles.
Their strength was limited.
"However, after this battle, many have grown and been tempered."
"They are truly warriors now!"
"After today, not only will Bonfire have many new faces among its official members, but the strength of the old members will also see a leap in improvement."
"It's just..."
Thinking of the situation in Wave Flower City and Fog City today,
Fang You felt that the precarious peace maintained in reality might not last.
Blue Star would enter a new phase.
"However, that's a headache for the various countries. As long as Blue Star can maintain peace and order, the rest..."
Strength was more important!
Bonfire needed to constantly grow stronger to resist the disasters from the treacherous realm.
Fang You continued to stare at the panel.
"Ding!"
"Notification: Special Mission 'Mythical Disaster' is undergoing settlement. Please wait..."
"Notification: Based on comprehensive judgment, this mission evaluation is SSS- (Seven Stars), rewards obtained as follows:"
"Fate Points x10000"
"Void Crystals x5000"
"Sub-Apostle Recruitment Vouchers x100"
"Training Cards (Gold) x3"
"Secret Realm Stone (Gold) x3"
"Special - Divinity Repair (Gold)"